"Mood Stabilizers" are medications which are commonly prescribed for Bipolar Disorder. They are a special class of drugs and are very serious medications with very serious health risks. Yet many times they are given to patients for "mood swings" or for "sleep". What are some of these medications, why do I put "mood stabilizers" in quotation marks, why is their administration a concern and what are the risks?
Let me list a few of the more common, new generation, "mood stabilizers" to which I am referring:
These new generation "mood stabilizers" were actually developed as antipsychotics - for Schizophrenia. They are heavy duty tranquilizers. If you have true Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder these may be the last resort for maintaining your psychiatric stability and sometimes offer a lesser of two evils when considering the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder vs. the side effects and health risks of these medications.
However, taking these medications for "sleep" or "mood swings" seems imprudent. There are serious risks involved including;
Other forms of "mood stabilizers" are anti-seizure medications. These may include:
The FDA recently published a warning that these medications could cause suicidal behavior and ideation in patients with mood disorders.
See the FDA Warning for Seroquel.
See the FDA Warning for Abilify.
See the FDA Warning for Zyprexa.
See the FDA Warning for Geodon.
See the FDA Warning for Risperdal.
See the FDA Warning for Suicidal Behavior and Ideation and Antiepileptic Drugs.
For more information on Bipolar Disorder see the Bipolar Disorder section of my website.
For more information on psychiatric medications, see the Medications or the Mood Stabilizers section of my website.
See Diagnostic Criteria for more information on diagnosing mental illness.
For more articles on mental health issues in general, please visit http://www.kellevision.com.
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