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The Carlat Psychiatry Report

Depression (November) | 2013

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Fire in the Mind: The Depression-Inflammation Connection

November 1, 2013

We have all bumped up against the limits of the current model of antidepressant treatments for depression: the patient who comes in with a laundry list of failed medication trials, or a number of other complaints depicting a portrait of malaise—aches, pains, anhedonia, fatigue, brain fog, digestive woes—that don’t really respond to currently available agents. What if shifting our thinking about underlying causes might hold the answer to treatment of these individuals? Read More

Clinical Trials: Show Us the Data

November 1, 2013

Uri Cohen, MD

Too often our literature presents an oversimplified picture driven by some agenda, usually commercial. We prescribers, or, more accurately, “research consumers,” need a more complete and accurate description of what’s actually observed in clinical trials. Read More

Does Brintellix Bring Anything New?

November 1, 2013

Steve Balt, MD

After a dry spell of new antidepressants—the last one to be approved was levomilnacipran (Fetzima), the active enantiomer of milnacipran (Savella) in July 2013—the FDA approved vortioxetine (Brintellix) in September. Vortioxetine is another serotonergic antidepressant. How exactly does it work, and what are its advantages over existing drugs? Read More

Metformin for Weight Loss in Schizophrenia

November 1, 2013

Obesity and metabolic impairments are widespread in both psychiatric and non-psychiatric populations. To make matters worse, weight gain, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes are common side effects of the pharmaceuticals we use to treat psychiatric illness. Read More