Clinical Psychiatry News back issues from February 2009:
Incentives stem substance abuse.(NEWS)
Feb 01, 2009; ... BOCA RATON, FLA. -- Rewarding substance abuse patients with a prize, gift voucher, or other incentive to stay clean every time they abstain is a very effective way of weaning them from their addictions. Contingency management works: Numerous studies have demonstrated its success ...
Treatment needed for soldiers who killed during war: study of 3,141 returnees is instructive.(NEWS)
Feb 01, 2009; ... CHICAGO -- Soldiers who killed as part of their deployment are at increased risk for mental health symptoms and related functional impairment, a study of 3,141 recent returnees from Operation Iraqi Freedom shows. Based on available data, 1,184 (40%) of 2,975 patients reported ...
Depot olanzapine moves toward approval in U.S.(NEWS)
Feb 01, 2009; ... CHICAGO -- Look for long-acting injectable olanzapine to soon join the growing ranks of atypical antipsychotic agents available in depot formulations. The Food and Drug Administration issued a complete response letter to Eli Lilly & Co. early last month, indicating that no ...
Escitalopram, sertraline lead class for depression.(NEWS)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Escitalopram and sertraline were the most effective of a dozen second-generation antidepressants for treating major depression in adults, results of a review of randomized controlled trials that included more than 25,000 patients show. Previous studies of the effectiveness of ...
Vital signs.
Feb 01, 2009 ... Psychiatry's Next Generation Is Predominantly Female Note: Age distribution is for 31,201 male and 17,739 female ...
Americans' mental health needs unmet, report says.(NEWS)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Just 45% of the 24 million U.S. citizens who experienced serious psychological distress in the past year received any kind of mental health services for their symptoms, a new national report has found. Young adults bore much of the burden of untreated illness, according to the ...
Making sense of the future.(EDITORIAL)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Since 1975, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has annually assessed the level of drug use among the nation's students--a bellwether population when it comes to drugs--through its "Monitoring the Future" survey. The 2008 results have been out for a few weeks now (CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY ...
Treatment costs really matter now.(Editorial)
Feb 01, 2009; ... It is no secret that the world currently faces a significant economic challenge. In my clinical practice, it is now common for my patients to comment on their personal economic concerns, and these concerns seem to be affecting their overall health--regardless of the condition for which ...
Correcting the record.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Feb 01, 2009; ... I want to point out an important error that was published in CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY NEWS ("St. John's Wort for Depression," Evidence-Based Psychiatric Medicine, December 2008, p. 9). In the last paragraph, Dr. Jan Leard-Hansson and Dr. Laurence Guttmacher state that St. John's ...
Fink! still at large: people who suffer losses as a result of affinity fraud often struggle with the psychological ripple effects of such betrayal. What strategies can we use to help victims move forward?(OPINION)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Betrayal ranks high as one of the cruelest and most destructive of human behaviors. It can unleash intense feelings of anger, despair, and hatred in the victim, which could fester and intensify over time if it remains unresolved. Conversely, if the emotions are vented, there is a risk they ...
Uptitrating escitalopram beats switch in MDD.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... CHICAGO -- Severely depressed patients who fail to respond to 2 weeks of escitalopram at 10 mg/day typically do better with uptitration to 20 mg/day for 8 weeks than with a switch to 8 weeks of duloxetine at 60 mg/day, according to a multicenter double-blind randomized clinical trial. ...
Antipsychotics: prescribe one at a time.(PRACTICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Too many clinicians prescribe more than one antipsychotic at a time to patients with schizophrenia, a generally unhelpful and expensive practice. Only in rare, exceptional cases should simultaneous antipsychotics be tried when treating schizophrenia, several experts suggest. ...
Atypicals often more costly in treating bipolar disorder.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... CHICAGO -- The use of atypical antipsychotic agents results in lower total costs than does traditional antipsychotics in patients with bipolar disorder only in the limited setting of a need to switch medications, a large, real-world pharmacoeconomic study shows. In the much more ...
Quetiapine XR appears effective, safe for GAD.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... CHICAGO -- Extended-release quetiapine monotherapy at 50 mg or 150 mg once daily is rapidly effective and well tolerated with minimal metabolic side effects in patients with generalized anxiety disorder, as demonstrated in a large phase III clinical trial. Generalized anxiety ...
Early trauma is a strong predictor of CFS.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Childhood traumas--especially sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment--are strong predictors of chronic fatigue syndrome in adulthood, researchers report. Moreover, childhood trauma also correlates with neuroendocrine dysfunction characterized by subnormal cortisol ...
The psychiatrist's toolbox: my hopes for the DSM-V.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... You will be pleased to know that no matter how long you have been neurotic, you will no longer be neurotic by 1980." That's how I opened one of my syndicated daily radio programs one year before the DSM-III was introduced back in the late 1970s, when I was a health care ...
Evidence-Based Psychiatric Medicine: sexual abuse and self-injurious behavior.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... The Problem You have a patient who heats up the blade of a knife and then burns himself with the heated blade. He says he was sexually abused in childhood and asks whether there is a connection between the abuse and self-injurious behavior. The Question ...
Narrative exposure improves PTSD symptoms.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... CHICAGO -- Short-term narrative exposure therapy can be effective in treating posttraumatic stress disorder in child and adult survivors of war, even when carried out by lay counselors with limited training, new research shows. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) builds on the ...
