There are multiple risk factors for self-harm, including a history of abuse, trauma, physical and mental illness, and bullying. Identifying these factors is a key part of prevention, ensuring that those at risk receive appropriate support as early as possible — but despite this, predicting who may end up engaging [...]
Three members of a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee are explaining why they do not support approval of the drug aducanumab (Biogen, Eisai) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). G. Caleb Alexander, MD, Scott Emerson, MD, PhD, and Aaron Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, all serve on the [...]
An investigational, orally dissolving film formulation of dexmedetomidine (BXCL501, BioXcel Therapeutics) may offer rapid relief from acute agitation related to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (BD), results of two phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled trials show. Dr Leslie Citrome For both disorders, BXCL501 showed "superiority over placebo" by meeting the primary endpoint of reduction of agitation as [...]
Cannabis sativa has a long history of use both as a textile and as an intoxicant used for medicinal, spiritual, and recreational purposes. California voted to regulate cannabis for medical use in 1996, and in recent years there has been a wave of US states and other countries passing legislation [...]
SUMMARY In this study, we observed that compared to women with no prior cancer, breast cancer survivors had higher risk of anxiety, depression, sleep problems, sexual dysfunction, fatigue, receipt of opioid analgesics, and pain. Relative risks estimates tended to decrease over time, but anxiety and depression were significantly increased for [...]
From: JAMA Psychiatry. Published online October 16, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3746 By Christine Moutier, MD Introduction International and US experts on suicide have expressed concerns about the potential the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has to increase the risk of suicide through its effects on a number of well-established suicide risk factors.1,2 Suicide surveillance [...]
Chronic use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) can induce the development of adverse effects on bone metabolism. In epileptic patients treated with AED, the monitor- ing of biochemical markers of bone turnover, such as the measurement of serum 25 (OH) vitamin D, bone mineral density, before the beginning of the treatment [...]
ABSTRACT ~ Objective: Off-label use of prazosin for posttraumatic stress disorder-related sleep disturbances (PTSD-SD) is widespread in Veterans Health Administration (VA) settings, but clinical trials have had mixed results. Trial criteria may exclude significant sub-groups, and therefore a 2018 study may not provide the final evidence of prazo- sin efficacy [...]
ABSTRACT ~ Objectives: To sequentially study the effectiveness of lithium and divalproex monotherapy and adjunctive therapy with quetiapine or lamotrigine in the acute and continuation treatment of bipolar I or II disorder at any phase of illness and at least mild symptom severity. Methods: From June 2011 to December 2016, [...]
Although currently available antidepressants increase monoamine levels soon after the start of treatment, therapeutic benefits are often delayed by several weeks and the majority of patients with major depressive disorder fail to achieve an adequate response to first- or second-line therapies targeting monoamines. The recent approval of the NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartate) [...]