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Lithium: balancing risks and benefits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

John Cookson
John Cookson*
Affiliation:
The Royal London Hospital St Clement's, 2A Bow Road, London E3 4LL
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Extract

More than 20 years have passed since publication of the pivotal studies of efficacy upon which our use of lithium in acute mania and the prophylaxis of bipolar disorder are based. Since then, two of the most important discoveries about lithium have been the phenomenon of lithium withdrawal mania, and the recognition of permanent neurological sequelae after lithium toxicity. The use of lithium survived earlier criticism from the Institute of Psychiatry (Blackwell & Shepherd, 1968), but the new discoveries call for a reappraisal of the studies and reconsideration of whether lithium has a place in treatment, for which patients it should be recommended, what information and supervision should be given to patients on lithium, and what doctors should be expected to know of it.

Type
Evidece-Based Psychiatry
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 171 , Issue 2 , August 1997 , pp. 120 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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