Psychiatrists’ Prescriptions for First-time Psychosis Often Don’t Follow Guidelines
"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...
Researchers Struggle as Placebos Becoming More Effective & Antipsychotics Losing Power
Since the 1960s, the positive response rates to antipsychotic medications have been dropping steadily, according to a meta-analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry by Columbia...
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...
How Exercise Can Help With First Episode Psychosis
New study examines the experiences of people utilizing an exercise program following a first-episode psychosis.
APA Recommends Reducing Antipsychotics for Children and Elderly Without Psychosis
The American Psychiatric Association, as part of the American Board of Internal Medicine's "Choosing Wisely" initiative, released new practice guidelines yesterday that advise against...
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.
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...
Majority of Anorexia Patients are Prescribed Psychotropics Despite Lack of Data
Research from the medical schools of Harvard University and the University of Melbourne, reported in the December International Journal of Eating Disorders, found that...
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...
Non-Drug Therapies Outperform Drug Therapies in Preventing Relapse
In a study of 597 outpatients who were perceived as likely nonadherers to oral antipsychotic interventions, Spanish researchers found that relapse was lower in...
Nurses Confront the Myths of Psychiatric Drugs
The July issue of Nursing Ethics takes on the myths of psychiatric drugs, saying that "psychiatric drugs are used only to control ‘patient’ behaviour...
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 for Anorexia: Weight Gain and Sedation as Treatment
A study published online today (May 26, 2012) in Current Psychiatry Reports recommends Zyprexa as "elusive" pharmacologic solution to anorexia nervosa. On the basis...
Antipsychotic Medications Are Causing Obsessive Compulsive Disorders
Common second-generation antipsychotic medications are causing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder to emerge in many people who previously only had schizophrenia symptoms, according to a...
“Janssen Accused of Withholding Data on Risperdal Side Effect in Autism”
MedPageToday reports that Janssen Pharmaceuticals omitted data from a 2003 study that connected Risperdal with serious side effects. Janssen was previously sued by the FDA for marketing Risperdal for off-label uses and settled for $2.2 billion in 2013. Earlier this year, a man with autism was awarded $2.5 million after growing breasts while on Risperdal. According to MedPage, documents from this latest case reveal missing data tables from a 2003 study “designed to ferret out potential adverse effects of long-term risperidone use.” The missing tables were related to elevated prolactin levels and side effects, including gynecomastia in men.
Psychotropics During Pregnancy Raise Risk of Babies with Low Birth Weight, Hospitalizations
The use by mothers of any of four major classes of psychiatric medications during pregnancy significantly raises the risk that their babies will be born with low birth weights and will need to be hospitalized.
Review Finds FDA Approval of Digital Antipsychotic Misguided
The approval of the digital antipsychotic may open the door for more pharmaceutical company profits without evidence of benefits to patients.
Discontinuation of Antipsychotics Improves Cognitive Functioning
A study, recently published in Psychological Medicine, examined the cognitive functioning of individuals with schizophrenia who discontinued antipsychotics, and those who maintained their antipsychotic...
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...
