Introduction: Using the Newer Pharmacotherapeutic Agents as Mood Stabilizers in Bipolar Spectrum Disorders

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Bipolar disorder is an episodic psychiatric illness requiring lifelong treatment. As agroup of illnesses, bipolar disorder has a prevalence rate of 1.2% to 3.4%1 in the general population, a rate that is half as much as type 2 diabetes mellitus, and yet it is the sixthmost disabling medical condition.2 For the fortunate patient with a lithium-responsive biology,life reverts to near normal, but for somewhere between one third to two thirds of bipolarsubjects, alternatives to or adjunctive treatment with lithium is needed, especially in themaintenance phase.’ ‹