Strengths:

Proven efficacy in the acute treatment of mania

• In a 3-week study of bipolar patients currently experiencing a manic or mixed episode, ziprasidone-treated patients showed substantial improvement as early as 2 days into the study and maintained that improvement until the study end. [ICG Guidelines]
• Following remission of an initial episode of mania, patients should be withdrawn from their benzodiazepine or antipsychotic once the acute episode has resolved. [Australian Guidelines]

Weaknesses:

Data on maintenance are limited

• Following remission of an initial episode of mania, patients should be withdrawn from their benzodiazepine or antipsychotic once the acute episode has resolved. [Australian Guidelines]