Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g78kv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T19:18:07.153Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Impact of Lithium Therapy on Core Psychotic Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Frank P. Zemlan ,
Jack Hirschowitz ,
Frederic J. Sautter  and
David L. Garver
Frank P. Zemlan
Affiliation:
Psychobiology Research Laboratory
Jack Hirschowitz
Affiliation:
Psychobiology Treatment Unit
Frederic J. Sautter
Affiliation:
Psychobiology Research Division Department of Psychiatry, Mail Location #59, University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, Cincinnati OH 45267
David L. Garver
Affiliation:
Psychobiology Research Division Department of Psychiatry, Mail Location #59, University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, Cincinnati OH 45267
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The authors have previously reported that a sub-group of schizophrenic-like patients respond favorably to lithium therapy: furthermore, psychotic patients who respond to lithium demonstrate appreciable improvement during the first seven days of treatment. The present study investigated which symptoms of schizophrenia improved quickly during lithium treatment. We found that patients who do respond to lithium show significant improvement in the core symptoms of psychosis—hallucinations, delusions and formal thought disorder—during the first seven days of treatment, thus allowing early identification of 88 per cent of schizophrenic patients who ultimately respond to lithium and 91 per cent of those who do not.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 144 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 64 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, P. E., van Kammen, D. P. & Bunney, W. E. (1979) Antipsychotic effects of lithium in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 282–7.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (III) (ed. Spitzer, R. L. et al). Washington DC: APA Press.Google Scholar
Astrachan, B. M., Harrow, M., Adler, D., Brauer, A. L., Schwartz, A., Schwartz, C. & Tucker, G. (1972) A checklist for the diagnosis of schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 529–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennington, J. L. (1981) Cost control of laboratory testing. In The Laboratory in Clinical Medicine (ed. Halsted, J. A. and Halsted, C. H.), pp. 4–25. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.Google Scholar
Braden, W., Fink, E. B., Qualls, B., Ho, C. K. & Samuels, W. O. (1982) Lithium and chlorpromazine in psychotic patients. Psychiatry Research, 7, 69–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, B. J., Feinberg, M., Greden, J., Tarika, J., Albala, A. A., Haskett, R. F., James, N. M., Kronfol, Z., Lohr, N., Steiner, M., de Vigne, J. P. and Young, E. (1981) A specific laboratory test for the diagnosis of melancholia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 15–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Galen, R. S. (1979) New math in the lab: predictive value theory. Diagnostic Medicine, 2, 23–31.Google Scholar
Hirschowitz, J., Casper, R., Garver, D. L. & Chang, S. (1980) Lithium response in good prognosis schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 916–20.Google ScholarPubMed
Hirschowitz, J., Zemlan, F. P. & Garver, D. L. (1982) Growth hormone levels and lithium ratios as predictors of success of lithium therapy in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 646–9.Google Scholar
Lusted, L. B. (1971) Decision-making studies in patient management. New England Journal of Medicine, 284, 416–24.Google Scholar
McNeil, B. J., Keeler, K. & Adelstein, S. J. (1975) Primer on certain elements of medical decision making. New England Journal of Medicine, 293, 211–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Metz, C. E., Goodenough, D. J. & Rossman, K. (1973) Evaluation of receiver operating characteristic curve data in terms of information theory, with applications in radiography. Radiology, 109, 297–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pope, H. G. & Lipinski, J. F. (1978) Diagnosis in schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 121, 529–39.Google Scholar
Procci, W. R. (1976) Schizoaffective psychosis: fact or fiction. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 1167–78.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for a selected Group of Functional Disorders, 3rd ed. New York: Biometrics Research.Google Scholar
Zemlan, F. P., Hirschowitz, J., Hitzemann, R. & Garver, D. L. (1981) Growth hormone response to apomorphine administration and in vitro lithium ratios predict success of lithium therapy in the schizophrenias. Neuroscience Abstracts, 7, 441.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.