How effective are antidepressants for bipolar?
The use of antidepressants for bipolar disorder is controversial. There are doctors who believe they have limited efficiency with a small percentage of the bipolar population. In general, however, the use of antidepressants in combination with bipolar disorder is a high risk for the patient. Antidepressants can cause manic or hypomanic symptoms. Although they can alleviate some depression, they often move patients to the opposite pole, which does not lead to effective regulation of symptoms and can be dangerous.
individuals with unipolar depression or a large depressive disorder develop bipolar symptoms at a speed of one to two percent of the population per year. As Goodwin and Jamison suggest in their basic work on bipolar disorder, manicly depressed disease: bipolar disorders and recurring depression , over time, bipolar percentage of people with depression can develop over time. This means that the symptoms of the depressive person should always be monitored for potential signs of hypomania or mania, and if these areIt will appear, the doctor is recommended to interrupt the antidepressant.
The risk of antidepressants for bipolar disorder is that they can evoke mania or hypomania and do not instabilize the mood to the euthymic or "normal" state. Mania risk a person who behaves in criminal ways, suicidal ways or in a way that inadvertently ignores personal security, random or intentional death. Mania can also cause deceptive behavior.
In hypomanic, people can commit crimes, destroy financial security or interpersonal relationships, and take a number of bad decisions. Both states may include, for example, hypersexuality that could risk disease and destroy loyalty to partners. These are serious, difficult states and it is worth avoiding if it is possible that you do not use ants for bipolar disorder.
Despite these risks, many bipolar patients receive some antidepressant.Some doctors use an extremely limited amount of these drugs to resolve resistant depressive conditions. Several patients use antidepressant along with stabilizing mood or anti-convulzive drugs. The current view of this practice in medical literature is mainly negative, although there are several unofficial stories of the patient's stability on antidepressants.
Contemporary medical view of proven procedures is not recommended by antidepressants for bipolar disorder. Instead, the most commonly prescribed lithium drugs, which are still the best artist of Valproic acid (depakote®), carbamazepine (Tegretol®) and lamotrigine (Lamictal®). Sometimes two of these drugs are combined for better control of symptoms. Other medicines may be added depending on the patient's symptoms. Quetiapine (Seroquel®), Aripiprazole (Abilify®), non -stinged atypical antipsychotics may be suitable and can focus on depression resistant to treatment. Anxiety can be controlled by benzodiazepines as an alprazolam (Zoloft®), Clonazepam (Klonopin®) or Diazepam (Valium®).
It is often reported that the best treatment is the one that works. Perhaps antidepressants for bipolar disorder make sense with a limited number of patients. Due to their natural risk, prescribing should ensure that the bipolar client uses them, carefully monitored and has therapeutic and family support to quickly record and report adverse effects.