Development and Structures of Trialogue for Bipolar Disorders in Germany and Guidelines of the German Society for Bipolar Disorders

The German concept of a trialogue in medicine is at its best a cooperation between patients, relatives, and professionals as partners on equal footing. Prerequisites, and also the aim of the trialogue, are mutual respect, an open attitude from professionals, and self-confidence from patients and relatives. The expertise of each of these groups is to be strengthened through the trialogue and should benefit all. Trialogue cooperation brings about a change of perspective and promotes mutual understanding. By establishing a therapeutic relationship on equal footing with the patient with involvement of their relatives, individual and family resources can be better utilized, professional assistance can be designed to better meet the patient's needs, and acceptance of and commitment to treatment can be increased. In addition, early symptoms and new phases of the disease can be recognized earlier and adequate treatment can be initiated more quickly. A favorable course of the disease is thus more likely, and relapses are less likely to present. The use of peers has proven to be quite helpful. The consistently trialogue structure within the German Society for Bipolar Disorder (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Bipolare Störungen e.V./DGBS: Heinrich-Hoffmann-Straße 10, 60528 Frankfurt am Main) as a medical society enables further development of the trialogue on many levels, for example, the drafting and updating of the German guidelines for bipolar disorder with the trialogue in mind.