Effect of carbamazepine on body weight in affectively ill patients.

The effect of carbamazepine on body weight was studied in 24 patients with affective illness. Carbamazepine caused significant increases in body weight in the depressed but not the manic patients. Furthermore, the weight gain in the depressed patients seemed to be related to the response to treatment. These preliminary findings suggesting that weight gain is related to improvement in depression and not to a direct effect of the drug require further study.