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Use of lithium for mental disorders was re-established (on a different theoretical basis) in 1948 by John Cade in Australia. [9] Lithium carbonate is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, [12] and is available as a generic medication. [5]
This is a list of psychiatric medications used by psychiatrists and other physicians to treat mental illness or distress. The list is ordered alphabetically according to the condition or conditions, then by the generic name of each medication. The list is not exhaustive and not all drugs are used regularly in all countries.
Mental health services may be based in hospitals, clinics or the community. Often an individual may engage in different treatment modalities and use various mental health services. These may be under case management (sometimes referred to as "service coordination"), use inpatient or day treatment.
Lithium Lithium is the "classic" mood stabilizer, the first to be approved by the US FDA, and still popular in treatment. Therapeutic drug monitoring is required to ensure lithium levels remain in the therapeutic range: 0.6 to 0.8 or 0.8–1.2 mEq/L (or millimolar).
Lithium has been used to augment antidepressant therapy in those who have failed to respond to antidepressants alone. [89] Furthermore, lithium dramatically decreases the suicide risk in recurrent depression. [90] According to the results of the STAR-D experiment, the remission rate of lithium for treatment-resistant depression is about 15.9%. [91]
Keppra (levetiracetam) – an anticonvulsant drug which is sometimes used as a mood stabilizer and has potential benefits for other psychiatric and neurologic conditions such as Tourette syndrome, anxiety disorder, and Alzheimer's disease; Klonopin – anti-anxiety and anti-epileptic medication of the benzodiazepine class
Aside from lithium—which is the most demonstrably effective treatment against suicide—little is known about contributions of specific mood-altering treatments to minimizing mortality rates in persons with either major mood disorders or bipolar depression specifically.
Lithium has the best overall evidence and is considered an effective treatment for acute manic episodes, preventing relapses, and bipolar depression. [144] [145] Lithium reduces the risk of suicide, self-harm, and death in people with bipolar disorder. [146] Lithium is preferred for long-term mood stabilization. [68]