Dr. Walter Brown begins his 2020 book “Lithium, a Doctor, a Drug and a Breakthrough,” by asking, “What do Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Ernest Hemingway have in common?” The answer is bipolar disorder, previously known as manic-depressive illness.
Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness characterized by extreme mood swings, including extreme excitement (mania) phases and extreme depressive feelings.
Bipolar is one of the more common mental illnesses in the United States., affecting more than 3 million people. However, the number is likely higher due to underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis (i.e. major depression). Lithium has been found to result in a 10-fold decrease in the rate of suicide, an amazing discovery.  Interestingly, communities with higher levels of lithium in the drinking water are associated with a low rate of suicide….