Antipsychotics Too Often Used to Dampen Aggression in Kids, Not Treat Psychosis
Antipsychotics appear to be too often prescribed to curb aggressive impulses in children and youth, rather than to treat psychosis or any other clinically indicated conditions.
Antidepressants Worsen Rapid Cycling in Bipolar Depression
-SSRI antidepressant medications contribute to a significant worsening of emotional "rapid cycling" in patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Major Canadian Health Institute Calls For More Psychotherapy Instead of Drugs
An independent health research organization created to advise the Quebec government on best-evidence guidelines has called for psychotherapy to become the "front-line treatment choice in the mental-health system."
US House Committee Votes to Defund Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality
The primary agency responsible for investigating and reporting on the quality of health care delivery in the US is a step closer to being completely shut down.
Slew of New Studies Spot Links Between Psychiatric Medications and Bone Loss, Fractures
Four different studies conducted in different ways examining different groups have linked use of certain psychiatric drugs to bone fracture risks and negative impacts on human bone development.
Antidepressant-linked Suicide Data Doctored In Seminal Study
Several years after the information was first revealed, a published study has shown how an influential NIMH study doctored the real data about antidepressants and suicidal events in youth.
Clozapine-induced Stuttering Affects 1% Of Patients
A team of psychiatrists reviewed 654 cases in West Ireland to find that nearly 1% of all patients taking the antipsychotic clozapine had experienced clozapine-induced stuttering.
Limitations Of Observational Studies Often Not Mentioned
Mentions of studies' limitations are often buried deep in papers, and then mentions of their existence at all drop steadily thereafter in abstracts, press releases and news stories.
Antipsychotic Dose Reduction Linked To Long-term Improvements In First-Episode Schizophrenia Patients
Careful reductions in dosage levels of antipsychotic medications over time improved long-term rates of recovery and functional remission in patients diagnosed with a first-episode psychosis.
No Treatments Have “Clinically Meaningful” Impacts On Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
While most treatments have had "statistically significant" success in clinical trials, no common psychiatric or psychological treatments improve the negative symptoms of schizophrenia at levels that are "clinically meaningful."
Pennsylvania Latest State To Try To Curb Psychotropic Prescribing To Foster Children
Foster children in Pennsylvania are being given psychotropic drugs by physicians at rates that are "disturbing" and "unacceptable," according to the state's Department of Human Services.
One-quarter of Ohio-area Children With Down Syndrome Are Being Prescribed Psychotropics
The odds of a child with Downs Syndrome being on a psychotropic medication increase steadily with age.
Antidepressants During Pregnancy Do Not Appear To Reduce Relapses And Hospitalizations
Continuing to take antidepressants during pregnancy was associated with higher rates of depressive relapses and hospitalizations than discontinuing.
Not an Onion Study: Underpowered Analysis Of Poor Quality Data Finds Antipsychotics Actually Aren’t...
University of Groningen researchers analyzed only small, short-term clinical trials of generally poor quality to determine that antipsychotics are not linked to increased risk of death in elderly people with dementia.
Many Teens Start Misusing Stimulants By Age 13
An equal percentage of young people will start misusing ADHD-related and other stimulant drugs for the first time at age 13 as will start at age 20.
Internal Pfizer Report Warned of Zoloft and Birth Defect Link
"A Pfizer Inc. report shows a scientist warned executives last year about a potential link between the anti-depressant drug Zoloft and birth defects."
Psychotropics Linked to Worse Physical Problems and Mortality in Psychiatric Patients
Common psychotropic medications may be contributing to the higher rates of physical illnesses and mortality in people diagnosed with mental illnesses.
Antidepressants Tied To Increased Risk of Homicide “Only Modestly”; Benzodiazepines More So
Taking antidepressant or benzodiazepine medications increases the risks that a person will commit a homicide, according to a study from Finland published in a World Psychiatry letter.
Germanwings Pilot Saw Psychiatrist Three Times, Doubled Antidepressant Before Crash
The man who deliberately crashed a Germanwings commercial airliner with 150 passengers aboard was actively in psychiatric treatment at the time, reported the New...
Transparency and Outcome Reporting Not Improving in Behavioral Health Studies
Randomized controlled trials published in four leading behavioral health journals show that new requirements for registering of trials does not seem to be improving trial design or transparency.
In Ireland, Antipsychotic Drugs Used Extensively On People With Learning Disabilities
Over half of people with learning disabilities living in residential centers in Ireland are being prescribed antipsychotics.
Evidence Strengthening that Common Benzodiazepine Sedatives May Cause Dementia
A meta-analysis of studies found that the risk of dementia increased 22% for every additional twenty daily doses of benzodiazepine medications annually.
SSRI Antidepressants Appear to Raise Risk of Serious Respiratory Disease in Newborns
A new study has reinforced earlier warnings that taking SSRI antidepressants late in pregnancy appears to put mothers at a slightly increased risk of having newborns with persistent pulmonary hypertension.
Teen Brain Develops Differently in Bipolar Disorder, When Medicated
The brains of adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder develop differently than the brains of teens without the disorder, according to a study in Biological...
Depression During Pregnancy, Unhealthy Diet, and Child Emotional Dysregulation
One reason that depression is linked to later psychological problems in children could be because depressed mothers often have less healthy diets.
