Psychosomatics 21: 649-656, 1980
Copyright
© 1980 Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine
The pharmacotherapy of major depressive syndrome
Part 2: Prophylaxis of recurrent depressive illness
BARON SHOPSIN M.D.1, and
BRENT WATERS M.B.B.S.2
1 Associate professor of psychiatry and chief of the Unit for the Study and Treatment of the Affective Disorders, New York University Medical Center
2 Lecturer in the department of psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, and research fellow, Ontario Mental Health Foundation
The authors stress the importance of documenting the presence of recurrent depressive illness before placing a patient on maintenance therapy. The evidence for lithium's effectiveness as a prophylactic agent for patients with manic-depressive illness is discussed and compared with evidence on tricyclic antidepressants and other agents. The authors caution that the risk of side-effects and of toxicity must be carefully weighed against the possible value of lithium therapy.
