Although lithium is a first-line treatment that ranks high on the list of patient’s favorites, it has fallen out of general use, particularly in the United States. When lithium works well, however, its benefits tend to last. It is among the top medications that prevent hospitalization.

For the full transcript, see https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/dosing-tips-lithium-how-improve-tolerability

Chris Aiken, MD, is the Mood Disorders Section Editor for Psychiatric Times, the Editor in Chief of The Carlat Psychiatry Report, and the Director of the Mood Treatment Center. He has written several books on mood disorders, most recently The Depression and Bipolar Workbook. He can be heard in the weekly Carlat Psychiatry Podcast with his cohost Kellie Newsome, PMH-NP. The author does not accept honoraria from pharmaceutical companies but receives royalties from PESI for The Depression and Bipolar Workbook and from W.W. Norton & Co. for Bipolar, Not So Much.

Kellie L. Newsome, PMH-NP, is the cohost of the Carlat Psychiatry Podcast and is also a practicing Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner in Winston Salem, NC, at the Mood Treatment Center. Raised in Tasmania, Australia, Kellie moved to the United States in 1998.