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The Carlat Psychiatry Report

Antidepressant Roundup 2006 (January) | 2006

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Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Is the Evidence Convincing?

January 1, 2006

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is certainly new—but is it effective? It took the FDA a long time to make up its mind, but eventually it approved the treatment in May 2005. (For more details on why the FDA flip-flopped on the issue, see “FDA Approval of VNS,” this issue.) In this article, we scrutinize the two pivotal studies leading to approval. Read More

FDA Approval of VNS: The All-Too-Human Side of a Bureaucracy

January 1, 2006

First they said yes to VNS, then no, then yes. And now they’re trying desperately to explain their final answer. Read More

Choosing Antidepressants

January 1, 2006

Most psychiatrists pretty much agree that all antidepressants are more or less equally effective. So if you start with that premise and you have 10-15 antidepressants out there, why are you picking one versus another? And what algorithm are we all using? Dr. Zimmerman developed a questionnaire for psychiatrists to fill out immediately after they wrote antidepressant prescriptions. We asked, “What influenced you to choose that medication?” Read More

VNS: Some Practical Information

January 1, 2006

If, after reviewing our admittedly lukewarm evaluation of the VNS data, you decide that you want to offer it to your patients, here’s some useful information. Read More