title: [Anticonvulsants and antipsychotics in the treatment of bipolar disorder].
abstract: Bipolar disorder is a complex medical condition, and up to the date there is no single treatment with proven efficacy in the control of all aspects of the illness. The available literature on the use of anticonvulsants (valproate, carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, lamotrigine, gabapentin, topiramate, clonazepam) and atypical antipsychotics (clozapine, risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone, and aripiprazole) for acute and prophylactic treatment of bipolar disorder was reviewed. There is a large amount of evidence that lithium is efficacious in the prophylaxis of episodes and better for acute mania than for depressive episodes. Other data show that carbamazepine and valproate are effective in acute manic episodes. Lamotrigine has been shown to reduce cycling and effective in depressive episodes. Based on the available data, olanzapine was found to be the most appropriate atypical antipsychotic agent for the treatment of manic bipolar patients, although there are also studies suggesting the efficacy of risperidone, aripiprazole and clozapine. The preliminary data evaluating the efficacy of quetiapine and ziprasidone in bipolar disorder are still very limited. There is no consistent information supporting the prophylactic use of newer antipsychotics.
authors.affiliation: GRUDA, Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital de Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo. rmoreno@sti.com.br
authors.forename: Ricardo Alberto
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Doris Hupfeld
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Márcia Britto de Macedo
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ratzke
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents