An estimated 72% of people who need mental heath care don’t have sufficient access to receive it. Psychologists have had limited prescribing rights in several states since the 1990s. Would expanding those privileges to more states help abate the crisis?

In a study of more than 22,000 patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder, 24% also had obsessive-compulsive symptoms; 12% had a diagnosis of OCD. Both co-morbidities were associated with higher rates of aggressive behavior, cognitive problems, and hallucinations or delusions.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a health advisory on September 25, 2022, encouraging parents to seek medical advice before giving melatonin to children. Although melatonin can be useful in treating certain sleep-wake disorders like jet lag, there is much less evidence it can help healthy children or adults fall asleep faster. Symptoms of melatonin overdose can include headache, dizziness, and irritability.

Psychiatrist compensation ranks them in the top 25% of professions. But wages vary dramatically by practice setting, with outpatient care positions earning 1/3 more than hospital-employed psychiatrists.

Gabapentin has been increasingly used as part of a multimodal analgesia regimen to reduce opioid use in perioperative pain management. In this cohort study of 237,872 adults aged 65 years or older, perioperative gabapentin users had significantly increased risk of delirium, new antipsychotic use, and pneumonia compared with nonusers after major surgery.

In patients with stage IIIB-D or IV melanoma, adjuvant nivolumab with ipilimumab did not increase recurrence-free survival compared to nivolumab monotherapy. Both treatment regimens’ safety and health-related quality of life were similar with earlier research.