Antidepressants May Not Help Fight Bipolar Disorder

Stick to mood stabilizer alone, major new study suggests

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

Related Encyclopedia • Anxiety • Autism • Bipolar Disorder • Death and Grieving More... Related Healthscout Videos The Role of NARSAD Mental Health Research: Children vs. Adults Mental Health and Children: The Status of Research How much progress have we made in treatment? More... Related Animations • Bipolar Disorder Animation • Depression More... Related Drug Information • Adderal XR • Ambien • Avandia • Concerta More... Related News Articles • Music as Medicine • Trauma Patients Suffer Even 12 Months After Injury • Cancer Poses Challenges for Husbands' Frame of Mind • Give and Be Happy More...

WEDNESDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with bipolar disorder will gain no treatment benefit by adding an antidepressant to a standard mood stabilizer such as lithium, a new study finds.

The results suggest that treating with a mood stabilizer alone is preferable, a recommendation that goes against common practice.

Text Continues Below

---

"We really think that at the beginning of your treatment, it is very reasonable to have this 'mood-stabilizer-optimized' kind of approach, and what we've learned from this study is it makes sense to give that some time to work," said Dr. Gary Sachs, lead author of the study, director of the bipolar clinic and research program at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

"The patient loses nothing from that," Sachs added. "We did not show that any group benefited from having antidepressants added."

On the other hand, doubling up the medications did not confer any risk, Sachs's team reported in the March 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Treating bipolar disorder is never a one-size-fits-all proposition, however.

"It's hard to judge at the individual level because of individual variation," said Dr. Christopher Colenda, dean of the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in College Station. "As a treating clinician, you may try single therapy for a while and, if it doesn't work, add the antidepressant. This study gives us a rational place to start and to make clinically relevant decisions."

Bipolar disorder is characterized by alternating swings of very high and very low -- or depressed -- moods, along with changes in energy and the ability to function. About 5.7 million American adults, or about 2.6 percent of the population 18 and older, may have bipolar disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Page:  1 | 2 | 3 | Next >>