Lamotrigine in the treatment of resistant bipolar disorder

Antiepileptic drugs, such as carbamazepine and sodium valproate, are integral to psychopharmacologic therapy over the last decades. Lamotrigine is a new antiepileptic drug that acts on amino acid neurotransmitters/neuromodulators, most prominently, glutamine, which has been reported to have potential mood-stabilizing effects. The reports on this effect are limited and sparse, and systematic investigations have not been published. Here we present two clinical cases representing atypical patient groups in which lamotrigine was successfully used as an add-on therapy for resistant bipolar depression.