Second Generation Long-Acting Antipsychotics in the Treatment of Bipolar Disorder: A Clinical Viewpoint

Abstract

Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a severe, chronic and disabling condition. The gold standard of treatment is lithium, but the introduction of Second Generation Long-Acting Antipsychotics (SGA-LAIs) has been addressed several problems in the administration of oral SGAs in BD such as the patient's adherence to the treatment. The aim of this commentary was to provide an overview of the use of SGA-LAIs in the treatment of BD. All considered, the use of SGA-LAIs such as Risperidone Long-Acting and Aripiprazole Long-Acting may have an important impact on the maintenance treatment of BD both in monotherapy or in association with mood stabilizers. In our opinion, the treatment with a SGA-LAI should be initiated as early as possible in BD, especially when non-adherence is suspected. Moreover, as personality disorders (PD) and BD may often coexist, it is worthy to note that the PD-BD comorbidity may further decrease treatment adherence and, therefore, we believe that the early use of a SGA-LAI both in monotherapy or in association with mood stabilizers may dramatically improve the compliance and the overall outcomes in such cases. However, he safety profile should be always kept in mind when choosing an SGA-LAI in the treatment of BD.