Treatments for Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder can be treated. It’s a long-term condition that needs ongoing care. People who have four or more mood episodes in a year, or who also have drug or alcohol problems, can have forms of the illness that are much harder to treat.
Treatment can make a huge difference. With a combination of things good medical care, medication, talk therapy, lifestyle changes, and the support of friends and family you can feel better. Bipolar disorder or manic depression, as it is also still sometimes called has no known cure. It is a chronic health condition that requires lifetime management. Plenty of people with this condition do well; they have families and jobs and live normal lives.
You'll typically need mood-stabilizing medication to control manic or hypomanic episodes. Examples of mood stabilizers include lithium (Lithobid), valproic acid (Depakene), divalproex sodium (Depakote), carbamazepine (Tegretol, Equetro, others) and lamotrigine (Lamictal).
If symptoms of depression or mania persist in spite of treatment with other medications, adding an antipsychotic drug such as olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperidone (Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel), aripiprazole (Abilify), ziprasidone (Geodon), lurasidone (Latuda) or asenapine (Saphris) may help. Your doctor may prescribe some of these medications alone or along with a mood stabilizer.
Your doctor may add an antidepressant to help manage depression. Because an antidepressant can sometimes trigger a manic episode, it's usually prescribed along with a mood stabilizer or antipsychotic.
The medication Symbyax combines the antidepressant fluoxetine and the antipsychotic olanzapine. It works as a depression treatment and a mood stabilizer.
Benzodiazepines may help with anxiety and improve sleep, but are usually used on a short-term basis.