Introduction: Long-Term Use of Mood Stabilizers in Bipolar Disorder

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Many people in the United States are currently diagnosed with bipolar disorders. Theeffects of these disorders include significant health care costs for treatment (often including an array of medications and frequent hospital admissions), a loss of productivitycausing broad economic repercussions, and a risk of suicide. Mood-stabilizing medicationscan be defined broadly as medications that decrease episode severity, duration, or frequencyin one phase of bipolar disorder without causing negative effects on other phases.’ ‹’ ‹