Antipsychotic News and Research

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Antipsychotics are medicines used to treat the symptoms of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder (sometimes called manic-depressive illness), anxiety disorders, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Sometimes medications are used with other treatments such as psychotherapy.

Delirium common after hospital discharge in critically ill COVID-19 patients

Anesthesiologist and other researchers from Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, New York Medical College, Valhalla and Center for Consciousness Science, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, have reported a case series of critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients who have developed neuropsychological symptoms after having been discharged from the hospital.

8 Nov 2020

Hydroxychloroquine not associated with prolonged heart rhythm intervals in RA or lupus patients

New research presented at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting, discovers that use of hydroxychloroquine, a generic drug, does not cause any significant differences in QTc length or prolonged QTc, key measures of heart rate, in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

6 Nov 2020

Study sheds new light on the biological base of psychotic symptoms

Anti-NMDAR encephalitis is an autoimmune brain illness that is often mistaken by a psychiatric disorder since it causes psychoses and other behaviour alterations. Despite having these similarities, the illness does not respond to common antipsychotic treatments.

30 Oct 2020

Study sheds light on the biological base of symptoms in autoimmune psychosis

29 Oct 2020

Stanford researchers unravel how a common genetic deletion elevates schizophrenia risk

A common genetic deletion boosts the risk for schizophrenia by 30-fold. Generating nerve cells from people with the deletion has showed Stanford researchers why.

28 Sep 2020

First clinical trial launched to test psilocybin therapy for depression in cancer patients

The first clinical trial to test the safety and feasibility of psilocybin therapy with simultaneous administration and one-on-one patient support to treat depression in cancer patients was launched today by Maryland Oncology Hematology at the Aquilino Cancer Center at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center.

16 Sep 2020

Study examines the side effects of Alzheimer's disease dementia drugs

In a first of its kind study, a University of Houston researcher is examining two common drugs used for dementia in patients with Alzheimer's disease to determine the extent to which they don't mix well together and cause a cascading event of side effects, prompting the need for even more medications.

3 Sep 2020

Antidepressants are not designed for dementia, shows study

Nearly three-quarters of older adults with dementia have filled prescriptions for medicines that act on their brain and nervous system, but aren't designed for dementia, a new study shows.

19 Aug 2020

DNA hypermethylation correlated with reduced amygdala volume in male patients with schizophrenia

Researchers at Kumamoto University, Japan have revealed that DNA methylation occurs in the gene that codes serotonin transporter (SERT), a protein that regulates neurotransmitter transmission, in schizophrenia and bipolar patients.

9 Jul 2020

Antipsychotic medications do not treat young people with early psychosis

Researchers at Orygen have found that some young people with early stage first episode psychosis (FEP) can experience reduced symptoms and improve functioning without antipsychotic medication when they are provided with psychological interventions and comprehensive case management.

17 Jun 2020

Antipsychotic drug clozapine can trigger severe obsessive-compulsive symptoms

A review published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics analyzes the obsessions and compulsions associated with the use of clozapine, an antipsychotic drug,

11 Jun 2020

Can Chlorpromazine help treat COVID-19?

A new research paper published in the journal L'Encéphale in May 2020 reports on the planned ReCoVery Study, which will examine the possibility of repurposing the antipsychotic drug chlorpromazine for the treatment of COVID-19.

25 May 2020

GlobalData: Patients treated for ICU delirium will increase as COVID-19 outbreak continues

An estimated 70–80% of ventilated patients will experience ICU delirium, which causes patients to enter a confused state and can lead to long-term cognitive impairments and memory deficits. GlobalData, therefore, expects to see an increase in the administration of pharmacological treatments for ICU delirium as the COVID-19 outbreak continues.

22 May 2020

Genetic discoveries show promise for developing new treatment targets for schizophrenia

In recent years, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many different genetic variants associated with schizophrenia.

22 May 2020

Study finds promising biomarker for diagnosis of schizophrenia and treatment response

Around four in a thousand people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia, according to scientific estimates. The disease affects people from all walks of life, including Vincent van Gogh, the painter Agnes Martin, mathematician John Nash and Eduard Einstein, a son of the great physicist. The disease touches men and women equally.

23 Mar 2020

How Ritalin works: focus on benefits rather than costs of work

A new study published in the journal Science shows that brain stimulant drugs like Ritalin, often used to treat concentration problems in conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), work in a different way than commonly thought.

19 Mar 2020

Psychosis may be caused by problems with specialized nerve cells

A new Japanese study in mice published in the journal Nature indicates that the cause of the profound mental disturbance termed psychosis could be due to defects in the functioning of specialized nerve cells deep inside the brain, and due to some types of learning behavior. This could help understand how delusions arise in psychosis or schizophrenia, and eventually to develop therapies for these conditions.

18 Mar 2020

Researchers uncover novel neurotransmitter system in the brain

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that transmit signals between neurons or from neurons to other cells. They interact with specific receptors found in the brain of humans and animals, controlling a variety of biological processes, e.g. fear, anger, pleasure, memory, energy, appetite and sleep.

5 Mar 2020

Coping with adult nightmares

Bad dreams or nightmares affect not only children but adults, too. Haunting nightmares can affect a person’s sleep quality and duration, but is it possible to turn off a nightmare while it is happening?

17 Feb 2020

Study provides insight into how CBD influences the brains of people with psychosis

Published in Psychological Medicine, the research used fMRI scans to examine the brain activity of 13 people with a diagnosis of psychosis under the influence of a single dose of CBD or placebo and 16 controls whilst they were undertaking a memory task.

29 Jan 2020