psychiatry
j7uy5 | July 29, 2006This is an archived post from September, 2005, posted here and now because I am away on vacation.
As
I go about my days, I get the impression that there is a lot of
confusion out there about the treatment of opiate abuse and dependence.
Wes Clark (not that Wes Clark, the other
one) has written an article to help us understand this nettlesome
issue.
First, I summarize some point from his article, and a
few others, then add a few bits of my own.
Dr. Clark provides us with some historical background in his article,
rev="review" href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/349/10/928">…
j7uy5 | July 26, 2006This post on Black
Triangle reminds me that it is a good idea to spread this
warning, at this time of year. He notes several medications that
increase the risk of heatstroke, or otherwise pose risks in heat and
bright sun.
Many of these are psychiatric medications.
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipsychotic" rel="tag">Antipsychotic
medications, in particular, can increase risk of heatstroke. Some make
the skin more susceptible to sunburn.
href="http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=About_Medications&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=51&ContentID=…
j7uy5 | July 25, 2006Being on vacation over the following two weeks, I've scheduled publication of some old posts. The formatting might be a little funny, but I can't really check that ahead of time. The preview function in MT is not perfect. This one is from June, 2004....
From the newsletter, Psychiatric Times, here is a summary of recent
findings from analysis of data pertaining to the association between
antidepressant use and the incidence of suicide. I wrote a
flurry
of articles on this subject back in April. (previous
title="Corpus Callosum">CC posts:
href="http://corpus-callosum.blogspot.com/…
j7uy5 | July 24, 2006This week's Ask-a-ScienceBlogger question is:
If you could have practiced science in any time and
any place throughout history, which would it be, and why?...
Hmmm. I am not going to answer that question, exactly.
Instead, I will rephrase it, and answer the question that I
would like to be asked.
If you could practice science in any time and place in history, for
while, then come back to the present day, where are when
would you pick?
I would like to have been around during the turn of the last two
centuries, in central Europe, as an associate of
title="Wikipedia link" href="Sigmund%…
j7uy5 | July 14, 2006This subject is not really news anymore, but I am writing about it to
call attention to a review article,
href="http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v31/n7/abs/1301082a.html">VNS
Therapy in Treatment-Resistant Depression: Clinical Evidence and
Putative Neurobiological Mechanisms. In this post,
I provide a little overview of VNS therapy, comment on some other
sources of information, and say a little bit about where I would like
the research to go next.
VNS Therapy in Treatment-Resistant
Depression: Clinical
Evidence and Putative Neurobiological MechanismsCharles B Nemeroff*,1,2, Helen S…
j7uy5 | June 25, 2006I got an email that I almost deleted without reading, thinking for a moment that it would be spam. It turned out not to be. Since the author appears to be well-intentioned, I'll go ahead and post it here. He mentions some on-line resources regarding the diagnosis and treatment of adult ADHD.
Based upon the title of the email, I thought it was going to be one of those pitches for Internet drug sales. It is not. Instead, it promotes a site put up by an independent ADHD coach. Presumably, the main purpose is to promote his business. I have no particujlar objection to that. I have no…
j7uy5 | June 23, 2006The Washington Post has a mildly interesting
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201952.html">article
about Douglas M. Duncan, who just dropped out of the gubernatorial race
in Maryland. Reportedly, he was diagnosed as having depression earlier
in the week, then decided to withdraw.
"It's time for me to focus on my health"
The decision was taken as an opportunity to discuss the problem posed
by the illness, the stigma, and the difficulties posed by the decision
to go public with the disclosure.
"There is an enormous amount of stress to keep…
j7uy5 | June 18, 2006
Moose, Isle Royale National ParkNational Park Service Photo,
presumed to be in public domain
Sometimes I am talking to people about how they feel about taking
psychiatric medication. Commonly, they say something like
this: "I would rather be able to do it myself," or, "I don't like being
dependent on something."
Indeed, in American culture (and many others, presumably) independence
is highly valued. It is romanticized. It is
considered to be one of the nobler of virtues. It is
something to boast about.
"I don't need anyone" is a common refrain among the boastful.
Isle Royale…
j7uy5 | June 16, 2006What Ever Happened to Psychotherapy?
Or rather, what is happening to psychotherapy?
Here, I am picking up on a comment thread at Mad
Melancholic Feminista, under
href="http://melancholicfeminista.blogspot.com/2006/06/prozac-doesnt-get-anorexics-eating.html">the
post that Aspazia did about
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2006/06/drug_treatment_of_anorexia.php">my
post on pharmacotherapy of
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorexia_Nervosa" rel="tag">Anorexia
Nervosa.
The question is one that comes up a lot, and the answers, by SteveR (no
URL given) are fairly…
j7uy5 | June 14, 2006I used to work in an eating disorders treatment program. From
time to time, I give talks on the subject. When I get to the
part about the use of psychiatric medication, I always start with
something like this: "frankly, the role of medication in the treatment
of eating disorders is extremely limited."
This pessimistic view was amplified this week, by a report in the
href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/" rel="tag">Journal
of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
What is a bit unusual about the report is that it was picked
up in the major news media (
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06…
j7uy5 | June 12, 2006This post is not interesting to specialists, but
may be of some use to
others. I'm writing it mostly because the matter has been
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061200722.html">reported
in the mainstream press, and I think some clarification is in order.
Wellbutrin XL has been approved by the US FDA, "for the
prevention of major depressive episodes in patients with a history of
seasonal affective disorder."
In this post, I go over some of the history of the product, and try to
explain why the new indication is important, or not. Continue…
j7uy5 | June 10, 2006No, it's not a new concept car from Detroit. It is a website
that is designed to collect suggestions for the next edition of the
Diagnostical and Statistical Manual (DSM-V). It occurred to me to mention it
here, after reading a recent article in Seed
magazine.
href="http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/06/serenity_now.php">Serenity
Now!, written by
href="http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/author-stu-hutson/">Stu
Hutson, posted on
href="http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/06/">June 8,
2006 12:14 AM, is in the category
href="http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/brain-behavior/"…