Recurrence of affective illness after withdrawal of long-term lithium treatment.

Clinical outcome following discontinuation of long-term maintenance therapy with lithium and manic-depressive patients was studied. Although the majority showed recurrence of affective episodes, the relapses tended to be spread over a period of months. There was no evidence of immediate and inevitable "rebound" of psychotic episodes following lithium withdrawal. This finding is discussed in the light of results from other lithium discontinuation studies.