Diane Sawyer’s report on the overuse of medications in the foster care system was long overdue. As those things go, I thought it was a good shot though I fear it will pass and fail to stir the kind of outrage it deserves. I live in a sparsely populated rural community and see those kids […]
Earlier, I wrote about the PROMIS Depression Questionnaire [how silly!…] put together as an NIMH initiative. And it is silly. The eight questions approximate synonyms, conflating severity with frequency. But there’s another questionnaire being considered by the DSM-5: the PHQ-9 [Patient Health Questionnaire, 9 item], the one used in the study discussed in the last […]
The American Psychiatric Association publishes Guidelines for treating various psychiatric conditions. I’ve never actually looked at them, but this evening, I ran across a reference that lead me to the November 2010 Guidelines for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder. It’s >100,000 words long, some 35% of which are taken up listing 1171 references. In […]
A few days ago, I was marveling at the tenacity of Drs. John Rush and Madhukar Trivedi in sticking to their dream of the evidence-based, measurement-based treatment of depression using algorthms to achieve full remission [a magnificent obsession…] – a dream that persisted in spite of a string of remarkably lackluster and failed implementations [TMAP, […]
This washed up into my email inbox, I know not how or why. But it felt like something that just had to be shared with friends: click logos for the respective websites Economic Outcomes of Switching Treatment in Major Depressive Disorder Patients by Maryna Marynchenko, Andrew P. Yu, Veronique Lauzon, Karthik Ramakrishnan, Eric Q. Wu, […]
from SG:"I would be grateful if you would consider a thorough posting on what you’ve seen as melancholia. I think I’ve followed your postings faithfully and you’ve made me aware that not all MDD is the same but I’d really like your opinion on what I believe you term melancholia." The term, Melancholia [literally black […]
Despite Law, Fewer Than One In Eight Completed Studies Of Drugs And Biologics Are Reported On Time On ClinicalTrials.gov Health Affairs by Michael R. Law, Yuko Kawasumi and Steven G. Morgan December 2011 Clinical trial registries are public databases created to prospectively document the methods and measures of prescription drug studies and retrospectively collect a […]
Antidepressants and the Sound of One Hand Clapping Psychiatric Times By Ronald W. Pies, MDOctober 10, 2011 Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand? —Hakuin Ekaku [Rinzai Zen Master, 1686-1768] … Nearly all acute efficacy studies of ADs make use of the HAM-D, which is actually subject […]
Thinking about a magnificent obsession forced me to actually read some things on the DSM-5 website that I’d formerly only scanned: Cross-Cutting Dimensional Assessment in DSM-5 FAQ [Frequently Asked Questions] Dimensional Aspects of Psychiatric Diagnosis PROMIS [Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System] I don’t like it, but I have to admit that I may have […]
Says Jamzo: The APA Nominating Committee reports the following slate of candidates for the 2012 Election. Please note that this slate is considered public, but not official, until the Board approves it at their December 2011 meeting: President-Elect Renee L. Binder, MD Mary Helen Davis, MD Jeffrey Lieberman, MD When I read these nominations, I […]