Effect of Lithium on Mood, Cognition, and Personality Function in Normal Subjects

Abstract

Recently, we have initiated and completed a series of studies investigating the effects of various psychotropic medications in normal subjects, utilizing chronic dosage regimens that approximate those used in treating clinical populations.^1-4 We believe that methodological advantages of this research paradigm allow psychological and behavioral effects from these drugs to be partialed out and identified more clearly in a normal sample than in patient populations responsive to a particular psychotropic medication. We have hypothesized that normative data on the effects of psychotropic medications will be helpful in delineating the behavioral and psychological mechanisms that underlie and mediate desired clinical changes in patient populations. This experimental approach is best exemplified by the series of studies that we have conducted over the past few years to identify the effects occurring in normal subjects maintained at therapeutic levels. Certain studies are available that have investigated what mood and personality effects occur in