Manic depression is now called bipolar disorder and yes, lithiun is a drug of choice but with serious side effects.
Well, it saved my mom’s life. She was totally doing crazy things, including going down a zip line and falling off and severely breaking her ankle, tearing down parts of her house to “redecorate”, disappearing for hours, spending money like your wouldn’t believe, cussing like a sailor (my mom who want watch shows with cuss words), calling friends and family all night long, etc.
We were worried she would end up dead.
The side effects are better than her being dead.