If we only have a dollar in our pocket, then most of our decisions become financial decisions. If our partner is an abuser or controller, then the majority of our decisions are based on our perception of the abuser’s potential reaction. This is just one aspect of Stockholm Syndrome, as described by our guest contributor, clinical psychologist Dr. Joseph M. Carver.

Federal regulators in the US have approved the world’s first antidepressant skin patch, the selegiline transdermal patch, to be marketed under the name ‘Emsam’. The drug, first approved in the 1980s to help treat Parkinson’s disease, belongs to a category of less frequently used antidepressants prone to interactions with a substance called tyramine. The antidepressant patch will carry a ‘black box’ warning from the FDA.

No, that’s not to say that CBT will put you to sleep! Rather, an article carried on the APA’s PsycPort highlights studies indicating that cognitive behavioural therapy can improve sleep about as well as drugs can. According to the article, not only can talk therapy such as CBT help with sleeping problems, but its effects continue for many months — unlike the effects of drugs, where effectiveness is not known to continue after discontinuing the medication.

Last week, an FDA advisory committee voted to recommend adding ‘black box’ safety warnings to ADHD drugs. This week, the director of the FDA’s division of psychiatry products says it would be unusual for the agency to issue a ‘black box’ warning based on such thin evidence. A second FDA committee, which focuses on pediatrics, will consider the drugs’ safety next month.

Is it always your fault? Have you experienced the mean and sweet cycle? Are you walking on eggshells? Does your partner pass the waitress test? These are among the topics touched on by clinical psychologist Dr Joseph M Carver, PhD, in a guest contribution on dating ‘losers’. Dr Carver will be available to answer relationship questions or comments you’d like to post at the end of this article.

It’s official: an FDA science advisory committee has voted to recommend the most serious type of ‘black box’ warning labels for Ritalin and other stimulants used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Twenty-five people died suddenly and another 54 suffered serious cardiovascular problems after taking drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder between 1999 and 2003, according to a report from the US government’s Food and Drug Administration. The report says that children accounted for 19 of the deaths and 26 of the cases of nonfatal cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, stroke, hypertension, palpitations and arrhythmia.