Season 3

Here, we learn a little bit more about Rif's personal life, followed by an interesting discussion while he is giving us his financial disclosures about the historical and current relationship between doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Thanks for listening. For more social media content, check u...

This is a cool segment where Dr. El-Mallakh tells us a little about his experience using lithium to treat acne, and again discusses another very cool mechanism of action. We also talk about some possible solutions to bad research. Thanks for listening. For more social media content, check us out o...

Here, as always, we give our closing thoughts on lithium and its underutilization in the field of psychiatry, especially in American psychiatry, followed by a song by a local Louisville artist, Jack Rabbit and the Dirty Hares, called "Lying on Sunday." Thanks for listening. For more social media c...

This is probably the most exciting episode of this series, in my opinion. Here, we talk about historical and more current research on some of the benefits of lithium microdosing (larger doses than are present in our environment - micrograms, but 30-50 times lower than doses used in severe bipolar il...

Here, Dr. El-Mallakh and I review the side effect profile of lithium at high doses (900+ mg per day), which include thyroid, kidney, and toxicity risks. However, patients prefer lithium over other mood stabilizers, and because the majority of us are exposed to lithium at low levels regularly through...

In this episode, we discuss the FDA approval process, the impact of Pharmaceutical influence, and how this affects lithium's underutilization. We talk about Industry-sponsored vs NIH studies and the problems with not publishing negative data. Finally, Dr. El-Mallakh and I go back and forth trying to...

In this section, we discuss the history of lithium's medicinal use, from Australian psychiatrist John Cade's discovery of its' superior effectiveness in manic-depressive illness, through the Lithium Chloride catastrophe and eventual FDA approval in the United States.

This episode is not for the faint of heart; while Dr. El-Mallakh does a good job of trying to explain things in a down-to-Earth way, it may be overly academic for some of our non-medical listeners. I review some of the historical origins of lithium use, prior to its' utilization as a medication, and...

Lithium is a natural element found in our environment all around us, in our water supply, in some of the food we eat, in the dirt we walk on, and it is BY FAR, one of the most useful medications in all of psychiatry, yet its' use has decreased precipitously over the last few decades, even in treatme...

Here, I introduce Dr. Rifaat El-Mallakh, a world-renowned expert and researcher in bipolar illness, or manic-depressive illness. His background is fascinating and really lends credence to his status as an expert in the field. I have personally spent a lot of time working with Dr. El-Mallakh and can ...

This is the initial episode of our series on Lithium, featuring world-renowned Bipolar Disorder expert, Dr. Rifaat El-Mallakh, MD. Here, I monologue an introduction to the series and tease some of the information and topics Dr. El-Mallakh and I will be discussing further.