Bipolar disorders
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This paper proposes that the syndrome of mania rather than mood swings is the central distinguishing feature of bipolar disorder, which may be more appropriately viewed as manic disorder. The theoretical consequence of this change in perspective is to regard the depressive mood states as being a co-morbid condition. ⋯ The paper also reviews diagnostic issues relating to bipolar depression. A broader approach may extend therapeutic choices, and open innovative research avenues.
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To report a case report of a geriatric patient with a 5-year history of gabapentin use for enhanced bipolar control, who was tapered off of gabapentin over 1 week. The patient displayed unique withdrawal symptoms after the taper of gabapentin. ⋯ Gabapentin is widely utilized currently for the chronic treatment of recalcitrant migraines, bipolar illness, pain, and epilepsy. It has a wide therapeutic index with few side effects and drug interactions, is not hepatically metabolized, and is excreted by the kidneys. Past reports have suggested that some withdrawal symptoms can present after 1-2 days upon abrupt discontinuation of gabapentin after chronic use within young to middle-aged patients. These symptoms mimic that of alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal purportedly due to a similar mechanism of action. Unique to this case is that this geriatric patient developed debilitating withdrawal symptoms after a gradual, week-long taper of gabapentin along with flu-like symptoms. It is proposed herein that a gabapentin taper should follow a course similar to that of a benzodiazepine taper -- slowly and over a period of weeks to months.
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Few studies have examined the abnormalities that underlie the neuroanatomy of bipolar disorder in youth. The aim of this study was to evaluate brain regions that are thought to modulate mood utilizing quantitative analyses of thin-slice magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of adolescents with bipolar disorder. We hypothesized that adolescents with bipolar disorder would exhibit abnormalities in brain regions that are involved in the regulation of mood including the amygdala, globus pallidus, caudate, putamen, and thalamus. ⋯ Our findings indicate that adolescents with bipolar disorder exhibit abnormalities in some of the brain regions that are thought to be involved in the regulation of mood. Additional structural and functional neuroimaging investigations of children, adolescents, and adults with bipolar disorder are necessary to clarify the role of these brain regions in the neurophysiology of adolescent bipolar disorder.
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Recently published clinical research on lithium is briefly reviewed. The antimanic effect of lithium is supported by recent evidence. It is confirmed that a drastic reduction of affective morbidity is very frequent in bipolar patients receiving lithium prophylaxis regularly for several years, but that the impact of prophylaxis on the course of bipolar disorder is significantly limited by the high drop-out rate. ⋯ The effect of lithium prophylaxis does not seem to decrease over time, at least in the large majority of patients. The recurrence risk is increased in the months following lithium discontinuation. Lithium seems to exert an antisuicidal effect in bipolar patients.
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Focusing on bipolar disorders research, this article considers ethical issues of informed consent and privacy arising in genetic pedigree research at two stages: the construction of tentative pedigrees to determine family eligibility for study and, subsequently, the enrollment of subjects in and conduct of the family study. Increasing concern to protect the privacy of family members of primary subjects or probands, following ethical controversy over a survey study at Virginia Commonwealth University, has led some researchers and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to apply informed consent requirements to those represented on a tentative pedigree at the initial stage of research. ⋯ It argues that the likely risk-benefit ratio favors granting a waiver of consent requirements for this stage of pedigree research and presents grounds for IRBs to grant such a waiver. The article closes by considering particular ethical concerns that should be addressed in the informed consent discussion when enrolling subjects in pedigree studies of bipolar disorder, including concerns about subjects' competence to consent, management of interim and incidental findings, and issues particular to psychiatric research.