included the first three of these studies together with two earlier studies [48,49] in a meta analysis
for the evaluation of lithium. These studies were characterized by pure samples of bipolar patients and by study patients
being maintained and stabilized on lithium for no more than 3 months prior to randomization, and lithium was confirmed to be statistically significantly superior to placebo . However, the effect size (2-years’ relapse/recurrence rates of 40% and 60% on
lithium and placebo, respectively) was less than reported in earlier analyses [4,50], partly due to the inclusion of the essentially
failed RCT by Bowden et al.