background Personal experience and recent literature indicate that clinicians often underestimate the severity and the range of movement disorders that can result from treatment with antidepressants and mood stabilisers.
aim To describe the prevalence, nature, symptoms and treatment of the movement disorders arising from the use of antidepressants and mood stabilisers.
method We searched Medline for relevant case-reports (patients > 18 years) and review articles for the period 1966 - January 2014). Our search was based on the search-terms ‘(drug-induced) movement disorders’ and ‘extrapyramidal symptoms’, ‘antidepressants’, ‘mood stabilisers’, ‘antiepileptics’ and ‘lithium’. The results were supplemented by movement disorders reported in the database of The Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb.
results The most prevalent side-effects were found to be tremor, acathisia, dystonia and (tardive) dyskinesia.
conclusion The clinician needs to be aware of the movement disorders that can result from treatment with antidepressants and mood stabilisers. Symptoms can generally be alleviated by adjusting the prescribed medication or sometimes by stopping the principal causal agent completely.