Antipsychotics Prescribed Off-Label for Challenging Behaviors

4
Antipsychotics are being prescribed to people who may have challenging behaviors but no mental disorder, according to new research published in this month’s issue of BMJ. “Excessive use of psychotropic drugs has individual and systemic implications,” the researchers write. “Antipsychotics, in particular, are associated with several adverse side effects that can impair quality of life and lead to deleterious health outcomes.”

Better Recovery and Less Relapse Without Meds: A 20-Year Study

0
Researchers at the University of Illinois College of Medicine found, in a 20-year prospective study of 139 psychotic patients, that patients had a far...

Antipsychotics Again Strongly Linked to Falls and Fractures

2
Three independent studies in two journals reported strong links between antipsychotics and falls and fractures.

Antipsychotics During Pregnancy Raise Diabetes Risk

0
Swedish researchers find, in a study of all women giving birth in Sweden from July 1, 2005 through December 31, 2009 that those taking...

Contribution of Antipsychotics to Suicidality and Depression

3
Peter Lehmann reviews the contribution of antipsychotics to suicide and depression in schizophrenia in the current International Journal of Psychotherapy.  Publications about the intrinsic effects of...

Pentagon Was Warned Off Antipsychotic for PTSD

1
Despite 2004 clinical guidelines issued by the Veterans' Administration that "there is insufficient evidence to recommend atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of PTSD,"  ...

Psychiatric Drugs, Especially Antipsychotics, Contribute to Increasing Drug Costs

0
Antipsychotics have overtaken antidepressants as the most costly class of psychiatric medication in England, according to a study by Stephen Ilyas and Joanna Moncrieff...

Alarm About Antipsychotics as Sleep Aids

0
Canadian sleep researchers, writing in The Lancet, warn that weight gain, lipid and glucose dysregulation, restless leg syndrome, sleep-walking and eating while asleep, and...

Antipsychotics Change the Architecture of the Colon

17
Researchers in Singapore find that antipsychotic medications are associated with changes to colonic architecture, which could result in difficult colonoscopy and increased colonoscopy-related risks....

A History of Rapid Tranquilization

0
A paper by Joanna Moncrieff and Laura Allison in the journal History of Psychiatry reviews "the theory and practice of emergency sedation for behavioural...

Assessing Increased Mortality Risks of Antipsychotics and Mood Stabilizers in Dementia

0
An article in January's American Journal of Psychiatry weighs the relative risk of mortality associated with various antipsychotics and mood stabilizers used in the treatment of...

Nurses Confront the Myths of Psychiatric Drugs

19
The July issue of Nursing Ethics takes on the myths of psychiatric drugs, saying that "psychiatric drugs are used only to control ‘patient’ behaviour...

Antipsychotics Triple the Risk of Diabetes in Children and Youth

3
Researchers from Vanderbilt and Columbia Universities and the FDA find that, through a retrospective cohort study of 28,858 patients of the Tennessee Medicaid program...

Psychiatrists’ Prescriptions for First-time Psychosis Often Don’t Follow Guidelines

14
"Many patients with first-episode psychosis receive medications that do not comply with recommended guidelines for first-episode treatment," states a National Institute of Mental Health...

Antipsychotics Too Often Used to Dampen Aggression in Kids, Not Treat Psychosis

34
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.

Medications May Add to Mortality Rate in Schizophrenia

1
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...

Antipsychotics Increase Retrovirus Activity in Humans

1
Endogenous retroviruses, remnants of ancient infections that have become part of the human genome, have been associated with the development of schizophrenia. But researchers...

Seroquel Abuse Rising, Along With Ambulance Calls

0
Australian researchers have uncovered an alarming increase of Seroquel-related ambulances calls. Rising prescriptions of of the drug along with its developing use as a drug...

Osteoporosis Associated with Antipsychotic Treatment

1
Chinese researchers find, in a literature review for the International Journal of Endocrinology find an increased rate of osteoporosis among people with a schizophrenia...

Antipsychotics During Pregnancy Linked to Infant Problems

12
“Live, healthy babies are the most common outcome following the use of antipsychotic medication in pregnancy,” conclude Australian researchers in a study that was...

Nonwhites Twice as Likely to Receive Injectable Antipsychotics

0
Research published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry shows that of all 901 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia from July 2009 to June 2010 at a...

Glucose Metabolism “Derangements” from Second Generation Antipsychotics Clarified

7
New Zealand and Chinese investigators believe they have clarified the mechanisms by which second generation antipsychotics cause serious "derangements" in glucose metabolism in the...

Antipsychotics are Common for the Mechanically Ventilated

4
Annals of Pharmacotherapy reports in a study of patients undergoing mechanical ventilation that 39% were given antipsychotic medication to prevent or treat delirium despite...

Children on Antipsychotics 50% More Likely to Develop Diabetes

13
Antipsychotic drugs increased the risk of children developing diabetes by 50%, and with an antidepressant added, their risk doubled.

More than Half of UK Antipsychotic Prescribing is Not for Authorized Conditions

5
More than half of the prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs in the UK are being issued "off-label" to treat conditions other than those for which the drugs are approved, according to a large study published in the British Medical Journal Open. Researchers also found significantly higher levels of prescribing of the medications to poorer people.