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The Role of Memantine in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders Other Than the Dementias: A Review of Current Preclinical and Clinical Evidence
CNS Drugs, 07/16/2012
Clinical Article
Sani G et al. – In most psychiatric non–Alzheimer's disease conditions, the clinical data fail to support the usefulness of memantine as monotherapy or add–on treatment However, recent preclinical and clinical findings suggest that add–on memantine may show antimanic and mood–stabilizing effects in treatment–resistant bipolar disorder.
Methods- The authors performed a PubMed search of the effects of memantine in human studies of specific psychiatric disorders.
- The bulk of the data relates to the effects of memantine in major depressive disorder and schizophrenia, although more recent studies have provided data on the use of the drug in bipolar disorder as an add–on.
- Despite interesting preclinical data, results in major depression are not encouraging.
- The effects of memantine in anxiety disorders have been poorly investigated, but data indicate that the use of the drug in obsessive–compulsive disorder and post–traumatic stress disorder holds promise, while findings relating to generalized anxiety disorder are rather disappointing.
- Results in eating disorders, catatonia, impulse control disorders (pathological gambling), substance and alcohol abuse/dependence, and attention–deficit hyperactivity disorder are inconclusive.
