In a 2005 public health advisory, the FDA warned that antipsychotics appear to increase the rate of mortality in elderly patients with dementia. The implication is that we should discontinue such agents in this population when possible. But does this actually decrease the mortality risk?

Dr. Yager, what is your procedure for evaluating patients with eating disorders?

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

Health care reform is back on the national agenda with a vengeance. Obama made this a central part of his campaign platform and recently met with various insurance and medical groups to begin the lobbying and persuasion process. Why does the Obama administration appear to have high hopes for another attempt at universal health care? And what might such a system mean for psychiatrists?

Psychiatric treatment has been discriminated against by insurance companies for years. The recent passage of historic parity legislation may change this. Can you bring us up to speed on the history of this difficult relationship between insurance companies and psychiatrists?

Dr. Nissen, you have been at the forefront of those who believe that the FDA is not doing a good enough job of warning the public about adverse effects of drugs. What is the problem?

A recent meta-analysis examined all blinded clinical trials that directly compared second-generation antipsychotics, including 76 trials with 13,558 participants.

A recent study investigated the relationship between the use of SSRIs prior to or during pregnancy and the development of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia.

Researchers (not paid by the drug company) examined data from GlaxoSmithKline’s database of clinical trials for lamotrigine (Lamictal) as a treatment for bipolar depression.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…