Home » Newsletters » The Carlat Psychiatry Report

The Carlat Psychiatry Report

Bipolar Disorder: The Basics (August) | 2003

View Archived Issues

The Lithium Story

August 1, 2003

The discovery of the therapeutic effects of lithium is one of the most fabulous examples of serendipity in all of science. In 1949, John Cade was a 37 year old superintendent of a psychiatric hospital in the Australian outback. Read More

Dr. Nassir Ghaemi on Antidepressants in Bipolar Disorder

August 1, 2003

Nassir Ghaemi, M.D.

Dr. Ghaemi, I thought we could discuss this rather controversial issue of whether antidepressants (ADs) should be prescribed in bipolar disorder, particularly in light of the recent article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry by Altshuler et. al. (1). Read More

The Lowdown on Depakote

August 1, 2003

Daniel Carlat, MD

First thing's first. What's the deal with all the confusing names for Depakote? The basic, irreducible molecule here is valproic acid, also known as valproate, and the brand name of this is "Depakene", not Depakote. Read More

Bipolar Confusion: Diagnosis Hints

August 1, 2003

Daniel Carlat, MD

Suddenly, it seems that everybody and their cousin is asking us if they have bipolar disorder. A few years ago, bipolar disorder was the ignored orphan diagnosis in psychiatry. However, now that various patented molecules have been proven effective, industry money is flying into efforts to publicize the diagnosis, and it's clearly working. Read More

The Incredible, The Amazing, Lithium

August 1, 2003

Daniel Carlat, MD

It's an amazing metal. Not only does it treat acute mania, prevent recurrences, and treat refractory depression, but when consumed as LiCl, it tastes pretty good on vegetables. Or at least it did before the 1950s, when it was dropped from the list of acceptable salt-substitutes for hypertensives because of a nasty tendency to cause toxicity. Read More

Cyclothymia

August 1, 2003

Dr. Carol Edelstein is a psychiatrist in private practice in Los Angeles, California, and has a particular interest in eating disorders. She describes a case below that falls in that vague hinterland between cyclothymia and bipolar disorder, type II. Read More