Patients with bipolar disorder experience cyclic episodes of mania and depression which makes symptom management challenging. Common treatment practices include antidepressants and mood stabilizers or antipsychotics. An international clinical trial study of 177 patients with Bipolar I in remission from a depressive episode were randomly assigned to continue antidepressant use for 52 weeks or taper antidepressant use after six weeks and begin taking a placebo at eight weeks. Patients continuing antidepressant use were significantly less likely to experience a depressive episode (17%) compared to those taking a placebo (40%). However, 12% experienced a manic episode compared to 6% in the placebo group. Further research is needed to better understand the maintenance of manic and depressive episodes in patients with bipolar disorder. To learn more, read the article in the New England Journal of Medicine.