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The Efficacy of Lithium in Prophylaxis of Unipolar Depression Evidence from its Discontinuation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

F. G. M. Souza ,
A. J. Mander  and
G. M. Goodwin
F. G. M. Souza
Affiliation:
Edinburgh University Department of Psychiatry, State University of Ceara, Messejana Mental Hospital, Fortaleza, Brazil
A. J. Mander
Affiliation:
Royal Park Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, formerly Lecturer, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
G. M. Goodwin*
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
*
∗MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
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Abstract

Forty unipolar patients satisfying DSM–III criteria for major depression who discontinued lithium therapy were retrospectively compared with 105 similar patients who continued the drug and served as a control group. The time to readmission from starting lithium was compared while both groups were still on lithium, and after discontinuation in one group and further continuation in the control group. The progressive increase in the probability of recurrence over two years was the greatest after discontinuation of lithium. For the patients who eventually discontinued lithium, the cumulative probability of recurrence in two years was 0.08 on lithium and 0.58 after stopping it. The probability of recurrence was unchanged over the duration of the study for patients who continued to take lithium. There was no evidence of a lithium withdrawal syndrome within three months of stopping the drug. The results support the view that the everyday clinical use of lithium as prophylaxis is beneficial in unipolar depression.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 157 , Issue 5 , November 1990 , pp. 718 - 722
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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