LITHIUM IN AGGRESSION

Aggression is psychological and social menace. The safety of the patient as well as other members of the society is jeopardised due to severe acts of aggression. Hence control of aggressive behaviour gets a priority over various other symptoms. Various treatment modalities have been tried to control the act of aggression. We carried out this study to find out antiaggressive effect of lithium carbonate. Twenty resistant patients of varied psychiatric diagnosis showing aggressive behaviour completed this six weeks outdoor trial. They were started on lithium after initial assessment and were called once a week for evaluation with their relatives for total period of six weeks. Their lithium dose was adjusted and they were assessed on an aggression scale. We found clinical improvement in seventy percent of our cases. Our conclusion was that lithium has a definite role in controlling aggression.