Anticonvulsant Mood Stabilizers, Antipsychotic Drugs and the Insulin Resistance Syndrome

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of various mood stabilizers (MS) on the insulin resistance syndrome (IRS; also called the metabolic syndrome) alone and in patients treated with antipsychotic drugs (APDs). Patients will be switched from their current antipsychotic medication to aripiprazole (Abilify) or ziprasidone (Geodon) (unless clinically contraindicated) for comparison with metabolic levels during treatment with the former medication. The metabolic syndrome is an empirical concept based on extensive evidence that a constellation of 5 metabolic abnormalities, e.g. increased cholesterol, hypertension, low HDL, taken together, predict marked increases in the risk of CVD, stroke and some types of cancer.