Lithium treatment of manic episodes with psychotic features in prepubertal children.

The authors describe the manic symptoms, family psychiatric histories, and psychotic symptoms of 10 prepubertal children 6-12 years old who had a DSM-III diagnosis of manic episode with psychotic features. All of the children improved when treated with lithium alone. Improvement in both manic and psychotic symptoms was noted an average of 11 days after lithium administration was started.