Specific Treatments for Episodes of Depression and Mania
This section describes specific types of pharmacotherapies and psychosocial therapies for episodes of depression and mania. Treatment generally targets symptom patterns rather than specific disorders. Differences in the treatment strategy for unipolar and bipolar depression are described where relevant.
Treatment of Major Depressive Episodes
Pharmacotherapies
Antidepressant medications are effective across the full range of severity of major depressive episodes in major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1993; Depression Guideline Panel, 1993; Frank et al., 1993). The degree of effectiveness, however, varies according to the intensity of the depressive episode. With mild depressive episodes, the overall response rate is about 70 percent, including a placebo rate of about 60 percent (Thase & Howland, 1995). With severe depressive episodes, the overall response rate is much lower, as is the placebo rate. For example, with psychotic depression, the overall response rate to any one drug is only about 20 to 40 percent (Spiker, 1985), including a placebo response rate of less than 10 percent (Spiker & Kupfer, 1988; Schatzberg & Rothschild, 1992). Psychotic depression is treated with either an antidepressant/antipsychotic combination or ECT (Spiker, 1985; Schatzberg & Rothschild, 1992).
There are four major classes of antidepressant medications. The tricyclic and heterocyclic antidepressants (TCAs and HCAs) are named for their chemical structure. The MAOIs and SSRIs are classified by their initial neurochemical effects. In general, MAOIs and SSRIs increase the level of a target neurotransmitter by two distinct mechanisms. But, as discussed below, these classes of medications have many other effects. They also have some differential effects depending on the race or ethnicity of the patient.
The mode of action of antidepressants is complex and only partly understood. Put simply, most antidepressants are designed to heighten the level of a target neurotransmitter at the neuronal synapse. This can be accomplished by one or more of the following therapeutic actions: boosting the neurotransmitter’s synthesis, blocking its degradation, preventing its reuptake from the synapse into the presynaptic neuron, or mimicking its binding to postsynaptic receptors. To make matters more complicated, many antidepressant drugs affect more than one neurotransmitter. Explaining how any one drug alleviates depression probably entails multiple therapeutic actions, direct and indirect, on more than one neurotransmitter system (Feighner, 1999).
Selection of a particular antidepressant for a particular patient depends upon the patient’s past treatment history, the likelihood of side effects, safety in overdose, and expense (Depression Guideline Panel, 1993). A vast majority of U.S. psychiatrists favor the SSRIs as“first-line” medications (Olfson & Klerman, 1993). These agents are viewed more favorably than the TCAs because of their ease of use, more manageable side effects, and safety in overdose (Kapur et al., 1992; Preskorn & Burke, 1992). Perhaps the major drawback of the SSRIs is their expense: they are only available as name brands (until 2002 when they begin to come off patent). At minimum, SSRI therapy costs about $80 per month (Burke et al., 1994), and patients taking higher doses face proportionally greater costs.
Four SSRIs have been approved by the FDA for treatment of depression: fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, and citalopram. A fifth SSRI, fluvoxamine, is approved for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, yet is used off-label for depression.11 There are few compelling reasons to pick one SSRI over another for treatment of uncomplicated major depression, because they are more similar than different (Aguglia et al., 1993; Schone & Ludwig, 1993; Tignol, 1993; Preskorn, 1995). There are, however, several distinguishing pharmacokinetic differences between SSRIs, including elimination half-life (the time it takes for the plasma level of the drug to decrease 50 percent from steady-state), propensity for drug-drug interactions (e.g., via inhibition of hepatic enzymes), and antidepressant activity of metabolite(s) (DeVane, 1992). In general, SSRIs are more likely to be metabolized more slowly by African Americans and Asians, resulting in higher blood levels (Lin et al., 1997).
The SSRIs as a class of drugs have their own class-specific side effects, including nausea, diarrhea, headache, tremor, daytime sedation, failure to achieve orgasm, nervousness, and insomnia. Attrition from acute phase therapy because of side effects is typically 10 to 20 percent (Preskorn & Burke, 1992). The incidence of treatment-related suicidal thoughts for the SSRIs is low and comparable to the rate observed for other antidepressants (Beasley et al., 1991; Fava & Rosenbaum, 1991), despite reports to the contrary (Breggin & Breggin, 1994).
