Lithium carbonate
A lithium drug used to prevent relapses of mania and depression. In 1949 the Australian psychiatrist John Cade reported its effect on mania after experiments on guinea pigs.
Cade used lithium salts in experiments on the toxicity of substances in urine and noticed that the guinea pigs became lethargic and calm. In 1949 he reported the results in ten patients with mania[1]. The dose that works is close to the dose that poisons, and an overdose can be fatal[1][2].
In 1954 Mogens Schou and colleagues in Denmark tested it by switching patients between lithium and placebo without the patients or the doctors knowing which was which[3]. In a 1970 trial, half of 84 patients already taking lithium were switched to placebo without being told; over five months 21 in the placebo group relapsed and none of those who stayed on lithium did[4]. How it works is still not clear[2].
Related terms
- Manic-depressive insanityAn illness in which periods of elevated mood and overactivity alternate with periods of depression. Kraepelin put it together in 1899, set apart from dementia praecox.
- PlaceboA tablet or similar that looks like the real drug but contains no active ingredient. Comparing a drug against it shows whether the drug really works.
Sources
- J. F. J. Cade, “Lithium salts in the treatment of psychotic excitement,” Medical Journal of Australia 2(10), 349–352 (1949).
- A. J. Lees, “Lithium: a slow burner,” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 91(4), 335–337 (2020).
- M. Schou, N. Juel-Nielsen, E. Strömgren, H. Voldby, “The Treatment of Manic Psychoses by the Administration of Lithium Salts,” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 17(4), 250–260 (1954).
- P. C. Baastrup, J. C. Poulsen, M. Schou, K. Thomsen, A. Amdisen, “Prophylactic Lithium: Double Blind Discontinuation in Manic-Depressive and Recurrent-Depressive Disorders,” The Lancet 296(7668), 326–330 (1970).