I think he may have mentioned the alcohol in the report because of the fact that, if your job is ok with the occasional beer at lunch, then there is the potential that you may indulge in more. This may not be true, but it's something that they need to take into account. He probably picked the depakote instead of the lithium because lithium is harder on your liver. If you drink at all, that is a complicating factor that could cause more liver damage. As far as the ODing on lithium, if that is exactly what he suggested, that seems a bit odd. I hope that's not what he intends. Maybe he was saying that they'd start you on a higher dose to make it easier to get a clear reading, and from there maybe drop the dose? He may want you to be on a lower dose at first, after testing, but that dose may be low enough that it would take longer to see potential problems, and he wants to see it quick to minimize the effect, if you do have problems.