What is the role of exercise in bipolar disorder treatment?
Exercise clearly has antidepressant effects,Phelps even being shown recently to be equal to ZoloftBlumenthal — and perhaps better, 6 months after the end of treatment!Babyak It would be one of the most widely used antidepressant approaches, but for people s ability to stick with it. Even people without mood problems have trouble getting regular physical activity! Unfortunately this is not a joking matter: though Oregonians are more active than almost all other states in the U.S., still half of the state s population gets no regular physical activityCD summary. So expecting people with severe mood disturbances to get regular exercise is extremely unrealistic. However, my patients with the worst symptoms seem actually to have more regular exercise regimens. They seem to have learned from experience that it helps, and they are looking desperately for any help they can get. One patient in her late 20 s, who has had extreme agitation and racing thoughts, described exercise as very effectiv
