Patient and family education in bipolar disorders have been addressed as key factors to promote therapeutic adherence and favor relapse prevention. There is an important number of bipolar patients in Mexico that have few possibilities of acquiring adequate and current information of their disorder, also there is a dramatic sub-diagnosis of the disorder. It is a frequent mistake that family members are left out from psycho education programs, and many times they may also have the disorder and because of lesser symptomatology it remains undiagnosed until later complications.
Bipolar Connection Program was developed by ISBD MEXICO as a non profit community educational program designed to reach patients and family members that need to receive and learn updated information about the disorder. The first stage of the program consists of a 120minute multimedia presentation that covers genetics, basic neuroscience information, symptoms, classification, mood charts, trigger identification, and key pharmacological treatment concepts. An audience of 800 patients and family members was targeted between Mexico´s 3 most important cities. The audience recruitment was achieved with collaboration of the main advocacy groups of the country and with media coverage.
The second stage of the program consists of developing free downloadable podcasts that contain highlights of the educational material, and printouts of life charts and easy to follow step guides in case of emergencies. The podcasts will be available in the Mexican Chapter´s webpage.