Some concern persists that the SSRIs are less effective than the TCAs for treatment of severe depressions, including melancholic and psychotic subtypes (Potter et al., 1991; Nelson, 1994). Yet there is no definitive answer (Danish University Anti-depressant Group, 1986, 1990; Pande & Sayler, 1993; Roose et al., 1994; Stuppaeck et al., 1994).
Side effects and potential lethality in overdose are the major drawbacks of the TCAs. An overdose of as little as 7-day supply of a TCA can result in potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias (Kapur et al., 1992). TCA treatment is typically initiated at lower dosages and titrated upward with careful attention to response and side effects. Doses for African Americans and Asians should be monitored more closely, because their slower metabolism of TCAs can lead to higher blood concentrations (Lin et al., 1997). Similarly, studies also suggest that there may be gender differences in drug metabolism and that plasma levels may change over the course of the menstrual cycle (Blumenthal, 1994b).
In addition to the four major classes of antidepressants are bupropion, which is discussed below, and three newer FDA-approved antidepressants that have mixed or compound synaptic effects. Venlafaxine, the first of these newer antidepressants, inhibits reuptake of both serotonin and, at higher doses, norepinephrine. In contrast to the TCAs, venlafaxine has somewhat milder side effects (Bolden-Watson & Richelson, 1993), which are like those of the SSRIs. Venlafaxine also has a low risk of cardiotoxicity and, although experience is limited, it appears to be less toxic than the others in overdose. Venlafaxine has shown promise in treatment of severe (Guelfi et al., 1995) or refractory (Nierenberg et al., 1994) depressive states and is superior to fluoxetine in one inpatient study (Clerc et al., 1994). Venlafaxine also occasionally causes increased blood pressure, and this can be a particular concern at higher doses (Thase, 1998).
Nefazodone, the second newer antidepressant, is unique in terms of both structure and neurochemical effects (Taylor et al., 1995). In contrast to the SSRIs, nefazodone improves sleep efficiency (Armitage et al., 1994). Its side effect profile is comparable to the other newer antidepressants, but it has the advantage of a lower rate of sexual side effects (Preskorn, 1995). The more recently FDA-approved antidepressant, mirtazapine, blocks two types of serotonin receptors, the 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 receptors (Feighner, 1999). Mirtazapine is also a potent antihistamine and tends to be more sedating than most other newer antidepressants. Weight gain can be another troublesome side effect.
Figure 4-2 presents summary findings on newer pharmacotherapies from a recent review of the treatment of depression by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR, 1999). There have been few studies of gender differences in clinical response to treatments for depression. A recent report (Kornstein et al., in press) found women with chronic depression to respond better to a SSRI than a tricyclic, yet the opposite for men. This effect was primarily in premenopausal women. The AHCPR report (1999) also noted that there were almost no data to address the efficacy of pharmacotherapies in post partum or pregnant women.
Alternate Pharmacotherapies
Regardless of the initial choice of pharmacotherapy, about 30 to 50 percent of patients do not respond to the initial medication. It has not been established firmly whether patients who respond poorly to one class of antidepressants should be switched automatically to an alternate class (Thase & Rush, 1997). Several studies have examined the efficacy of the TCAs and SSRIs when used in sequence (Peselow et al., 1989; Beasley et al., 1990). Approximately 30 to 50 percent of those not responsive to one class will respond to the other (Thase & Rush, 1997).
Among other types of antidepressants, the MAOIs and bupropion are important alternatives for SSRI and TCA nonresponders (Thase & Rush, 1995). These agents also may be relatively more effective than TCAs or SSRIs for treatment of depressions characterized by atypical or reversed vegetative symptoms (Goodnick & Extein, 1989; Quitkin et al., 1993b; Thase et al., 1995). Bupropion and the MAOIs also are good choices to treat bipolar depression (Himmelhoch et al., 1991; Thase et al., 1992; Sachs et al., 1994). Bupropion also has the advantage of a low rate of sexual side effects (Gardner & Johnston, 1985; Walker et al., 1993).
