The authors conducted a double-blind placebo-controlled study in which
patients with a wide range of manic symptoms were administered 20 mg of
naloxone subcutaneously. Naloxone failed to improve manic severity,
activation-arousal, or elation-grandiosity for intervals up to 3 hours.
Global nurse ratings of mania did not improve over an 8-hour period. The
authors suggest that the question of endorphin involvement in mania has not
been resolved and recommend clinical studies with longer acting oral
narcotic antagonists such as naltrexone.Abstract Teaser