In 2004 the US Food and Drug Administration published a “black box” warning that highlighted an increased risk of suicide and suicidal thoughts in young people who were taking antidepressants. This warning was updated in 2007. A new analysis of 41 randomised controlled trials has been published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, which suggests [read the full story…]
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a condition that is usually associated with obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviour. It’s one of the most common mental health problems in young people, with an estimated 5% of children and teenagers suffering from the chronic condition. Studies have shown that SSRI antidepressants and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are both [read the full story…]
Children with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are often prescribed antidepressant drugs (serotonin reuptake inhibitors – SRI), but many only partially respond to this treatment. This randomised controlled trial conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, examined the effects of augmenting the antidepressant medication with cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). The trial was quite [read the full story…]
Around 1% of the population have autism. There are a number of treatments available for the condition, including learning and development techniques, as well as medical interventions. However, there is little consensus about which drug treatments are most effective. A team of researchers from Nashville have recently published two systematic reviews in the Pediatrics journal, [read the full story…]
Research shows that using antidepressants (serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SRIs) to treat obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in young people is sometimes problematic. Patients often do not respond to the drugs and so other therapies are necessary to augment the treatment. One such therapy is CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy). This 12-week randomised controlled trial took 124 paediatric [read the full story…]
There are a number of cross-sectional studies that investigate antidepressant use in teenagers and young adults. These are interesting, but because they don’t tend to follow-up study participants prospectively over a long period of time, there is only so much we can learn from them. However, now researchers in Finland have published a study that [read the full story…]
Teenagers with depression sometimes do not respond to treatment with SSRI antidepressants and this inevitably leads to a higher cost of treatment. This randomised controlled trial (conducted by researchers from Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Oregon) set out to evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness over 24 weeks of combined cognitive behavior therapy plus switch to a different antidepressant [read the full story…]