Bupropion’s efficacy and overall side effect profile might justify its first-line use for all types of depression (e.g., Kiev et al., 1994). Furthermore, bupropion has a novel neurochemical profile in terms of effects on dopamine and norepinephrine (Ascher et al., 1995). However, worries about an increased risk of seizures delayed bupropion’s introduction to the U.S. market by more than 5 years (Davidson, 1989). Although clearly effective for a broad range of depressions, use of the MAOIs has been limited for decades by concerns that when taken with certain foods containing the chemical tyramine (for example, some aged cheeses and red wines); these medications may cause a potentially lethal hypertensive reaction (Thase et al., 1995). There has been continued interest in development of safer, selective and reversible MAOIs.
Hypericum (St. John's Wort). The widespread publicity and use of the botanical product from the yellow-flowering Hypericum perforatum plant with or without medical supervision is well ahead of the science database supporting the effectiveness of this putative antidepressant. Controlled trials, mainly in Germany, have been positive in mild-to-moderate depression, with only mild gastrointestinal side effects reported (Linde et al., 1996). However, most of those studies were methodologically flawed, in areas including diagnosis (more similar to adjustment disorder with depressed mood than major depression), length of trial (often an inadequate 4 weeks), and either lack of placebo control or unusually low or high placebo response rates (Salzman, 1998).
Post-marketing surveillance in Germany, which found few adverse effects of Hypericum, depended upon spontaneous reporting of side effects by patients, an approach that would not be considered acceptable in this country (Deltito & Beyer, 1998). In clinical use, the most commonly encountered adverse effect noted appears to be sensitivity to sunlight.
Figure 4-2. Treatment of depression-newer pharmacotherapies: Summary findings
Newer antidepressant drugs* are effective treatments for major depression and dysthymia.
They are efficacious in primary care and specialty mental health care settings:
–Major depression:
50 percent response to active agent
32 percent response to placebo
–Dysthymia (fluoxetine, sertraline, and amisulpride):
59 percent response to active agent
37 percent response to placebo
Both older and newer antidepressants demonstrate similar efficacy.
Drop-out rates due to all causes combined are similar for newer and older agents:
Drop-out rates due to adverse effects are slightly higher for older agents.
Newer agents are often easier to use because of single daily dosing and less titration.
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*SSRIs and all other antidepressants marketed subsequently. Source: AHCPR, 1999.
Basic questions about mechanism of action and even the optimal formulation of a pharmaceutical product from the plant remain; dosage in the randomized German trials varied by sixfold (Linde et al., 1996). Several pharmacologically active components of St. John's wort, including hypericin, have been identified (Nathan, 1999); although their long half-lives in theory should permit once daily dosing, in practice a schedule of 300 mg three times a day is most commonly used. While initial speculation about significant MAO-inhibiting properties of hypericum have been largely discounted, possible serotonergic mechanisms suggest that combining this agent with an SSRI or other serotonergic antidepressant should be approached with caution. However, data regarding safety of hypericum in preclinical models or clinical samples are few (Nathan, 1999). At least two placebo-controlled trials in the United States are under way to compare the efficacy of Hypericum with that of an SSRI.
Augmentation Strategies
The transition from one antidepressant to another is time consuming, and patients sometimes feel worse in the process (Thase & Rush, 1997). Many clinicians bypass these problems by using a second medication to augment an ineffective antidepressant. The best studied strategies of this type are lithium augmentation, thyroid augmentation, and TCA-SSRI combinations (Nierenberg & White, 1990; Thase & Rush, 1997; Crismon et al., 1999).
Increasingly, clinicians are adding a noradrenergic TCA to an ineffective SSRI or vice versa. In an earlier era, such polypharmacy (the prescription of multiple drugs at the same time) was frowned upon. Thus far, the evidence supporting TCA-SSRI combinations is not conclusive (Thase & Rush, 1995). Caution is needed when using these agents in combination because SSRIs inhibit metabolism of several TCAs, resulting in a substantial increase in blood levels and toxicity or other adverse side effects from TCAs (Preskorn & Burke, 1992).
