Is Electroconvulsive Therapy a Treatment for Depression Following Traumatic Brain Injury?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be caused by blunt or penetrating injury to the head. The pathophysiological evolution of TBI involves complex biochemical and genetic changes. Common sequelae of TBI include seizures and psychiatric disorders, particularly depression.

Electroconvulsive Therapy During Pregnancy.

Women often experience worsening mood disorder symptoms during pregnancy. Women with mood disorders have an increased risk for suboptimal prenatal care, inadequate weight gain, and more substance abuse during pregnancy. It is often difficult to balance pharmacotherapy risks to a developing fetus versus not medicinally treating maternal mental health conditions.

The Biological Basis to Personality Disorders.

Objective: To provide understanding into the biological basis of thinking and behavior in people with personality disorders, explain anatomic findings, and appraise therapeutic options.

Data Sources: PubMed was searched with no date restrictions using the terms personality disorders DSM-5, cluster B personality disorders, biological psychiatry of personality disorders, neurobiology of personality disorders, and neurobiology of cluster B personality disorders.

Study Selection/data Extraction: We identified 2,790 English-language articles and utilized 18 in this report.

Benefits of Dexmedetomidine in Management of Post-ECT Agitation.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an intervention for patients with a variety of psychiatric conditions. Occasionally, people exhibit dangerous degrees of agitation after this treatment, and some do not respond well to conventional pharmacotherapies. Dexmedetomidine is a central α-2 agonist that can induce significantly calmative effects in persons with post-ECT agitation.

Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-Refractory Depression.

Depression has a high lifetime prevalence and recurrence rate, with more than one-third of affected patients experiencing treatment-refractory depression. These individuals should benefit from additional treatment options such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), a research-grade intervention. DBS is being investigated for its efficacy in treatment-refractory cases.

Pharmacogenomics Can Enhance Prescribing of Psychiatric Medications.

Many psychiatric patients experience pharmaceutical intolerances, and some of them do not derive optimal efficacy from their pharmacotherapies. Clinical problems such as these may result in prolonged dysfunction, adverse consequences, and repeated changes in medication treatment regimens. Pharmacogenomics is a laboratory method that aids individualized medication selection by predicting drug efficacy and adverse effect profiles.

Pharmacotherapy for Insomnia in Primary Care.

Pharmacotherapy for insomnia in primary care settings can be challenging. Frequently, there are multiple coexisting medical and psychiatric conditions, drug interactions, concern regarding use of habit-forming sleep aids, and paucity of time in office visits to discuss management of sleep difficulties. This article reports the results of a literature search related to pharmacotherapy for insomnia and presents 4 clinical vignettes with corresponding treatment options.

Electroconvulsive Therapy Intervention for Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy is an established means to improve function in a variety of psychiatric and neurologic conditions, particularly for patients who remain treatment-refractory. Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that sometimes does not respond well to conventional pharmacotherapies. Reports have indicated that electroconvulsive therapy may be an effective and safe treatment for those patients with Parkinson's disease who are not optimally responding to first-line treatments.

Electroconvulsive Therapy in Multiple Sclerosis.

We performed a literature search regarding the safety and efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy in patients with multiple sclerosis and comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Literature review was conducted via PubMed databases. Of the cases we reviewed, most subjects with multiple sclerosis reported significant psychiatric symptom relief, with only a handful reporting neurologic deterioration.

Depression and Anxiety Following Early Pregnancy Loss: Recommendations for Primary Care Providers.

Early pregnancy loss is a shocking and traumatic event for women and their families. Miscarriage usually induces an intense period of emotional distress. This reaction tends to improve over the following several months, but some residual psychological concerns remain.

ECT-induced Mania.

Electroconvulsive therapy can induce mania. A recent change in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition classifies electroconvulsive therapy-induced manic episodes as a bipolar type I diagnosis. There are no current established guidelines to treat such condition.