June 24, 2020
Keio University School of Medicine
Senior Lecturer Hiroyuki Uchida and Co-researcher Jun Sakurai of the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, have published the opinions of specialists certified by the Japanese Society of Clinical Neuropsychopharmacology on what is considered the best pharmacological treatment for various situations in the treatment of bipolar disorder. They participated in the society's guideline development project.
Although clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of bipolar disorder based on the results of clinical trials have been established both in Japan and internationally, no compilations of insights gained from actual clinical practice had been published.
Therefore, the Japanese Society of Clinical Neuropsychopharmacology categorized the various conditions experienced by patients with bipolar disorder into patterns and integrated the views of specialists on which drug is optimal for each.
The results showed that lithium monotherapy and combination therapy with lithium and antipsychotics are widely recommended as first-line treatments for various states of bipolar disorder. On the other hand, antipsychotic monotherapy and antidepressants were not considered first-line treatments for any state, and the use of benzodiazepines was recommended for the shortest possible duration. These specialist insights will need to be validated by future scientific research.
It is believed that by sharing these specialist insights with patients with bipolar disorder and their attending physicians, the drugs considered best for each state of the disorder will become clearer, contributing to the dissemination of better clinical care for bipolar disorder in the future.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of "Bipolar Disorders" on June 17, 2020, by Wiley.
For the full press release, please see below.