Posted by linkadge on March 15, 2006, at 9:52:07
In reply to Re: Never thought I'd hear this..... » detroitpistons, posted by SLS on March 15, 2006, at 7:40:42
The only thing wrong with labling antidepressant induced mania as bipolar is that it can force a patient to take heavy, and perhaps unnecssary medication.
The thing that scares me the most, is that patients who have manic reactions to medications are often placed directly on mood stabalizers, before trying the grosly simplistic: simply tapering the antidepressant.
My mother experienced a manic reaction to *high* doses of TCA's. They immediately put her on lithium and told her she would need to take that for the rest of her life.
But we will never know now. Perhaps simply discontinuing or lowering the antidepressant would have brought relief, and perhaps would have meant for her a better life.
After lithium, things went downhill. I would also argue *against* the notion that a positive responce to mood stabalizers means that a person is bipolar. The reason being is that Dr. Manji's work again shows that lithium, depakote, and antipsychotics are able to block the behavioral reactions of mice to amphetamines and high dose antidepressants. I.e. you take a normal (non-bipolar) mouse, you can make it manic with drugs, and you can block the manic reaction with mood stabalizers and antipsychotics. Does that imply anything about the mouse, other than the fact that it has just got a "raw-deal"?
Think of it this way. You can induce a seizure in just about anyone with the right drugs. Why is is so inconcievable that a manic episode is not just a branch of the same phenomina ?
I am not against psychiatric drugs, but after being put in the hospital, you come to realize that half the inpatients are people who went manic on high dose antdidepressants, and are now having to go through a subsequent trial of mood stabalizers.
I think its one of the biggest attempts by psychiatry to sweep their lack of knowledge under the carpet.
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:620137
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060315/msgs/620561.html