Depressed Jane

Government warnings about suicidality among children taking antidepressants appear to be associated with unintended and persistent changes in the diagnosis and treatment of depression in children and adults, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

He doesn’t care for the term “caveman therapy.” But Stephen Ilardi, associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Kansas, has turned to our hunter-gatherer ancestors for clues about how to best combat major depressive disorder. Further, Ilardi fingers our modern, industrialized lifestyle as the key culprit behind the burgeoning depression epidemic, which continues to worsen despite decades of sharp increases in pharmaceutical consumption.

Government warnings about suicidality among children taking antidepressants appear to be associated with unintended and persistent changes in the diagnosis and treatment of depression in children and adults, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The antidepressant citalopram does not appear to reduce the occurrence of repetitive behaviors in children and teens with autism spectrum disorders, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Although the U.S.

Adolescents at an increased risk of depression who participated in a group cognitive behavioral intervention significantly reduced their symptoms and episodes of depression compared to teens who received usual care, although this effect was not seen for adolescents with a parent with current depression, according to a study in the June 3 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on child and adolescent health. Judy Garber, Ph.D., of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.

The repetitive behaviors exhibited by some children and teens with autism spectrum disorders are not reduced with the antidepressant citalopram, according to a study in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Lawrence Scahill, professor at Yale University School of Nursing and the Child Study Center was the principal investigator at Yale for the multi-center study. Yale Child Study Center Director Fred R. Volkmar, M.D.

An independent large study conducted by MEDCO Health Solutions Inc. found that women treated with tamoxifen for breast cancer doubled the risk of the disease returning if they used antidepressants–in particular, Paxil and Prozac. The researchers used medical records to identify 353 women taking tamoxifen plus other drugs that might interfere with it, and 945 women taking tamoxifen alone. Those taking a drug combo did so for about a year on average.

The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded Group Health a $1 million stimulus grant to research more effective treatment for depression. The award is part of the federal stimulus funds from ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The project will evaluate a new method for studying the effectiveness of treatments for depression. It will use electronic medical records to follow how individuals respond to different treatments across time.

A new multi-center study, conducted at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in collaboration with five other centers throughout the country, tested the commonly prescribed antidepressant citalopram and found that it was no more effective than placebo in altering obsessive features of the condition – the spinning, rocking and repetitive behavior.

There is a frenzied push by mental health providers–almost all of whom have financial ties to psychotropic drug manufacturers–to persuade government to adopt a policy of screening teenagers and women for depression. The women being targeted at this juncture are vulnerable: they are either pregnant or have just given birth to a child. In both cases, both mother and infant are at risk of being harmed by pharmacological interventions.