Safe medication to give for someone who may be bipolar vs MDD?

Hi, I am now starting outpatient in my third year and I have noticed that some of the patients I inherited are on SSRI's with a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. I was always under the impression that you avoid SSRI's without a mood stabilizer. My guess is these patients were probably Bipolar in the past but now they are being treated for depression as the Bipolar symptoms went into remission. I was wondering though, for discussion sake, are atypicals and Lithium generally safe for someone... Safe medication to give for someone who may be bipolar vs MDD?
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