Reviewing medications for bipolar disorder: understanding the mechanisms of action.
Modern psychiatry is beginning to understand mood disorders according to a neuroplastic rather than a neurochemical model. Neuroplasticity is the brain's ongoing ability to restructure itself over a lifetime by making new neural connections. Patients with mood disorders have been found to have neuroplastic changes, including reductions in hippocampal volume, glial and neuronal cell density, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Using the neuroplasticity model of mood disorders, specific neurobiological mechanisms can be targeted for treatment.
Sanacora
Gerard
G
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents