The antipsychotic medication risperidone is more effective for initial treatment of mania in children diagnosed with bipolar disorder compared to other mood stabilizing medications, but it carries the potential for serious metabolic side effects, according to an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print January 2, 2012, in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
A review of previous studies suggests that even though atypical antipsychotic medications are commonly used for off-label conditions such as behavioral symptoms of dementia, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, these medications are effective for only a few off-label conditions, and that the benefits and harms of these medications for these uses vary, according to an article […]
Patients experiencing cardiovascular or metabolic side effects while taking an antipsychotic medication may fare better if they switch to a different medication provided they are closely monitored, according to an NIMH-funded study. The study was published online ahead of print July 18, 2011, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Half of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and psychosis receive prescriptions for anti-psychotic (AP) agents, including drugs that have the potential to worsen Parkinson symptoms, and the frequency of use of these agents has not changed since a warning about using these drugs in patients with dementia and PD was issued, according to a report […]
Almost half of all schizophrenics consume narcotics, nicotine, or alcohol. The reason for this addiction could be the very treatments these patients are undergoing, according to a new preclinical study published in Neuropsychopharmacology. “The secondary effects of antipsychotic drugs are numerous and invasive: facial tics, apathy, depression, weight gain, etc.,” says Anne-Marie Bédard, a Université […]
After a century of studying the causes of schizophrenia – the most persistent disabling condition among adults – the cause of the disorder remains unknown. Now induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from schizophrenic patients have brought researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies a step closer to a fundamental understanding of the biological […]
Vanderbilt researchers evaluating existing treatments for children with autism spectrum disorders found although there were positive results in some studies, there is little information to target the right treatments to specific children. Findings from the three review articles, which examined research conducted between 2000 and May 2010 on children ages 12 and younger, were released […]
A warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration regarding the use of atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of dementia was associated with a significant decline in the use of these medications for treating dementia symptoms in elderly patients, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the […]
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