Psychiatria pre prax 3/2006

NEW TREATMENT POSSIBILITIES FOR BIPOLAR DEPRESSION

At first general principles of treatment of bipolar disorder are summarized. Further the paper is dealing with the treatment of bipolar depression. In this indication the treatment with atypical antipsychotics is becoming a point of interest. Recently, two double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled studies in patients with bipolar depression comparing olanzapine and combination of olanzapine and fluoxetine with placebo and quetiapine with placebo were published. Quetiapine monotherapy at doses of 300 and 600 mg pro die demonstrated statistically significant improvement in all scales evaluating depressive and anxiety symptomatology, quality of sleep and quality of life compared with placebo from week 1 onward and was well tolerated.

Keywords: bipolar depression, the 2nd generation of antipsychotics, quetiapine, olanzapine.