Advances in the Treatment of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia
A supplement to Clinical Psychiatry News supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Pfizer. This supplement was jointly sponsored by The Elsevier Office of Continuing Medical Education/Excerpta Medica, Inc., an ACCME accredited provider, and Clinical Psychiatry News.
The articles in this supplement are based on faculty interviews and presentations given at a medical education conference.
To view the supplement, click the image above. To take the CME test, download and print out the PDF file, and follow the test instructions on page 12.
Faculty
Managing Patients with Bipolar Disorders
Robert M.A. Hirschfeld, MD
Titus H. Harris, Chair
Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
University of Texas Medical Branch
Galveston Grant/Research Support: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, and Wyeth; Consultant/Advisory Board: Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Forest Laboratories, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, L.P., Eli Lilly and Company, Novartis AG, Organon USA, Pfizer Inc., Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc, UCB Pharma, and Wyeth; Speaker's Bureau: Abbott, Forest, and GlaxoSmithKline. He discusses the unlabeled use of valproate, carbamazepine, carbamazepine XR, and oxcarbazepine in the treatment of acute mania in patients with bipolar disorder.
Switching Medications in Schizophrenia Patients: Considering Goals and Optimizing Outcomes
Peter J. Weiden, MD
Director, Schizophrenia Research Service
SUNY Downstate Medical Center & Kings County Hospital Center
Brooklyn, N.Y. Grant Support/Honoraria: AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen, and Pfizer; Consultant: AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen, Organon, and Pfizer.
Target Audience
This activity has been developed for psychiatrists and other mental health care professionals who are involved in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with bipolar disorder and/or schizophrenia.
Educational Needs
Atypical antipsychotic medications represent a significant advance in the treatment of patients with acute mania, schizophrenia, and other mental disorders. As a class, these medications have side effect profiles that make them superior to older (or "conventional") antipsychotic drugs. Nevertheless, differences in tolerability and efficacy do exist among the atypical antipsychotics, and clinicians must recognize that individual patients may have unique responses to these drugs. This activity offers current information for clinicians regarding the benefits and appropriate use of these newer antipsychotic medications for patients with bipolar disorder with acute mania and for patients with schizophrenia.
Learning Objectives
After reading and studying this supplement, participants should be able to discuss:
• the current clinical interventions in pharmacologic and behavioral treatments of mania.
• maintenance treatment issues for acute bipolar mania.
• the maintenance versus the recovery model of schizophrenia treatment.
• how to identify patients with schizophrenia who are appropriate candidates for switching antipsychotic medications.
• effective management of side effects during antipsychotic medication switching.
Accreditation
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of the Elsevier Office of Continuing Medical Education (OCME)/Excerpta Medica, Inc., and Clinical Psychiatry News. The Elsevier OCME/Excerpta Medica is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Elsevier OCME/Excerpta Medica designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.25 category 1 credits toward the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those credits that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.
The American Medical Association has determined that non-US licensed physicians who participate in this activity are eligible for AMA/Physician's Recognition Award category 1 credit.
Term of Approval: December 2004–November 30, 2005.
