In their editorial, Malhi et al¹ advocate the more frequent use of lithium in patients with mood disorders which concurs with my appeal voiced two years ago². Lithium has been universally accepted as the first choice mood‐stabilizer for maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder and exerts also anti‐suicidal, immunomodulatory, and neuroprotective action. However, the use of lithium in mood disorders has been greatly underutilized, due to the introduction and promoting other mood‐stabilizers both first‐generation (e.g. valproate) and second‐generation (e.g. olanzapine, quetiapine, lamotrigine), and perception of lithium as a “toxic drug” not only be the non‐psychiatrist physicians but also by the representatives of mainstream psychiatry, pointing to its side effects, mainly thyroid, renal and cognitive ones.

中文翻译：

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锂–长期治疗的好处

在他们的社论中，Malhi等[ ^1]提倡在情绪障碍患者中更频繁地使用锂，这与两年前我的呼吁一致²。锂已被广泛接受为维持双相情感障碍的首选情绪稳定剂，并发挥抗自杀，免疫调节和神经保护作用。但是，由于引入和促进了第一代（如丙戊酸）和第二代（如奥氮平，喹硫平，拉莫三嗪）的其他情绪稳定剂，人们对锂在情绪障碍中的使用一直未得到充分利用。 “有毒药物”不仅是非精神科医师，而且是主流精神病学代表的药物，指出其副作用，主要是甲状腺，肾和认知方面的副作用。