Ronald Robert Fieve (March 5, 1930,

Stevens Point Stevens Point is the county seat of Portage County, Wisconsin, United States. The city was incorporated in 1858. Its 2020 population of 25,666 makes it the largest city in the county. Stevens Point forms the core of the United States Census Bur ...

– January 2, 2018, Palm Beach) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

known for his work on the use of

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...

in treatment of

mood disorders A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the ''Diagnostic and Stat ...

. He has authored four popular science books, "Moodswing", "Bipolar II", "Prozac" and "Bipolar Breakthrough". Fieve received his medical degree from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and started his residency in internal medicine at Cornell's

New York Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center (previously known as New York Hospital or Old New York Hospital or City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is part of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the teaching hospital for Cornell University. ...

before switching after a year to

New York State Psychiatric Institute The New York State Psychiatric Institute, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was established in 1895 as one of the first institutions in the United States t ...

Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), also known as the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), is an academic medical center and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It includes Co ...

. However he did not find the

psychoanalytic PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might be ...

approach useful for his patients. He was advised by his department head

Lawrence Kolb Lawrence Coleman Kolb (June 16, 1911 – October 20, 2006) was an American psychiatrist who was the New York State Commissioner of Mental Hygiene from 1975 to 1978. Biography He was born in on June 16, 1911 in Baltimore, Maryland. His fami ...

to investigate reports coming out of Denmark and Australia about lithium (starting with

John Cade John Frederick Joseph Cade AO (18 January 1912 – 16 November 1980) was an Australian psychiatrist who in 1948 discovered the effects of lithium carbonate as a mood stabilizer in the treatment of bipolar disorder, then known as manic depres ...

). Fieve and colleagues conducted the first controlled trial of Lithium for depression (published in 1968), which had an impact despite its limitations, and he set up the first lithium clinic in North America in 1966. He also worked with the chemical

rubidium Rubidium is the chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have a density higher ...

for ten years. Fieve notes that when he presented his lithium findings along with Ralph Wharton in 1966, it drew a lot of attention from the American public as it seemed to be the first medication that specifically treated a specific psychiatric disorder. In the same year he was appointed to a lithium taskforce convened by the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

(FDA), and their conclusions resulted in the FDA approving lithium for

mania Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a mental and behavioral disorder defined as a state of abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level, or "a state of heightened overall activation with enhanced affective expression together wit ...

in 1970.Lithium: From Introduction to Public Awareness. Ronald R. Fieve
Pg 258 to 260, The Triumph of Psychopharmacology and the story of CINP (International College of

Neuropsychopharmacology Neuropsychopharmacology, an interdisciplinary science related to psychopharmacology (study of effects of drugs on the mind) and fundamental neuroscience, is the study of the neural mechanisms that drugs act upon to influence behavior. It entails ...

) In the 1970s Fieve appeared on numerous national TV talk shows extolling the virtues of lithium for 'manic depression', along with former patient and famous playwright

Joshua Logan Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American director, writer, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical '' South Pacific'' and was involved in writing other musicals. Early years Logan ...

. 'Moodswing' was published in 1975 and by 1980 the English language version alone had sold over a million copies. Psychiatrist

Nassir Ghaemi Nassir Ghaemi (born 1966) is an academic psychiatrist, author, and Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He has written several books on mental illness and mood disorders, and has contributed to many scientifi ...

has said the book "introduced America to BD and lithium" and that 30 years later 'Bipolar II' has been among the first to "introduce the

bipolar spectrum Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

concept to the public". Also in the 1970s Fieve,

Joseph L. Fleiss Joseph L. Fleiss (November 13, 1937 – June 12, 2003) was an American professor of biostatistics at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where he also served as head of the Division of Biostatistics from 1975 to 1992. He is ...

and

David L. Dunner David L. Dunner (born May 27, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York) is a psychiatrist in Washington, United States, who has conducted pioneering research into mood disorders, anxiety disorders and their treatment. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 ...

were instrumental in drawing attention to the concepts of '

hypomania Hypomania (literally "under mania" or "less than mania") is a mental and behavioural disorder, characterised essentially by an apparently non-contextual elevation of mood ( euphoria) that contributes to persistently disinhibited behaviour. Th ...

' (lower intensity mania) and the related diagnosis of

Bipolar II disorder Bipolar II disorder (BP-II) is a mood disorder on the bipolar spectrum, characterized by at least one episode of hypomania and at least one episode of major depression. Diagnosis for BP-II requires that the individual must never have experience ...

. They published an influential article in 1976, though Fieve credits the term 'Bipolar II' to Dunner and colleagues while at the

NIMH NIMH may refer to: *Nickel–metal hydride battery (NiMH), a type of electrical battery *National Institute of Mental Health, an agency of the United States government *National Institute of Medical Herbalists, a professional organisation in the Un ...

in the early 70s before their work together in New York. Fieve and Dunner then coined the term 'rapid cycling', published in 1974, for those patients with more than four mood changes per year which seemed to correlate with failure to respond therapeutically to lithium. These concepts have been reflected in the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...

(DSM) since the 1990s. Since 1975 he held senior posts at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University and the Presbyterian Hospital. Fieve had a private practice and research offices in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, US and at the

. Actress

Patty Duke Anna Marie "Patty" Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016) was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her acting career, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Aw ...

in 2010 described Fieve's New York practice as 'crammed with Wall Street tycoons and Hollywood producers'.Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness
Patty Duke, Random House Publishing Group, 13 Jan 2010, pg142-144

Publications

*Dunner, David L., and Ronald R. Fieve. "Clinical factors in

lithium carbonate Lithium carbonate is an inorganic compound, the lithium salt (chemistry), salt of carbonate with the chemical formula, formula . This white Salt (chemistry), salt is widely used in the processing of metal oxides. It is listed on the World Health O ...

prophylaxis failure."

Archives of General Psychiatry ''JAMA Psychiatry'' (until 2013: ''Archives of General Psychiatry'') is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association. It covers research in psychiatry, mental health, behavioral sciences, and related fields. ...

30, no. 2 (1974): 229–233. * Lawrence Sharpe, Joyce R. Alexander et al. "A possible vulnerability locus for bipolar affective disorder on chromosome 21q22. 3."

Nature Genetics ''Nature Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 1992. It covers research in genetics. The chief editor is Tiago Faial. The journal encompasses genetic and functional genomic studi ...

8, no. 3 (1994): 291–296. * Fieve, Ronald R., Stanley R. Platman, and ROBERT H. PLUTCHIK. "The use of lithium in affective disorders: I. Acute endogenous depression."

American Journal of Psychiatry ''The American Journal of Psychiatry'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of psychiatry, and is the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association. The first volume was issued in 1844, at which time it was k ...

125, no. 4 (1968): 487–491. * Stallone, Frank, Edward Shelley, Julien Mendlewicz, and Ronald R. Fieve. "The use of lithium in affective disorders, III: a double-blind study of prophylaxis in bipolar illness."

130, no. 9 (1973): 1006–1010. * MENDLEWICZ, JULIEN, RONALD R. FIEVE, and FRANK STALLONE. "Relationship between the effectiveness of lithium therapy and family history."

130, no. 9 (1973): 1011–1013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fieve, Ronald R. 1930 births 2018 deaths Harvard Medical School alumni American psychiatrists American people of Norwegian descent People from Stevens Point, Wisconsin