Clinical Psychiatry News articles from January 2002

Clinical Psychiatry News archives from January 2002

Lobotomy enters the 21st Century. (Now Limbic Surgery Carries Strict Criteria).
January 1, 2002... MONTREAL -- The procedure notoriously known as frontal lobotomy has a new name--limbic surgery--and improved versions of the procedure are now performed in the United States, Canada, and several other countries. For patients with...

Memory Deficits Could Complicate Bipolar Therapy: Impairment linked to difficulties in organizing information for memory. (Semantic Clustering' A Factor).
January 1, 2002... PHILADELPHIA -- Individuals with bipolar disorder appear to have memory deficits that persist even when they are euthymic, Thilo Deckersbach, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy. Their...

Paroxetine is First SSRI to Target all PTSD Symptoms: Reduced reexperiencing and hyperarousal. (Newly Approved Indication).(selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; posttraumatic stress disorder)
January 1, 2002... For the first time, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor has demonstrated a therapeutic effect in men and women on all three symptom clusters of posttraumatic stress disorder. According to the authors of a 12-week multicenter...

Not Enough Data to prove or disprove Autism 'Epidemic'. (Thirty-Two Studies Reviewed).
January 1, 2002... SAN DIEGO -- An apparent rise in the prevalence of autism over the past few years has prompted many doctors and parents to conclude that we are seeing an autism epidemic. But, according to Dr. Eric Fombonne, there simply aren't enough data to...

Resistant Psychosis may be tied to Viral Infection. (CSF Filtration could be Helpful).(cerebral spinal fluid filtration)
January 1, 2002... MADRID -- Treatment-resistant psychotic disorders in some patients may be caused, in part, by an immune response triggered by the Borna disease virus, and a consequent low-grade encephalopathy, Dr. Karl Bechter said at the World Psychiatric...

Costs Rise with delays in Anorexia Hospitalization. (Insurers that Tightly Manage Care Faulted).
January 1, 2002... HONOLULU -- Insurers that tightly manage medical care delay hospitalization of patients with anorexia nervosa, resulting in more difficult courses of illness and higher costs, Dr. Adelaide S. Robb said at the annual meeting of the American...

Differentiating Unipolar from Bipolar Depression. (Study of 171 Young Children).
January 1, 2002... HONOLULU -- Clues that were identified in a study of 171 children with depression should help clinicians differentiate unipolar depression from bipolar depression, Dr. Janet R. Wozniak reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of...

Depression Raises Care Costs 29% for CHF Patients. (Survey of 164 Patients).(congestive heart failure)
January 1, 2002... WASHINGTON -- Health care costs for congestive heart failure patients with depression are as much as 29% higher than those for CHF patients without depression, Dr. Mark Sullivan said at the annual conference of the American Heart Association's...

Intelligence, Frontal Lobe Gray Matter Link. (IQ Inheritance Linked to Brain Structure).
January 1, 2002... Inheritance of human intelligence seems largely due to genetic controls over the amount of gray matter in the frontal cortex. Although there is "a mountain of evidence that some portion of intelligence is a heritable trait," this finding is...

Mental Health Carve-Outs. (AMA Briefs).
January 1, 2002... The number of Americans covered by mental health carve-outs continues to rise, delegates were told in a report from the AMA's board of trustees. The AMA has been working with the American Psychiatric Association to oppose carve-outs, and has...

HIPAA Privacy. (AMA Briefs).(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
January 1, 2002... The AMA will study the federal privacy regulations associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and propose that the government delay further enacting the regulations if they are found too burdensome. The privacy...

Physician Prescribing Data. (AMA Briefs).
January 1, 2002... Debate continued to rage in the House over the AMA's sale of its master file on physicians, which includes the physician's Drug Enforcement Administration number and which pharmaceutical sales representatives can then match with prescription...

Coordinated Care. (AMA Briefs).
January 1, 2002... Better coordination of care is urgently needed for patients covered under managed behavioral health organizations, the delegates said. In a resolution adopted by the House, the AMA pledged to pressure MBHOs to release written disease-management...

Safety-Net-Hospitals. (AMA Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The AMA must act to save safety-net hospitals, which are in serious jeopardy, the delegates said. In the last few years, the hospitals that provide the most indigent care have been financially devastated by Medicaid cuts and by the fact that...

Smallpox Bioterrorism. (AMA Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The House declined to call for mass vaccination of the U.S. population against smallpox as a protection against a terrorist attack with the disease. Instead it pledged to follow the lead of government agencies better equipped to judge the risks...

