Pharmacogenetics to prevent maniac affective switching with treatment for bipolar disorder: CYP2D6

Bipolar disorder (BPD), formerly known as manic depression, is a mental illness characterized by periods of depression and periods of mania/hypomania. The main symptoms such as depressed mood, insomnia, paranoid ideation, anxiety and appetite changes are shared with other psychiatric disorders. However, the phenomenon of switching, in other words, a sudden transition from a mood episode to another episode of the opposite polarity, is a critical difference between BPD and other psychiatric disorders [1]. Despite the importance of the switching phenomenon, the exact mechanisms leading to this process are still poorly understood although certain neurobiological factors have been associated with...