This Month in Psychopharmacology

Screening for Eating Disorders in Patients with Bipolar Disorder
September 25, 2023

Bipolar disorder is a prevalent and debilitating psychiatric condition frequently co-occurring with other disorders, including eating disorders. A recent study aimed to explore the prevalence and clinical associations of eating disorders in individuals with bipolar disorders, ...

Antipsychotic Polypharmacy Increases Risk of Hypertension, Study Suggests
September 21, 2023

In some cases, treating schizophrenia is especially difficult and may result in the patient receiving two antipsychotic prescriptions to manage symptoms. Although it is known that antipsychotic polypharmacy increases the risk of developing movement disorders, there is also worry that antipsychotic polypharmacy may increase the risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, or hyperlipidemia...

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Suicidal Behavior Among Patients With Major Depressive Disorder
September 19, 2023

It is well established, as illustrated in the figure above, that abnormalities in the circadian sleep/wake cycle can lead to impairments across a broad spectrum of physiological and mental functions. New research suggests poor sleep may also act as an acute risk factor for suicidal thoughts the next day among young adults already vulnerable to suicide...

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Risk of Akathisia Differs Among Antipsychotics and Dosage
September 16, 2023

Akathisia is a movement disorder that consists of increased motor activity and inner restlessness. Drug-induced akathisia is a common side of antipsychotics and varies by antipsychotic. A recent study investigated the relationship between akathisia and the doses of various antipsychotic medications...

Updates to DSM-5-TR Criteria and Text
September 13, 2023

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) released DSM-5-TR™ Update, a supplement to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). The supplement reflects approved updates to diagnostic criteria and related text, as well as...

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Sleep Disturbance May Predict Increased Risk of Suicidal Thoughts
September 12, 2023

Written Exposure Therapy for PTSD
September 10, 2023

Posttraumatic stress disorder is relatively common among military veterans and typically requires lengthy interventions to treat. These interventions involve 8 to 15 sessions and last between 60 to 90 minutes and utilize between-session assignments. ....

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Integrating Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Into Primary Care Settings
September 7, 2023

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is undertreated even though there are effective medications for OUD (e.g., buprenorphine, naltrexone). A recent study evaluated the challenges and experiences faced by multidisciplinary primary care teams during the process of integrating MOUD into their practice...

Brain Volume Patterns Vary Across Psychiatric Disorders
September 5, 2023

Differential diagnosis of, and perhaps development of effective treatments for, psychiatric conditions would certainly be easier if we had reliable biomarkers such as neuroimaging. Unfortunately, such biomarkers do not currently exist; in the treasure hunt for a neuroimaging biomarker for a specific psychiatric illness, there is no..

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CDC Estimates Suicides in U.S. Reached All-Time High in 2022
September 1, 2023

Provisional data released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that in 2022 there were 49,449 deaths from suicide in the United States. These data are quite disheartening especially given that deaths by suicide had declined in 2019 and 2020, only to rise by 5% in 2021; the provisional 2022 data represent a further 2.6% increase. When demographic data are evaluated, it can be seen that suicide death rates increased in...

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