What are the medical uses of lithium in treating bipolar disorder?

Certain lithium compounds, known as lithium salts, function as mood stabilizers and are prescribed primarily for bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. Taken orally, lithium helps manage psychiatric conditions like mania, though its exact mechanism of action remains unknown. Blood level monitoring is necessary because the drug carries risks of toxicity alongside side effects like increased thirst, tremor, and hypothyroidism.

What we know

• Certain lithium compounds, or lithium salts, are utilized as psychiatric medications primarily for major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. [4]
• Lithium salts are classified specifically as mood stabilizers. [4]
• Common side effects of taking lithium include hand shakiness, increased thirst, and increased urination. [4]
• Lithium is also used as part of treatment or prophylactic care for postpartum psychosis when associated with bipolar illness. [5]

Still open

• The precise mechanism of action for lithium in psychiatric treatment is not known.
• The safety and appropriateness of using lithium during breastfeeding remain controversial, with various international health authorities advising against it.

Where to go next

• compared withHow does bipolar I disorder differ from type II?
• a case in pointWhat are the symptoms of postpartum psychosis?
• whoWho re-established the use of lithium for mental disorders in 1948?
• what followedWhat are the signs and risks of lithium toxicity?
• the bigger pictureHow do mood stabilizers work in psychiatric care?
• an unexpected connectionHow was lithium historically used to treat gout and cancer?Before becoming a cornerstone psychiatric mood stabilizer for bipolar disorder, lithium was prescribed in the nineteenth century for completely unrelated physical ailments like gout, epilepsy, and cancer.

Sources

• [1]bipolar I disorder (Wikidata Q4915474) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Bipolar I disorder · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Bipolar II disorder · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Lithium (medication) · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Postpartum psychosis · CC BY-SA 4.0