Polypharmacy in Maintenance of Bipolar Disorder.

Objectives: To track the outcomes of bipolar patients who had remitted from an acute manic episode on single- and multiple-drug regimens including lithium (LI), valproate (VPA), and carbamazepine (CBZ), in order to compare relapse rates on 1, 2, or 3 medications.

Methods: Following treatment of an acute manic episode and a 1-month period of no signs of mood episodes, patients were evaluated at 1- to 2-month intervals as to the kind of regimen required to maintain their stability while continuing on this regimen for 2 years. Medication regimens included 1, 2, or 3 of the following drugs: LI, VPA, and/or CBZ.

Prophylactic efficacy of lithium, valproic acid, and carbamazepine in the maintenance phase of bipolar disorder: a naturalistic study.

Mood stabilizers are used clinically for the management of bipolar disorder. Prophylactic therapy with mood stabilizers is the primary treatment for preventing depressive and manic relapses in bipolar patients once they are stabilized. In this study, we examined the relative efficacy of the three most commonly used mood-stabilizing agents: lithium (Li), valproic acid (VPA), and carbamazepine (CBZ), in preventing relapse episodes.

Maintenance treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder: findings from a naturalistic setting.

Background: Although the utility of medication in the acute treatment of adult obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is well-established, the role of maintenance therapy is not as well-studied. This study examines the efficacy of long-term treatment for, and predictors of, stability in medicated patients with adult OCD.

Methods: Using the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), we retrospectively evaluated 84 OCD patients who responded to a 10- to 12-week, open-label, acute treatment in a naturalistic clinic setting.

Prophylactic efficacy of fluoxetine, escitalopram, sertraline, paroxetine, and concomitant psychotherapy in major depressive disorder: outcome after long-term follow-up.

The acute efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) is well established; however their role in longer-term prevention of recurrence remains unconfirmed. This study aims at examining: the prophylactic efficacy of four commonly used SSRIs in MDD in a naturalistic setting with long-term follow-up, the effect of concomitant cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and the predictors of outcome. In a prospective cohort study, 387 patients who either remitted or responded following treatment with four different SSRIs-fluoxetine, escitalopram, sertraline and paroxetine-were followed up over several years.

Patient-reported outcomes before and after treatment of major depressive disorder.

Patient reported outcomes (PROs) of quality of life (QoL), functioning, and depressive symptom severity are important in assessing the burden of illness of major depressive disorder (MDD) and to evaluate the impact of treatment. We sought to provide a detailed analysis of PROs before and after treatment of MDD from the large Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study. This analysis examines PROs before and after treatment in the second level of STAR*D.

The impact of spirituality before and after treatment of major depressive disorder.

Objective: The authors sought to assess spirituality in depressed patients and evaluate whether the degree of initial depressive symptoms and response to pharmacotherapy treatment has a correlation with degree of spirituality and belief in God.

Methods: Our participants included 84 patients who presented to a depression/anxiety clinic for naturalistic treatment of their depressive illness over the course of two years. All patients met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision criteria for major depression, as confirmed by structured interviews using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, and were treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for eight weeks.

The discrepancy between patients and informants on clinician-rated measures in major depressive disorder: implications for clinical trials and clinical practice.

Clinician-rated measures are used in clinical trials and measurement-based clinical care settings to assess baseline symptoms and treatment outcomes of major depressive disorder (MDD), with a widely held dictum that they are sufficient in assessing the patient's clinical status. In this study, we examined clinician-rated measures of depressive and global symptom severity, obtained by interviewing patients as well as informants in an attempt to examine the potential difference or similarity between these two sources of information. The sample consisted of 89 treatment seeking, DSM-IV diagnosed MDD outpatients treated between 1995 and 2004.