On Monday, President Biden mentioned several important mental health topics in his State of the Union speech. That’s just one of the important psychiatry stories from the week worth revisiting.
Monday
A brief report in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry reviewed the literature looking at the combination of ketamine and psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD. The good news? It’s feasible. Another JCP review advised doing a careful assessment of preexisting risk for skeletal and dental complications before administering electroconvulsive therapy, and another study suggested that a physician’s COVID era prescribing habits may be influenced by the politics of the cable news channel they watch.
Tuesday
Score another win for vitamin D. Supplementation of D2 or D3 was shown to cut the risk of suicide in veterans in half and by nearly 70 percent in vets who were Black or D-deficient. Findings in the The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders suggested that paternal depression negatively influences neurodevelopmental disorders in their children. Also in PCC, the case of a man with schizoaffective disorder who seemed to lack the decision-making capacity to make a life or death call about his own health.
Wednesday
A much needed analysis of various antipsychotics and their weight gain side effects. Plus, the best type of exercise for Parkinson’s patients is…
Thursday
A new PCC study looked at how religious affiliation informs a doctor’s attitude towards homosexuality. While docs of most religions were accepting, a few were generally not. We also revisited a study from last year that suggested ginger might be a cheap and readily available remedy for acute migraine.The study’s results were a bit mixed, but the authors concluded patients had nothing to lose by giving the spicy root a try.
Friday
Toddlers who make less eye contact during silly “motherese” baby talk are more likely to be diagnosed with autism, a new study found. Based on eye tracking measurements alone, researchers were able to determine which little ones had autism and which didn’t. This could pave the way for inexpensive, earlier diagnostics.
Looking Ahead
We’ve got another informative week planned including an insightful interview with the author of the updated insomnia guidelines published in PCC a few weeks ago.
