Do Benzos Deserve a Major Role in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders?
Researchers at the University of Milan and King's College, London thoroughly reviewed the literature available on Medline and Cochrane regarding the use of benzodiazepines...
Childhood Trauma Predicts Lack of Response to Antidepressants
Research in Translational Psychiatry finds that childhood maltreatment and trauma predict a greater likelihood of developing chronic depression, and a reduced likelihood of responding to treatment...
Prenatal Exposure to SSRIs Significantly Increases Autism & Developmental Delays
Research on 966 mother-child pairs from the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study finds that prenatal SSRI exposure was nearly 3...
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.
Baseline Lipid Monitoring with Antipsychotics “Disappointingly Low”
"Even in an academic setting with active discussions among psychiatrists regarding issues of metabolic risk ... baseline lipid monitoring is disappointingly low" according to...
Prenatal Antidepressant Exposure Raises Risk to Newborn of Pulmonary Hypertension
Researchers from Canada find the risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn is increased for infants exposed to SSRIs in late pregnancy. Results...
Stimulants Double Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Children
In what they describe as the first large-scale, long-term, nation-wide study of its kind, Danish researchers have confirmed that ADHD stimulants double the risk...
Antidepressants Not a ‘One Size Fits All’ Solution, Researchers Find
The largest ever study of the thoughts and reactions of antidepressant users reveals that many people have vastly different understandings and experiences of the...
Study Shows Success With Reduced Antipsychotic Use
People who reduced antipsychotic use by tapering were doing just as well after five years as those who continued using the drugs.
Unblinding in Antidepressant Trials Biases Results
Studies that compare the effectiveness of different antidepressant drugs are unreliable, according to new research in BMC Psychiatry.
Long-Acting Risperidone (Consta) Increases Costs, Lowers Outcomes
Writing in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, researchers from the Health Economics Resource Center studied the effects of long-acting injectable risperidone (Consta) on 369 patients...
FDA Pans Depression Patch For Children and Teens
The FDA released a report in July of a trial on children and adolescents of the selegiline (Emsam) transdermal patch for treatment of depression,...
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...
Disconnect Between Antipsychotic Prescribing and Metabolic Screening
Despite American Diabetes Association and APA recommendations of glucose and lipid testing for all patients started on antipsychotics, there is a disconnect between prescribing...
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....
Flibanserin’s ‘Effects’ Do Not Outweigh Harms, Review Finds
Despite concerns about the risk to benefit ratio, the FDA approved flibanserin (Addyi) to treat low female sexual desire in August. In a new...
Antipsychotics and Drug Addiction
Dopamine supersensitivity as a result of sustained antipsychotic treatment can lead to compulsive drug seeking and drug-taking behavior, according to the theory offered by...
Bipolar Patients Have High Drug Burden — Especially Women
Over one third of people with bipolar diagnoses admitted to a Rhode Island hospital were on four or more psychiatric medications, says research published...
Multiple Medications Associated With Poorer Outcomes
Research from Germany finds that people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective diagnoses given multiple medications - an antipsychotic plus a benzodiazepine or more than one...
Benzos Increase Risk of Fractures
A meta-analysis of all relevant studies on MEDLINE, EMBASE, OVID and ScienceDirect published through January 2013 finds that the use of benzodiazepines, especially short-acting,...
Therapy More Effective than Medications for Anxiety — Placebos Also Effective
One-on-one Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is better than psychiatric medications or other common psychotherapeutic interventions for severe anxiety disorders in adults, according to a large...
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...
Antipsychotics are Poor Sleep Aids
Research from Australia shows that "remained pervasive" in 70% of a sample of 83 patients medicated with antipsychotics and other medications, and concludes that...
More Evidence That Antipsychotics Shrink the Brain
European researchers who reviewed 43 imaging studies of first-episode psychosis found evidence that antipsychotics cause a decrease in gray matter volumes in the brain....
Antipsychotics Increase Risk of Heart Attack in the Elderly
In a study of 10,969 older patients treated with antipsychotics in Quebec, Canada, researchers found a 2.19 times greater risk of heart attack in...
