title: Overview: maintenance therapy in psychiatry: II. Affective disorders.
abstract: In the first part of this overview the author reviewed the clinical literature on prophylactic treatment of schizophrenia with maintenance antipsychotic drugs. In this second part he reviews the literature on maintenance treatment of affective disorders with lithium and tricyclics. He concludes that the growing realization that maintenance treatment is necessary to prevent recurrences of both mania and depression in bipolar disease and depression in unipolar disease is one of the most important advances in psychiatric therapeutics. The effectiveness of maintenance treatment provides the potential for a truly preventive approach to the treatment of affective disorders.
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003221:Confusion / Q000139:chemically induced; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006042:Goiter / Q000139:chemically induced; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000139:chemically induced; D008094:Lithium / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011141:Polyuria / Q000139:chemically induced; D014202:Tremor / Q000139:chemically induced
chemical_list: D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors; D008094:Lithium