‘Medications’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 6

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.

A 2-year longitudinal study shows that men and women taking the experimental weight-loss drug rimonabant lost weight and kept it off. However, specialists warn that medication use should be minimized when lifestyle changes can achieve the same purpose.

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.

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.

According to Dr. Sandra Kweder, deputy director of the FDA’s Office of New Drugs, the agency will issue a public health advisory within days in response to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that links use of drugs like Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft late in pregnancy with a condition that can endanger infants’ lives.