Final note: Is psychoeducation efficacious?

Although much clinicians have used psychoeducation for decades, it has not been until a few years ago that the first studies on its efficacy came out. The studies by Peet and Harvey may be considered the first to evaluate the efficacy of psychoeducation (Harvey and Peet, 1991; Peet and Harvey, 1991). They formed two groups of 30 bipolar patients; the first group was shown a 12-min video giving information on lithium and the patients were given a transcript of the text, while the second group acted as a control group and received standard treatment. The attitudes of the patients toward lithium and their knowledge about the treatment improved significantly in the first group.