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Antidepressant-associated mania: soon after switch from fluoxetine to mirtazapine in an elderly woman with mixed depressive featuresDepartment of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan chchliu{at}ntu.edu.tw
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Abstract Mirtazapine augmentation to a serotonin-reuptake inhibitor has been proposed to boost antidepressant effects and more likely to induce manic switch. Such a combined antidepressant therapy strategy should be used carefully if the patients refractoriness is attributable to mixed depressive features. Mixed depression is more difficult to be treated by antidepressant monotherapy and related to higher risk of manic switch during treatment. We report a case with no previous history of bipolar disorder, whereas developed full-blown psychotic manic symptoms soon after switch from fluoxetine to mirtazapine. The patients premorbid characters and clinical presentations suggested an implicit bipolarity that predisposed her to a manic switch. Her manic switch was likely to be triggered by a simulated combined effect because of complex drug interactions during shifting from fluoxetine to mirtazapine. For patients in mixed depressive states, mood stabilizers are preferable to antidepressants.
Key Words: combined antidepressant therapy fluoxetine induced-mania mirtazapine mixed depressive states
This version was published on March
1, 2009 Journal of Psychopharmacology, Vol. 23, No. 2,
220-222 (2009) |
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