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Antidepressants and mania: To stop or not to stop?
Author(s) -
Allen Danny,
Horvath Rob,
Nutt David
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.470080509
Subject(s) - mania , psychiatry , bipolar disorder , clinical practice , psychology , psychotherapist , medicine , lithium (medication) , family medicine
The clinical problem of whether to stop antidepressants when patients develop mania is looked at in the light of existing practice and advice both in the UK and in the USA. It is concluded that practice is based more on an empirical than a scientific basis. The literature on the subject is reviewed with especial reference to the questions of whether antidepressants actually cause mania, whether they interfere with the treatment of mania, whether discontinuing them stops mania and whether withdrawal of antidepressants causes mania. Finally a case notes study conducted by one of the authors is summarized and recommendations for further research are made.