The Clinical Uses and Pharmacology of Carbamazepine in Psychiatry

Abstract

Good evidence now exists for a therapeutic action of carbamazepine (CBZ) both in acute mania and in the prophylaxis of manic depression. Comparison with other existing therapies and incidence of adverse effects in psychiatric patients also deserve more clinical research. This paper reviews these clinical issues and then outlines what is known about the pharmacology of CBZ, in particular comparing it to lithium, the drug with the most similar clinical spectrum of action in psychiatry.