Treatment guidelines for bipolar disorder: A critical review

Treatment guidelines may be useful to avoid non-evidence-based treatment decisions, but they are quickly out-of-date and may not fully apply to the clinical setting. The more recent guidelines point the value of atypical antipsychotics, lithium, and valproate in the treatment of mania; the role of lithium, lamotrigine, and olanzapine as options for maintenance therapy; and the scarcity of options for the treatment of bipolar depression. Psychoeducation is also supported by most guidelines as an adjunctive treatment.