Psychostimulants are commonly added to antidepressants in order to augment their effects, but most of the clinical trials have been either open or small controlled trials. In what may be the largest trial done to
date, these investigators (who received funding from Janssen-Ortho, the maker of Concerta) randomized 145 depressed patients...

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.

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.

A recent issue of Archives of Internal Medicine contained two articles suggesting that SSRIs may result in loss of bone density in the elderly.

Clinical lore has it that SSRIs are preferable to bupropion for depressed patients who present with anxiety and insomnia. Papakostas and colleagues tested this assumption by obtaining patient data from 10 studies funded by GlaxoSmithKline (makers of brand name Wellbutrin) over the years.

About 20% of patients with cancer develop major depression, and at least 60% present with significant symptoms of sadness and anxiety not severe enough to meet criteria for a DSM-4 disorder.

The largest and most rigorous study to date on the treatment of bipolar depression was just published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, conducted as part of the NIMH-funded Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD), enrolled a total of 366 subjects with either bipolar I or II disorder during a major depressive episode.

The combination of Effexor (venlafaxine) and Remeron (mirtazapine) has been dubbed “California Rocket Fuel” by Stephen Stahl (see page 290 of his Essential Psychopharmacology, 2nd Edition) because of the multiple ways the combination boosts various neurotransmitter systems.

An FDA advisory panel has recommended that TMS not be approved for the treatment of major depression. Neuronetics, the maker of the NeuroStar device (www.neuronetics.com), submitted data from three studies, but only one was a placebo-controlled double-blind trial (Study 101).

Dr. Oransky, as Deputy Editor of The Scientist, I know that you spend a great deal of time looking at medical statistics, and you do an excellent job of making these concepts understandable in your column in CNS News, Statistically Speaking.