Bridging the Gap Between Clinician Perspectives & Daily Realities in Bipolar Disorder Treatment

In advance of what she believes will be a "very exciting decade" in bipolar disorder treatment, Veronica Ridpath, DO, clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, presented her session "Putting it All Together in Bipolar Disorder: Novel Treatment Options Focused on the Whole Patient" at Psych Congress Elevate 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In an interview with Psych Congress Network, Dr Ridpath discusses misconceptions among clinicians regarding patient adherence to medication and acknowledges the importance of understanding patients' daily struggles. She also expresses excitement about recent advancements in bipolar disorder treatment, which Dr Ridpath says she finds empowering as a clinician, offering hope for a better quality of life for those with bipolar disorder in the future.

Catch up on what you missed at this year's Psych Congress Elevate in our conference newsroom, and register for 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the conference website.

Read the Transcript:

Psych Congress Network: What misconceptions among clinicians would you like to clear up?

Veronica Ridpath, DO: As clinicians, we have misconceptions about why patients don't take medications or why patients aren't adhering to treatment. There's this idea that patients should be able to look at the long term. They should be able to appreciate why we are making the recommendations that we are. I think that as clinicians, we don't understand the day-to-day. If somebody can't get to work because of side effects, they can't wake up and take care of their kids, they can't run the 5K with their family because they've gained weight and have orthopedic concerns now, and they aren't able to keep up and do their activities of daily life. It's a very big ask of us to require them to continue taking these medications that don't improve that daily functioning. It doesn't tend to be a problem of understanding the severity of the illness or a difficulty of understanding why they need treatment. It's a difficulty of tolerability and that treatment doesn't align with their health priorities.

PCN: What in the world of bipolar disorder treatment has you most excited for the future? 

Dr Ridpath: I think this is a really exciting time in new treatment of bipolar disorder because for the first time, we're able to really align with patient goals. I have patients who are on some of these newer agents and are coming to me and saying, "I've been in treatment for 15, 20 years and I've never been able to tolerate medicines like this. This is the first time I feel like myself." That's really exciting and really empowering as a clinician because I feel like we're able to give patients their lives back versus just holding off the progression of the illness. It's been a really fun and exciting time, both as a person who's treating bipolar disorder but also somebody who's interested in the frontiers of medicine. I think it's going to be a very exciting decade as we start getting more and more options.

Veronica Ridpath, DO, is a clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in the department of neuropsychiatry and behavioral science and serves as department chair for psychiatry and substance use at HopeHealth in Florence, South Carolina. Dr Ridpath graduated cum laude from University of North Carolina-Charlotte with a Bachelor of Science in psychology with minors in biology and classical studies. She obtained her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, where she was a National Health Service Corp scholar. Dr Ridpath has published and presented primarily in the areas of substance use, primary care and psychiatry integration, and medical student and resident education.