Are Lithium and the Imipramine Drugs Specific for Affective Disorders?
MOGENS SCHOU M.D.1 1 Director, Neurochemical and Psychopharmacological Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, Risskov, Denmark Evidence is presented for the hypothesis that lithium and the imipramine drugs can be grouped together under the name normothymotics, mood-normalizers”. The group is characterized by being active, therapeutically, prophylactically or both, against affective disorders, particularly against the manic-depressive psychosis, both in its manic and in its depressive manifestations. The normothymotics do not influence the normal mind and do not level out normal emotions. A peculiar ability of lithium and of the imipramine drugs to produce certain electrocardiographic changes may indicate a common mode of action.
