Mood disorders, psychotic symptoms, suicidal behavior, and tendencies to abuse alcohol and other psychoactive substances all occur particularly frequently among artists. History's greatest geniuses have shown predispositions for schizophrenia. Is there a link between creative activity and psychopathology?

Lithium was one of the first elements (besides hydrogen and helium) after the Big Bang. As a chemical element was identified in 1818. In the 19th century, Carl Lange treated periodic depression with lithium, based on the „uric acid diathesis” concept. In 1949, John Cade demonstrated the therapeutic effect of lithium in manic states. In 1963, Geoffrey Hartigan found that long-term lithium administration prevents recurrences in mood disorders, and lithium became a prototype of mood-stabilizing drugs. Currently, lithium is regarded as a first-line drug for preventing manic and depressive recurrences in mood disorders, and is useful for the treatment of manic and depressive episodes and the augmentation of antidepressants. Among mood-stabilizers, lithium exerts the strongest anti-suicidal activity. A negative correlation between lithium in drinking water and suicides was described. Lithium exerts immunomodulatory and antiviral actions, mostly against herpes viruses. The neuroprotective effect of lithium manifests by increasing the grey matter in the brain and reducing the risk of dementia. Lithium's mechanisms include influencing intracellular signaling and inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3. Using lithium in a greater number of patients with mood disorders has been recommended. Lithium’s introduction into contemporary psychiatry and therapeutic action has been reflected in literature and art.

Psychopharmacology is the field of knowledge concerning drugs acting specifically on distinct psychopathological symptoms such as e.g. psychosis, depression, mania, anxiety, etc. The birth of contemporary psychopharmacology was heralded by a paper by Australian psychiatrist, John Cade, in 1949, describing the therapeutic action of lithium in mania and a paper by French psychiatrists from 1952 demonstrating the therapeutic action of chlorpromazine on psychotic symptoms. Here, the development of antipsychotic, antidepressive, mood-stabilizing (preventing affective recurrences), anxiolytic and pro-cognitive drugs is outlined. Based on the chronology of their introduction into psychiatric treatment and the therapeutic spectrum, three generations of antipsychotic drugs can be distinguished, and two antidepressive and mood-stabilizing drugs. Despite a great accumulation of knowledge on brain function, the mechanism of the majority of psychotropic drugs can be interpreted by their effect on brain neurotransmitters (subtypes, receptors, transporters) such as dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, glutamate, and acetylcholine. In the paper, the directions of the development of psychopharmacology, the possibilities of using psychedelics and the like as psychotropic drugs, and the role of psychotherapy in pharmacological context are delineated. Finally, the ongoing controversies on antidepressant drugs, increasing for three decades, are presented, achieving a great media reaction, also in Poland.

Wśród artystów zaburzenia nastroju, objawy psychotyczne, tendencje do nadużywania alkoholu i środków psychoaktywnych pojawiają się szczególnie często. Najwięksi geniusze mieli predyspozycje do schizofrenii. Czy istnieje związek między aktywnością twórczą a zaburzeniami psychicznymi?