Prakt. lékáren. 2015; 11(2): 61-63

Bipolar disorder - a minimum for pharmacists

Eva Češková

¹ CEITEC-MU, Brno

² Psychiatrická klinika FN Brno

³ KIO LF University Ostrava

⁴ Oddělení psychiatrie, FN Ostrava

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe, mainly reccurent, multifactorial mental illness. Ĺithium with its antimanic, antidepressive, antisuicidal,

prophylactic and neuroprotective properties has remained a major treatment of BD. In acute mania lithium, valproate, and several atypical

antipsychotics in the monotherapy or combination with mood stabilizers are first-line treatments. For the management of bipolar

depression, lithium, lamotrigine, and quetiapine monotherapy, as well as olanzapine plus selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI),

and lithium or valproate plus SSRI/bupropion remain first-line options. Still, the use of antidepressants is controversial. For maintenance

treatment the choice between given possibilities is guided by the first phase or prevailing phases in long-term course. The tolerability

and safety are becoming very important issues. New therapeutic possibility will be given by understanding of neurobiology.

Keywords: bipolar disorder, neurobiology, treatment guideline, lithium

Published: April 22, 2015  Show citation