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Anticonvulsants in bipolar disorder

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Heinz Grunze

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Abstract

Anticonvulsant drugs are widely used in psychiatric indications. This includes alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms, panic and anxiety disorders, dementia, schizophrenia, and to some extent personality disorders. Besides pain syndromes, their main domain outside epilepsy, however, is bipolar disorder. Carbamazepine, valproate, and lamotrigine are meanwhile recognized mood stabilizers, but several other antiepileptic drugs have also been tried out with diverging or inconclusive results. Understanding the mechanisms of action and identifying similarities between anticonvulsants effective in bipolar disorder may also enhance our understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of the disorder.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Grunze HCR

Publication type: Review

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Mental Health

Year: 2010

Volume: 19

Issue: 2

Pages: 127-141

Print publication date: 01/04/2010

ISSN (print): 0963-8237

ISSN (electronic): 1360-0567

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09638230903469186

DOI: 10.3109/09638230903469186

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