Tag: psychosis

Reading of the Week: Bipolar Disorder Drug Prescribing – Bad News? The New CJP Paper; Also, An AI Warning and Cannabis & Psychosis

September 11, 2025 /

From the Editor

There are more medication options than ever for the treatment of bipolar disorder. What are physicians prescribing? How often do we use lithium, arguably the best medication?

In the first selection, from The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Samreen Shafiq (of the University of Calgary) and her co-authors attempt to answer those questions in a new study. They drew on Alberta government data, including more than 130 000 individuals with bipolar disorder and more than nine million prescriptions. “Overall, we uncovered a concerning trend in the prescribing patterns for bipolar disorder treatment, with antidepressants and second-generation antipsychotics being prescribed frequently and a decline in prescribing of lithium and other mood stabilizers.” We consider the paper and its implications.

What would John Cade think?

In the second selection, Dr. Allen Frances (of Duke University) writes about AI chatbots and psychotherapy in The British Journal of Psychiatry. He notes their “remarkable fluency” and argues that there are clear benefits to AI psychotherapy. He also comments on dangers, and he doesn’t mince his words. “Artificial intelligence is an existential threat to our profession. Already a very tough competitor, it will become ever more imposing with increasing technical power, rapidly expanding clinical experience and widespread public familiarity.”

And in the third section, Sophie Li (of the University of Ottawa) and her co-authors consider psychosis and cannabis in a concise CMAJ paper. They make several points, including: “The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of cannabis has roughly quintupled in the past 2 decades, from around 4% in the 2000s to more than 20% in most legal dried cannabis in Canada by 2023.”

There will be no Reading next week.

DG

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Reading of the Week: VR-Assisted Therapy – the New Lancet Psych Paper; Also, Genetic Variations & Psychosis and Dr. Sundar on Patients With Answers

August 7, 2025 /

From the Editor

Even with medications, the voices tormented him. My patient explained that his every move was commented on.

In avatar therapy, patients engage audiovisual representations of their voices, with the goal of reducing their influence. In the first selection, a new paper from Lancet Psychiatry, Lisa Charlotte Smith (of the University of Copenhagen) and her co-authors look at a new form of avatar therapy, with an immersive 3D experience. In this RCT, participants had enhanced usual care or the therapy; the severity of auditory hallucinations was then measured at 12 weeks. “Challenge-VRT showed short-term efficacy in reducing the severity of auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia, and the findings support further development and evaluation of immersive virtual reality-based therapies in this population.” We consider the paper and its implications.

In the second selection, Dr. Mark Ainsley Colijn (of the University of Calgary) writes about psychosis and rare genetic variation. In a Canadian Journal of Psychiatry paper – part of the new Clinician’s Corner series – he offers suggestions for antipsychotic meds. “When providing care for individuals with psychosis occurring on the background of rare genetic variation, psychiatrists should take the time to educate themselves accordingly to ensure the safe and rational prescribing of antipsychotic medications in this population.”

And in the third selection, from JAMA, Dr. Kumara Raja Sundar (of Kaiser Permanente Washington) comments on patients who use ChatGPT. The author, a family doctor, notes that many physicians can be paternalistic – but he urges against that instinct. “If patients are arming themselves with information to be heard, our task as clinicians is to meet them with recognition, not resistance. In doing so, we preserve what has always made medicine human: the willingness to share meaning, uncertainty, and hope, together.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: Alcohol Use Disorder – The NEJM Review; Also, Private Equity & Opioid Treatment and Gee on Refusing Help

January 30, 2025 /

From the Editor

When she was admitted for liver cirrhosis – the last hospitalization in her too-short life – no one visited. In her community, the stigma was great. As she grew more and more ill, I asked if she wanted me to call her family to be at the bedside. She simply smiled and said that they were all busy.