Organ Donation. (AMA Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The House of Delegates voted to delay a decision on supporting studies of whether payment would increase organ donations. The AMA ethics panel issued a report saying that concerns about the pernicious and beneficial effects of payment are both...

Food Irradiation. (AMA Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The AMA supports the idea of irradiating appropriate foods before they are sold and the organization will urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement such a program. There is no evidence to suggest that using radiation to sterilize...

Galanthamine cuts Alcohol Intake, not Relapses. (Reduced Cravings in Dependent Patients).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... MADRID -- Although transdermal administration of galanthamine did not reduce relapse in alcohol-dependent patients, the drug was associated with a reduction in total alcohol consumption and craving, Dr. Michael Smolka said at the World...

Watch for Cutaneous Reactions to Lamotrigine. (Anticonvulsant Side Effects can be Fatal).
January 1, 2002... LAS VEGAS -- One in every 100 children and 3 in every 1,000 adults given the anticonvulsant lamotrigine will develop life-threatening cutaneous eruptions, according to Dr. Adelaide A. Hebert. Ten percent of all patients on lamotrigine will...

Adjunctive Meds for Eating Disorders. (Practical Psychopharmacology).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Although psychotherapy remains the treatment of choice for eating disorders, several medications have also been shown to be helpful. Thus far, fluoxetine, indicated for the treatment of bulimia nervosa, is the only drug approved by the Food...

Study finds Topiramate Effective, safe for Pediatric Bipolar Disorder. (Initial Retrospective Study of 26 Patients).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... HONOLULU -- The first study of topiramate to treat bipolar disorder in children suggests that it may be effective and safe, Dr. Melissa P. DelBello reported in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and...

Start Mood Stabilizer before SSRI in Children with Bipolar Depression. (To Avoid Exacerbating Mania).(selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... HONOLULU -- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were the only medications to effectively treat depression in children with a history of bipolar disorder, but they also tripled the risk of worsening manic symptoms, according to a prospective...

Many Herbs can carry serious Psychiatric Risks. (Mania, Psychosis, Delirium).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... BOSTON -- Herbs and forensic psychiatry may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but the use of certain "natural" preparations can have serious psychiatric sequelae, which could bring them into the courts, Capt. Matthew Faubion, MC, USAF, said at the...

Olanzapine vs. Haloperidol. (Clinical Capsules).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Olanzapine is more efficacious than either haloperidol or placebo in alleviating the symptoms of schizophrenia, said Dr. John M. Davis and his associates at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In a metaanalysis of raw data from four...

Adolescent Bipolar Psychosis. (Clinical Capsules).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Although combining lithium with an adjunctive antipsychotic medication can effectively and rapidly treat acute psychotic mania in adolescents, 4 weeks of treatment may be inadequate to sustain stabilization in most patients, said Dr. Vivian...

Clozapine Reduces Hostility. (Clinical Capsules).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Clozapine has a significantly greater specific antihostility effect on patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder than either haloperidol or risperidone but not olanzapine, said Dr. Leslie Citrome of the Nathan Kline Institute for...

Sudden Cardiac Death. (Clinical Capsules).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Patients taking more than 100 mg thioridazine have a 2.4-fold greater rate of sudden cardiac death, said Wayne A. Ray, Ph.D., of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and colleagues. The...

Geriatric Depression. (Clinical Capsules).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Self-ratings of health improve after the remission of depression in elderly depressed patients, reported Dr. P. Murali Do-raiswamy of Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and colleagues. During a 6-week randomized, double-blind,...

Quetiapine Aids Psychosis, Mania Treatment in Teens. (Results of Two Small Studies).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... ORLANDO, FLA. -- Quetiapine is an effective treatment for psychosis and mania in adolescents, according to two poster presentations at the American Psychiatric Association's Institute on Psychiatric Services. Quetiapine significantly...

Try Antipsychotic with Mood Stabilizer for Mania. (Monotherapy often Inadequate).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... ATLANTA -- Combining an antipsychotic with a mood stabilizer in acute mania has more research support than using two mood stabilizers, and it's a better strategy when monotherapy is not adequate, Dr. Carlos Zarate said at the annual meeting of...

Pharmacotherapy and CBT for Social Phobia is ideal, but Rarely Practical. (IF not Feasible, Try SSRIs First).(cognitive-behavioral therapy)(selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... DESTIN, FLA. -- The idea of combining medical treatment for social anxiety disorder with cognitive-behavioral therapy seems to make sense, and a few small studies suggest that it might be a useful approach, but often it is impractical, Dr. L....

