A history of the use of anticonvulsants as mood stabilizers in the last two decades of the 20th century.
Anticonvulsants have moved into an important position as alternatives and adjuncts to lithium carbonate in the treatment of bipolar illness. Work with the nonhomologous model of kindled seizures helped in the choice of carbamazepine as a potential mood stabilizer and in the study of the mechanisms of action of the second generation anticonvulsants carbamazepine and valproate, as well as the putative third generation psychotropic anticonvulsants lamotrigine and gabapentin. Anticonvulsant neuropeptides such as TRH and nonconvulsant approaches with repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) also appear promising.
Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-1272, USA.
R M
RM
Post
K D
KD
Denicoff
M A
MA
Frye
R T
RT
Dunn
G S
GS
Leverich
E
E
Osuch
A
A
Speer
D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000266:history* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018692:Antimanic Agents / Q000266:history* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic / Q000187:drug effects; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends
D000927:Anticonvulsants; D018692:Antimanic Agents