What is the risk of using an antidepressant alone for a patient with bipolar disorder?

Also using antidepressants alone may trigger a manic or hypomanic episode in some people with bipolar disorder. Antidepressants alone also may lead to or prolong rapid cycling. In rapid cycling, a person may recover more quickly from depression but then experience mania followed by another episode of depression.

Can Lamictal alone treat bipolar disorder?

Lamictal is approved by the FDA for the maintenance treatment of adults with bipolar disorder. It has been found to help delay bouts of depression, mania, hypomania (a milder form of mania), and mixed episodes in those being treated with standard therapy.

What is the best mood stabilizer for bipolar 2?

A review of 32 trials shows that lithium is the only mood stabilizer that has lowered the suicide rate in patients with bipolar disorder. Lithium has also been shown to mitigate relapse of bipolar disorder from 61\% to 40\%, and it prevents more manic episodes when compared with depressive episodes.

What is the most effective treatment for bipolar disorder?

Mood stabilizers: Lithium is the most widely prescribed mood-stabilizing medication for bipolar disorder. Lithium is most effective at preventing or reducing the severity of manic episodes and may be prescribed in combination with other medications.

Does Lamictal treat depression?

What Is Lamotrigine And What Does It Treat? Lamotrigine is a mood stabilizer medication that works in the brain. It is approved for the treatment of bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) and certain types of seizure disorders. Bipolar disorder involves episodes of depression and/or mania.

Is Lamictal good for bipolar 2?

(Bipolar II disorder is characterized by longer episodes and more frequent occurrence of major depression and hypomania.) Newer research suggests, however, that lamotrigine may be even more effective as a mood stabilizer in preventing relapses in treating bipolar II disorder.

What antidepressant works best with Lamictal?

Pilot studies have reported the augmentation therapy of lamotrigine with SSRI’s (fluoxetine and paroxetine) to be well tolerated and far more superior in efficacy than that of SSRI monotherapy (Normann et al., 2002; Barbosa et al., 2003).