The Rise of a Legend: Lithium and the Extraordinary Story of Its Discovery

Lithium is still the gold standard in the treatment of Bipolar disorder in adults. Despite the recent advances and the continuous increase in the use of antipsychotics and specific antiepileptics, it is still widely used despite not being promoted by the industry. Lithium was discovered in the early 19th century in a Swedish mine, and only a few decades later, it was discovered that it could be added to water so that urea could be dissolved with the formation of lithium urate. This was considered in the frame of the uric acid diathesis theory, which, during the 19th century, was considered a strong etiopathogenetic theory for many pathological conditions, including mental disorders. The first attempts to use lithium as a treatment modality in psychiatry appeared in the late 19th century by Hammond and the Lange brothers, and during the late 19th century and the early 20th century, lithium was used in various remedies and beverages until its toxicity became evident. Lithium was established as a valid treatment option for Bipolar disorder only during the second half of the 20th century after the works of John Cade, Mogens Schou, Poul Baastrup, and others who pursued a line of research, frequently against the scientific opinion of the majority of colleagues.