It depends on the person, and it won't work 100% of the time. Mood stabilizers don't actually help me at all and tend to make me sick, so I can't even take them. I happened to be put on a medication that treats my mania and my depression, but for some people just a mood stabilizer will work well enough. However, I have heard that it seems to be more common for people to be on a mood stabilizer as well as a different medication.