The International Society of Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) task force on the nomenclature of course and outcome in bipolar disorders

  • Dr Mauricio Tohen, UT Health Science Center, United States
  • Dr Ellen Frank, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, United States
  • Dr Charles Bowden, University of Texas Health Sciences, San Antonio, TX, United States
  • Dr Francesc Colom, University of Barcelona, Spain
  • PhD Lakshmi Yatham, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • Professor Gin Malhi, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Dr Joseph Calabrese, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, United States
  • Dr Eduard Vieta, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain
  • Dr Flavio Kapczinski, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil
  • Dr Guy Goodwin, Warneford Hospital, Oxford University, United Kingdom
  • Dr Trisha Suppes, Stanford Medical Center and VA Palo Alto Health Care System, United States
  • Dr Gary Sachs, Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
  • Prof Heinz Grunze, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Royal Victoria Infirmary, United Kingdom
  • Professor Philip Mitchell, University of New South Wales, Australia
  • Dr Shiganobu Kanba, Kyushu University, Japan
  • Professor Michael Berk, Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • NS Ghaemi
  • KNR Chengappa, University of Pittsburgh, United States

Under the auspices of the International Society of Bipolar Disorders (ISBD), a Task Force was convened to examine report, discuss, and integrate findings from a review of historical and current literature related to observational and clinical trial studies and commonly used terminology describing the course and outcome in bipolar disorders.

Consensus opinion was reached regarding the definition of 9 terms (response, remission, recovery, relapse, recurrence, switch, subsyndromal states, predominant polarity, and functional outcome) commonly used to describe course and outcomes in bipolar disorders. Further studies are needed in order to validate the proposed definitions.