Bipolar Affective Disorders

Bipolar disorder has increasingly become a main focus of interest in psychiatry. This is reflected by the obvious success of the 1st edition of this book by Walden and Grunze. Due to both the scientific and therapeutic progress it appears now necessary to have this revised version of the book. Concerning therapeutic concepts major progress has been made with the introduction of new antiepileptic drugs such as lamotrigine and atypical antipsychotics to the treatment portfolio of bipolar disorder. But also the scientific evaluation of psychotherapies as cognitive behavioural therapy and psychoeducation constitutes a substantial progress. It becomes clear that modern treatment concepts should integrate both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment modalities. However, despite the rapid increase of knowledge this book is still designed to be a quick reference on the causes and treatment of bipolar disorder, and I hope that it will be a useful tool for the daily clinical practice.