Psychotherapy and Counseling
Many people prefer psychotherapy or counseling over medication for treatment of depression (Roper, 1986; Seligman, 1995). Research conducted in the past two decades has helped to establish at least several newer forms of time-limited psychotherapy as being as effective as antidepressant pharmacotherapy in mild-to-moderate depressions (DiMascio et al., 1979; Elkin et al., 1989; Hollon et al., 1992; Depression Guideline Panel, 1993; Thase, 1995; Persons et al., 1996). The newer depression-specific therapies include cognitive-behavioral therapy (Beck et al., 1979) and interpersonal psychotherapy (Klerman et al., 1984). These approaches use a time-limited approach, a present tense (“here-and-now”) focus, and emphasize patient education and active collaboration. Interpersonal psychotherapy centers around four common problem areas: role disputes, role transitions, unresolved grief, and social deficits. Cognitive-behavioral therapy takes a more structured approach by emphasizing the interactive nature of thoughts, emotions, and behavior. It also helps the depressed patient to learn how to improve coping and lessen symptom distress.
There is no evidence that cognitive-behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy are differentially effective (Elkin et al., 1989; Thase, 1995). As reported earlier, both therapies appear to have some relapse prevention effects, although they are much less studied than the pharmacotherapies. Other more traditional forms of counseling and psychotherapy have not been extensively studied using a randomized clinical trial design (Depression Guideline Panel, 1993). It is important to determine if these more traditional treatments, as commonly practiced, are as effective as interpersonal psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy.
The brevity of this section reflects the succinctness of the findings on the effectiveness of these interventions as well as the lack of differential responses and“side effects.” It does not reflect a preference or superiority of medication except in conditions such as psychotic depression where psychotherapies are not effective.
Bipolar Depression
Treatment of bipolar depression12 has received surprisingly little study (Zornberg & Pope, 1993). Most psychiatrists prescribe the same antidepressants for treatment of bipolar depression as for major depressive disorder, although evidence is lacking to support this practice. It also is not certain that the same strategies should be used for treatment of depression in bipolar II (i.e., major depression plus a history of hypomania) and bipolar I (i.e., major depression with a history of at least one prior manic episode) (DSM-IV).
Pharmacotherapy of bipolar depression typically begins with lithium or an alternate mood stabilizer (DSM-IV; Frances et al., 1996). Mood stabilizers reduce the risk of cycling and have modest antidepressant effects; response rates of 30 to 50 percent are typical (DSM-IV; Zornberg & Pope, 1993). For bipolar depressions refractory to mood stabilizers, an antidepressant is typically added. Bipolar depression may be more responsive to nonsedating antidepressants, including the MAOIs, SSRIs, and bupropion (Cohn et al., 1989; Haykal & Akiskal, 1990; Himmelhoch et al., 1991; Peet, 1994; Sachs et al., 1994). The optimal length of continuation phase pharmacotherapy of bipolar depression has not been established empirically (DSM-IV). During the continuation phase, the risk of depressive relapse must be counterbalanced against the risk of inducing mania or rapid cycling (Kukopulos et al., 1980; Wehr & Goodwin, 1987; Solomon et al., 1995). Although not all studies are in agreement, antidepressants may increase mood cycling in a vulnerable subgroup, such as women with bipolar II disorder (Coryell et al., 1992; Bauer et al., 1994). Lithium is associated with increased risk of congenital anomalies when taken during the first trimester of pregnancy, and the anticonvulsants are contraindicated (see Cohen et al., 1994, for a review). This is problematic in view of the high risk of recurrence in pregnant bipolar women (Viguera & Cohen 1998).
Pharmacotherapy, Psychosocial Therapy, and Multimodal Therapy
The relative efficacy of pharmacotherapy and the newer forms of psychosocial treatment, such as interpersonal psychotherapy and the cognitive-behavioral therapies, is a controversial topic (Meterissian & Bradwejn, 1989; Klein & Ross, 1993; Munoz et al., 1994; Persons et al., 1996). For major depressive episodes of mild to moderate severity, meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials document the relative equivalence of these treatments (Dobson, 1989; Depression Guideline Panel, 1993). Yet for patients with bipolar and psychotic depression, who were excluded from these studies, pharmacotherapy is required: there is no evidence that these types of depressive episodes can be effectively treated with psychotherapy alone (Depression Guideline Panel, 1993; Thase, 1995). Current standards of practice suggest that therapists who withhold somatic treatments (i.e., pharmacotherapy or ECT) from such patients risk malpractice (DSM-IV; Klerman, 1990; American Psychiatric Association, 1993; Depression Guideline Panel, 1993).
