How to help bipolar patients get better

A new study finds that bipolar patients treated with antidepressants can achieve better outcomes than those treated with less powerful medications, with better treatment outcomes even when compared with patients with no current depressive symptoms.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the University at Buffalo (UBC) conducted a randomized controlled trial in which patients with bipolar depression were randomized to receive an antidepressant (the drug Zoloft) or a placebo, and compared with those treated only with an antidepressant.

Patients with depression were randomly assigned to receive the Zolob or placebo, but those who received the antidepressant were also randomized to take either the CBT or a sham treatment.

The study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, found that patients treated in the Zoob group experienced significant improvement on the Depression Rating Scale (DRSS) when compared to those who did not receive the antidepressant.

Those who received an antidepressant reported more positive mood symptoms than those who had received the placebo.

The researchers found that the medication effect was greater when the patients were receiving an antidepressant than when they were receiving a placebo.

However, they found no benefit for the CBTC group, suggesting that the patients who received both medications did not benefit as much from treatment as the patients in the placebo group.

“Our results indicate that antidepressants are efficacious in reducing depressive symptoms in bipolar depression, and that the CBTS and CBTC strategies may be effective in preventing depressive symptoms,” said the study’s lead author, Jennifer D. Caulfield, PhD, a UCSF professor of psychiatry.

The results suggest that CBT and CBT alone may be able to reduce depressive symptoms and improve quality of life in bipolar patients, Caulfields told Reuters Health.

In the future, the researchers plan to conduct studies to determine if other medications are more effective in the treatment of bipolar depression.

“If we want to do more trials in the future that are looking at a broader range of antidepressants, that’s the next step,” Caulfeith said.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.