September 8th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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Most patients with major depression require a second medication. A psychiatrist suggests that exercise could fulfill that need, too.
Because most patients with major depression don’t fully respond to just one drug, it’s common to try a second drug or cognitive behavioral therapy. But the rate of non-response in this group is prompting researchers to look for an intervention that most patients could do and that would add to current therapies.
Moderate and intense levels of daily exercise can work as well as administering a second antidepressant drug, as long as Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
September 8th, 2011 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Opinion
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I think a lot about the slow, certain dissolution of medicine as we know it. Mental health issues crowd emergency departments, as few mental health clinics are available. Psychiatrists are in short supply. Drug abuse overwhelms the medical system, with either patients seeking pills or patients families hoping to get them off of pills.
Persons with little interest in their own health continue to smoke and drink, use Meth and eat poorly. Disability claims are skyrocketing as younger and younger individuals confabulate their misery in hopes of attaining a check, paid for by someone else.
The poor, with genuine medical problems, have increasing difficulty finding care as jobs, and insurance, fade away. Politicians, eager to be re-elected, eager to be loved, promise Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
August 14th, 2011 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories
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Benedict Carey is a New York Times mental health reporter. In last Sunday’s Times, he wrote about Joe Holt, a man with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Mr. Holt was dealt a particularly tough deck of cards: in addition to a diagnosis of schizophrenia, he had a horrible and traumatic childhood with much loss, placement in a facility where he was physically abused, and periods of homelessness as a teenager. He now has a stable marriage, has adopted children and keeps numerous foster children, and holds two jobs, one as a computer consultant and another as a therapist (if I read that correctly). He struggles with his emotional life, but my take on this was that this is one extremely resilient man who has waged a successful battle against many demons and his story is inspirational.
So Benedict Carey often writes stories that are skeptical, if not outright critical, of the mental health field. This story did not have that tone. I found it interesting, though, that he chose a person with a diagnosis of schizophrenia who’s life was not “typical.” What did I find not typical? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
August 12th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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Prescriptions for antidepressants given by nonpsychiatrists to patients without a specific psychiatric disorder increased more than 12% in 12 years, leading to the drug class becoming the third most commonly prescribed, a study found.
A study in the August issue of Health Affairs reported that antidepressant prescriptions by doctors who didn’t record a specific psychiatric disorder increased from 59.5% of all prescriptions by nonpsychiatrists in 1996 to 72.7% in 2007.
Researchers reviewed data on patients age eighteen or older from the 1996-2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys, a national sample of more than 233,000 office-based visits. The proportion of antidepressants prescribed for patients without a psychiatric diagnosis increased from 2.5% of all visits to nonpsychiatrist providers to 6.4% between 1996 and 2007. For visits to primary care providers, antidepressant prescribing grew from 3.1% to 7.1%. For other nonpsychiatric providers, visits without a psychiatric diagnosis grew from 1.9% to 5.8%. In contrast, antidepressants prescribed with a psychiatric diagnosis increased from 1.7% to 2.4%.
Patients who received antidepressants without a psychiatric diagnosis by nonpsychiatrist providers were more likely to be Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 5th, 2011 by AnnMacDonald in Opinion, Video
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When I leave for work in the morning, I go through my precommute checklist. Train pass, check. Wallet, check. Coffee mug, check. Smart phone, check. Keys to the house, check. Only when I’m sure that I have everything I need do I open the door and head outside.
Sometimes I worry that this morning routine is becoming too much of a ritual. Is it possible that I have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD for short)?
Probably not. The fact that I am able to get out the door every morning means that my daily ritual isn’t interfering with my ability to function, says Dr. Jeff Szymanski, a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School.
You have OCD when obsessions and compulsive behavior Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
