A controlled study of lithium vs. chlorpromazine in acute schizophrenics.
Twenty-one newly hospitalized schizophrenic patients were given chlorpromazine (10 patients) or lithium carbonate (11 patients) in a double-blind controlled fashion. The results unequivocally indicate superior treatment efficacy under chlorpromazine in either reducing symptom severity or bringing about illness remission; lithium often contributed to further decompensation in schizophrenic symptomatology. Indeed, lithium may be detrimental to schizophrenics in that these patients run a greater liability of developing neurotoxicity at modest lithium doses and blood levels.