Review
Version 1
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What patients with bipolar disorder need to know about lithium
Version 1
: Received: 8 July 2024 / Approved: 9 July 2024 / Online: 10 July 2024 (12:07:23 CEST)
How to cite: Post, R. M.; Rybakowski, J. K. What patients with bipolar disorder need to know about lithium. Preprints 2024, 2024070807. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0807.v1 Post, R. M.; Rybakowski, J. K. What patients with bipolar disorder need to know about lithium. Preprints 2024, 2024070807. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0807.v1
Abstract
Lithium is the superior first-line treatment for bipolar disorder (BD). Yet the percentage of patients receiving lithium is abysmally low, especially in the USA. Since psychiatrists have failed to place lithium in its appropriate role, we make the case that patients with BD themselves need to be better educated about the unique characteristics and preeminence of the drug so that it can be used more often and appropriately. Lithium has a highly unfavorable popular reputation among would-be patients and many psychiatrists. Thus, a direct appeal to patients with BD appears appropriate to try to remediate this situation. The unique assets of lithium are underappreciated or not well known. Conversely, the side effects profile of lithium are overestimated. Here, we make the case that lithium’s image needs to be revised not only with better and more accurate information but with a wholesale re-naming and rebranding of the drug. We will not only outline the unique qualities and new information about the side effects of the drug but attempt to change some of the terminology conventionally used to refer to lithium so that its use may be appropriately applied earlier and at an increased frequency for patients with BD.
Keywords
lithium; bipolar disorder; disease-modifying drug
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Mental Health
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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