====== Lithium (treatment for bipolar disorder) ======

Lithium, normally in the form of //lithium carbonate// (Li<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub>) is widely recognised as the 'gold standard' prescribed drug for treating bipolar disorder, depression and mania.

In widespread use since the early 1970s, lithium carbonate was the first //FDA// approved drug for 'mood control'.

However, despite more than forty years of intense research, and millions of treated patients - //"The precise mechanism of action of Li<sup>+</sup> as a mood-stabilizing agent is currently unknown." // //Source :// [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_pharmacology|Wikipedia]]

In 1996 it was found that lithium inhibits GSK-3, a multi-tasking serine/threonine kinase enzyme which regulates several critical cellular functions. It's not known however, how this inhibition affects mood. ([[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1970866/|ref.]]{{:oa_padlock_grn.png?16&nolink|Open Access}})

Further, for reasons that are also unknown, therapeutic lithium has little or no effect on some individuals :

>Lithium is generally regarded as the first-line agent for the management of BP, although it does not work for everyone. For instance, Geddes and colleagues performed a meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials comparing prophylactic lithium therapy with placebo in BP and found that lithium is more effective than placebo in preventing recurrence of illness, with 60% in the lithium group remaining well over 1–2 years compared with 40% in the placebo group." \\ \\ Source : [[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3513882/|External Predictors of Lithium Response in Bipolar Disorder]]  //Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Diseases//, 2(3): 209–226

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Also see [[content:medicine:drugs:lamotrigine]] and [[content:medicine:drugs:ketamine|Ketamine]] and [[content:psychology:disorders:depression]]