Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and antioxidative treatments have shown antidepressant potential as adjunct treatments. Read this article to learn if adjunctive treatment with the antioxidative agent N-acetylcysteine, the NSAID aspirin, or both helped reduce depressive symptoms in patients with bipolar depression.
Exercise has been shown to curb some psychiatric symptoms, but can it prevent them? In this small study of young adults at ultrahigh risk for psychosis, researchers showed how exercise affects clinical, social, and cognitive domains as well as changes to brain function regions impacted by the development of psychosis.
Fish oil supplements containing omega-3 fatty acid are among the most commonly used nutraceuticals. Although their role as augmentation therapy has been studied in schizophrenia, their benefits are unclear in treatment-resistant cases. Read this case report of a treatment-resistant patient with schizophrenia who achieved remission with omega-3 fatty acid supplementation.
Considering omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids to supplement bipolar treatment? Read this review article for the latest evidence on this promising treatment strategy.
Too much of a good thing? As of June 2016, marijuana was legal for medical use in 25 states in the US. Learn what the authors discovered during their systematic review of the quality of evidence, and see whether medical marijuana's risks and benefits make it a good thing for psychiatric indications.
The weight loss supplement Garcinia cambogia is considered to be serotonergic, yet literature about its psychiatric effects is limited. The authors of this Letter to the Editor report the cases of 3 stable, euthymic adults whose mania emerged when they began taking Garcinia cambogia. In all 3 cases, recovery included cessation of Garcinia cambogia and usual clinical treatment.
Two cases of patients seen on the psychiatric emergency and consult service who developed severe side effects from psychotropic medications in the context of kava use are presented. In both cases, kava use may have affected the metabolism of the psychotropic medications, leading to serious side effects.Â
The authors of this study examined the efficacy of yoga therapy as a complementary treatment for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder.
Baclofen, a French Exception, Seriously Harms Alcohol Use Disorder Patients Without Benefit
To the Editor: Dr Andrade’s analysis of the Bacloville trial in a recent Clinical and Practical Psychopharmacology column, in which he concluded that “individualized treatment with high-dose baclofen (30-300 mg/d) may be a useful second-line approach in heavy drinkers” and that “baclofen may be particularly useful in patients with liver disease,” deserves comment.1
First, Andrade failed to recall that the first pivotal trial of baclofen, ALPADIR (NCT01738282; 320 patients, as with Bacloville), was negative (see Braillon et al2).
Second, Dr Andrade should have warned readers that Bacloville’s results are most questionable, lacking robustness. Although he cited us,3 he overlooked the evidence we provided indicating that the Bacloville article4 was published without acknowledging major changes to the initial protocol, affecting the primary outcome. Coincidentally (although as skeptics, we do not believe in coincidence), the initial statistical team was changed when data were sold to the French pharmaceutical company applying for the marketing authorization in France. As Ronald H. Coase warned, “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess.”
MY ACCOUNT