OBJECTIVE: To review the history of 'mood-stabilizing' treatments. METHOD: We have reviewed primary source data on the origin of the use of current mood-stabilizers. RESULTS: This historical record on the origins of the mood-stabilizers points to a more ambiguous picture as regards pharmacotherapeutic specificity to bipolar disorders than is commonly conceded. CONCLUSIONS: This review suggests a need for alternative formulations of the concept of a mood-stabilizer. An alternative to the currently dominant paradigm is that these agents have treatment effects, which need to be matched more precisely with patients' constitutional types in order to optimize outcomes.
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Harris et al. (2003) studied this question.
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