LITHIUM-CARBONATE - MAINTENANCE STUDIES AND CONSEQUENCES OF WITHDRAWAL

The treatment of mood disorders with lithium carbonate has made a sign ificant impact on the health of patients who have these disorders and on the nature of psychiatry itself. Perhaps the single, most important finding about the efficacy of Lithium that has influenced American ps ychiatry is the fact that Lithium, given over long periods of time, re duces the frequency and severity of subsequent affective episodes in m anic depressive patients. This paper discusses the selection of patien ts for maintenance treatment, the dose of lithium, the maintenance tre atment of patients who have break-through episodes, those with hypoman ic breakthrough episodes, and rapid cycling. The use of lithium in uni polar depression and the elderly and the consequences of lithium disco ntinuation are also reviewed.