Seasick Remedy Shows Promise for Depression & Bipolar Disorder

Who would have believed it? Some time back, researchers Maura Furey and Dr. Wayne Drevets were testing the drug scopolamine to see if it would improve memory and attention during depression. What they found was that the medication was, in too many cases to be a coincidence, actually relieving depression.

In October 2006 they published the results of their first small studies. Eighteen patients, 9 diagnosed with major depression, 9 with bipolar disorder, were divided into two groups. Eight of these patients, some in one group, some in the other, also had one or more anxiety disorders. Scopolamine and placebo were given intravenously. One group got three doses of scopolamine and then three of placebo, each treatment 3-5 days apart. The other group received placebo first and then scopolamine.

The results? Those who received scopolamine first immediately started to show improvement on both depression and anxiety scores. The second group, receiving placebo first, showed little improvement from those treatments, but then began to improve significantly once they received scopolamine. Most importantly, the patients who received scopolamine first continued to feel better after placebo treatments were started.

All the patients reported drowsiness with both scopolamine and placebo. Side effects that were frequent with scopolamine and less so with placebo included dry mouth, blurred vision and lightheadedness.

The authors of this study commented, "Scopolamine produced rapid and robust antidepressant and antianxiety effects in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression." Obviously, this needs to be researched a great deal more, and in fact, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is recruiting patients for another study using scopolamine and placebo skin patches as well as pills.

Furey and Drevets' results are certainly encouraging. It is good to know that scientists are always looking for new and better ways to treat bipolar disorder.

References:

Furey, Maura, and Wayne C. Drevets. "Antidepressant Efficacy of the Antimuscarinic Drug Scopolamine." Archives of General Psychiatry. October 2006.

"NIMH Researchers Discover Medication's Antidepressant Potential." National Institute of Mental Health. 02 10 2006. NIMH. 6 Sep 2007 http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/.