Over the years, I have seen many patients like this woman; we all have. Alcohol misuse is common. What’s the best evidence for screening and treatment? Dr. Paul S. Haber (of the University of Sydney) tries to answer that question with a sparkling review, published in The New England Journal of Medicine. His paper is clearly written and draws from more than sixty references. “Alcohol use disorder is a relapsing and remitting medical and psychological disorder that influences physical health, mental health, and social functioning, and continuing care is recommended.” We consider the review and several key take-aways.

In the second selection, David T. Zhu (of Virginia Commonwealth University) and his co-authors analyze the ownership of opioid treatment programs in the United States, with a particular focus on private equity. The research letter, published in JAMA Psychiatry, drew on government data. “This study found that 29.1% of US opioid treatment programs were owned by private equity firms, exceeding private equity penetration in other sectors of health care (range, 2%-11%).”

And in the third selection, columnist Marcus Gee of The Globe and Mail writes about mental illness and patient rights. He discusses a woman in his neighbourhood who has delusions and refuses shelter in the cold weather, convinced that she will soon be offered keys to a new home. “Surely she deserves better. Surely we can do better.”

DG


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Reading of the Week: Effectiveness of Omega-3 – the New Schiz Bulletin Paper; Also, Weight Loss Meds in Psychiatry & the Latest in the News

December 5, 2024 /

From the Editor

When my patient’s father heard that there is some evidence that omega-3 fatty acids can help in the prevention of psychotic illness, he left my office, walked to the pharmacy down the street, and purchased the largest bottle of the fish oil supplement that he could find. It’s hard to fault his logic: omega-3 fatty acids may be helpful and have few side effects. Clinicians have shared this enthusiasm. No wonder: in 2010, a major study found that patients who took it had a lower transition rate to psychosis for those at ultra-high risk. 

But what does the latest evidence say? Are omega-3 fatty acids helpful? In the first selection, Inge Winter-van Rossum (of the Utrecht University) and her co-authors attempt to answer these questions in a paper for Schizophrenia Bulletin. They report on a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of ultra-high risk (UHR) patients for psychosis who received either omega-3 supplements or placebo for six months, then followed for 18 months. “The transition rate to psychosis in a sample of subjects at UHR for psychosis was not reduced compared to placebo.” We consider the study and its implications.

Pretty pills – but relevant?

In the second selection, Drs. Sri Mahavir Agarwal and Margaret Hahn (both of the University of Toronto) write about semaglutide in a new Viewpoint for JAMA Psychiatry. They note great opportunities, but caution about challenges, including access to that medication. In a thoughtful paper, they review the relevant literature. “Semaglutide and similar drugs represent the culmination of decades of diabetes and obesity research, and their arrival has already resulted in a paradigm shift in the management of these disorders in the general population.”

Finally, we explore the latest news with articles from The Globe and Mail, Time, and The New York Times. The topics: ADHD and TikTok diagnoses, an app for peer support, and public libraries in a time of homelessness and substance.

DG

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Reading of the Week: ED Visits, Hallucinogens & the Risk of Schizophrenia – the New JAMA Psych Study; Also, Alcohol After COVID and Diab on Being Open

November 21, 2024 /

From the Editor

For my patient who had tried several antidepressants, psilocybin offered hope. He’s not alone; hallucinogens are gaining attention, with many using them for purposes ranging from treating mental disorders to recreation. But how safe are these drugs, especially as their use increasingly occurs outside of clinical settings? What’s the connection with psychosis?

In the first selection, Dr. Daniel T. Myran (of the University of Ottawa) and his co-authors attempt to answer these questions in a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry. The population-based study included over nine million people who had visited an ED in Ontario, Canada over a 13-year period. The researchers compared individuals with an ED visit involving hallucinogen use to the general population and to those with ED visits involving other substances, analyzing the risk of developing a psychotic disorder. “Individuals with an ED visit involving hallucinogen use had a 21-fold greater risk of developing a schizophrenia spectrum disorder compared with the general population…” We consider the study and its implications.

