(provided by candidate): This grant application is for the Mentored Patient-Oriented Career Development (K23) Award. The objective of this award is to promote the candidate's long-term goal of conducting clinical trials of psychosocial interventions for adolescents with mood disorders, especially bipolar disorder, and to study the impact of these treatments on adolescent's symptomatic and psychosocial functioning. Developing effective psychosocial treatments for bipolar youth is an important priority. Current treatment guidelines by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry specify that adjunctive psychosocial therapies are almost always indicated in the treatment of bipolar disorder during adolescence. However, at this time, there are no empirically validated psychosocial treatments for bipolar youth. The career development activities described in this application will develop the candidate's knowledge and skills in 1) the diagnosis, psychosocial treatment, and accurate assessment of symptomatic and psychosocial functioning in adolescents with bipolar disorder; 2) the developmental factors that influence the etiology and clinical course of mood disorders during adolescence; 3) strategies to successfully engage mood disordered adolescents in multi-session psychosocial treatments; and 4) the reciprocal relationship between psychosocial factors and symptomatic functioning in bipolar youth. The research study will be comprised of 2 phases. Phase I is designed to integrate developmentally informed psychological, behavioral, and practical strategies into Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT), an empirically supported psychosocial treatment for adults with bipolar disorder, to enhance the treatment of bipolar adolescents. This process will grow from mentored supervision from experts in the field of child/adolescent psychiatry, developmental psychopathology, and clinical intervention research. In addition, the candidate and project therapist will undertake the treatment of 10 pilot cases of bipolar adolescents. The second phase of the research plan consists of a small, preliminary, randomized trial comparing IPSRT-A to treatment as usual in a sample of adolescents with bipolar disorder. Subjects will be assessed at baseline, monthly during treatment, and 6- month follow-up. The skills, training, and pilot data obtained from this award will support the candidate's development of an R01 application in Years 03-05 of the award period.
