The influence of stage of illness on functional outcomes after psychological treatment in bipolar disorder: A systematic review.

A novel systematic review provided preliminary evidence that benefits general/social functioning may be more pronounced in earlier versus later stages of established BD. The review also generated hypotheses about a potential three-way interaction, whereby specific psychosocial interventions may be best placed to target functional outcomes in earlier versus later stage BD. The strength of conclusions is limited by the overall low-quality and significant heterogeneity of studies. Further research is urgently required to understand the impact of illness stage on the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions.