:: November 2009

Welcome to our Monthly Online Newsletter!

View all Treatment articles in our Treatment Report . The most recent articles are listed on top (not in alphabetical order). Click on the Topic on our home page and then the subtopic - Treatment Report. Stay updated on drugs and their side effects, and various other treatments, including exercise, nutrition, and supplements.

Schizophrenia. (Lancet. 2009) “Symptoms typically emerge in adolescence and early adulthood. The incidence of the disorder varies greatly across places and migrant groups, as do symptoms, course, and treatment response across individuals. Genetic vulnerability is shared in part with bipolar disorder and recent molecular genetic findings also indicate an overlap with developmental disorders such as autism. The diagnosis of schizophrenia is associated with demonstrable alterations in brain structure and changes in dopamine neurotransmission, the latter being directly related to hallucinations and delusions. Pharmacological treatments, which block the dopamine system, are effective for delusions and hallucinations but less so for disabling cognitive and motivational impairments. Specific vocational and psychological interventions, in combination with antipsychotic medication in a context of community-case management, can improve functional outcome but are not widely available. 100 years after being so named, research is beginning to understand the biological mechanisms underlying the symptoms of schizophrenia and the psychosocial factors that moderate their expression. Although current treatments provide control rather than cure, long-term hospitalisation is not required and prognosis is better than traditionally assumed.”

NGC - Management of persons with psychoses. (2004)

NGC - Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia. (2000)

NGC - Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Second edition. (2004)

NGC - Schizophrenia (2003)

NGC - Schizophrenia: core interventions in the treatment and management of schizophrenia in primary and secondary care. (2002)

Featured site

NIH - Schizophrenia

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Schizophrenia

NIH - NIMH Schizophrenia

NIH - NIMH When Someone Has Schizophrenia

NIH - Schizophrenia Resources

Online Schizophrenia resource

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder

Genetic models of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder Overlapping inheritance or discrete genotypes? (Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2005) "We review current evidence of the genetic relationship between schizophrenia and affective disorders, mainly bipolar disorder (the various genetic research methods have been particularly applied to bipolar disorder). Recent family and twin studies reveal a growing consistency in demonstrating cosegregation between both disorders Ä"

Bipolar Disorder

Familial overlap between bipolar disorder and psychotic symptoms in a Canadian cohort. (Can J Psychiatry. 2005) "BACKGROUND: Although they were once considered separate nosologic entities, there is current interest in the etiologic overlap between bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia. Ä CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this sample support etiologic theories arguing for a shared but nonspecific genetic etiology for BD and schizophrenia Ä"