Posted by SalArmy4me on June 30, 2001, at 2:32:18
In reply to So, what can I expect from Lithium?, posted by SarahB on June 30, 2001, at 0:45:14
Even in unipolar depression:
Schou, Mogens MD, DRMed, DrHCMult. Forty Years of Lithium Treatment. Archives of General Psychiatry. 54(1):9-13, January 1997:
"However, one may compare lithium with prophylactic alternatives. In a German multicenter study, unfortunately only partly published, which lasted 21/2 years, several hundred patients were randomly allocated to treatment with lithium or carbamazepine for bipolar illness and treatment with lithium or amitriptyline for unipolar illness. [41] Among the patients given the antidepressant drug, there were five suicides and no suicide attempts; among the carbamazepine-treated patients, there were four suicides and five suicide attempts; in the lithium-treated group, there were no suicides and no suicide attempts. The frequency of suicidal acts among the lithium-treated patients was significantly lower than the corresponding frequencies among those who were given antidepressants or carbamazepine (chi squared, P< .001 for both groups). These observations are consistent with the assumption that lithium treatment protects against suicidal behavior..."
poster:SalArmy4me
thread:68440
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010625/msgs/68457.html