Bipolar Disorder

Utilizing our senses-sight, hearing, AND smell-during the patient interview can provide a comprehensive exam and assist in assessment and treatment.

Results of a recent study have implications for adolescents, who are the top consumers of this artificial sweetener.

Lithium’s most serious risk is renal insufficiency, and there are at least 3 ways to protect against this adverse effect. This and other tips to ensure safety.

The novel combination drug is designed to mitigate the weight gain associated with olanzapine.

In this podcast, Chris Aiken, MD reviews ways to reduce risks that can be associated with treatment for bipolar disorder.

This new FDA order now allows patients who need and want ECT, as well as practitioners who perform it, to breathe a sigh of relief.

Atypical antipsychotics play an important role in acute bipolar depression and mixed states, but one is an especially researched option for children.

Pediatric pearls with a focus on depression.

Behind the controversy is some common ground, buried deep in the DSM. New insights and podcast here.

New genes linked with bipolar disorder, predominant polarity guides diagnosis and treatment, affective temperaments explain life events, and other developments here.

Experts are divided on the issue, but there’s one thing nearly all agree on.

Podcast: Treatment strategies on a long-debated issue, 18 experts reveal what they really do in practice.

Recent study results offer some good news and some bad. A concise summary of key findings here.

Substance use disorders are a common comorbidity in individuals with bipolar disorder. Adding cariprazine to their medication regimen may improve symptoms of both disorders.

Are mood stabilizers causing strokes? Can we treat bipolar II without medication? The past year brought answers to these questions and more.

Some thoughts on the pathogenesis and persistence of prevalence of schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder in view of current discoveries.

Whatever the etiology, some extreme views come very close to the behaviors of bipolar mania, as illustrated in a recent documentary.

Let us look at two major trends in our evolving understanding of this complex mood disorder and its treatment, to wrap up 2018 and to consider the year ahead.

Coenzyme Q10-a nutrient that has improved well-being, vitality, and energy in small studies of patients with breast cancer, the elderly, and veterans-was found to treat bipolar depression in a new randomized controlled trial.

Blue spectrum light can worsen two systems that are already fragile in people with mood disorders: sleep and circadian rhythms. Fortunately, there are simple solutions to correct this problem.

A chance encounter with a patient who had been slowly and painfully emerging from under the oppressive burden of a recent life-threatening illness and impairing mood symptoms changed everything for all parties involved.

Three simple steps may better align your practice with available data on the efficacy and safety of thyroid supplementation in physiologic doses.

Unremitting screen time worsens two systems that are already fragile in people with mood disorders-sleep and circadian rhythms.

A 10-year study of over a thousand patients finds that nitrate-cured meats may play a causative role in mania. Hot dogs and bacon may be next.