For patients hospitalized with depression, somatic therapies also are considered the standard of care (American Psychiatric Association, 1993). Again, there is little evidence for the efficacy of psychosocial treatments alone when used instead of pharmacotherapy, although several studies suggest that carefully selected inpatients may respond to intensive cognitive-behavioral therapy (DeJong et al., 1986; Thase et al., 1991). However, in an era in which inpatient stays are measured in days, rather than in weeks, this option is seldom feasible. Combined therapies emphasizing both pharmacologic and intensive psychosocial treatments hold greater promise to improve the outcome of hospitalized patients, particularly if inpatient care is followed by ambulatory treatment (Miller et al., 1990; Scott, 1992).
Combined therapies—also called multimodal treatments—are especially valuable for outpatients with severe forms of depression. According to a recent meta-analysis of six studies, combined therapy (cognitive or interpersonal psychotherapy plus pharmacotherapy) was significantly more effective than psychotherapy alone for more severe recurrent depression. In milder depressions, psychotherapy alone was nearly as effective as combined therapy (Thase et al., 1997b). This meta-analysis was unable to compare combined therapy with pharmacotherapy alone or placebo due to an insufficient number of patients.
In summary, the DSM-IV definition of major depressive disorder spans a heterogenous group of conditions that benefit from psychosocial and/or pharmacological therapies. People with mild to moderate depression respond to psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy alone. People with severe depression require pharmacotherapy or ECT and they may also benefit from the addition of psychosocial therapy.
Preventing Relapse of Major Depressive Episodes
Recurrent Depression. Maintenance pharmacotherapy is the best-studied means to reduce the risk of recurrent depression (Prien & Kocsis, 1995; Thase & Sullivan, 1995). The magnitude of effectiveness in prevention of recurrent depressive episodes depends on the dose of the active agent used, the inherent risk of the population (i.e., chronicity, age, and number of prior episodes), the length of time being considered, and the patient’s adherence to the treatment regimen (Thase, 1993). Early studies, which tended to use lower dosages of medications, generally documented a twofold advantage relative to placebo (e.g., 60 vs. 30 percent) (Prien & Kocsis, 1995). In a more recent study of recurrent unipolar depression, the drug-placebo difference was nearly fivefold (Frank et al., 1990; Kupfer et al., 1992). This trial, in contrast to earlier randomized clinical trials, used a much higher dosage of imipramine, suggesting that full-dose maintenance pharmacotherapy may improve prophylaxis. Indeed, this was subsequently confirmed in a randomized clinical trial comparing full- and half-dose maintenance strategies (Frank et al., 1993).
There are few published studies on the prophylactic benefits of long-term pharmacotherapy with SSRIs, bupropion, nefazodone, or venlafaxine. However, available studies uniformly document 1-year efficacy rates of 80 to 90 percent in preventing recurrence of depression (Montgomery et al., 1988; Doogan & Caillard, 1992; Claghorn & Feighner, 1993; Duboff, 1993; Shrivastava et al., 1994; Franchini et al., 1997; Stewart et al., 1998). Thus, maintenance therapy with the newer agents is likely to yield outcomes comparable to the TCAs (Thase & Sullivan, 1995).
How does maintenance pharmacotherapy compare with psychotherapy? In one study of recurrent depression, monthly sessions of maintenance interpersonal psychotherapy had a 3-year success rate of about 35 percent (i.e., a rate falling between those for active and placebo pharmacotherapy) (Frank et al., 1990). Subsequent studies found maintenance interpersonal psychotherapy to be either a powerful or ineffective prophylactic therapy, depending on the patient/treatment match (Kupfer et al., 1990; Frank et al., 1991a; Spanier et al., 1996).
