A substantial literature on the effective treatment of bipolar disorder has begun to appear, particularly in the last 20 years.The majority of treatments studied have employed medications, particularly mood stabilizers, a typical antipsychotics and antidepressants. Most treatments produce side effects and medications are no exception. A review of assessment methods used to evaluate side-effect profiles is presented, along with author interpretations of these data in terms of cost and benefits. Additionally, a discussion of the implications for side-effect monitoring and management during short-term versus more long-term treatments is presented with respect to the general and intellectual disability populations. Summaries of relevant drug side-effect assessment practices are presented and future research directions are suggested.