Ashwin A Patkar, Chi-Un Pae, Paul A Vöhringer, Sivan Mauer, Meera Narasimhan, Shannon Dalley, Antony Loebel, Prakash S Masand, S Nassir Ghaemi
OBJECTIVE: Features of bipolarity in a major depressive disorder sample were used to define a "bipolar spectrum disorder" population for treatment with a neuroleptic agent, ziprasidone. METHODS: Forty-nine acutely depressed patients were randomized to ziprasidone-washout-placebo or placebo-washout-ziprasidone in this double-blind, prospective, 13-week crossover trial. All patients met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria for a major depressive episode and were positive for at least 3 predictors of bipolarity: family history of bipolar disorder, antidepressant-induced mania, highly recurrent depressive episodes (>5), atypical depression, early onset of depression (<age 20), failure to respond to antidepressants or antidepressant tolerance...
June 2015: Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology