Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-nwzlb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T13:54:13.670Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Doses of carbamazepine and valproate in bipolar affective disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Taylor*
Affiliation:
Pharmacy Department, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
Denise Duncan
Affiliation:
Pharmacy Department, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
*
Correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Carbamazepine and valproate are now well established treatments for bipolar affective disorder (BAD). Both drugs are used in the acute treatment of mania and, more frequently, as longer-term mood stabilisers. The British National Formulary (BNF, Vol. 32, 1996) provides information on the use of carbamazepine in the ‘prophylaxis of manic depressive illness' and suggests that the ‘usual range’ of doses is between 400 mg and 600 mg daily. No guidance on the use of valproate in BAD is given in the BNF because the drug is not licensed for this indication in the UK.

Type
Drug Information Quarterly
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Bowden, C. L., Brugger, A. M., Swann, A. C., et al (1994) Efficacy of divalproex vs lithium and placebo in the treatment of mania. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271, 918924.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowden, C. L., Janicak, P. G., Orsulak, P., et al (1996) Relation of serum valproate concentration to response in mania. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 765770.Google ScholarPubMed
Brown, R. (1989) U.S. experience with valproate in manic depressive illness: a multicenter trial. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 60 (Suppl 3), 1316.Google Scholar
Calabrese, J. R. & Delucchi, G. A. (1990) Spectrum of efficacy of valproate in 55 patients with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 431434.Google ScholarPubMed
Calabrese, J. R., Markovitz, P. J., Kimmel, S. E., et al (1992) Spectrum of efficacy of valproate in 78 rapid-cycling bipolar patients. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 12, 53S56S.Google Scholar
Frankenburg, F. R., Tohen, M., Cohen, B. M., et al (1988) Long-term response to carbamazepine: a retrospective study. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 8, 130132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerner, R. H. & Stanton, A. (1992) Algorithm for patient management of acute manic states: lithium, valproate, or carbamazepine? Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 12, 57S63S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobsen, F. M. (1993) Low-dose valproate: a new treatment for cyclothymia, mild rapid cycling disorders, and premenstrual syndrome. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 54, 229234.Google ScholarPubMed
Joyce, P. R. (1988) Carbamazepine in rapid cycling bipolar affective disorder. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 3, 123129.Google Scholar
Lerer, B., Moore, N., Meyendorff, E., et al (1987) Carbamazepine versus lithium in mania: a double-blind study. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 48, 8993.Google Scholar
Lusznat, R. M., Murphy, D. P. & Nunn, C. M. H. (1988) Carbamazepine vs lithium in the treatment and prophylaxis of mania. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 198204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McElroy, S. L., Keck, P. E. Jr., Harrison, G., et al (1992) Valproate in the treatment of bipolar disorder Literature review and clinical guidelines. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 12, 42S52S.Google Scholar
Okuma, T., Yamashita, I., Takahashi, R., et al (1990) Comparison of the antimanic efficacy of carbamazepine and lithium carbonate of double-blind controlled study. Pharmacopsychiatry, 23, 143150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Placidi, G. F., Lenzi, A., Lazzerini, F., et al (1986) The comparative efficacy and safety of carbamazepine versus lithium: a randomized, double-blind 3-year trail in 83 patients. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 47, 490494.Google Scholar
Pope, H. G. Jr., McElroy, S. I., Keck, P. E. Jr., et al (1991) Valproate in the treatment of acute mania. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 6268.Google Scholar
Small, J. G., Klapper, M. H., Milstein, V., et al (1991) Carbamazepine compared with lithium in the treatment of mania. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 915921.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stuppaeck, C., Barnas, C., Miller, C., et al (1990) Carbamazepine in the prophylaxis of mood disorders. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 10, 3942.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.