What other medications help stabilize moods with bipolar disorder?
The antipsychotic medications are used alone or in combination with other mood stabilizers in patients with bipolar mania. Acute mania may be treated with older antipsychotic medications such as Haldol (haloperidol) and Risperdal (risperidone). The newer atypical antipsychotics are also used for bipolar. These drugs include Abilify (aripiprazole), Geodon (ziprasidone), Saphris (asenapine), Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate), and Zyprexa (olanzapine). Symbyax, an SSRI antidepressant (fluoxetine) combined with an antipsychotic (olanzapine), is also available to treat depression in bipolar disorder. Sometimes benzodiazepines are prescribed to help patients with acute mania and also to relieve insomnia. These drugs belong to a group of medications called central nervous system (CNS) depressants, which act on neurotransmitters to slow down normal brain function. CNS depressants are commonly used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders and are sometimes prescribed as adjunctive therapy with bipolar
