Management
The World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines[19] recommend antidepressants, mood stabilisers and atypical antipsychotics as the main classes of treatment for Bipolar I Disorder. However, the choice of individual and combinations of treatments will be decided by physicians on a case-by-case basis taking into consideration the following aspects:
- Predominance of mania or hypomanic episodes versus depressive episodes over the course of illness
- Severity of episodes
- Associated psychotic symptoms and the number of episodes in which they occurred
- Whether previous episodes were or were not related to concurrent treatment with antidepressants or use or misuse of psycho stimulants
- Long-term tolerability of the medication considered
- Patient preferences
