Passive tracking of vocal and behavioral indicators of symptoms via a smartphone app can be an effective way to treat depression in a time-sensitive and accurate fashion. A recent randomized clinical trial compared the use of an app to track indicators with “usual care” for depression, and, although the sample size is small, the results are very promising. For the …
Disrupted sleep rhythms may drive mood instability and sleep and insomnia are some of the most frequently cited problems of people seeking help for mood disorders. Research has shown that most frequently prescribed medications are not very helpful – they may lengthen sleep times by only 15 – 45 minutes per night. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Cognitive Behavior Therapy …
Can a change in diet affect mood and anxiety? What dietary changes or interventions may be effective in treatment or management of mental or mood disorders? Diet is more than weight loss, and has been invoked, modified and studied for a wide variety of physical and mental ills and conditions. We have written a summary of what we know about …
A just published study by Jerry Guintivano, et al, in the July issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry reports having identified a gene that seemed to predict suicide. The study used one population to identify the risk association and then confirmed it prospectively in a second population. Zachary Kaminsky, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at …
In a special symposium on bipolar disorder at the 2014 meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, researcher Mike Bauer reviewed a new meta-analysis that showed lithium not only has significant effects in preventing manias, but also depressions. Mike Bauer is currently the Director and Executive Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, and the Physician-in-Chief, at the Psychiatric Hospital …
A simple laboratory test may predict which antidepressant will work best. This is the result of a study reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry by a team of Canadian and European researchers. The study was part of larger research program (Genome-Based Therapeutic Drugs for Depression – an effort to find biomarkers to guide medication selection) and it identified C-reactive …
Mark Frye, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic, gave a lecture on antidepressants in bipolar illness at the 2014 meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. The newest data from meta-analyses indicate that traditional antidepressants that are effective in unipolar depression are not effective in bipolar depression. Some patient groups, especially those with very early onset depression …
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. Director, Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research Q: What is cognitive therapy? A: Cognitive therapy is one of the few forms of psychotherapy that has been scientifically tested and found to be effective in over three hundred clinical trials for many different disorders. In contrast to other forms of psychotherapy, cognitive therapy is usually more …
Vortioxetine (Brintellix) is a new antidepressant that has a range of effects on serotonin receptors, making it different from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most common type of antidepressants, which work only on the serotonin transporter. Researcher Johan Areberg et al. reported at the 2014 meeting of the American Psychiatric Association that the drug is an antagonist at receptors …
In a recent study comparing the efficacy of lithium and the second-generation antipsychotic quetiapine, the drugs had remarkably similar results. Researcher Andrew Nierenberg et al. presented the results at the 2014 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology. By the end of the 6-month study period, most patients had improved substantially, but only about a quarter of each group became …
