Depression in bipolar illness is often difficult to treat and life-threating. Frequently it fails to respond to standard treatments. In the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics a new drug combination is suggested.A case of treatment-resistant bipolar depression with a robust remission after treatment with the combination of buspirone 5 mg and melatonin 3 mg plus bupropion 75 mg added to lithium and lamotrigine (with prior failure of high-dose lithium and lamotrigine alone) is reported. [continue reading…]
Bipolar
Psychiatrists have cautioned against the use of antidepressants alone in people with bipolar disorders,
saying they could worsen a patient’s condition by causing a destabilisation in mood.
Dr Ajeet Singh and Professor Michael Berk, consultant psychiatrists from the University of Melbourne,
state in the current edition of Australian Prescriber that the goal of treatment in bipolar disorder is to
stabilise mood, and antidepressants may defeat this purpose if they are not taken with other drugs.
“Patients may need an antidepressant, but this must be taken with a mood-stabilising drug.
Antidepressants place patients at risk of switching to elevated phases of the disorder and rapid cycling
patterns,” they say in the article. [continue reading…]
A new study by Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University researchers reports that fewer than half the patients previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder based on a comprehensive, psychiatric diagnostic interview–the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID).
The study concludes that while recent reports indicate that there is a problem with underdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, an equal if not greater problem exists with overdiagnosis. The study was published online by the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Principle investigator Mark Zimmerman, M.D., will present the findings at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association on Wednesday, May 7. [continue reading…]
Jan Scott (Newcastle, UK) and Francesc Colom (Barcelona) have published a review of psychological interventions for bipolar disorder in the Jan 2008 issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
The aim of this review was to highlight gaps or limitations in applying evidence-based psychological therapies as an adjunct to medication in the management of bipolar disorders. General and specific gaps in knowledge or perceived limitations were determined by the authors and published examples were identified illustrating these potential barriers to the use or application of adjunctive therapies. [continue reading…]
