In a very recent study conducted by Raghu Padinjat and his group at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, an explanation has been produced detailing how lithium acts on the brain cells to alter neural activity. This is intended to redirect the development of new treatments/ precision medicine for BD+. This study also highlights the genetic mutations that lithium can bring on, emphasising the need for lithium treatment to be tailor-made, based on specific service user history. BD is an illness with an episodic nature and heterogeneous clinical path. While it can range from severe to chronic, it can be extremely disabling presented through mood alterations between euthymia, major depression and mania. The estimated lifetime prevalence ranges between 0.6% to 2.4% globally, thus making it a lifelong disease that requires long-term treatment. With lithium being one of the major pharmacological agents in the treatment of BD, it presents a gold standard in
the proposed anti-suicide effect, which is unique to it.
Read More: Lithium, the gold standard stabiliser