Psychiatry Roundup: Suicide, Overdose, and Self-Harm

Suicidal Ideation Following Repeated Doses of Intravenous Ketamine
A study finds infusions of ketamine rapidly decrease suicidal ideation in patients with depression:“ While several previous studies have shown that ketamine quickly decreases symptoms of depression in patients with treatment-resistant depression, many of them excluded patients with current suicidal thinking,” says lead author Dawn Ionescu, MD.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, May 2016

Our Own Private Halfway-to-Hell Club
“I thought being a psychiatry resident meant that I might lose a patient to suicide, but didn’t think I would lose a friend.”
Synapse, UCSF Student Voices, May 9, 2016

FDA Approves First Buprenorphine Implant for Treatment of Opioid Dependence
To combat the epidemic of addiction, there is a new implant for treatment of opioid addiction, designed to deliver a low-level dose of buprenorphine on a continual basis for 6 months. The drug is meant for patients “who are already stable on low-to-moderate doses of other forms of buprenorphine, as part of a complete treatment program.”
Federal Drug Administration, May 26, 2016

Training Doctors to Manage Their Feelings
Hospitals have begun teaching residents resilience skills amidst building evidence that physician burnout contributes to medical errors and general mental and physical decline. A study reported burnout rates in one hospital were over 75% in pediatric residents.
Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2016

Self-harm, Unintentional Injury, and Suicide in Bipolar Disorder During Maintenance Mood Stabilizer Treatment
In patients with bipolar disorder, lithium was found to stabilize mood more effectively than other treatments-namely valproate, olanzapine, and quetiapine. It also lowered rates of self-harm and injury by reducing aggression and impulsivity.
JAMA Psychiatry, May 11, 2016

How Therapy Became a Hobby of the Wealthy-Rather Than A Necessity for the Mentally Ill
Stanford psychiatry professor Keith Humphreys: “If it’s a market where you pretty much have to pay for yourself, the rich are always going to win,” he says. The growing workforce of psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and licensed social workers has responded to that market demand . . . Treating high-functioning professionals in a private office is a lot less stressful than doing rounds on a psychiatric ward of a public hospital."
CQED News, May 24, 2016