John Baker summarises the findings of a recent review of people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. The study looks at the adverse effects on physical health of psychotropic drugs (antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilisers).
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Dochka Hristova reports on a new Cochrane review of pharmacological interventions for self-harm in adults, which looks at the treatment effect on repetition of self-harm of antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilisers and dietary supplements.
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Farhana Mann summarises an observational study of mood instability in people with mental illness, which explores its relationship with days spent in hospital, frequency of admissions, the likelihood of being sectioned and the chance of being prescribed antipsychotics and mood stabilisers.
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Andrew Shepherd summarises a Cochrane systematic review of treatments for delusional disorder, which finds only 1 small RCT looking at treating the condition with medication or psychotherapy compared to placebo.
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Kathryn Walsh reports on a recent Cochrane systematic review of pharmacotherapies for cannabis dependence, which concludes that there is a lack of evidence for all medications reviewed.
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Andrew Jones summarises a large Finnish population-based cohort study, which finds that childhood adversities strongly predict the use of psychotropic drugs (such as antidepressants and antipsychotics) in adulthood.
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Elena Marcus summarises a recent network meta-analysis published in The Lancet of the comparative efficacy and tolerability of medication for the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder.
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John Baker reports on the first population based report of the positive effects of antipsychotic medication and mood stabilisers on reducing the risk of a conviction for violent crime, published in the Lancet in May.
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There is a limited amount of good quality research being published about bipolar disorder, particularly investigating the early stages. Bipolar is associated with a high risk of relapse and this risk of relapse increases with the number of previous episodes. Observational studies suggest that early intervention may improve both course and outcome, but currently progression [read the full story…]
Lithium is a medicine that has been used for over 50 years to treat depression and bipolar disorder. It comes in two forms that are used clinically: lithium carbonate and lithium citrate. A certain level of the drug is needed in the blood stream for it to be effective, but if the level rises too [read the full story…]
