[Schizophrenia and treatment with lithium salts. Current data from the literature]

The use of lithium salts in the treatment of schizophrenia remains as contested as the concept of schizo-affective disorders. Many studies have attempted to define the interest and the risks of lithiotherapy beside the major effective disorders. Only a few of them can be credited with a strict methodology. The authors have only taken into account the comparative double-blind studies, namely between lithium and neuroleptics. Some predictive criteria of the therapeutic effect seem to emerge: the notion of a sudden outbreak, a good premorbid adjustment, appear more significant than the presence or absence of effective symptoms during the psychotic episode.