ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Many therapeutic options have been evaluated and tried for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) including bright light therapy (BLT), anti-depressants, beta-blockers and psychotherapy, but the data supporting use of mood-stabilizing agents is just handful in spite of this condition being understood most frequently to be associated with bipolar affective disorder II (BPAD II). So we planned to study role of Lamotrigine (Mood stabilizing agent) in SAD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 30 patients of SAD who were prescribed lamotrigine in addition to antidepressant medications for a minimum of 8 weeks and were assessed for severity using HAM-D were selected retrospectively from the hospital records for this study. HAM-D scores at 2, 4 and 8 weeks were compared to baseline scores. STATISTICS ANALYSIS: Single tailed t-test was used to study the difference of means to assess the therapeutic response and pre/post analysis of change. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: Though no significant difference was seen in HAM-D Scores at 2 weeks of treatment compared to baseline, but results were statistically significant at 4 and 8 weeks of treatment with lamotrigine augmentation of antidepressant medications. CONCLUSION: We conclude that lamotrigine augmentation was found to be effective treatment strategy for managing winter depression phase of Seasonal Affective Disorder.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Resistance to pharmacotherapy is one of the major challenges in the management of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD being a quite prevalent disorder, this resistance adds to the disability. Different strategies are being employed to counter this resistance, one of them being augmentation with glutamatergic modulators. Lamotrigine is being used for same since the recent past with mixed results. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to study the role of lamotrigine augmentation in serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) resistant OCD patients. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS: This study was carried by studying the case sheets of SRI resistant cases having already completed the treatment. A total of 22 cases sheets over 2 years met the study criteria with a mean age of mean age of 34.14 years. Over a period of 16 weeks, with a mean lamotrigine dose of 150 mg/day, 20 out of 22 patients had shown a significant response. The mean decrease in Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale score was 67.23% with a baseline score of 28.87. There was a similar change on different domains of World Health Organization quality of life (P = 0.00564). CONCLUSION: Lamotrigine augmentation to on-going treatment with SRIs may be an effective move in case of SRI resistant OCD patients.
