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Lithium Effects on Bipolar (Manic-Depressive) Illness and Other Behavior

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Neurobiology of the Trace Elements

Part of the book series: Contemporary Neuroscience ((CNEURO))

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Abstract

Lithium’s use in medicine dates back to the 1850s and the notion that in might be useful for the treatment of gout because lithium urate was the most soluble urate in the test tube. This latter fact underlay the serendipitous discovery by Cade in 19494 that lithium could be used to treat pathological excited states in humans. The subsequent development of the evidence to support this original finding has been well-documented in a number of review articles by Schou,30 Prien,25 and Gerbino et al.12 In summary, lithium was first found to be efficacious for the treatment of acute states of mania and later of value in the prophylaxis of both the manic and depressive episodes of bipolar (manic-depressive) illness. More recently, evidence has accumulated to demonstrate that lithium can be effective in the treatment of prophylaxis of acute episodes of unipolar depression. Thus lithium emerges as a unique agent able to control two abnormal states of behavior with apparently oppoexaggerated response to negative stimuli that is depression and the exaggerated responses to positive stimuli that is mania, or exaggerated angry responses. Lithium may then be acting to enhance the responsivitity to or the functional efficacy of 5-HT Some support for this notion comes form a recent study by deMontigny et al.,7 who showed that some patients with depression who were resistant to antidepressant drugs responded quickly when lithium was added.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Michael H. Sheard

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  1. Michael H. Sheard
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Ivor E. Dreosti Richard M. Smith

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© 1983 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Sheard, M.H. (1983). Lithium Effects on Bipolar (Manic-Depressive) Illness and Other Behavior. In: Dreosti, I.E., Smith, R.M. (eds) Neurobiology of the Trace Elements. Contemporary Neuroscience. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-458-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-458-0_9

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-5959-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-458-0

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