This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1111/BDI.12780 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved MS. AMBER HAMILTON (Orcid ID : 0000-0001-9001-4585) MS. GRACE MORRIS (Orcid ID : 0000-0003-3598-9712) DR. PHILIP BOYCE (Orcid ID : 0000-0002-9816-7356) PROF. RICHARD PORTER (Orcid ID : 0000-0002-8695-3966) DR. TIM OUTHRED (Orcid ID : 0000-0003-2534-3635) Article type : Clinical Care Stepwise treatment of acute bipolar depression Gordon Parker 1,2,3 , Gin S Malhi 1,4,5,6 , Amber Hamilton 1,4,5,6 , Grace Morris 1,4,5,6 , Gabriela Tavella 2,3 , Darryl Bassett 1,7 , Bernhard T Baune 1,8 , Philip Boyce 1,9 , Malcolm Hopwood 1,10 , Roger Mulder 1,10 , Richard Porter 1,10 , Tim Outhred 1,4,5,6 , Pritha Das 1,4,5,6 , Ajeet B Singh 1,11 1 Treatment Algorithm Group. 2 School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW, Australia 3 Black Dog Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia 4 Academic Department of Psychiatry, Northern Sydney Local Health District, St Leonards, NSW, Australia 5 Sydney Medical School Northern, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia 6 CADE Clinic, Royal North Shore Hospital, Northern Sydney Local Health District, St Leonards, NSW, Australia 7 Private Practice in Psychiatry and Division of Psychiatry, the University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia Author Manuscript