Evidence-Based Psychotherapies and Nutritional Interventions for Children With Bipolar Spectrum Disorders and Their Families

Treatment guidelines recommend that psychotherapy be used in conjunction with pharmacotherapy in children with bipolar disorder. A well-established category of psychotherapy is family skill-building plus psychoeducation; 3 examples of this are family-focused treatment, psychoeducational psychotherapy, and child- and family-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy. These treatments share several common elements that are important in pediatric populations, including being family-based, providing psychoeducation on symptoms and their management, and training patients and families in emotion regulation, communication, and problem-solving skills. Clinicians may also wish to explore nutritional interventions; multinutrient complexes are experimental, and omega-3 fatty acid supplements are possibly efficacious. Nutritional interventions are particularly attractive in this patient population because of their favorable safety profile.