Bipolar Disorder Treatment Drugs

These include mood stabilizers antidepressants and drugs that relieve anxiety.

Bipolar disorder treatment drugs. The purpose of the review is to assess the effectiveness of drug and nondrug therapies for treating acute mania or depression symptoms and preventing relapse in adults with bipolar disorder bd diagnoses including bipolar i disorder bd i bipolar ii disorder bd ii and other types. These are effective for treating both the manic and depressive phases as well as preventing future symptoms. You might take one drug at a time or a few at the same. Lithium carbonate can be.

These medications even out the troughs and the peaks of mood swings to keep you on a more even keel. The most effective treatment for bipolar disorder is a mood stabilizing agent. Several types of medications are used to treat bipolar disorder. The most widely used drugs for the treatment of bipolar disorder include lithium carbonate and valproic acid also known as depakote or generically as divalproex.

Your doctor may prescribe one or a combination of. Bipolar disorder is often treated with mood stabilizing medications such as lithium divalproex sodium valproate and carbamazepine. Other treatments may include antipsychotics or antidepressants. Lithium has for many years been the treatment of choice for bipolar disorder as it can be effective in smoothing out the mood swings common to this disorder.

Most mood stabilizers are anticonvulsants antiepileptic drugs with the exception of lithium. You ll typically need mood stabilizing medication to control manic or hypomanic episodes. The good news is that the newer generation antipsychotic drugs like quetiapine appear to be effective while having fewer neurological side effects says dr. There are a variety of medications and psychotherapies that can be used to treat depressive disorders.

If symptoms of depression or mania persist in spite of treatment with other medications adding an. Antipsychotic drugs have long been known to be useful for the treatment of bipolar disorder but neurological side effects and toxicity have limited their long term use. The drug of choice for most bipolar patients is alcohol although cocaine opioids marijuana and methamphetamines are also widely used sometimes in combination with alcohol. Some fight the extreme highs of mania and others treat the lows of depression.