Response of depression to electroconvulsive therapy: a meta-analysis of clinical predictors.

Objective: Roughly one-third of individuals with depression do not respond to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Reliable predictors of ECT response would be useful for patient selection, but have not been demonstrated definitively. We used meta-analysis to measure effect sizes for a series of clinical predictors of ECT response in depression.

A case of cerebellar psychopathology.

Background: Pathology of the cerebellum has traditionally been associated with motor symptoms, vertigo, and nystagmus. Patients with cerebellar disorders do not usually receive psychiatric evaluations.

Objective: The authors seek to alert clinicians to the association between cerebellar disease and psychiatric symptoms.

Clinical equivalence of generic clozapine.

Objective: To determine if mental health service utilization increases when patients are converted to generic clozapine.

Method: About 125 patients taking clozapine in a community mental health clinic were switched from Novartis Clozaril to generic clozapine (Mylan Pharmaceuticals). Serum clozapine levels were obtained 2 weeks before, and 2 weeks after, the switch to generic clozapine.

A survey of psychiatrists' attitudes toward treatment guidelines.

We developed a survey to look at psychiatrists' attitudes toward psychotropic prescribing guidelines, specifically the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) algorithms. The 22-page survey was distributed to 24 psychiatrists working in 4 CMHC's; 13 completed the survey. 90% agreed that guidelines should be general and flexible.

Assessing conformance to medication treatment guidelines for schizophrenia in a community mental health center (CMHC).

The feasibility of implementing current medication treatment guidelines in a community mental health clinic was examined in this cross-sectional and retrospective study. Specifically, two issues were addressed: 1) could we identify a set of clinical guidelines whose utilization could be monitored with a routine medical chart review; and 2) were the requisite data for such a review available in the medical records. An examination of three sets of published guidelines revealed 5 specific guidelines that could be operationalized and monitored.