Overlapping phenomena of bipolar disorder and epilepsy--a common pharmacological pathway.

Studies and data on prevalence, recognition and clinical features of bipolar disorder (BD) in epilepsy remain limited. Still, there is a growing evidence of BD and epilepsy being frequent co-morbid conditions with some features suggesting shared pathophysiological mechanisms that include the episodic course of both conditions, the possible kindling mechanism and the efficacy of some antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in BD.The aim of this paper is to review concepts of overlapping phenomena of bipolar disorder and epilepsy. A literature review of the theoretical bases of the relationship between BD and epilepsy is presented.The comorbidity of epilepsy and mood disorders was a subject of interest of many studies for decades. Bipolar disorder and epilepsy have a number of clinical, biochemical and pathophysiological features in common. Bipolar disorder in epilepsy, excluding the ictal or periictal symptoms, can be categorized using standardized measures. Standardized psychiatric interview procedures based on DSM criteria like SCID-I or MINI provide comprehensive way to diagnose mood disorders in patients with epilepsy.