Extended-release divalproex sodium for mood stabilization.

Study Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of extended-release divalproex sodium.

Design: Prospective, open-label, 4-week study

Setting: Long-term care facility of the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Patients: Ten hospitalized patients (mean age 39.

Adverse effects of atypical antipsychotic agents and their effects on quality of life.

Study Objectives: To determine how axis III metabolic disturbances associated with atypical antipsychotic agents (weight gain, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia) affect patients' quality of life by comparing perceived quality of life of patients taking these agents who developed the disorders with those who did not develop them. A secondary objective was to compare patients' assessments of their quality of life with assessments made of the same patients by their treating psychiatrists.

Design: Analysis of questionnaire results.

A program to convert patients from trade-name to generic clozapine.

In spring 2000, the Missouri Department of Mental Health mandated that its psychiatric inpatient facilities convert patients from trade-name to generic clozapine. The pharmacy department at our facility was encouraged to develop a conversion program to oversee and assess the efficacy and tolerability of the change. A protocol to monitor the conversion of patients to generic clozapine hospitalwide was developed.