Biopolar disorder has served as a principal point of focus for modern psychiatric research since the advent of the psychopharmacological revolution. Yet, the disparity between optimal and typical care for biopolar disorder is perhaps nowhere larger, and its human and economic impact nowhere greater. An important and much-needed resource, Bipolar Disorders: Clinical Course and Outcome relates empirical data on outcome with practical information on the prognosis, course, and potential complications of bipolar disorders in the modern era. Pulling together current knowledge on bipolar disorders from leading investigators in the field, Bipolar Disorders provides a concise, up-to-date summary of affective relapse, comorbid psychopathology, functional disability, and psychosocial outcome in contemporary bipolar disorders. Important issues regarding pharmacoeconomics and the burden of disease are presented in conjunction with a discussion of mania through the life cycle and a summary of clinical and treatment implications. In addition, this timely resource covers the effect of lithium and anticonvulsants on outcome during controlled and naturalistic treatment; manic outcome in relation to specific comorbidities or subtypes of illness for mixed mania, alcoholism or other substance abuse, rapid-cycling bipolar disorders, hypomania, and comorbid anxiety disorders; individual psychotherapy and family psychoeducation; and the role of public sector psychiatry and community-based treatment programs for chronic bipolar illness. As part of the Clinical Practice Series of the American Psychiatric Press, this book integrates current clinical research findings with practical clinical applications, providing a broad overview of course and outcome for bipolar patients treated under typical treatment conditions. Aimed at both clinicians and investigators, this book consciously relates naturalistic follow-up studies in mania to the routine clinical management of bipolar disorders over time.