People with bipolar disorder are much less likely to receive psychotherapy (26-50% of patients in one study got therapy) as opposed to psychiatric medications (46-90% were treated with medications) according to a study sponsored by the Depressive and Bipolar Support Association. This is not surprising since many mental health professionals were taught when we were in training that bipolar depression …
Specialty Care for Bipolar Matters
Bob Post (one of the most eminent psychiatrists of our time) published a passionate article in the March 2018 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association in support of the importance of specialty care for bipolar disorder. Of course, we couldn’t agree more. That is one of the reasons we founded the clinic. We saw that specialty care …
Long Acting Injectable Aripiprazole for Bipolar
Long acting injectable aripiprazole for bipolar one patients has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of a recurrence of a mood episode in a 52 week placebo controlled clinical trial. Poor adherence to treatment is a significant problem in patients with bipolar disorder, putting patients at increased risk of recurrence of mood episodes, hospitalization, and suicide. One other study …
Atypical Antipsychotics with Mood Stabilizers
Many people with bipolar receive atypical antipsychotics with mood stabilizers. As in many areas of medicine, we have relatively little data about longer-term outcomes when people receive this combination. If an atypical antipsychotic is added to a mood stabilizer to control a manic episode, how long should that combination be prescribed? A recent study conducted by the Canadian Mood and …
Pregnancy and Bipolar
Pregnancy Outcomes in Women with Bipolar Disorder A recent review of the topic of bipolar and pregnancy from the MGH Center For Women’s Mental Health on November 14, 2016 sparked us to write this post. When talking with a bipolar woman contemplating pregnancy there are two considerations: what additional risks to the unborn child are created by taking psychiatric medication and what risks exist …
Mood Stabilizers
There is nothing like a patient’s request to spur me on to tackle a long delayed project. Noting that a significant percent of the patients I see have bipolar, one of my patients wondered why I did not have any information on this website that addressed, in an organized way, the considerations that go into selecting a mood stabilizer. I …