Medication adherence contributes to the efficacy-effectiveness gap of treatment in patients with bipolar disorder. This paper
aims to examine the challenges involved in improving medication adherence in bipolar disorder, and to extract some suggestions for future
directions from the core psychosocial studies that have targeted adherence as a primary or secondary outcome. Enhancement of treatment adherence in bipolar patients is a necessary and promising management component as an adjunct to
pharmacotherapy. The current literature on psychosocial interventions that target medication adherence in bipolar disorder points to the
possibility of refining the concept of non-adherence and adapting psycho-education to the needs of certain subgroups of people with bipolar
disorder. Large scale randomized controlled trials of briefer or more condensed interventions are needed that can inform clinical practice.