04/26/2007 - National Legal News

A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that treating depressive episodes in bipolar patients with a combination of mood stabilizers and anti-depressants may not be as effective as psychiatrists previously thought.

The double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted to determine whether a combined treatment of mood stabilizing medication and anti-depressants is an effective means of reducing depressive symptoms in bipolar patients.

During the study, researchers divided the subjects into two categories -– those taking a mood stabilizer and an anti-depressant medication and those taking a mood stabilizer and a placebo. A total of 179 subjects were randomly selected to receive a mood stabilizer and an anti-depressant. During follow-up appointments over the next 26 weeks, the success of each course of treatment was clinically monitored. A successful outcome was defined as eight consecutive weeks without a clinically significant depressive episode. Psychologists call this outcome a durable recovery.

At the conclusion of the study, researchers recorded that 23.5 percent of the group treated with a combination of mood stabilizers and anti-depressants had achieved a durable recovery. Comparatively, 27.3 percent of the group that was given a mood stabilizer and a placebo exhibited a durable recovery.

Researchers reported that the results seem to indicate that the combination of anti-depressant and mood stabilizing medications is not more effective than mood stabilizing drugs alone in the treatment of depressive bipolar episodes. However, they noted that further research is needed to confirm the study’s findings.