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Bipolar Disorder – Diagnosis and Treatment

Drugs used to treat bipolar disorder

There are several drugs involved in treating bipolar disorder. The types and doses of drugs recommended depending on the manifesting symptoms.

These drugs are:

Mood stabilizers

It is important to use mood-stabilizing drugs to manage or control manic or hypomanic episodes. Examples of mood stabilizers are lithium (Lithobid), valproic acid [3] (Depakene), divalproex sodium (Depakote), carbamazepine (Tegretol, Equetro, and others), and lamotrigine (Lamictal).

Antipsychotics

Antipsychotic drugs [4] are used if symptoms continue to occur after treatment with other drugs. Examples of antipsychotic drugs are olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperidone (Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel), aripiprazole (Abilify), ziprasidone (Geodon), lurasidone (Latuda), or asenapine (Saphris).

These drugs can be recommended alone or with mood stabilizers.