Medications Used for Depression With Bipolar Disorder

Overview

According to the National Institutes of Health, bipolar disorder is a "brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks." Also known as manic-depressive illness, bipolar disorder develops in patients during their late teens or early adult years. According to the National Institutes of Health, at least half of bipolar disorder cases start before the patient reaches age 25. Patients with bipolar disorder cycle through depression and mania.

Types of Bipolar Disorder

According to the National Institutes of Health, there are four types of bipolar disorder. To be diagnosed with bipolar I, patients either have an elevated mood with three symptoms, or an irritable mood with four symptoms. Bipolar II, on the other hand, has recurrent periods of depression with episodes of either normal moods or hypomania. Patients with bipolar disorder not otherwise specified, abbreviated as BD-NOS, have severe mood dysregulation that causes serious impairment, but the symptoms do not fall under one of the bipolar disorder types. The last type of bipolar disorder, cyclothymia, is a lesser form of bipolar disorder.

Daily Life Chart

Because patients may need to try different medication to find what works best, the National Institutes of Health recommends that patients keep a daily life chart. The daily life chart contains daily mood symptoms, treatment, sleep patterns and life events. This helps track how effective the medication is, and whether a new treatment option is needed.

Mood Stabilizers

While mood stabilizers are often used to treat the mania symptoms of bipolar disorder, mood stabilizers can also be used to treat depression symptoms. According to the National Institutes of Health, lithium, also called Eskalith and Lithobid, was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in the 1970s for the treatment of mania. However, lithium is also effective in preventing mania and depression episodes.

Antidepressants

Antidepressants are often used to treat the depression symptoms of bipolar disorder. According to the National Institutes of Health, fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft) and buproprion (Wellbutrin) are all effective antidepressants for bipolar disorder. Antidepressants are given with mood stabilizers, as antidepressants alone can cause a rapid cycling symptoms or switching to mania or hypomania in bipolar disorder patients. However, according to a National Institute of Mental Health funded study, bipolar disorder patients who took mood stabilizers alone had equally well controlled depression compared to bipolar disorder patients who took both mood stabilizers and antidepressants.

FDA Warning

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, there is a warning for adolescents and young adults who take antidepressants: worsened depression, suicidal thinking and behavior, and unusual changes in behavior can occur. It is recommended that these patients should be monitored closely when treatment begins.