This Month in Psychopharmacology

Browsing articles in "Child Psychiatry"

Highlights from 2023 NEI Congress: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Academy
November 8, 2023

This year’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Academy included a series of fascinating presentations that delved into various psychiatric conditions that afflict children and adolescents. The complications that arise when psychiatric comorbidities are present is a running thread across these lectures.

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

Childhood Adversity and the Cortisol Awakening Response in Depression
August 3, 2023

The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is the main regulator of our response to stress (Figure). Numerous studies and years of research have shown that dysregulation of the HPA axis is highly associated with depression. In healthy individuals, cortisol acts on glucocorticoid receptors to exert a negative feedback control whereby the HPA axis is quieted. In individuals with depression, there seems to be a lack of this negative feedback ....

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Stimulant Treatment in Youth Not Associated With Substance Use Later in Life
July 16, 2023

Childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is linked to elevated substance use and substance use disorder (SUD) in adulthood. Stimulant medications are commonly used to treat ADHD and are thought to reduce substance use due to their efficacy in controlling impulsivity. However, early exposure to stimulants may sensitize individuals to other drugs and increase the risk of harmful substance use...

Escitalopram Approved for Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Children
May 21, 2023

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved escitalopram for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder in pediatric patients 7 years of age and older. The expanded pediatric approval was based on data from an 8-week, flexible-dose study that compared escitalopram…

Long-Term Safety of Methylphenidate in Children and Adolescents with ADHD
April 29, 2023

Methylphenidate (MPH) is the most frequently prescribed treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents; however, data on long-term safety are limited. A naturalistic, longitudinal, controlled, multi-site study assessed the safety of MPH over 2 years in participants aged 6–17 years old....

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Sleep Problems in Childhood & Adolescence Linked to Psychiatric Symptoms
April 24, 2023

Sleep problems in childhood can increase the risk of developing a psychiatric disorder later in life. An observational cohort study characterized individual changes in profiles of sleep problems and their prospective associations with psychopathology symptoms across the transition from childhood (9–11 years old; baseline) to early adolescence (11–13 years old; follow-up)....

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Measures of Brain Connectivity and Cognition by Sex in US Preadolescent Children
March 27, 2023

Sex differences in brain structure and function may underly differences in cognition and behavior and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders. Neuroimaging and cognitive performance data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study was evaluated to examine sex differences in global functional connectivity density at ...

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Benzodiazepines Tied to Drug Overdose in Young People With Sleep Disorders
December 15, 2022

In a recent cohort study, the relationship benzodiazepines versus alternative medications prescribed for sleep disorders and increased risk of drug overdose in adolescents was examined. The study included participants diagnosed with a sleeping disorder between the age of 10 to 29 years of age between January...

Risk Factor for Alcohol Use Disorder
July 27, 2022

A recent study looked at whether solitary alcohol use in adolescence is associated with high-risk drinking and the development of alcohol problems in adulthood...

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