Tag: pregnancy

Reading of the Week: Psychological Interventions for Schizophrenia – the New Lancet Psych Study; Also, Service Dogs for PTSD, and the Latest in the News

July 4, 2024 /

From the Editor

She was distressed by the voices and the paranoid thoughts. Many nights, my patient could barely sleep. She had tried several medications without much improvement. Is there a role for psychological interventions? Would CBT help? What is the evidence for this population?

In the first selection, Nurul Husna Salahuddin (of the Technical University of Munich) and co-authors attempt to answer these questions in a new systematic review and network meta-analysis, just published in Lancet Psychiatry. The analyzed 52 RCTs with 5 034 participants. “We provide robust findings that CBTp can reduce the overall symptoms of patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, and therefore clinicians can prioritise this intervention in their clinical practice.” We consider the paper and its clinical implications.

In the second selection from JAMA Network Open, Sarah C. Leighton (of the University of Arizona) and her co-authors describe a study involving service dogs for those with PTSD. In a nonrandomized controlled trial involving 156 military members and veterans, they examined outcomes after three months. “[C]ompared with usual care alone, partnership with a trained psychiatric service dog was associated with lower PTSD symptom severity and higher psychosocial functioning in veterans.”

Finally, we explore the latest news with recent articles from The Guardian, the Ottawa Citizen, and The New York Times. Among the topics: “honest” obituaries and the opioid crisis, antidepressants and withdrawal, and care for pregnant women with substance problems.

DG

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Reading of the Week: IPT for Depression in Pregnancy – the New JAMA Psych Paper; Also, Treating Opioid Use (JAMA) and Substance Ed for Docs (Wash Post)

June 22, 2023 /

From the Editor

Prenatal depression affects two: the mother and her fetus. But how to effectively address depressive symptoms?

In the first selection, from JAMA Psychiatry, Benjamin L. Hankin (of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and his co-authors consider a focused psychotherapy for that population. In a RCT involving 234 participants, they find that IPT was helpful. “Brief IPT significantly reduced prenatal depression symptoms and MDD compared with EUC [enhanced usual care] among pregnant individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds recruited from primary OB/GYN clinics.” We look at the paper and its clinical implications.

In the second selection, Caroline King (of the Oregon Health & Science University) and her co-authors consider buprenorphine for opioid use disorder with a focus on adolescent residential treatment. In a JAMA research letter, they report the findings which included every identified facility in the United States. “In contrast to the standard of care, only 1 in 4 US facilities offered buprenorphine and 1 in 8 offered buprenorphine for ongoing treatment.”

And, in the third selection, former AMA president Dr. Patrice A. Harris (of Columbia University) and her co-authors argue that physicians should know more about addiction treatment. In a Washington Post essay, they argue for more robust training. “Opioid use disorder is treatable, and medicines are readily available. But doctors cannot learn to help patients by taking a weekend course alone.”

DG


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Reading of the Week: Canada Day – With Papers on Cannabis, Chatbots, Depression, Nutraceuticals and Benzodiazepines in Pregnancy

July 1, 2021 /

From the Editor

It’s Canada Day.

Let’s start by noting that not everyone has a day off. Some of our colleagues are working – perhaps in hospitals or vaccine clinics. A quick word of thanks to them for helping our patients on a holiday.

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Appropriately, this week’s selections will focus on Canadian work.

What makes a paper “Canadian” for the purposes of this review? That is, how do we define Canadian? Things could get complicated quickly when considering journal papers. Does the second author order “double double” at Tim Hortons? Has the senior author eaten poutine for breakfast? Is the journal’s action editor hoping that the Canadiens bring the Cup home?

Let’s keep things simple: all the papers selected this week have been published in a Canadian journal and the papers are clinically relevant for those of us seeing patients in Canada.

There are many papers that could have been chosen, of course. I’ve picked five papers – a mix of papers that have been featured previously in past Readings, and some new ones. All but one of the selected papers are recent.

Please note that there will be no Readings for the next two weeks.

DG

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