Smoking Cessation and Psychiatric Drugs Cause the Most Suicidal and Homicidal Reactions
The popular smoking cessation drug Chantix is the medication that most frequently makes people feel suicidal or homicidal, according to figures gathered by the...
Medications May Add to Mortality Rate in Schizophrenia
Dutch researchers write in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology that, in a prospective study of 7415 persons with diagnoses of schizophrenia, use of a first-generation...
Infants Exposed to Psychotropic Drugs During Pregnancy At Risk
New research published in the July issue of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that the use of mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, antidepressants, and hypnotics during pregnancy is associated with increased health risks to the infant.
Psychiatric Medication Use Associated with Triple the Risk of Stroke
Common psychiatric medications double the risk of heart attack and triple the risk of stroke, according to research presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress...
Different Antipsychotics Have Different Effects on Brain Volume
First generation antipsychotics seem to cause general brain volume loss, while second generation antipsychotics seem to both increase and decrease the thickness of different parts of the brain.
Antipsychotics for Depression: Added Risk for Little Benefit
A review of research on antipsychotic medications as an adjunctive treatment for depression published this week in PLoS Medicine finds that the widespread practice...
Antipsychotic-induced Sexual Dysfunction Underreported
Researchers found some antipsychotics to be worse than others for causing sexual dysfunction.
British Journal of Psychiatry Editorial Urges Rethinking the Use of Antipsychotics
The August issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry offers an editorial stating that, as "mental health services appear to have overestimated the strength...
Still Mistreating the Elderly with Psychiatric Drugs: Antipsychotics
The percentage of seniors in the United States prescribed potentially deadly antipsychotic drugs increases with age. A new study reveals that in the face of serious risks of strokes, fractures, kidney injuries, and death, over seventy-five percent of seniors given antipsychotics do not have a diagnosis for a mental disorder.
Family Economic Context Linked to Adolescents’ Antipsychotic Use
In a study of the Swedish Medical Birth Registry published in the British Medical Journal, researchers identified all 324,510 single children born between 1988...
In Chronic Patients, Antipsychotics Have Limited Efficacy in Reducing Symptoms
A large review and meta-analysis of 167 studies across 60 years dissects placebo-controlled randomized controlled trials of antipsychotic drugs.
Antipsychotics Increase Retrovirus Activity in Humans
Endogenous retroviruses, remnants of ancient infections that have become part of the human genome, have been associated with the development of schizophrenia. But researchers...
A History of Rapid Tranquilization
A paper by Joanna Moncrieff and Laura Allison in the journal History of Psychiatry reviews "the theory and practice of emergency sedation for behavioural...
More Time in Foster Care Linked to More Psychotropic Medicating
Children as young as four in foster care are taking three or more psychotropic medications, and the length of time that children aged six...
FDA Warns About New Impulse-Control Problems Associated With Abilify
Yesterday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a warning that the antipsychotic drug aripiprazole or Abilify is associated with compulsive and uncontrollable...
Schizophrenia Prevents Cancer; Antipsychotics May Cause It
In a review of all 59,233 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia in Sweden between 1965 and 2008, researchers from Sweden and the U.S. identified 6137...
Cognitive Function Improved by Reducing Antipsychotics
A 28-week randomized controlled study by researchers in Japan, Canada and the United States finds that a 50% reduction of risperidone or olanzapine significantly...
BJP Announces “The End of the Psychopharmacological Revolution”
The editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, in a comment on Morrison et al.'s "Antipsychotics: is it Time to Introduce Patient Choice," announces...
“Should We Stop Using Antipsychotic Medication?”
In a recent interview, Nancy Andreasen, former editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Psychiatry, reaffirmed her earlier findings that antipsychotics shrink brain tissue. "We spent a couple...
Antipsychotics Associated with High Risk of Death in Children
A new study has found that children and adolescents taking a high dose of antipsychotics are almost twice as likely to die of any cause than children on other types of medications.
Osteoporosis Associated with Antipsychotic Treatment
Chinese researchers find, in a literature review for the International Journal of Endocrinology find an increased rate of osteoporosis among people with a schizophrenia...
Patients on Antipsychotics at High Risk for Cardiovascular Issues, Study Finds
Antipsychotics present a known risk for major side effects. A new study suggests that certain antipsychotics may present a greater risk for cardiovascular disease than others.
Claims That Long-term Antipsychotic Use Leads to Better Outcomes are Misleading, Researchers Argue
Researchers reveal the limitations and misleading interpretations of two recent studies that claim to demonstrate that long-term antipsychotic use leads to better outcomes.
NMS in 2nd Gen. Antipsychotics: Similar, But Younger
A study released online today by the British Journal of Psychiatry shows that the clinical profile of neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is similar in 1st- v....
Antipsychotics During Pregnancy Linked to Infant Problems
“Live, healthy babies are the most common outcome following the use of antipsychotic medication in pregnancy,” conclude Australian researchers in a study that was...
