Articles related to Psychiatry

Many drugs of abuse increase orexin production in both animal and human brains. Blocking the orexin system reverses addiction in animals. Orexin levels normally cycle in a circadian rhythm, with additional activation when under stress. Opioids, cocaine, alcohol, and other substances activate the cells that produce orexin, but don’t deactivate them. They stay on constantly, producing high levels of orexin that drive the desire for another hit. Anti-orexin insomnia medications might be of benefit in treating addiction.

This meta analysis of antidepressants in MDD included 34 double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studies covering 20 antidepressants. Outcomes were 6-month relapse rates and tolerability measures. Fourteen of the agents had better relapse rates than placebo. Four — desvenlafaxine, paroxetine, venlafaxine, and vortioxetine — displayed the best efficacy and tolerability.

The 8-week treatment with mindfulness-based stress reduction was a well-tolerated treatment option with comparable effectiveness to a first-line medication for patients with anxiety disorders in this randomized clinical trial of 276 adults with anxiety disorders.

Eighty-eight children ages 6 through 12 were randomized to daily pine bark extract, methylphenidate, or placebo for 10 weeks. Total ADHD-Rating Scales scores decreased 29% with pine bark extract, 45% with methylphenidate, and 5% with placebo. Hyperactivity/impulsivity decreased 34% with pine bark extract and 36% with methylphenidate and increased 1% with placebo. Inattention decreased 25% with pine bark extract, 52% with methylphenidate, 9% with placebo. Adverse events were reported 5 times more frequently with methylphenidate than with pine bark.

Pregnant women who filled prescriptions for bupropion, citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine, or sertraline during pregnancy (antidepressant-exposed cohort) and pregnant women who did not fill an antidepressant prescription within 90 days of the start of their pregnancy through delivery (control group) were the subjects of the study conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the United States. The main finding concerned the frequency of ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), behavioral disorder, developmental coordination disorder, developmental speech or language disorder, intellectual disability, any NDDs, and specific learning disorders among the children of the women in the study.

This article provides a brief review of three important books on the thinking and experience around psychedelics in medicine: The Promise of Psychedelics, by Peter Silverstone, MD; Psychedelic Medicine, by Richard Louis Miller, MA, PhD; How to Change Your Mind, by Michael Pollan.