Fink! Still at Large: Shrinking 'The Sopranos'. (Opinion).(Column)
January 1, 2002... The New York Times credits "The Sopranos" with being a kind of endorsement for psychotherapy at a time when psychotherapy is struggling to regain ground lost to psychopharmacology and biologic psychiatry. The Times cites psychiatrists as major...

Letters.
January 1, 2002... Stop the Bipolar Bandwagon Although we need correct diagnoses for everyone with a mood disorder, I would argue that individuals are being harmed because they are being erroneously diagnosed with bipolar disorder while the real problems are...

Accreditation Moves Forward. (Policy & Practice).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Substance abuse treatment is one step closer to being a part of mainstream medicine. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has selected the following four organizations to accredit opioid treatment programs: the...

Mental Health Parity Rejected. (Policy & Practice).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A House-Senate Conference Committee rejected mental health parity legislation, choosing instead to extend the current parity law by 1 year. The amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill (H.R. 3061)...

States File BuSpar Lawsuit. (Policy & Practice).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Last month, a coalition of 29 states and Puerto Rico filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court-for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Bristol-Myers Squibb, maker of BuSpar (buspirone), unlawfully delayed the generic forms of...

Medicaid and Tobacco Cessation. (Policy & Practice).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Some states are still lagging behind in Medicaid coverage of tobacco dependence treatment despite the availability and efficacy of current treatments and evidence that decreasing the cost of treatment facilitates successful cessation. In the...

Attain Job Satisfaction. (Policy & Practice).(Brief Article)(Polling Data)
January 1, 2002... Maintaining job satisfaction as a staff psychiatrist in the public sector may involve seeking promotions and reconfiguring duties to include more administrative responsibilities. A survey of 265 community psychiatrists showed that medical...

Liver Failure with Serzone. (Policy & Practice).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Patients taking Serzone (nefazodone) should be alert for signs and, symptoms of liver dysfunction, according to a black box warning recently added to the drug's label. Patients with active liver disease or with elevated baseline serum...

Legislative issues lead to calls for AMA Unity. (Medicare, Tort Reform).(American Medical Association )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... SAN FRANCESCO -- Leaders of the American Medical Association urged the House of Delegates at its interim meeting to set aside differences and unite on Medicare reform and other legislative issues important to physicians. "When medicine is...

Drug Companies to offer Seniors Discount Cards. (Opposed by Pharmacy Groups, Fed Backing).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Pharmaceutical companies have answered the call for a Medicare prescription drug benefit by offering discount cards on their products to eligible seniors. Physicians who meet with Novartis or GlaxoSmithKline sales representatives will hear...

Boards Rely on Forensic Psychiatry Evaluation. (Hearings on Physician Misconduct).
January 1, 2002... BOSTON -- Forensic psychiatrists can play a crucial role in medical board hearings for physicians accused of sexual misconduct, Dr. Thomas Dodson said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Credentialing...

Child Abuse Effects Linger. (Clinical Capsules).
January 1, 2002... Women who suffered physical abuse as children are significantly more likely than men to develop lifetime psychopathology, said Dr. Harriet L. MacMillan, now of McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont., and her colleagues. In a survey of 3,678 women,...

Twenty-Seven-Year Follow-Up. (Clinical Capsules).(on borderline personality disorder patients)
January 1, 2002... Borderline personality disorder patients continue to improve after middle age, said Dr. Joel Paris and Dr. Hallie Zweig-Frank of Montreal. Based on the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines, Revised (DIB-R), nearly 8% of 64 patients interviewed...

Twin Study of ADHD. (Clinical Capsules).(attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder)
January 1, 2002... Subtypes of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are transmitted in families and may be appropriate for genetic studies, reported Dr. Richard D. Todd of Washington University, St. Louis, and his associates. The study analyzed...

Bulimics and OCS. (Clinical Capsules).(obsessive-compulsive symptoms)
January 1, 2002... A significant proportion of bulimic women and girls have comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms both related and unrelated to food, weight, or body issues, said Dr. Umberto Albert and his associates at the University of Turin, Italy. Current...

Electroconvulsive Therapy. (Clinical Capsules).
January 1, 2002... Major depression in elderly patients can he significantly reduced with electroconvulsive therapy, said Dr. M. Kevin O'Connor and his colleagues at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Age was not an impediment to the success of this treatment--in...

Psychotherapy Handbook. (Psychotherapy).("How to Go to Therapy")
January 1, 2002... "How to Go to Therapy," by Carl Sherman, is a comprehensive handbook that helps answer questions regarding psychotherapy. It includes chapters on how to determine whether a person needs therapy on choosing a therapy rules for therapy and the...