Therapy on steady daily habits beat short check-in visits
Who it’s about: Adults, People with a health condition
- Helped
Therapy on steady days, with a daily log of task times, made days steadier than short visits with sleep tips.
- Action: Track your progresstested
- Rule: At the same time every daytested
- Action: Learn how the problem worksused
- Rule: With a coach or therapistused
Randomised trial of 175 adults with bipolar I disorder in the USA · vs short visits with facts, sleep tips and support · they rated themselves · ⚠ groups used different versions of the routine diary
The study
Who took part
175 adults aged 18 to 60 with bipolar I disorder, at a university clinic in Pittsburgh, USA. All were in an episode of the illness when they joined.
What they did
One group had therapy sessions of 45 to 55 minutes on keeping their days steady and on problems with other people. They also logged the times of 17 daily tasks each day. The other group had 20 to 25 minute visits with facts about the illness, sleep tips and support. Both came weekly until they were stable, and both took medicine.
What happened
When the episode had settled, the therapy group rated their days as more steady than the other group. How fast their days got steady did not clearly differ. The groups filled in different logs. The therapy group's log was built to make days more steady, so part of the gap could come from the log. Parts of the paper's text are garbled.
Source
Two-Year Outcomes for Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy in Individuals With Bipolar I Disorder (2005)
DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.62.9.996 (opens in a new tab)Tools in this study
Action4
Learn how the problem worksPsychoeducation about procrastination, habits, sleep, routines or ADHD.
