Most psychiatrists have at least heard of pramipexole (Mirapex) by now, and many of us have actually prescribed it. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry recently published a short and sweet review of its potential uses in psychiatry.
Researchers randomly assigned 202 depressed older adults (average age, 53 years old, 75% women) to four conditions: supervised group exercise 3 times a week, at-home aerobic exercise (unsupervised), sertraline, 50-200 mg/day, or placebo.
In surveys, it’s clear that most psychiatrists practice as unimaginatively as I typically do, meaning that their drug of first choice for most depressed patients is an SSRI (Petersen T, et al., Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2002; 26:177-187).
How high can we safely dose common psychotropics? Given the poor performance of medication combinations in recent studies, it’s time for a close look at the safety and efficacy of raising doses, sometimes known as “dose optimization.”
The controversy over pediatric bipolar disorder has heated up over the past year. A recent study offers evidence for those favoring “narrow” criteria for the pediatric bipolar diagnosis.
In a study only partially funded by the manufacturer of Provigil (modafinil), 85 patients with bipolar depression, already taking mood stabilizers, were randomly assigned to augmentation with Provigil (N=41) or placebo (N=44).
It was a sorely needed study: compare sibutramine (Meridia) with topiramate (Topamax) in patients with psychotropicassociated weight gain. Sibutramine is generally considered one of the most effective weight loss agents.
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