Home  «  Program  «  Individual Family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy  « 

Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (IF-PEP)

Scientific Rating:
NR
Not able to be Rated
See scale of 1-5
Child Welfare Relevance Level:
Low

See descriptions of 3 levels

Brief Description

The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (IF-PEP) program has been reviewed by the CEBC in the area of: Bipolar Disorder Treatment (Child & Adolescent), but lacks the necessary research evidence to be given a Scientific Rating.

  • Types of Maltreatment: Does not target any specific kind of maltreatment
  • Target Population: Children aged 8-12 with major mood disorders (depressive and bipolar spectrum) and their parents.

IF-PEP is a manual-based treatment for children aged 8-12 with mood disorders (depressive and bipolar spectrum disorders). IF-PEP is based on a biopsychosocial framework and utilizes cognitive-behavioral and family-systems based interventions. IF-PEP is a 20-24 session, 50-minutes-per-session treatment with 20 scripted and 4 “in-the-bank” sessions that alternate between parents and children attending. One special session each is devoted to working with school professionals and siblings. IF-PEP’s goals are to help parents and children learn about, then effectively manage, symptoms of mood disorders via improved communication, problem solving, and emotion regulation. It is the intention of IF-PEP that, by giving the parents and child a better understanding of the disorder, family tension will decrease and consumer skills will improve resulting in reduced symptom severity and improved functioning.

There is also a group version of Psychoeducational Psychotherapy known as Multi-Family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (MF-PEP), that has been rated in this topic area as well.

Essential Components

The essential components of Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (PEP) include:

  • Psychoeducation on mood disorders and their treatment
  • Emotion-regulation skills
  • Cognitive-behavioral skills
  • Problem solving skills
  • Communication (verbal and nonverbal) skills
  • Symptom management skills
  • Healthy habits (sleep hygiene, diet, exercise)

Child Component

Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (IF-PEP) was designed with a child component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

  • Major mood disorder (bipolar or depressive), difficulty regulating emotion.

Age range: 8 – 12

Developmental Delays:

This program was not developed for children with developmental delays, and has not been tested for children with developmental delays.

Parent / Caregiver Component

Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (IF-PEP) was designed with a parent/caregiver component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

  • Having a child with a major mood disorder.

Group Format

Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (IF-PEP) was not designed to be conducted in a group setting, and has not been tested for use in a group setting.

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • Community Agency
  • Outpatient Clinic

Homework

Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (IF-PEP) includes a homework component:

Assignments that extend the lesson-of-the-day are given at each session and reviewed at each subsequent session.

Languages

Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (IF-PEP) does not have materials available in a language other than English.

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

  • Therapist office

Minimum Provider Qualifications

  • Master's or Doctoral level trained therapists

Education and Training Resources

There is a manual that describes how to implement this program, and there is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
Training is obtained:

It varies based on need.

Number of days/hours:

2 days (12 hrs — this covers assessment and treatment — usually providers also wish an in-service on assessing bipolar disorder in children)

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

This program has been reviewed and it was determined that this program lacks the type of published, peer-reviewed research that meets the CEBC criteria for a scientific rating of 1 – 5. Therefore, the program has been given the classification of "NR - Not able to be Rated." It was reviewed because it was identified by the topic expert as a program being used in the field, or it is being marketed and/or used in California with children receiving services from child welfare or related systems and their parents/caregivers. Some programs that are not rated may have published, peer-reviewed research that does not meet the above stated criteria or may have eligible studies that have not yet been published in the peer-reviewed literature. For more information on the "NR - Not able to be Rated" classification, please see the Scientific Rating Scale.

Child Welfare Outcomes: Not Specified

Show relevant research...

Fristad, M. A. (2006). Psychoeducational treatment for school-aged children with bipolar disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 1289-1306.

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 20 children (+ their families)

Population:

  • Age range — 8-11 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 90% Caucasian, rest unspecified
  • Gender — 85% male, 15% female
  • Status — Primary mood disorder diagnoses for the participating children included 40% bipolar I disorder (10% manic type, 30% mixed type); bipolar II disorder (35%); bipolar disorder, not otherwise specified (BP-NOS: 25%).

