Psychoeducation for bipolar disorders’ patients: the 'Porta Aberta' programme

Psychoeducation is currently considered to be a fundamental intervention in the management of bipolar disorders. A psychoeducation group programme for patients with bipolar disorders, aimed at euthymic patients just prior to their discharge from the acute psychiatric inpatient unit, named “Porta Aberta” (Open Door), has been implemented since 2007 at the day-hospital of our psychiatric department (Amadora, Portugal). In this article, the authors provide a brief review of the relevant literature on this subject and also assess the effectiveness of the “Porta Aberta” programme in reducing the average number and duration of readmissions; they determine whether individual characteristics (gender, marital status and disorder subtype) may influence outcome.