Healio (5/8, Gramigna) reported investigators “have observed significant changes in the treatment of bipolar disorder over the past two decades,” investigators concluded after examining “nationally representative data from the 1997 to 2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys to examine trends in the use of first- and second-generation antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilizers among psychiatrist visits for which one of the primary diagnoses was bipolar disorder.” The study revealed that “second-generation antipsychotics in large measure having supplanted traditional mood stabilizers.” At the same time, “antidepressant prescriptions have persisted despite a lack of evidence for their efficacy in bipolar disorder.” The findings were published online April 21 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Related Links:
— “Second-generation antipsychotics have largely replaced mood stabilizers for treatment of bipolar disorder, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, May 8, 2020