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Doses of carbamazepine and valproate in bipolar affective disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Taylor*
Affiliation:
Pharmacy Department, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
Denise Duncan
Affiliation:
Pharmacy Department, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
*
Correspondence
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Carbamazepine and valproate are now well established treatments for bipolar affective disorder (BAD). Both drugs are used in the acute treatment of mania and, more frequently, as longer-term mood stabilisers. The British National Formulary (BNF, Vol. 32, 1996) provides information on the use of carbamazepine in the ‘prophylaxis of manic depressive illness' and suggests that the ‘usual range’ of doses is between 400 mg and 600 mg daily. No guidance on the use of valproate in BAD is given in the BNF because the drug is not licensed for this indication in the UK.

Type
Drug Information Quarterly
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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