Most of the research on melatonin has involved older adults, and there it seems to work pretty well, just a little less effective than most prescription sleep meds. So how well does melatonin work in middle aged adults? This new study is the first to test that out. [Study Link]Published...

Donna Sudak shares her tips for weaving cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) into the 30-minute psychotherapy session with medication. The article on rating scales she references - Free, Brief, and Validated - is available here.Published On: 12/14/2020Duration: 19 minutes, 49 secondsArticle Referenced: "Brief Therapy During the Medication Visit," The Carlat Psychiatry Report, November/December...

Not only do we get more urges to eat at night, but we tend to overeat and lean more towards junk food. So how does that play out in bipolar disorder? This new study by Francisco Romo-Nava and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati and the Mayo Clinic sought to find...

There are many reasons why people drink, and one of them is alcohol withdrawal. The withdrawal state causes anxiety, negative mood, and cravings, and these kinds of symptoms lead patients to turn to alcohol once more. Some treatments for alcohol use disorders – like gabapentin – work better in patients...

Cognitive behavioral therapy treats insomnia as well as a sleep med, and it also improves depression and immune function. This special patient podcast introduces the first steps of the therapy, and shows you how to find the full therapy if more help is needed. CBT-insomnia resources: Apps: CBT-i Coach, Somyrst. Books:...

Depression and anxiety improve when healthy bacteria are added – whether through diet or probiotics – according to several dozen small randomized controlled trials. However, only a handful of those trials involved full clinical depression. This study adds to that count, but with a different result. [Link]The probiotic used in...

About 1 in 50 US adults use stimulants like amphetamines (Adderall), methylphenidate (Ritalin), and modafinil (Provigil) without a prescription, and 80% of them take the drugs to enhance cognition, not to get high. The ethics of all this are vexing, but putting that aside, how well does the practice work?...

While medication is the mainstay of treating symptoms in ADHD, Edward Hallowell, MD, shares a positive, relationship-based approach to ADHD with practical strategies to help children and adolescents manage ADHD.

Schizophrenia, autism, addictions, borderline personality disorder, nearly every psychiatric disorder is associated with disrupted circadian rhythms. It’s particularly true for bipolar disorder, where circadian rhythm disturbances are involved from the behavioral to the genetic level. All of these disorders are treated from time to time with antipsychotics, so how do...

Psychotherapy can work as well as medication, but can it also have side effects? Michael Linden believes it can. He launched some of the key studies that brought light to this under-appreciated phenomenon, and in this interview he shows us how to recognize and avoid them.Published On: 11/23/20Duration: 26 minutes,...