The Week in Review: January 1-5

Chepko Danil_AdobeStock

This week, Psychiatric Times® discussed a wide variety of psychiatric issues and industry updates, from a groundbreaking new launch for PTSD in the United States to connections between antidepressant treatment and metabolic syndrome. Here are some highlights from the week.

First FDA-Approved Self-Neuromodulation Device for PTSD Officially Launches in the US

metamorworks_AdobeStock

GrayMatters Health, a developer of digital self-neuromodulation therapies for mental health care, announced today that it has officially launched Prism for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the United States.

Prism for PTSD—the first self-neuromodulation device to receive US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) clearance as a prescribed adjunct to standard of care (SOC) for PTSD—is now accessible at 2 US clinics, with several more clinics currently in the process of installing and training with Prism for PTSD. Continue Reading

Evenamide: New Results Show 70% of Patients Saw Reduction in Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia Severity

tashatuvango/AdobeStock

A 1-year open label study evaluating evenamide as an add-on to antipsychotics for the management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) demonstrated positive results, with evenamide showing sustained benefit that increased throughout the 1-year course of treatment. More than 70% of the patients experienced clinically significant reduction in disease severity.

“Treatment with evenamide as an add-on to antipsychotics in TRS patients has produced benefits that have never been reported before. Despite these patients being on therapeutic doses of antipsychotics, evenamide treatment was associated with clinically important improvement (≥20%) on PANSS in approximately 40% of patients, functioning (LOF) in over 60% of patients, and reduction in the severity of disease (CGI-S) in over 70% of patients,” said Ravi Anand, Newron’s Chief Medical Officer. Continue Reading

Response to Antidepressant Treatment and Risk of Later Metabolic Syndrome

terovesalainen_AdobeStock

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with an increased risk of cardiometabolic morbidity and mortality. The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of 5 risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus, including high waist circumference, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, elevated fasting glucose, and low HDL cholesterol. There is evidence of weight gain with antidepressant treatment, which confers increased risk of MetS.

In the METADAP cohort study, the incidence of MetS in patients with MDD was 12% and 17% after 3 and 6 months, respectively. In the same cohort, early weight gain (after 30 days of antidepressant treatment) was associated with a 5.5-fold increased odds of MetS. Although response to antidepressant is associated with genetic and environmental factors, no previous studies have investigated response to antidepressant treatment and MetS. Continue Reading

2024 New Year Resolution #1: Don’t Forget About COVID-19 and the Invasion of Our Capitol

James Thew/AdobeStock

Often at the end of a calendar year, the media looks back at the prior year and forward to the new. Usually, highlights are picked out for their relevance. Individuals usually do the same for their own lives and often come up with related New Year’s resolution for improvement.

A scourge around the world from 2019 to sometime in 2023, one would think that COVID-19 would be on such New Year’s radar, but that does not seem so. Perhaps that comes from the slow denouement. Or maybe from the psychological denial of its continuing risk. Or the return of conspiracy cultish thinking. Continue Reading

See more recent coverage from Psychiatric Times here. And be sure to stay up-to-date by subscribing to the Psychiatric Times E-newsletter.

Do you have a comment on any of these or other articles? Have a good idea for an article and want to write? Interested in sharing your perspectives? Write to us at PTeditor@mmhgroup.com.