Substance use rose during the early days of the pandemic. Did this trend change after lockdowns and social isolation ended? Dr. Divya Ayyala-Somayajula (of Thomas Jefferson University) and her co-authors analyzed US data related to alcohol use in a research letter for Annals of Internal Medicine. They compared the prevalence of alcohol use and heavy alcohol use before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and in 2020, finding “absolute increases of 2.7% (relative increase, 4.0%) and 1.0% (relative increase, 20.2%) and that the increases were sustained in 2022.”

And in the third selection, writer Saddal Diab discusses her decision to publicly acknowledge her mental disorder. Though people were initially supportive, things changed when she has a manic episode. She considers stigma and acceptance in this Globe and Mail essay. “Whatever gushy feelings had surfaced when I came out did not withstand the reality of mania. This left me feeling ashamed, deserted and questioning the nature of my relationships (which I concluded were flimsier than I had anticipated).”

DG

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Reading of the Week: African Nova Scotian Youth & Stigma; Also, Engaging Health Care Workers (Psych Services) and Therapy & Psychiatry (Psych Times)

September 22, 2022 /

From the Editor

Many with mental disorders don’t engage in psychiatric care or, if they do, it is after significant delays – problematic for obvious reasons. Some groups are less likely to engage, including young Black individuals with psychosis.

Why the hesitation? What are the concerns of these patients and their larger communities? In the first selection, a paper just published by the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Ingrid Waldron (of McMaster University) and her co-authors take a qualitative interpretive narrative approach, to engage African Nova Scotians – including those in a first episode psychosis program – attempting to answer these questions and more. Among their key findings: “barriers include a lack of trust in health care services and a dearth of African Nova Scotian service providers.” We discuss the paper and its implications.

In this week’s second selection, Dr. Doron Amsalem (of Columbia University) and his co-authors aim to improve health care workers treatment seeking; in a paper for Psychiatric Services, they describe an RCT for a brief video intervention, finding positive results. They write: “This easily administered intervention could increase the likelihood of care seeking by proactively encouraging health care workers with mental health challenges to pursue treatment.”

Finally, in the third selection, Mark L. Ruffalo (of the University of Central Florida College of Medicine) and Dr. Daniel Morehead (of the Tufts Medical Center) consider psychotherapy and psychiatry. In an essay for Psychiatric Times, they argue that this is “the great divorce that never happened.” They write: “For decades, critics and leading psychiatrists have worried that psychotherapy among psychiatrists will one day die out and be forgotten. Yet for decades, reports of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: Online DBT – the New JAMA Paper; Also, Prediabetes and Preaddiction, and Greenberg on the Delusional Ones (Acad Psych)

July 14, 2022 /

From the Editor

He cut himself out of frustration with a break-up. She came to the ED with suicidal thoughts after losing her job.

Some patients need help with ongoing self-harm and suicidal thoughts – but access to care is challenging, particularly for dialectal behavioural therapy. Could a simple intervention help? Could it be delivered virtually?

In the first selection, Dr. Gregory E. Simon (of Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute) and his co-authors detail a pragmatic randomized trial that evaluated two low-intensity outreach programs, aiming to reduce risk of self-harm and suicidal behaviour. In this new JAMA study, they conclude: “Compared with usual care, offering care management did not significantly reduce the risk of self-harm, and offering brief online dialectical behavior therapy skills training increased the risk of self-harm among at-risk adults.” We look at the study.

In the second selection, Thomas McLellan (of the University of Pennsylvania) and his co-authors note the failings of substance treatment and then mull a way forward: considering the approach to diabetic care and the concept of prediabetes. Should we embrace preaddiction? They write: “the diabetes example shows that an early intervention approach can work given a comprehensive, sustained effort.”

And in the third selection, Dr. Norman R. Greenberg (of Yale University) contemplates his patient’s psychosis and his approach. Drawing on an old Hasidic tale, this resident of psychiatry stops debating with his patient; he chooses to listen to him instead. He writes: “I may not always be able to convince others of my perspective, I hope that I am able to convince others that we share similar goals and that I care about them.”

