title: Overlapping phenomena of bipolar disorder and epilepsy--a common pharmacological pathway.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies and data on prevalence, recognition and clinical features of bipolar disorder (BD) in epilepsy remain limited. Still, there is a growing evidence of BD and epilepsy being frequent co-morbid conditions with some features suggesting shared pathophysiological mechanisms that include the episodic course of both conditions, the possible kindling mechanism and the efficacy of some antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in BD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of this paper is to review concepts of overlapping phenomena of bipolar disorder and epilepsy. A literature review of the theoretical bases of the relationship between BD and epilepsy is presented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The comorbidity of epilepsy and mood disorders was a subject of interest of many studies for decades. Bipolar disorder and epilepsy have a number of clinical, biochemical and pathophysiological features in common. Bipolar disorder in epilepsy, excluding the ictal or periictal symptoms, can be categorized using standardized measures. Standardized psychiatric interview procedures based on DSM criteria like SCID-I or MINI provide comprehensive way to diagnose mood disorders in patients with epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Gdańsk, Dębinki 7 St. build. 25, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland, mwiglusz@gumed.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Mariusz S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wiglusz
authors.forename: Jerzy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Landowski
authors.forename: Wiesław J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Cubała
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agius
mesh_terms: D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D015897:Comorbidity; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants