Psychiatric disorders account for billions of dollars of costs related to absenteeism, reduced productivity, and treatment each year. Most research in this area has focused on standard DSM diagnoses, but it may be more informative to look instead at psychiatric symptoms, such as insomnia and emotional distress, and their effect on the workplace.

People born to women between the ages of 12 and 19 or to men over the age of 45 are at the greatest risk for developing psychiatric disorders, according to the results of a Danish population-based study of close to three million people born between 1955 and 2006.

Recent research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that vitamin E slowed functional decline in Alzheimer’s disease better than memantine (Namenda) (Dysken MW et al, JAMA 2014;311(1):33-44).

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Of all the factors that contribute to mood, hormonal variations, such as those found in premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) can have a particularly strong effect. I’ve heard some people, for instance, describe PMS as a “powerful spell” that women are put under once every month.

Dr. Madeleine Becker explains the many considerations in in treating psychiatric illness in pregnant and lactating women.

Many people claim that meditation helps them reduce stress, anxiety, or depression, but little quality evidence exists to support those anecdotes. Add to that the difficulty in designing a controlled trial of meditation—eg, how can people be blinded to their treatment group?—and it’s hard to know how to counsel patients on the effectiveness of this strategy.

Schizophrenia, a condition that is thought to affect 1% of the world’s population, remains one of the most challenging psychiatric disorders to treat.

Roche Pharmaceuticals’ potential new medication for schizophrenia, bitopertin (RG1678), failed its first two phase III trials. In both trials, adding bitopertin to antipsychotics for 24 weeks failed to improve persistent negative symptoms of schizophrenia as measured by PANSS (Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale) scores when compared to placebo, according to a report released by the company in January.

Johnson & Johnson will begin providing all clinical trial data gathered through its Janssen pharmaceuticals arm to Yale School of Medicine’s Open Data Access (YODA) Project. Physicians and researchers will be able to request access to the anonymized data through YODA, and not the drug company.