Sir Alfred Baring Garrod #choosepsychiatry

Sir Alfred Baring Garrod (1819-1907)

Sir Alfred Baring Garrod was a physician who was born in Ipswich. He would become a professor of therapeutics and was the first to hypothesise that Lithium could be used to treat mental illness. He thus set in motion a series of events (although this is not without controversy and is quite convoluted) that led to the present widespread use of Lithium. His belief at the time was that Lithium could be used to treat Gout and that similar pathology could occur in the brain.

Although he was a physician, his work in therapeutics spanned mental illness and is therefore relevant to psychiatry. His work shows the importance of developing a theoretical framework in influencing practice.

A Sketch of Lithium Nitride

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