DG


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Reading of the Week: Lived Experience & Psychosis – the New World Psych Paper; Also, the Evidence for Cannabis (QT) and Bob Bell on Psychotherapy (Globe)

May 19, 2022 /

From the Editor

“Something as basic as grocery shopping was both frightening and overwhelming for me. I remember my mom taking me along to do grocery shopping as a form of rehabilitation… Everything seemed so difficult.”

So comments a patient on the experience of a relapse of psychosis.

Typically, we describe psychosis with lists of symptoms. But how do patients understand these experiences? In a new World Psychiatry paper, Dr. Paolo Fusar-Poli (of King’s College) and his co-authors attempt to answer this question with a “bottom-up” approach. As they explain: “To our best knowledge, there are no recent studies that have successfully adopted a bottom-up approach (i.e., from lived experience to theory), whereby individuals with the lived experience of psychosis (i.e., experts by experience) primarily select the subjective themes and then discuss them with academics to advance broader knowledge.” We discuss their paper.

In the second selection, we consider a new Quick Takes podcast. Dr. Kevin Hill (of Harvard University) reviews the cannabis literature and weighs the evidence. He notes the hazards of CBD, the lack of evidence for cannabis and sleep, and his fondness for the Chicago Bears. “There are very strong proponents for cannabis and there are people who are entirely sceptical about it. And the answers to a lot of these questions are somewhere in the middle.”

Finally, in the third selection, Dr. Robert Bell (of the University of Toronto) and his co-authors advocate for the expansion of public health care to cover psychotherapy. Dr. Bell, who is a former Deputy Minister of Health of Ontario, makes a clear case drawing on international examples. “Canadians understand that good health requires mental-health support, and co-ordinated investment in mental-health treatment would pay dividends in reducing the impact of mental-health disability on the economy.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: Mass Murder & Mental Illness – the New Psych Med Study; Also, Vaccinations in the EU (Lancet Psych), and Domise on MAiD and His Illness

March 4, 2021 /

From the Editor

“Mental illness may have been a factor.”

It’s just seven words, but they so often accompany reports of mass murder. And psychosis is mentioned more often than not. The message is clear: mental disorders, particularly psychotic disorders, are highly tied to violence.

In the first selection, we look at a new paper that reviews 120 years worth of mass murder, and distinguishes between gun violence and non-gun violence. Just published in Psychological Medicine, Gary Brucato (of Columbia University) and his co-authors have written an extraordinary paper. They also reach an important conclusion: “These results suggest that policies aimed at preventing mass shootings by focusing on serious mental illness, characterized by psychotic symptoms, may have limited impact.” We look at the big paper.

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In the second selection, from The Lancet Psychiatry, Dr. Livia J. De Picker (of the University of Antwerp) and her co-authors consider European countries and vaccination prioritization, with a focus on mental disorders. “Only four countries (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK) had some form of higher vaccination priority for outpatients with severe mental illness.”

And, in the third selection, writer Andray Domise considers mental illness and medical assistance in dying. In a personal essay for The Globe and Mail, he raises objections. Start here: he would have opted to die when he was unwell. He argues the whole legislative approach is wrong: “This is a country that continues to fail in respecting the humanity of people with disabilities. And rather than find strength of character to improve ourselves, the Canadian government is set to fall back on egregious historical precedent by offering death instead.”

DG

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Reading of the Week: Better Sleep, Less Psychosis? The Freeman et al. Study on Sleep & CBT

November 16, 2017 /

From the Editor

If students sleep better, are they less likely to have mental health problems like paranoia?

In this week’s Reading, we look at a new study from The Lancet Psychiatry. In this single-blind, randomized controlled trial, Oxford professor Daniel Freeman et al. consider students from 26 universities with insomnia, assigning them CBT (offered over the internet) or the usual care.

Spoiler alert: the students with CBT did better.

Sleep: good for babies, teddy bears, and students

In this Reading, we review that paper and consider the broader implications.

DG

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