The assessment and diagnosis of bipolar disorder in youth has a complicated and controversial history. I recall from my child and adolescent fellowship training that there was a thinly veiled faculty argument about the diagnosis itself with strong opinions on each side. To revisit this quandary, I reviewed the most up-to-date literature and outlined a … Read more
Sleep complaints by patients with a major depressive episode (MDE) may be a red flag signaling a higher risk for developing other psychiatric disorders, new research suggests. Investigators studied 3-year incidence rates of psychiatric disorders in almost 3,000 patients experiencing an MDE. Results showed that having a history of difficulty falling asleep, early morning awakening, … Read more
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is significantly linked to comorbid psychiatric conditions and a higher risk for mortality, and can take more than a year to be diagnosed, new research shows. In a population study of more than 145,000 patients, participants with TRD used outpatient resources and missed work at twice the rate as patients with treatment-responsive … Read more
This transcript has been edited for clarity. Drew Ramsey, MD: Welcome back everyone. I’m Dr Drew Ramsey. I’m on the editorial board with Medscape Psychiatry and I’m an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. We have a special guest today. I’m here with nutritionist Jessica Bayes, who’s at the University of Technology Sydney, … Read more
NASHVILLE, Tennessee ― Targeting relevant sleep problems for patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) improves cognition, results of a new, double-blind, randomized controlled trial suggested. Study findings show significant improvement in REM sleep and language scores for patients with TLE who took the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil and better slow-wave sleep and memory scores for … Read more
A new study provides more evidence that insomnia may contribute to cognitive decline in older adults and shows that difficulty falling asleep in midlife may be most indicative of future cognitive impairment. Investigators found that having trouble falling asleep most nights (vs rarely/never) was equivalent to the effect of 2 to 3 years of aging … Read more
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. After recovery from acute infection with SARS-CoV-2, major stressful life events such as the death of a loved one or financial insecurity can have a significant impact on the development of long COVID symptoms, new research suggests. Major life stressors in … Read more
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting healthcare professionals about the special management required for opioid overdoses tainted with xylazine, an animal tranquilizer known on the street as tranq, tranq dope, sleep-cut, Philly dope, and zombie drug. The tranquilizer is often combined with fentanyl or heroin, or occasionally with a stimulant, said the … Read more
Individuals who have chronic pain at age 44 are more likely to report poor general health, poor mental health, and joblessness when they are in their 50s and 60s, new research shows. Chronic pain at age 44 (in 2002) was also predictive of SARS-CoV-2 infection nearly two decades later, in 2021. “We speculate that pain … Read more
Hot flashes and night sweats in middle-aged women are associated with greater white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV), a marker of small vessel disease in the brain, in new findings that call into question the idea that these symptoms are benign. These new findings challenge the long-held belief that the most common menopausal vasomotor symptoms (VMS) … Read more