Effectiveness of medical treatment for bipolar disorder regarding suicide, self-harm and psychiatric hospital admission: between- and within-individual study on Danish national data.

Lithium was associated with lower rates of suicide, self-harm and psychiatric hospital readmission in all analyses. With respect to suicide, lithium was superior to no treatment. Although confounding by indication cannot be excluded, lithium seems to have better outcomes in the treatment of bipolar disorder than other mood stabilisers.