Vermont Moves to Community Care After Hurricane Destroys State Hospital
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin "is going to use this tragedy of losing our State Hospital during (hurricane) Irene as an opportunity to deliver the...
Effort to Curb Antipsychotics for Dementia Announced
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is launching an initiative to curb the use of antipsychotic medications for nursing home residents with dementia....
Anhedonia in Schizophrenia Reflects Beliefs, Not Deficits
Researchers at the University of Maryland investigated "the emotion paradox" in schizophrenia; the tendency of individuals with schizophrenia to report similar levels of positive...
Staff Behaviors Precede Violence and Aggression Among In-Patients
A review of articles and reports pertaining to violence and aggression in in-patient settings  finds that limiting patients' freedoms is the most frequent antecedent...
DSM Panels Rife With Conflicts of Interest
Safeguards ostensibly put in place to ensure "a transparent process of development for the DSM," and an "unbiased, evidence-based DSM, free from any conflicts...
Justice Department Raises J&J Settlement to $1.8 Billion
Following Johnson & Johnson's $158 million resolution with Texas several states have demanded higher payments, leading the U.S. Justice Department to raise its demand...
Popularity of Off-Label Antipsychotic Use Grows
Fueled by aggressive marketing that hyped atypical antipsychotics as safe and effective for off-label uses, states an article in The Washington Post yesterday, sales of the drugs...
NYPD Whistleblower Fights Forced Hospitalization
The Village Voice reports this week on NYPD whistleblower Adrian Schoolcraft's two-year fight for justice after high-ranking NYPD officials illegally removed him from his house and had...
Ritalin Impairs Learning and Memory
Ritalin reduced impulsive responses and increased the amount of time willing to stay on task of Rhesus monkeys in a study from the University...
$1 Billion J&J Settlement Rejected as Insufficient
Federal prosecutors have rejected as insufficient the $1 billion settlement reached two months ago between Johnson & Johnson and prosecutors in Philadelphia to resolve...
Shooter in Family Murder/Suicide on High Level of Antipsychotics
Denis Bay had high levels of prescription drugs used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar illness in his blood on February 3, when he shot...
Women on SSRIs Less Likely To Breastfeed
In a prospective cohort study of 466 pregnant women over 10 years, researchers at the California Teratogen Information Service found that women exposed to...
Activity-Based Therapies Reduce Antipsychotic Use
Researchers from the University of North Carolina found that activity-based therapy and care reduced the use of antipsychotics in a study of 107 people...
Overprescribing of Benzodiazepines
Norwegian researchers found that 14.6% (27,861) of patients who were prescribed benzodiazepines used two simultaneously, despite the fact that all benzodiazepines have essentially the...
Environmental Factors Drive Mania
Harvard researchers investigated 6,214 cases of major depression for factors that would predict transition to bipolar disorder. Â Clinical characteristics such as age of onset...
Brain Volume Recovers With Remission, Not With Medication
In a prospective study of 28 outpatients with major depression, Canadian researchers investigated whether brain volume changes stabilized with antidepressant treatment and/or reversed with...
WHO Says Newer Antipsychotics Most Costly, Least Effective Strategy
In an analysis of neuropsychiatric conditions in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia, the World Health Organization found that inpatient treatment of schizophrenia with...
Peer-Led Education Improves Recovery and Hopefulness
In a study of 428 outpatients in Tennessee, researchers from the University of Chicago and the NIMH found that BRIDGES, an 8-week peer-run education...
ADHD Overtreated in Relatively Younger Children
An 11-year study of 937,943 children in British Columbia found that boys who were relatively younger than their classmates were 41% more likely to...
SSRIs Cause Delayed Head Growth and Premature Birth
In a study of 7,696 pregnant women, researchers in the Netherlands and the U.S. found that SSRIs caused slower head growth and premature birth....
Rise of Antipsychotics in Children
Researchers at Johns Hopkins explore the use of antipsychotics in children, finding a dramatic rise in off-label prescribing with little oversight or research into...
Risk of Death in the Elderly Trebled With Antipsychotics
In a nine-year study of all 2,224 residents of Leppävirta, Finland who were 65 years old or older, researchers found that the 332 residents...
Psychotropics Accelerate Cognitive and Functional Decline
Researchers at Johns Hopkins, The Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School, Duke and others found in a study of 230 Alzheimer's patients tracked over four...
Early Environment Influences Schizophrenia Independent of Genetic Risk
Canadian researchers found that childhood adversity and other environmental factors such as family instability and cannabis use was associated with the development of schizophrenia,...
Oxytocin Improves Emotion Recognition in Schizophrenia
Oxytocin, a natural hormone with a role in social behaviors, has been shown to improve social behaviors in people with autistic spectrum disorders and...
