Posted by phidippus on November 3, 2014, at 11:16:59
In reply to Re: AAPs are not mood stabilizers, posted by herpills on November 1, 2014, at 9:55:47
> Anything can be a mood stabilizer. If someone takes only an antidepressant, and it stabilizes their mood, then it's a mood stabilizer.
In the classic sense I believe a mood stabilizer is a drug that treats depression and mania at the same time. The person taking an antidepressant is already stable-maybe depressed, but stable. Mood stabilizers work in such a way that flip-flopping of one's mood is minimized.
> Lamictal is an anticonvulsant that a government agency in the US decided could also be prescribed as a mood stabilizer.
Lamictal is an anticonvulsant which showed mood stabilizing properties which were then exploited by it's maker-eventually they gained FDA approval.
> There's really no point in defining what is or is not a mood stabilizer.It certainly helps. That way, doctors aren't prescribing Yohimbe for bipolar patients. If a medication is defined a mood stabilizer then we know it helps treat manic depression.
> Many people on the atypicals feel that they stabilize their mood.
I've never met a bipolar person whose mood was stabilized taking an AAP alone. They can augment a traditional mood stabilizer, no doubt, but they can't work alone as a mood stabilizer.
>There are far more atypicals which are indicated for bipolar disorder than there are anticonvulsants.
So?
Eric
poster:phidippus
thread:1073059
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20141017/msgs/1073134.html