Bipolar disorder stabilizers

The mood stabilizers were so called because they prevent recurrences of mood swings in people with bipolar disorder. The evidence for this is best with lithium, but is based on smdies carried out more than 20 years ago. However, recent naturalistic surveys tend to find that lithium is far less useful in general clinical practice than in research settings. Many patients discontinue lithium... 

The primary treatment for depressive episodes in bipolar disorder is mood-stabilizing agents, often combined with antidepressant drugs. 

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by one or more episodes of mania or hypomania, often with a history of one or more major depressive episodes.1 It is a chronic illness with a course characterized by relapses and improvements or remissions. Mood episodes can be manic, depressed, or mixed. They can be separated by long periods of stability or can cycle... 

Personality disorders are inflexible and maladaptive patterns of behavior that deviate markedly from expectations of society. These patterns are stable over time, pervasive and rigid, and lead to distress or impairment in the individual s life. Onset is in adolescence or early adulthood.1 Personality disorders and bipolar disorder may be comorbid, and patients with personality disorders may have mood symptoms. The two diagnoses are distinguished, however, by the predominance of mood symptoms and the episodic course of bipolar disorder, in contrast to the stability and persistence of the behavioral patterns of personality disorders. 

Pharmacotherapy is the cornerstone of acute and maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. Mood-stabilizing drugs are the usual first-choice treatments and include lithium, divalproex, carbamazepine, and lamotrigine. Atypical antipsychotics other than clozapine are also approved for treatment of acute mania. Lithium, lamotrigine, olanzapine, and aripiprazole are approved for maintenance therapy. Drugs used with less research support and without Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval include topiramate and oxcarbazepine. Benzodiazepines are used adjunctively for mania. 

Sprinkle capsule 15, 25 mg Atypical Antipsychotics FDA approved for use in bipolar disorder Aripiprazole Abilify Tablets 5, 10, 15, Dosage should be slowly increased to minimize adverse effects (e.g., 25 mg at bedtime for 1 week, then 25-50 mg/day increments at weekly intervals) 10-30 mg/day once daily acute treatment of mania or mixed episodes due to lack of efficacy used as an adjunctive agent with established mood stabilizers Use as monotherapy or in... 

Divalproex sodium is comprised of sodium valproate and valproic acid. The delayed-release and extended-release formulations are converted in the small intestine into valproic add, which is the systemically absorbed form. It was developed as an antiepileptic drug, but also has efficacy for mood stabilization and migraine headaches. It is FDA-approved for the treatment of the manic phase of bipolar disorder. It is generally equal in efficacy to lithium and some other drugs for bipolar mania. It has particular utility in bipolar disorder patients with rapid cycling, mixed mood features, and substance abuse comorbidity. Although not FDA-approved for relapse prevention, studies support this use, and it is widely prescribed for maintenance therapy. Divalproex can be used as monotherapy or in combination with lithium or an antipsychotic drug.31... 

Manji HK. Protein kinase C signaling in the brain Molecular transduction of mood stabilization in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Biol Psychiatry 1999 46 1328-1351. 

Shiah, I. S. and Yatham, L. N. Serotonin in mania and in the mechanism of action of mood stabilizers a review of clinical studies. Bipolar Disord. 2 77-92, 2000. 

Divalproex sodium (sodium valproate) is now the most prescribed mood stabilizer in the United States. It is FDA approved only for the treatment of acute manic or mixed episodes, but it is often used as maintenance monotherapy for bipolar disorder. 

Approximately 20% to 50% of women with bipolar disorder relapse postpartum prophylaxis with mood stabilizers (e.g., lithium or valproate) is recommended immediately postpartum to decrease the risk of relapse. 

Pharmacotherapy is very important for treating Bipolar Disorder, and the use of mood stabilizers, such as lithium, is considered the standard of care. However, after you stabilize a person s mood, you may be left with a person who has not learned a great many life skills over the years precisely because of her or his disorder. Fortunately, cognitive behavioral therapy, including skills training, has been used effectively with bipolar clients after they have been stabilized pharmacologically. Obviously the person must be emotionally stable in order to learn new skills. 

Intrinsic reinforcement. Reinforcement that comes from inside the person. Mood stabilizers. Drugs that treat disorders with mood cycles, such as Bipolar Disorder. 

In contrast to MDD, the bipolar disorders consist of episodes of depression and episodes of hypomania or mania. This poses a problem for treating the depressed phase of this illness, becanse, as noted earlier, antidepressants can trigger hypomania, mania, or mixed dysphoric mania and can increase the freqnency of manic episodes. Therefore, the hallmark of treating BPAD is the nse of mood stabilizers, with and withont snpplemental antidepressant therapy. Please refer to Table 3.16 for a comparison of the traditional mood stabilizers. 

Mood Stabilizers. Lithium (Eskalith, Lithobid), valproic acid (Depakene), sodium valproate (Depakote), and carbamazepine (Tegretol) are most often used by psychiatrists to treat the bipolar disorders. These so-called mood stabilizers are also used to treat impulsivity and agitation in a variety of psychiatric disorders including dementia, certain personality disorders, and the disruptive behavior disorders of childhood. 

When these measures have failed and impulsivity and aggression remain a problem, additional strategies are available. First, reconsider the diagnosis. Does the patient have bipolar disorder rather than ADHD Is there another disruptive behavior disorder in addition to or instead of ADHD Does (s)he have an impulse control disorder In these more severe cases, other medications such as atypical antipsychot-ics or mood stabilizers are often helpful. 

In addition to its acute actions, Li+ can reduce the frequency of manic or depressive episodes in the bipolar patient and therefore is considered a mood-stabilizing agent. Accordingly, patients with bipolar disorder are often maintained on low stabilizing doses of Li+ indefinitely as a prophylaxis to future mood disturbances. Antidepressant medications are required in addition to Li+ for the treatment of breakthrough depression. 

Although this is an area in which research is burgeoning, definite evidence of the effectiveness of EFAs in the treatment of mental disorders is lacking. There are some controlled trials of varying methodological quality in adult patients with schizophrenia, and unipolar and bipolar depression, with conflicting results (Fenton et ah, 2000 Maidment, 2000). The most encouraging trial is a preliminary study of 30 patients with bipolar disorder. It found that EFAs concurrent with mood stabilizers reduced the rate of recurrence of episodes (Stoll et al., 1999). 

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