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Is There a Lithium Withdrawal Syndrome?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. J. Mander
A. J. Mander*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF
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Extract

Patients who discontinued lithium after a mean of 29 ± 21 months prophylaxis were compared with a similar group who were not taking the drug; all had only been in hospital once, and satisfied DSM-III criteria for mania. During the first three months following withdrawal of lithium, significantly more patients relapsed than in the control group; after this period, the rate was identical. These findings suggest that lithium withdrawal exists as a clinical phenomenon and that a period of lithium treatment does not improve the long-term prognosis, once the drug has been stopped.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 149 , Issue 4 , October 1986 , pp. 498 - 501
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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