Location / Institution: Not Specified

Summary: (To include comparison groups, outcomes, measures, notable limitations)
Participants were randomized, by pairs, into the Individual Family Psychoeducation (IFP, otherwise known as Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (PEP)) plus treatment as usual (IFP + TAU, n = 10) condition, or into a waitlist-control condition plus TAU (WLC + TAU, n = 10) Measures included the Children’s Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes – Child and Parent Forms; the Children’s Depression Rating Scale – Revised (CDRS-R) and Mania Rating Scale (MRS) in order to assess severity of mood impairment; and Mood Severity Index (MSI), which measured overall mood severity. Also, the Expressed Emotion Adjective Checklist (EEAC) assessed family expressed emotion (EE). Follow-up assessments of both groups were conducted 6 months after study entry, at 12 months, and at 18 months. After 12 months, the WLC + TAU group received IFP. Results showed that children’s mood improved immediately following treatment, with gains continuing for 12 months post-IFP. Additionally, families who received immediate IFP treatment showed higher scores on the EEAC, which reflects better family climate. Limitations of the study include the small sample size, which made the findings described above not statistically significant and does not establish the practice's benefit over the control group.

Length of post-intervention follow-up: 12 months (for treatment group, 6 months for WLC).

Leffler, J. M., Fristad, M. A. & Klaus, N. M. (in press). Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (PEP) for children with bipolar disorder: Two case studies. Journal of Family Psychotherapy.

Type of Study: Case studies
Number of Participants: 2

Population:

  • Age range — 8-12 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — White
  • Gender — 1 Male, 1 Female
  • Status — Female participant had baseline mood diagnosis of bipolar disorder, most recent episode-mixed; male participant had a baseline diagnosis of bipolar disorder, most recent episode-hypomanic.

Location / Institution: Not Specified

Summary: (To include comparison groups, outcomes, measures, notable limitations)
Two children presenting with bipolar disorder were treated with an expanded version of Individual Family - Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (PEP), lengthened from 16 to 24 sessions. Measures included the Children’s Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes-Child and Parent (ChIPS & P-ChIPS) forms, which are structured psychiatric interviews to assess psychopathology according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria with parents of children and adolescents. The Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children – Mania Rating Scale (K-MRS) and Depression Rating Scale (K-DRS) were used to assess mood severity. Additionally, the Children’s Global Assessment Scale (C-GAS) was used to measure the children’s overall functional capacity; the Expressed Emotion Adjective Checklist (EEAC) assessed positive and negative emotions expressed by the parent and child toward each other, as reported by the parent; and the Treatment Beliefs Questionnaire- Parent and Child Forms (TBQ-P and TBQ-C) were self-report measures used to assess beliefs about treatments (pharmacologic and psychosocial). Both subject’s K-MRS scores improved from pre- to post-treatment, but remained in the symptomatic range. For the K-DRS, the female subject's current functioning score was reduced by 18% from pre- to post-treatment, while the male subject’s score increased by 28%. Functioning improved over time for both children, though both were still notably impaired at the end of the study. Results suggested improved family functioning, improvement in children’s manic symptoms, and overall level of functioning. Limitations of the study include the small sample size, the homogeneity in race/ethnicity (both White), and the lack of follow-up data.

Length of post-intervention follow-up: None.

References

Fristad M. A., Davidson, K. H. & Leffler, J. (2007). Thinking-Feeling-Doing: A therapeutic technique for children with bipolar disorder and their parents. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 18(4), 81-104.

Fristad, M. A., Gavazzi, S. M., & Soldano, K. W. (1999). Naming the enemy: learning to differentiate mood disorder "symptoms" from the "self" that experiences them. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 10(1), 81-88.

Fristad, M. A., Goldberg Arnold, J. S. & Leffler, J. (in press). Psychoeducational Pyschotherapy (PEP): Treatment Manual for Children with Mood Disorders. New York: Guilford Press.

Contact Information

Name: Mary A. Fristad, PhD, ABPP
Agency/Affiliation: The Ohio State University
Email:
Phone: (614) 293-4572
Fax: (614) 293-4949

Date Reviewed: August 2010