In pop culture, it's represented as having powerful dulling effects.

Carrie Mathison, Claire Danes's character on "Homeland," doesn't like taking the lithium she's prescribed because she thinks it dulls her perceptive abilities. The Nirvana song "Lithium" compares the medication to religion-as-coping-mechanism, something troubled people rely on to get by. In the movie "Silver Linings Playbook," Bradley Cooper's character says he stopped taking his lithium (and other meds) because they make him feel foggy.

These representations aren't fully accurate — lithium can be a lifesaver — but some patients do complain that the medication dulls mental clarity, and the NIH has a long list of lithium's potential side effects, some rather serious.

Still, all of this ignores one fascinating fact: many people unintentionally ingest a very low dose of lithium every day, and some research suggests those people may be better off because of that.

According to that research, people who regularly naturally consume trace amounts of lithium are less likely to commit suicide and less likely to suffer from dementia.

Lithium is a naturally occurring element (not a concoction made in a lab that can be patented and sold). In some parts of the world, including parts of the US, it's found in the drinking water.