Im on depakote and have never tried anything else, it helped at first, but really tapered off. Now they have added Risperdal because helps the depakote. Ehh, its ok, but the depakote alone was not enough for the mood rollercaster. I had a lot of manic episodes this summer, but I dont get too terribly bad, I only had two bad ones in four months. So, good luck, it works different on everyone. Thats cool that your doc gave you options, mine just handed me pills and said "take this" The first pdoc I saw forgot I have hypothyroidsim and he gave me lithium, which can cause that, so Im assuming if you have it allready it will make it worse. What stabilizes my moods the most though - COFFEE, I love coffee, caffeine!!