Slow-release lithium in treatment of schizoaffective syndromes.

Schizoaffective disorders are a blurred category of psychiatric pathology in which lithium seems to exert therapeutic effects. The present study was made on patients suffering from affective syndromes with positive schizophrenic symptoms ranging from none to severe. They were hospitalized because of an acute episode, treated with a slow-release lithium preparation (Hypnorex) following the attack therapy and followed up for a mean period of two years. Diagnosis were done according to the American Psychiatric Association diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM III) criteria, while clinical evaluations were carried out on the basis of an original lithium therapy assessment protocol. Lithium was demonstrated to be prophylactic to relapses of affective symptoms, its effectiveness as a whole being proportional to the purity of the major affective disorder. Slow release lithium was found a reliable pharmaceutical tool in both providing therapeutic results and avoiding severe side-effects. The therapeutic range of lithium serum levels was within 0.5-0.6 mEq/l. It is hypothesized that the response to lithium therapy could be a guide in the differential diagnosis between schizoaffective and schizoaffective-like syndromes.