The use of Lithium Salts in Affective Disorders

Abstract

Since the original observations in Australia by Cade (1949) and Noack and Trautner (1951) on the use of lithium salts in psychiatric practice there has been a modest but steady stream of publications on the subject. The most persistent investigator has been Schou in Denmark (1954, 1955, 1956, 1959), who, with his colleagues, has been able to present a series of manic patients, observed over a sufficient period of time and subjected to controlled conditions, in which the clinical value of the drug has been convincingly demonstrated. Other important series have been reported by Teuliéet al.(1955), Rice (1956), Adreaniet al.(1958), Kingstone (1960), and Gershon and Yuwiller (1960).