Publisher's Synopsis
The purpose of this book is to give an overview of the clinical usefulness and limitations of anticonvulsant drugs in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. These drugs, first developed for the treatment of epilepsy, have been found to have some remarkable, beneficial effects in many psychiatric conditions, especially some forms of affective psychoses resistant to conventional therapy.;This volume examines the use of the various anticonvulsant drugs in the treatment of mania, aggression, behavioural disorders of childhood and a variety of conductive disorders, as well as in withdrawal and detoxification states. The drugs are also useful in relieving psychiatric symptoms associated with epilepsy.;As well as discussing the use of these drugs in a clinical setting, the contributors from Europe and the USA review the basic experimental research, and the relevant pharmacodynamic principles and methods available for clinical research in this field. There is a presentation of the uses and limitations of antiepileptic drugs in the treatment of psychiatric disease. The book includes a full-colour section of in vivo imaging in neuropsychiatry. Every psychiatrist working with adults or children should be familiar with the psychotropic effects of the anticonvulants, and should find this book a useful reference.
