Hostname: page-component-5447f9dfdb-gf5gg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-29T20:45:58.793Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Artistic Productivity and Lithium Prophylaxis in Manic-Depressive Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Mogens Schou
Mogens Schou*
Affiliation:
Psychopharmacology Research Unit, Aarhus University Institute of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Hospital, DK–8240 Risskov, Denmark
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Twenty-four manic-depressive artists, in whom prophylactic lithium treatment had attenuated or prevented recurrences to a significant degree, were questioned about their creative power during the treatment. Twelve artists reported increased artistic productivity, six unaltered productivity, and six lowered productivity. The effect of lithium treatment on artistic productivity may depend on the severity and type of the illness, on individual sensitivity, and on habits of utilizing manic episodes productively.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 135 , Issue 2 , August 1979 , pp. 97 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1979 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arnold, O. H. (1974) Weitere Beobachtungen zum ‘automatenhaften Dasein’ unter Lithium-Langzeit-therapie. Arzneimittel-Forschung, 24, 1125–7.Google Scholar
Benson, R. (1975) The forgotten treatment modality in bipolar illness: psychotherapy. Diseases of the Nervous System, 36, 634–8.Google Scholar
Bertagna, L., Peyrouzet, J.-M., Quétin, A.-M. & Dalle, B. (1971) Lithium et affections psychiatriques cycliques. Action prophylactique et thérapeutique. Revue du praticien, 21, 1743–57.Google Scholar
Böszörményi, Z. (1970) Ueber einige psychische Nebenwirkungen der Lithiumtherapie. International Pharmacopsychiatry, 4, 204–9.Google Scholar
Fieve, R. R. (1975) Moodswing. The Third Revolution in Psychiatry. New York: William Morrow.Google Scholar
Judd, L. L., Hubbard, B., Janowsky, D. S., Huey, L. Y. & Takahashi, K. I. (1977) The effect of lithium carbonate on the cognitive functions in normal subjects. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 355–7.Google ScholarPubMed
Marshall, M. H., Neumann, C. P. & Robinson, M. (1970) Lithium, creativity, and manic-depressive illness. Review and prospectus. Psychosomatics, 11, 406–8.Google Scholar
Polatin, P. (1972) Lithium carbonate prophylaxis in affective disorders. (Clinical versus research applications). Diseases of the Nervous System, 33, 472–5.Google Scholar
Polatin, P. & Fieve, R. R. (1971) Patient rejection of lithium carbonate prophylaxis. Journal of the American Medical Association, 218, 864–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Villeneuve, A. (1973) Psychological and clinical problems in the treatment with lithium. In Lithium in Psychiatry, A Synopsis (ed. Villeneuve, A.). Québec: Presses Univ. Laval.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.