Bipolar Depression. No recent randomized clinical trials have examined prophylaxis against recurrent depression in bipolar disorder. In one older, well-controlled study, recurrence rates of more than 60 percent were observed despite maintenance treatment with lithium, either alone or in combination with imipramine (Shapiro et al., 1989).
Treatment of Mania
Acute Phase Efficacy
Success rates of 80 to 90 percent were once expected with lithium for the acute phase treatment of mania (e.g., Schou, 1989); however, lithium response rates of only 40 to 50 percent are now commonplace (Frances et al., 1996). Most recent studies thus underscore the limitations of lithium in mania (e.g., Gelenberg et al., 1989; Small et al., 1991; Freeman et al., 1992; Bowden et al., 1994). The apparent decline in lithium responsiveness may be partly due to sampling bias (i.e., university hospitals treat more refractory patients), but could also be attributable to factors such as younger age of onset, increased drug abuse comorbidity, or shorter therapeutic trials necessitated by briefer hospital stay (Solomon et al., 1995). The effectiveness of acute phase lithium treatment also is partially dependent on the clinical characteristics of the manic episode: dysphoric/mixed, psychotic, and rapid cycling episodes are less responsive to lithium alone (DSM-IV; Solomon et al., 1995).
A number of other medications initially developed for other indications are increasingly used for lithium-refractory or lithium-intolerant mania. The efficacy of two medications, the anticonvulsants carbamazepine and divalproex sodium, has been documented in randomized clinical trials (e.g., Small et al., 1991; Freeman et al., 1992; Bowden et al., 1994; Keller et al., 1992). Divalproex sodium has received FDA approval for the treatment of mania. The specific mechanisms of action for these agents have not been established, although they may stabilize neuronal membrane systems, including the cyclic adenosine monophosphate second messenger system (Post, 1990). The anticonvulsant medications under investigation for their effectiveness in mania include lamotrigine and gabapentin.
Another newer treatment, verapamil, is a calcium channel blocker initially approved by the FDA for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and hypertension. Since the mid-1980s, clinical reports and evidence from small randomized clinical trials suggest that the calcium channel blockers may have antimanic effects (Dubovsky et al., 1986; Garza-Trevino et al., 1992; Janicak et al., 1992, 1998). Like lithium and the anticonvulsants, the mechanism of action of verapamil has not been established. There is evidence of abnormalities of intracellular calcium levels in bipolar disorder (Dubovsky et al., 1992), and calcium’s role in modulating second messenger systems (Wachtel, 1990) has spurred continued interest in this class of medication. If effective, verapamil does have the additional advantage of having a lower potential for causing birth defects than does lithium, divalproex, or carbamazepine.
Adjunctive neuroleptics and high-potency benzodiazepines are used often in combination with mood stabilizers to treat mania. The very real risk of tardive dyskinesia has led to a shift in favor of adjunctive use of benzodiazepines instead of neuroleptics for acute stabilization of mania (Chouinard, 1988; Lenox et al., 1992). The novel antipsychotic clozapine has shown promise in otherwise refractory manic states (Suppes et al., 1992), although such treatment requires careful monitoring to help protect against development of agranulocytosis, a potentially lethal bone marrow toxicity. Other newer antipsychotic medications, including risperidone and olanzapine, have safer side effect profiles than clozapine and are now being studied in mania. For manic patients who are not responsive to or tolerant of pharmacotherapy, ECT is a viable alternative (Black et al., 1987; Mukherjee et al., 1994). Further discussion of antipsychotic drugs and their side effects is found in the section on schizophrenia.
Maintenance Treatment to Prevent Recurrences of Mania
The efficacy of lithium for prevention of mania also appears to be significantly lower now than in previous decades; recurrence rates of 40 to 60 percent are now typical despite ongoing lithium therapy (Prien et al., 1984; Gelenberg et al., 1989; Winokur et al., 1993). Still, more than 20 studies document the effectiveness of lithium in preventing suicide (Goodwin & Jamison, 1990). Medication noncompliance almost certainly plays a role in the failure of longer term lithium maintenance therapy (Aagaard et al., 1988). Indeed, abrupt discontinuation of lithium has been shown to accelerate the risk of relapse (Suppes et al., 1993). Medication“holidays” may similarly induce a lithium-refractory state (Post, 1992), although data are conflicting (Coryell et al., 1998). As noted earlier, antidepressant cotherapy also may accelerate cycle frequency or induce lithium-resistant rapid cycling (Kukopulos et al., 1980; Wehr & Goodwin, 1987).
