ABSTRACT
Antiepileptic agents have been used to treat bipolar manic and mixed episodes since early investigational pilot trials dating back to the 1960s (1). Research into the potential efficacy of antiepileptic agents in the treatment of bipolar disorder has been based on empirical observations of the efficacy of specific agents as well as heuristic models of the potential pathogenesis of bipolar disorder, such as the kindling hypothesis (2). Antiepileptic agents include a broad group of compounds with diverse pharmacological properties and differential efficacy in various forms of epilepsy. In this chapter, we review the evidence to date regarding the efficacy of antiepileptic agents in the treatment of bipolar manic and mixed episodes, with particular attention to agents studied in randomized, controlled trials.
