Psychopharmacology

For many patients with depression, full symptom remission remains elusive despite multiple trials of antidepressants. This article focuses on psychopharmacological and related interventions.

What if someone with “prescriptive privileges” looked at superficial symptoms only, and ordered antipsychotics without considering the bigger picture?

More than half of all patients with psychiatric disorders report disturbances of sleep and wakefulness. "Sleep disorders are associated with impaired daytime function and predict a heightened future vulnerability to psychiatric disease. They also diminish life span.” Details from an expert here.

This article summarizes efforts to develop neurocognitive enhancement drugs administered individually or as an adjunct to other antipsychotics and cognitive remediation.

Dr Gerard Sanacora discusses novel antidepressant agents with potential clinical relevance for the treatment of major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.

Some criminal activity can be eliminated by pharmacotherapy for ADHD. Should this information influence clinical practice? The short answer is an un­equivocal “yes.”

If our survey on medical cannabis is any indication, psychiatrists are widely-and deeply-divided on whether and how marijuana should be used in clinical practice. You can read the results here.

Obesity is one of the most common physical health problems in individuals with psychiatric conditions and contributes to excess medical morbidity and mortality. Several classes of psychotropic medications, particularly atypical antipsychotics, cause weight gain. While these issues pose challenges to optimal health, the good news is that there are solutions and emerging strategies.

Hypothyroidism is a common clinical disorder that psychiatrists frequently encounter. However, symptoms of thyroid dysfunction are often vague and nonspecific, which can lead to delayed or missed diagnosis.

For now, it is encouraging to know that psychiatrists remember that they, too, are physicians first who can tap into their medical training to provide comprehensive patient care.

Results of a 10-week prospective study, recently reported at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, offered no conclusive evidence about the mortality risk of elderly patients with Alzheimer disease who were treated with antipsychotics.

The rise in suicides and lethal overdoses of opioid analgesics is probably not coincidental. In most overdose deaths, we have no way of knowing with any degree of certainty whether they were accidental deaths or intentional suicides.

This article reviews some of the most recent findings in genetics and pharmacogenetics of schizophrenia-especially those with clinical implications.

Calling all psychiatrists: we conducted a survey of your opinions about prescribing medical cannabis and invite you to view the results.

Two problems persist in the treatment of severe mental illness that constitute a barrier to effective patient-centered care: excessive reliance on a limited number of antipsychotic medications at the expense of other effective treatments, and the underutilization of other evidence-based treatment options.

Quick . . . name a class of prescription medications that, by most evidence, appears to be overprescribed and abused and the use of which has resulted in an increasing number of emergency department visits. If you said "opioids," you would be right.

Engaging in mindfulness activities either individually or with patients who come to us for brief medication visits can have a profound influence on the therapeutic process.

The extent to which antidepressant use during pregnancy is associated with increased risks of postnatal adaptation syndrome, persistent pulmonary hypertension in the newborn, first-trimester teratogenicity, stillbirth, and infant mortality is explored in 2 recent studies. A close up look here. . .

Drug interactions are more frequent in elderly patients because more medications are taken. In addition, drug interactions may be more serious because of insufficient physiological reserves. When new medications are started or stopped in elderly patients, it is very important to take note of potential interactions with other drugs or foods.

Given the likelihood that insufficient numbers of patients will be available for a randomized controlled trial of MAOIs in refractory depression or atypical depression, we must still rely on consensus guidelines and expert opinion.

Knowledge of how different antidepressants are likely to affect parameters of sleep can provide an important basis for selecting an appropriate antidepressant drug among the roughly 2 dozen marketed options to meet the needs of depressed patients.

Studies of mammalian species suggest that they possess awareness of self and even more subtle “human” qualities associated with empathy and social joy.

Have you heard the news that citalopram should no longer be used at doses greater than 40 mg? Steven Moffic, MD, explores the issues surrounding this recent recommendation.

This article explores the use of functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP)-a behavioral, evidenced-based approach to psychotherapy that can add psychotherapeutic benefit to your existing brief approaches during medication checks.