With increasing recognition of the limitations of lithium prophylaxis, the anticonvulsants are used increasingly for maintenance therapy of bipolar disorder. Several randomized clinical trials have demonstrated the prophylactic efficacy of carbamazepine (Placidi et al., 1986; Lerer et al., 1987; Coxhead et al., 1992), whereas the value of divalproex preventive therapy is only supported by uncontrolled studies (Calabrese & Delucchi, 1990; McElroy et al., 1992; Post, 1990). Because of increased teratogenic risk associated with these agents, there is a need to obtain and evaluate information on alternative interventions for women with bipolar disorder of childbearing age.
Service Delivery for Mood Disorders
The mood disorders are associated with significant suffering and high social costs, as explained above (Broadhead et al., 1990; Greenberg et al., 1993; Wells et al., 1989; Wells et al., 1996). Many treatments are efficacious, yet in the case of depression, significant numbers of individuals either receive no care or inappropriate care (Katon et al., 1992; Narrow et al., 1993; Wells et al., 1994; Thase, 1996). Limitations in insurance benefits or in the management strategies employed in managed care arrangements may make it impossible to deliver recommended treatments. In addition, treatment outcome in real-world practice is not as effective as that demonstrated in clinical trials, a problem known as the gap between efficacy and effectiveness (see Chapter 2). The gap is greatest in the primary care setting, although it also is observed in specialty mental health practice. There is a need to develop case identification approaches for women in obstetrics/gynecology settings due to the high risk of recurrence in childbearing women with bipolar disorder. Little attention also has been paid to screening and mental health services for women in obstetrics/gynecology settings despite their high risk of depression (Miranda et al., 1998).
Primary care practice has been studied extensively, revealing low rates of both recognition and appropriate treatment of depression. Approximately one-third to one-half of patients with major depression go unrecognized in primary care settings (Gerber et al., 1989; Simon & Von Korff, 1995). Poor recognition leads to unnecessary and expensive diagnostic procedures, particularly in response to patients’ vague somatic complaints (Callahan et al., 1996). Fewer than one-half receive antidepressant medication according to Agency for Health Care Policy Research recommendations for dosage and duration (Simon et al., 1993; Rost et al., 1994; Katon 1995, 1996; Schulberg et al., 1995; Simon & Von Korff, 1995). About 40 percent discontinue their medication on their own during the first 4 to 6 weeks of treatment, and fewer still continue their medication for the recommended period of 6 months (Simon et al., 1993). Although drug treatment is the most common strategy for treating depression in primary care practice (Olfson & Klerman, 1992; Williams et al., 1999), about one-half of primary care physicians express a preference to include counseling or therapy as a component of treatment (Meredith et al., 1994, 1996). Few primary care practitioners, however, have formal training in psychotherapy, nor do they have the time (Meredith et al., 1994, 1996). A variety of strategies have been developed to improve the management of depression in primary care settings (cited in Katon et al., 1997). These are discussed in more detail in Chapter 5 because of the special problem of recognizing and treating depression among older adults.
Another major service delivery issue focuses on the substantial number of individuals with mood disorders who go on to develop a chronic and disabling course. Their needs for a wide array of services are similar to those of individuals with schizophrenia. Many of the service delivery issues relevant to individuals with severe and persistent mood disorders are presented in the final sections of this chapter.
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10 Nonadherence is defined as lack of adherence to prescribed activities such as keeping appointments, taking medication, and completing assignments.
11 Technically, FDA approves drugs for a selected indication (a disorder in a certain population). However, once the drug is marketed, doctors are at liberty to prescribe it for unapproved (off-label) indications.
12 Bipolar depression refers to episodes with symptoms of depression in patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
