The effects of centralised and specialised combined pharmacological and psychological intervention compared with decentralised and non-specialised treatment in the early course of severe unipolar and bipolar affective disorders--design of two randomised clinical trials

In unipolar, and bipolar affective disorders, there is a high risk of relapse that increases as the number of episodes increases. Naturalistic follow-up studies suggest that the progressive development of the diseases is not prevented with the present treatment modalities. It is not known whether centralised and specialised secondary care intervention initiated early after the onset of the diseases can prevent the progression and thereby improve the prognosis.