The Week in Review: November 20-24

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This week, Psychiatric Times® discussed a wide variety of psychiatric issues and industry updates, from late-life treatment-resistant depression to the mental health benefits of gratitude. Here are some highlights from the week.

Anxiolytic Effects of Ketamine

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The lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders in US adults is 34%. Given the limitations of currently available treatments for treatment-resistant anxiety, there is a need for novel anxiolytic agents. In addition to its efficacy for depression, the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine has emergency evidence of anxiolytic effects.

However, previous reviews did not investigate the time course of ketamine’s action and included lower-quality evidence, which delimits conclusions. Furthermore, the transdiagnostic nature of anxiety symptoms suggests potential utility of ketamine in a range of clinical settings. Continue Reading

Intimate Partner Violence Victimization: How It Relates to Substance Use in Women

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The World Health Organization (WHO) describes intimate partner violence (IPV) against women as any behavior by a former or current intimate partner that causes physical, sexual, or psychological harm to the victim. IPV involves a recurring pattern of power and control, with periods of abuse and nonabuse.

IPV is not specific to women or to heterosexual relationships. Nevertheless, women tend to be more susceptible to IPV victimization, with data from US nationwide surveys suggesting that approximately 41% of women experience IPV in their lifetime, in comparison with 26% of men. Moreover, in the United States, more than half of female homicides were committed by a current or former male intimate partner. Continue Reading

Late-Life Treatment-Resistant Depression

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Late-life depression (LLD) is prevalent and defined as major depressive disorder in adults 65 years and older. The prevalence rate of LLD among older adults living in the community is up to 5%. LLD has deleterious effects and is associated with increased functional disability, cognitive impairment, all-cause mortality, and suicide.

LLD is characterized by its chronic course, with frequent relapses and recurrences. The median time to a recurrent depressive episode tends to be short in LLD. The unstable remission rate could be due to multiple factors, including increased previous depressive episodes, high anxiety levels, medical burden, or neurodegenerative illness. Continue Reading

It’s National Gratitude Month—in a World of Woe

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Some of us fondly recall that classic New Yorker cartoon by Bob Mankoff, showing a woman standing next to her worried-looking husband and asking, “But why not be happy about all the diseases that you don’t have?” The tone is humorous, but the message is serious. Gratitude is an important part of mental and emotional health. As a Yiddish proverb aptly puts it, “If you cannot be grateful for what you have received, then be thankful for what you have been spared.”

As the holidays approach, many of us are struggling to connect with feelings of gratitude. The world, after all, is a hellacious mess. Two terrible wars bring us bad news nearly every day, as the maw of civil unrest and burgeoning bigotry seems to devour our “domestic tranquility.” So—what on earth are we supposed to make of “National Gratitude Month”? Continue Reading

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