The Lancet Psychiatry
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 7, P511–512, JULY 2017. DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30232-8
Allan H Young
Lithium is the third element in the periodic table, and although lithium is present in the natural environment and is used to make batteries, it is perhaps best known as a therapeutic drug. Lithium in various forms was used to treat neuropsychiatric disorders before falling into disuse because of concerns over toxicity. The Australian psychiatrist John Cade rediscovered lithium for the treatment of mania in 1949 and the Danish psychiatrist Mogens Schou did one of the first randomised controlled trials…
