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Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Mood Disorders Michael Bond. From Medscape Online
Abstract: A review of recently published studies has found that all show a significant improvement in symptoms in patients who were depressed before treatment with psychodynamic psychotherapy. It is rare, however, for a study to meet the criteria of randomized clinical trials: use of treatment manuals and assured adherence, a sample of patients specifically diagnosed with depression and relevant measures. In one meta-analysis of studies meeting the above criteria, two of 17 studies included a sample with a diagnosis of depression, and short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy achieved similar results as other psychotherapies. Naturalistic studies show improvement with dynamic psychotherapy over time in both symptoms and dynamic measures, such as defense styles and frustration tolerance.
“A Contemporary Learning Theory Perspective on the Etiology of Anxiety Disorders”. S. Minerka, R. Zinbarg. American Psychologist, Jan ’06.
Learning theory is often as dry as melba toast, but this was a rich overview of the latest theory in the field that is a great aid to clinical understanding. The authors made it easy to see how learning theory can also be juxtaposed with other theoretical orientations, esp. psychoanalytic. They reviewed all categories of anxiety disorder with clear language. Possibly helpful as a direct aid to explanation of patients for why they feel as they do.
“Record Share Of Economy Is Spent on Health Care” –M. Kaufman & R. Stein. Washington Post, 1/10/06.
Rising health care costs, already threatening many basic industries, now consume 16 percent of the nation’s economic output -- the highest proportion ever, the government said yesterday in its latest calculation. The nation’s health care bill continued to grow substantially faster than inflation and wages, increasing by almost 8 percent in 2004, the most recent year with near-final numbers.
AP Wire Story –Lauran Neergaard – Atypical Antipsychotics Little Better Than Traditional Antipsychotics
The nation’s leading schizophrenia treatment doesn’t work much better than an older, far cheaper drug, says a government study that is the most comprehensive comparison of therapies for the 3.2 million Americans with the devastating mental illness. The study of five commonly used drugs highlights how difficult schizophrenia is to treat. Three-quarters of patients had to switch medications because of breakthrough symptoms or intolerable side effects. Those taking Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zyprexa did slightly better, staying on the medicine longer before switching and thus experiencing slightly fewer hospitalizations, researchers reported Monday.
The Following excerpts are from news items found on the wonderful email list of Kenneth Pope. To subscribe, contact Ken at kspope@kspope.com.
From the Association for the Advancement of Science, I. Wickelgren -- “Thinking the Pain Away: Patients can use imaging technology to control pain centers in the brain”
Researchers have developed a potentially powerful new tool that allows patients to fight pain by literally thinking it away. Volunteers put inside nal magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine were able to control the activity of a brain region responsible for pain perception, suggesting that the technology may someday provide a drug- and side-effect-free way to calm troubled nerves.
Weekes, N. American Psychological Society (APS) “Observer” (vol.18, #12). “A Few Minutes of Your Time’ -- Tips on communicating scientific information to the media” Nicole Y. Weekes.
“There is an inherent tension that comes with communicating scientific findings through popular media outlets. You have to make the details (well, at least the outline) of your science understandable to those without prior knowledge of the field, but in ways that do not distort the basic facts.” The article goes on to offer several useful tips when addressing the media, including: “Inquire into the full scope of the story, including what precipitated it”, and “Ask whether you will be able to see or hear the interview before it runs”.
“Evidence Grows That Alzheimer’s Is A Type of Diabetes” – Brown U. News Release
Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School have discovered that insulin and its receptors drop significantly in the brain during the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and that levels decline progressively as the disease becomes more severe, leading to further evidence that Alzheimer’s is a new type of diabetes. They also found that acetylcholine deficiency, a hallmark of the disease, is linked directly to the loss of insulin and insulin-like growth factor function in the brain.
Georgetown University Medical Center News Release. Commonly Used Antidepressants May Also Affect Human Immune System
Drugs that treat depression by manipulating the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain may also affect the user’s immune system in ways that are not yet understood, say scientists from Georgetown University Medical Center and a Canadian research institute. That’s because the investigators found, for the first time, that serotonin is passed between key cells in the immune system, and that the chemical is specifically used to activate an immune response. They do not know yet whether these SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) drugs including the brands Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and others could have either a beneficial or a damaging effect on human immunity.
New York Times, 2/17/06. “Device Won Approval Though F.D.A. Staff Objected” G. Harris.
A top Federal medical official overruled the unanimous opinion of his scientific staff when he decided last year to approve a pacemaker-like device to treat persistent depression, a Senate committee reported Thursday. The device, the surgically implanted vagus nerve stimulator, had not proved effective against depression in its only clinical trial for treatment of that illness. As a result, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration repeatedly and unanimously recommended rejecting the application of its maker, Cyberonics Inc., to sell it as such a treatment, said the report, written by the staff of the Senate Finance Committee. But Dr. Daniel G. Schultz, director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the agency, kept moving the application along and decided to approve it, the report said.
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