Is it time to have another look at lithium maintenance therapy in bipolar disorder?

1. Bipolar disorder is typically a chronic disease entailing an episodes course, whereby psychiatric status alternates between periods of normal functioning and periods of illness. Lithium is well established and approved for the treatment of bipolar disorder. However, its efficacy in practice is not as great as expected. This retrospective record study was undertaken to determine the efficacy of lithium in bipolar disorders. 2. 48 patients who met DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for bipolar I disorder and had been admitted once before lithium therapy and twice or more after that, were included in this study. 3. No significant difference in length between episode (frequency) was observed before and after lithium maintenance therapy. In addition, the percentages of manic episode after lithium therapy were much greater than before that. 4. The results indicate that it is worth re-examining the efficacy of lithium in bipolar disorders.