Lithium is the best established of all the medications to treat
manic depression (bipolar disorder). Drs. Bohn and Jefferson give a
thorough, up-to-date description of how lithium is used and answer the
questions patients and their families often ask. They are practicing
clinicians who are familiar with the latest research findings, as well
as with how lithium has affected their patients and what those patients
most wanted to know. This booklet, first published in 1982, has been
revised ten times, most recently in 1996. Over 425,000 copies have been
distributed.
James W. Jefferson, M.D., is a Distinguished Senior Scientist at
the Dean Foundation for Health, Research and Education in Middleton,
Wisconsin, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of
Wisconsin Medical School, Madison. He is also cofounder and codirector
of the Lithium Information Center and the Obsessive Compulsive
Information Center, both now at the Dean Foundation. His major clinical
and research interests are in mood and anxiety disorders,
psychopharmacology, and the medical/psychiatry interface. In addition
to numerous articles in professional journals and chapters in books, he
has coauthored books such as Handbook of Medical Psychiatry, Depression
and Its Treatment, Anxiety and Its Treatment, Primer of Lithium
Therapy, Lithium Encyclopedia for Clinical Practice, and
Neuropsychiatric Features of Medical Disorders, and the patient
booklets in this series, Antipsychotic Medications and Schizophrenia: A
Guide, Carbamazepine and Manic Depression: A Guide, Depression and
Antidepressants: A Guide, Fearful Flyer's Guide, Lithium and Manic
Depression: A Guide, Divalproex and Manic Depression: A Guide
(originally Valproate and Manic Depression: A Guide), Panic Disorder
and Agoraphobia: A Guide, Social Phobia: A Guide, and Trichotillomania:
A Guide.
Dr. Jefferson received his M.D. from the University of
Wisconsin. Following a medical internship at St. Luke's Hospital in New
York, he completed a residency in internal medicine at the University
of Wisconsin and a cardiology fellowship at the University of Chicago.
After serving with the military as a research cardiologist, he
completed a residency in psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin. He
joined the faculty in 1974, was tenured in 1978, served as professor of
psychiatry from 1981-1992 and as director of the Center for Affective
Disorders from 1983-1992. He is board certified in both psychiatry and
internal medicine.