Coercion within Danish psychiatry compared with 10 other European countries.

Background: In 2008, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) criticized the use of mechanical restraint in Denmark and referred to it as ill-treatment. What do other European countries do better? To answer this question, we compared the use of coercive measures regarding psychiatric inpatients in Denmark and comparable European countries.

Aims: Comparing coercive measures from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Belgium, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Italy.

Twelve-hour brain lithium concentration in lithium maintenance treatment of manic-depressive disorder: daily versus alternate-day dosing schedule.

The 12-h brain lithium concentration was measured by lithium-7 magnetic resonance spectroscopy in ten manic-depressive patients receiving daily or alternate-day lithium carbonate treatment. The median dose of lithium carbonate was 800 mg in the daily treatment group and 1200 mg in the alternate-day group. Median 12-h serum lithium concentration in the two groups was 0.

Double-blind comparison of the side-effect profiles of daily versus alternate-day dosing schedules in lithium maintenance treatment of manic-depressive disorder.

The side-effect profiles of daily vs. alternate-day lithium carbonate dosing schedule were compared in a double-blind study of 50 manic-depressive patients. Following a 3-month period on daily lithium maintenance treatment the patients were randomly allocated to daily or alternate-day lithium dosing aiming at maintaining the same 12-h serum concentration as prior to allocation (median 0.