Citation

Judd LL, Hubbard RB, Huey LY, Attewell PA, Janowsky DS, Takahashi KI. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 1977; 34(4): 463-467.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1977, American Medical Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

322635

Abstract

The responses of twenty-three normal male subjects to a standardized dose of 95% ethanol (1.32 ml/kg of body weight) were compared after two weeks of placebo and two weeks of therapeutic serum lithium ion levels (mean 0.91 mEq/liter). The study was a placebo controlled, split-half crossover, double-blind design. Prealcohol and postalcohol responses were assessed by self-rating scales of affect and mood, independent rater observation, perceptual-motor, and cognitive performance tasks. Pretreatment by lithium carbonate neither blocked nor dampened an alcohol-induced subjective "high" in normal subjects. A complex reciprocal interaction may exist between the effects of lithium and alcohol upon other behavioral attributes. Alcohol was seen to reverse aspects of lithium-induced dysphoria and there is a suggestion that lithium may attenuate alcohol-induced cognitive inefficiency.

Language: en