Clinical efficacy of carbamazepine in affective, schizoaffective, and schizophrenic disorders

The therapeutic effects of carbamazepine (CBZ) were evaluated in 103 patients with affective disorders, 54 with schizophrenic disorders, and 26 with schizoaffective disorders by a multi-institutional open study. The rate of marked and moderate improvement was 72.8% in affective disorders, 54.6% in schizophrenic disorders, and 61.5% in schizoaffective disorders. Symptom items of the Clinical Psychopharmacology Research Group rating scale for mania showed significant improvement in the patients with affective disorders as well as in those of the other two groups. In the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale as applied to patients with schizophrenic or schizoaffective disorders, symptom items related to affect and emotion showed significant improvement. The antimanic efficacy of CBZ was also noted in many poor responders to lithium. Side-effects were observed in 82 patients (44.8%), and abnormal laboratory findings in 37 patients (44.8%), and abnormal laboratory findings in 37 patients. The present study seems to confirm the usefulness of CBZ for the treatment of affective disorders and in some cases, of schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders.