Bipolar Disorder

The musical prodigy is believed to have had a hyperthymic temperament, but he was also vulnerable to sweeping bouts of depression and guilt. Psychiatrist and virtuoso Richard Kogan, MD, puts music to storytelling, to explain the phenomenon of genius.

Valproate/divalproex appears to be considerably overused in the US; the use of lithium, second-generation antipsychotics, and carbamazepine should be more prominent in treatment decisions for patients with bipolar mania.

Do you prescribe antidepressants for your patients with bipolar depression? If so, think again, and consider results from these studies.

Critical brain maturation occurs from fetal development through adolescence; given the complex and variable nature of these changes, disentangling abnormal neurodevelopment from neuroprogression is a formidable task.

In this poignant video, Dr Frank Clark shares what led up to his writing Chocolate-Flavored PTSD and Runner's Paradox.

Emergency Psychiatry: Principles and Practice has something for everyone and is easily applicable to emergency and primary care.

Policy initiatives can improve both physical and mental health care quality and outcomes for those with serious mental illnesses.

A recent study shows that meditative practice is surprisingly effective for bipolar depression. The late poet helps explain why.

These mood stabilizers cover a lot of ground, but it is important to know how to use them.

During this time of social isolation, people who are single may be having a difficult time. Staying home in lockdown may mean they haven't been seen or touched another person in weeks or months. A board-certified pediatrician and adult and child psychiatrist discusses these issues in this podcast.

The mortality rate is unacceptably high in patient with serious mental illnesses. Several psychosocial interventions have been developed that may benefit these patients.

Children are struggling through the pandemic. Here are strategies to spot symptoms before things get out of hand.

A child/adolescent and adult psychiatrist answers three key questions regarding youth and COVID-19.

None of them are perfect, but a few rise to the top, according to recent guidelines.

A constellation of factors contributes to heightened anxiety symptoms associated with the pandemic. The author offers simple steps to help patients alleviate stress.

Patients with bipolar disorder often find it difficult to maintain schedules and routines, all the more challenging with the COVID-19 pandemic. More in this video.

Lithium may have antiviral properties, but it also carries unique risks during a viral infection.

Lithium has successfully deterred over a dozen viruses, but how will it affect the novel coronavirus? In this podcast, Chris Aiken, MD, speaks with Janusz Rybakowski, PhD, MD, a pioneer in lithium research who helped discover its antiviral properties.

Sleep deprivation increases the risk of viral infections and even mania. Here is the evidence.

Regardless of whatever short-term benefit patients perceive from cannabis, the evidence points clearly to an association between usage and worsening course of bipolar disorder over time.

A number of factors affect treatment adherence, including the therapeutic alliance, perceived perceived lack of control, risk of dependence on medications, stigma associated with medication use, and more.

Experts discuss the rationale and history of L-methylfolate use in patients, and then shares three cases that collectively suggest L-methylfolate may contribute to agitation and mania.

When we meet a new patient who presents with "classic" symptoms, there are challenges described in this brief video.

This review highlights an important diagnostic and therapeutic task: the importance of differentiating true bipolar disorder/obsessive-compulsive disorder comorbidity from BD with secondary OCD.

When we find ourselves in the half-tested world of off-label therapies, what’s a psychiatrist to do?

The treatment of bipolar disorder changed in ways big and small in 2019. More in this summary.

Do you need help persuading patients to try lithium?

An accurate assessment of bipolar disorder requires psychiatric evaluation of a range of symptoms marked by extreme mood changes and other factors described in brief.

Just as the progress over recent decades has improved the clinical evaluation and management of BD among children and adolescents, the remaining gaps serve to inform future progress.

The first part of this series covered updates on traditional psychotropics-lithium, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, and more. Here, Part 2 examines anti-inflammatories, natural supplements, and mitochondrial therapies.