Comparative Effects of Lithium and Chlorpromazine in the Treatment of Acute Manic States

Abstract

There are well over 50 published reports since 1949 on the use of lithium salts in psychiatric disorders, most of them in the decade since 1960. Considering only those studies reported in acute manic states, it is difficult to arrive at a reliable assessment of the specific therapeutic effect of lithium because quantitative evaluations were seldom employed, so that comparisons of outcome have to be based on statements of degree of improvement which are subject to varying interpretations. Furthermore most of the studies were not adequately controlled, and the diagnostic criteria used were not always clear.