Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Role of lamotrigine augmentation to anti-depressant medication in winter depression

Abstract

Background: Many therapeutic options have been evaluated and tried for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) including bright light therapy (BLT), anti-depressants, beta-blockers and psychotherapy, but the data supporting use of mood-stabilizing agents is just handful in spite of this condition being understood most frequently to be associated with bipolar affective disorder II (BPAD II). So we planned to study role of Lamotrigine (Mood stabilizing agent) in SAD. Materials and Methods: 30 patients of SAD who were prescribed lamotrigine in addition to antidepressant medications for a minimum of 8 weeks and were assessed for severity using HAM-D were selected retrospectively from the hospital records for this study. HAM-D scores at 2, 4 and 8 weeks were compared to baseline scores. Statistics Analysis: Single tailed t-test was used to study the difference of means to assess the therapeutic response and pre/post analysis of change. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: Though no significant difference was seen in HAM-D Scores at 2 weeks of treatment compared to baseline, but results were statistically significant at 4 and 8 weeks of treatment with lamotrigine augmentation of antidepressant medications. Conclusion: We conclude that lamotrigine augmentation was found to be effective treatment strategy for managing winter depression phase of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Keywords

• Anti-depressant
• Lamotrigine
• mood-stabilizer
• seasonal affective disorder