Studies that compare the treatment response of patients diagnosed as primary affective disorder or schizoaffective disorder are reviewed. Although relatively few controlled or uncontrolled studies of the chemotherapy of schizoaffective disorders have been conducted, available evidence suggests that: (1) lithium carbonate is effective in the initial treatment of both schizoaffective mania and ma...

Sociodemographic and clinical features of antidepressant-induced hypomanic and manic switch in patients with bipolar disorder Objective: The aim of this study was to identify sociodemographic, familial, childhood and various clinical characteristics of bipolar disorder patients in whom hypomanic/manic switches had been observed during treatment with antidepressant drugs. Methods: One hundred si...

OBJECTIVE A rare phenomenon of Shared Psychosis Disorder occurring in the context of Bipolar I Disorder, in identical twins is reported. CASE PRESENTATION Two identical twins with shared Psychotic Manic Syndrome were admitted and received antipsychotic and lithium as their treatment. Psychotic symptoms of primary case did not improve and her diagnosis changed into Schizophrenia. They had hypo...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to establish to what degree variation in lifetime experience of rhythmicity and manic-hypomanic features correlates with suicidality in individuals with mood disorders and other major psychiatric diagnoses and in a comparison group of controls. METHOD Suicidal ideation and attempts were investigated in a clinical sample, including 77 patients with schizophr...

Genetic and pharmacological studies have suggested that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may be associated with the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). The present study investigated serum BDNF levels in manic, depressed, euthymic BD patients and in matched healthy controls, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (sandwich-ELISA). Serum BDNF levels were decreased in manic (p=0...

OBJECTIVE It has been reported that fewer patients with unipolar mania respond to lithium prophylaxis as do those with classical bipolar disorder. This study aimed to determine if the difference to response to lithium is related to unipolar mania or to a high preponderance of mania during the course of bipolarity. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study included bipolar-I patients (according to DSM-I...

---------------------------INDICATIONS AND USAGE---------------------------ABILIFY is an atypical antipsychotic indicated as oral formulations for the: Treatment of schizophrenia (1.1) • Adults: Efficacy was established in four 4-6 week trials and one maintenance trial in patients with schizophrenia (14.1) • Adolescents (ages 13-17): Efficacy was established in one 6-week trial in patients with...

Bipolar disorder is a lifelong episodic illness requiring long-term treatment, yet there remains a need for well-tolerated and clinically effective maintenance of effect and continuation therapies. Aripiprazole has a novel pharmacological profile; partial agonism at dopamine D 2 and D 3 and serotonin 5-HT 1A receptors, and antagonism at 5-HT 2A receptors. 1–5 Aripiprazole has been shown to impr...

OBJECTIVE Various subjective and objective criteria are used to assess outcome in bipolar disorder. In this study, we explored to what extent they reflect distinct categories and whether underlying dimensions can be identified. PATIENTS AND METHODS One-hundred and twenty-one subjects with at least three episodes of bipolar I disorder (DSM-IV) were assessed on average 4.8 years after hospitali...

BACKGROUND Intellectual ability may be an endophenotypic marker for bipolar disorder. AIMS Within a large birth cohort, we aimed to assess whether childhood IQ (including both verbal IQ (VIQ) and performance IQ (PIQ) subscales) was predictive of lifetime features of bipolar disorder assessed in young adulthood. METHOD We used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (AL...