Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:45:20.403Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lithium Withdrawal Triggers Psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. Margo  and
P. McMahon
A. Margo
Affiliation:
Goodmayes Hospital, Essex; and Honorary Research Worker, Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
P. McMahon
Affiliation:
Goodmayes Hospital, Essex
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Four healthy people on lithium for manic depressive liability relapsed within 14 days of the drug being secretly replaced by placebo. Their new manic attacks were at least as severe as any of their previous episodes.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 141 , Issue 4 , October 1982 , pp. 407 - 410
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1982 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baastrup, P. C., Poulsen, J. C., Schou, M., Thomsen, K. & Amsden, A. (1970) Prophylactic lithium: Double blind discontinuation in manic depressive and recurrent depressive disorders. Lancet, 2, 326–30.Google ScholarPubMed
Baastrup, P. C. (1980) Lithium in the prophylactic treatment of recurrent affective disorders. Handbook of Lithium Therapy, (ed. Johnson, F. N.). Lancaster: MTP Press.Google Scholar
Bunney, W. E. (1978) Psychopharmacology of the switch process in affective illness. In Psychopharmacology: A generation of progress, (eds. Lipton, M. A., Di Muscio, A. and Killam, K. F.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Christodoulou, G. N. & Lykouras, E. P. (1982) Abrupt lithium discontinuation in manic depressive patients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 65, 310–14.Google Scholar
Endicott, J., Spitzer, R., Fleiss, J. & Cohen, J. (1976) The global assessment scale. A procedure for measuring overall severity of psychiatric disturbance. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 766–77.Google Scholar
Fyro, B. & Petterson, U. (1977) A double blind study of the prophylactic effect of lithium in manic depressive disease. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 269, 17–23.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.Google Scholar
Holmes, T. H. & Rahe, R. H. (1967) The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11, 213–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hullin, R. P., McDonald, R. & Allsopp, M. N. E. (1972) Prophylactic lithium in recurrent affective disorders. Lancet, i, 1044–6.Google Scholar
Klein, H. E., Broucek, B. & Greil, W. (1981) Lithium withdrawal triggers psychotic states. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 255–6.Google Scholar
Lapierre, Y. D., Gagnon, A. & Kokkinidis, L. (1980) Rapid recurrence of mania following lithium withdrawal. Biological Psychiatry, 15, 859–64.Google Scholar
Melia, P. I. (1970) Prophylactic lithium: A double blind trial in recurrent affective disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 621–4.Google Scholar
Schou, M. & Thomsen, K. (1975) Lithium prophylaxis of recurrent endogenous affective disorders. In Lithium Research and Therapy, (ed. Johnson, N.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Small, J. G., Small, I. F. & Moore, D. F. (1971) Experimental withdrawal of lithium in recovered manic depressive patients: A report of five cases. American Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 1555–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snaith, R. P., Ahmed, S. N., Mehta, S. & Hamilton, M. (1971) Assessment of the severity of primary depressive illness. Wakefield self-assessment depression inventory. Psychological Medicine, 1, 143–9.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, D. G. (1979) Difficulty in stopping lithium prophylaxis. British Medical Journal, i, 235–6.Google Scholar
Young, R. C., Biggs, J. T., Ziegler, V. E. & Meyer, D. A. (1978) A rating scale for mania: Reliability, Validity and Sensitivity. British Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 429–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.