‘Psychiatry’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 7

Timothy Wilens, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says most doctors who prescribe ADHD drugs are already aware that they can trigger psychosis, a rare side effect. Now an advisory panel will discuss whether the Food and Drug Administration should ask makers of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs to add labelling information about the possible risk of psychosis or mania, especially in children.

Following successful clinical trials at the University of Bonn on transcranial magnetic stimulation as a treatment for depression, Yale University researchers are now recruiting schizophrenic patients nationally for a clinical trial involving the use of TMS as a treatment for auditory hallucinations.

“Like the alcoholic who loses control after the first drink, these people can’t stop at just one cookie,” according to Harvard researcher Dr. James Hudson, lead author of a new study on binge eating disorder as a familial disorder. The study of 300 overweight people and 900 of their family members revealed that a person is twice as likely to binge eat if he or she has a relative who also has the disorder.

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.