Burn victims at risk for PTSD, comorbidities.(CHILD PSYCHIATRY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... CHICAGO -- Young children experience traumatic stress reactions after a burn injury but also appear to be at risk of comorbid disorders, preliminary findings from a study in 135 children show. The study used two criteria to evaluate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because ...
Rehabilitation promotes recovery in schizophrenia.(PREVENTION IN ACTION)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Psychiatric rehabilitation is an important but often overlooked component of managing--and sometimes preventing--prodromal schizophrenia symptoms. However, symptom control and relapse prevention should not be confused with recovery. Studies have shown that, even with optimal ...
Many psychiatry residents face stress, career change.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
Feb 01, 2009; ... CHICAGO -- The majority of American and Canadian psychiatric residents feel stressed out--and one-quarter of those residents are contemplating a career change, a new survey suggests. Fully 56% of the 893 psychiatric residents who responded to the online survey rated their lives ...
Privacy called top priority for personal health records.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Privacy should be the top priority when developing certification criteria for personal health records, a task force created by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology has recommended. Adequate security and interoperability also must be included in ...
Lilly settles Zyprexa charges.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
Feb 01, 2009; ... As anticipated, Eli Lilly & Co. has agreed to settle various federal complaints about off-label promotion of its antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine). Lilly pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for illegal promotion of Zyprexa for dementia from 1999 ...
Most favor family consent.(POLICY & PRACTICE)(Survey)(Brief article)
Feb 01, 2009; ... University of Michigan health researchers say that a nationally representative survey of older adults shows that most believe it's okay for a family surrogate to give consent for a cognitively impaired person to be a research subject. The surveyors queried 1,515 people aged 51 years and ...
Mixed grades on Tobacco Control.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
Feb 01, 2009; ... In 23 states, smoking in workplaces and public spaces has been banned, but the pace of adoption of those life-saving prohibitions has slowed, according to the American Lung Association's annual State of Tobacco Control report. Only two states passed such laws in 2008, compared with five in ...
Jump in Singulair psych reports.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Surging reports of aggressive and suicidal behavior associated with the asthma drug Singulair (montelukast) contributed to another high number of serious adverse events reported to the Food and Drug Administration in the second quarter of 2008, according to the nonprofit Institute for Safe ...
FDA posts guidance on handouts.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
Feb 01, 2009; ... The FDA has issued updated guidance for manufacturers that distribute journal articles or other scientific publications concerning off-label uses for their FDA-approved drugs, devices, or biologics. On its Web site, the agency suggests that distributed journal articles be only from ...
FDA approvals increase.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
Feb 01, 2009; ... The FDA approved 21 new molecular entities and 4 new biologic drugs in 2008, compared with 17 NMEs and 2 biologics in 2007. Four of the 2008 approvals came in December. In 2006, the FDA approved 22 new drugs and biologics. Although the agency has increased the annual number of novel ...
Darwin, Lincoln, and psychiatry.(THE ETHICAL WAY)
Feb 01, 2009; ... Is it a cosmic coincidence that we have just simultaneously celebrated the 200th birthdays of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln? Such connections make me wonder about our highest ethical ideals and potential as citizens, as politicians, as patients, and as psychiatrists. There ...
Milk and martyrdom.(REEL LIFE)
Feb 01, 2009; ... "Milk" is a biopic about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay American to be elected to a major public office, as a city supervisor in San Francisco, in 1977. Before that, Milk (Sean Penn) was nicknamed the "Mayor of Castro Street" (the main boulevard running through the city's most prominent ...
Drugs with potential Safety issues.(FYI)(Brief article)
Feb 01, 2009 ... The Food and Drug Administration has posted on its Web site its first quarterly report that lists certain drugs that are being evaluated for potential safety issues. The drugs in the report, which is titled "Potential Signals of Serious ...
Nominations for 'Voice Awards'.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... The Voice Awards are bestowed each year upon writers and producers who incorporate respectful, accurate portrayals of people with mental illness into film and TV. The awards also recognize mental health consumers who promote the recovery and social inclusion ...
Generic Wellbutrin approved.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... A generic equivalent of Wellbutrin XL has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The drug, bupropion hydrochloride ...
Cartoons for children with autism.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... The Transporters is a new series of cartoons that use animated cable cars to help children aged 2 to 8 with autism recognize emotions. After watching the DVD for 15 minutes daily for 4 weeks, most autistic children caught up with others in ...
Book on Alzheimer's Disease.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... The National Institute on Aging has released "Alzheimer's Disease: Unraveling the Mystery," an illustrated 80-page book written for Alzheimer's patients, their families, health ...
TIP 24 Desk Reference in Spanish.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... The Spanish language version of the Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 24 Desk Reference is now available to order. This guide--Guia de servicios para el abuso de sustancias para proveedores de atencion primaria de la salud--is a companion to TIP 24, ...
Service integration and depression.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... People treated for depression in primary care clinics that provide a coordinated set of mental and physical health services do better and have fewer symptoms than do patients who are treated at sites that provide just health services, according ...
Depression in veterans report.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... A new report from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health provides data on the prevalence of past-year depression among veterans aged 21-39. An estimated 25%-30% of veterans of ...
Promoting innovation in financing.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has announced the creation of a new financing center of excellence. Through the center, SAMHSA will create a national network of expertise for generating new ...
Medicare provider satisfaction.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has launched its fourth annual health care provider satisfaction survey of Medicare fee-for-service contractors. Medicare is sending the survey, designed to be ...
Online SPD education.(FYI)
Feb 01, 2009 ... The Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation offers an online program about sensory processing disorder (SPD). The site allows users to ...