Recall that in October of 2003, the FDA issued a public health advisory about the possibility that antidepressants cause suicidal ideation in children and adolescents.

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.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

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.”

Dr. Pies, how would you recommend that psychiatrists approach the management of medication-related side effects?

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.