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Lamotrigine treatment of aggression in female borderline-patients: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Clinic, Regensburg, Germany

Cerstin Nickel

Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Inntalklinik, Simbach am Inn, Germany

Claas Lahmann

Peter K. Leiberich

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Clinic, Regensburg, Germany

Wolfhardt K. Rother

Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Inntalklinik, Simbach am Inn, Germany

Thomas H. Loew

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Clinic, Regensburg, Germany

Marius K. Nickel

Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Inntalklinik, Simbach am Inn, Germany and University Clinic for Psychiatry 1, CDK, Salzburg, Austria

Anger and aggression are typical in borderline patients. The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy of lamotrigine versus placebo in the treatment of aggression in women meeting the criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of lamotrigine in 24 female subjects meeting Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) criteria for BPD. Thesubjects were randomly assigned in a 2: 1 manner ratio to lamotrigine (n = 18) or placebo (n = 9). Treatment duration was 8 weeks. Primary outcome measures were self-reported changes on the anger scales of the Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). In comparisone with theplacebo group, and according to the intention-to-treat principle, highly significant (p < 0.01) changes on four STAXI scales (State–Anger, Trait–Anger, Anger–Out, Anger–Control) were observed in those subjects treated with lamotrigine after 8 weeks. The only exception (p < 0.05) was found on the Anger–In scale, where a difference of only 8.5% (p < 0.2) was found. All the patients tolerated lamotrigine relatively well. Lamotrigine appears to be a safe and effective agent in thetreatment of anger in women with criteria-defined BPD as defined by SCID criteria. It did not produce any clinically significant effect on body weight.

Key Words: aggression • borderline personality disorder • lamotrigine

Journal of Psychopharmacology, Vol. 19, No. 3, 287-291 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0269881105051540


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