The early European lithium studies

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Cade's discovery of lithium's antimanic effect soon became known in Europe and was confirmed by a Danish controlled trial. The same investigators discovered a prophylactic action of lithium against both manic and depressive recurrences, which was confirmed by a Swiss-Czech-Danish cooperative trial. The evidence of these studies was met with skepticism based on methodological speculations, but a Danish randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of discontinuation design established the prophylactic action of lithium, as did a number of European controlled trials of start design and discontinuation design. The review ends with personal memories of John Cade.