Withdrawal From Lithium and Other Mood Stabilizers

Withdrawal From Lithium and Other Mood Stabilizers 

As described in chapter 8, it is now firmly established that withdrawal from lithium causes an increased rate of manic attacks in the 1-2 months after stopping the drug (Suppes et al., 1991). Cavanagh et al. (2004), in a 7-year follow-up, found that lithium withdrawal caused both mania 

Withdrawing from lithium must be treated as a potentially high-risk event requiring clinical monitoring and as much family support as possible. Although the data are sparse, any drug used as a mood stabilizer should be considered a risk for causing withdrawal mania. 

It bears repeating that any mood stabilizer that is also approved for use as an antiseizure drug presents the risk of dangerous withdrawal seizures, and any mood stabilizer used as a treatment for hypertension presents the risk of dangerous blood pressure spikes during withdrawal. Some of these drugs are listed in the appendix. 

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