The development and descriptive use of the Lithium Attitudes Questionnaire

Studies of patients' attitudes towards lithium treatment are reviewed. In the present work, a brief questionnaire was developed as a means of identifying and grouping the problems patients commonly have with taking lithium regularly. This 'Lithium Attitudes Questionnaire' was found to yield consistent results which patients later confirmed at interview. It was also evaluated in relation to assessments patients made, prior to its first administration, of the main advantages and disadvantages of lithium treatment. Its subscores were then used to describe patients who expressed opposition to continuing on lithium, and those who missed their hypomanic episodes.