What do we know about the pharmacotheraputic management of insomnia in cannabis withdrawal: A systematic review.

Background And Objectives: Sleep disturbance is one of the hallmarks of cannabis withdrawal. Studies have indicated that treatment of this key symptom may facilitate abstinence. In the present paper we aim to provide a systematic review of the extant literature on pharmacological management of sleep disturbance associated with cannabis withdrawal.

Impact of a Mental Health Curriculum on Knowledge and Stigma Among High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a school-based mental health literacy intervention for adolescents on knowledge and stigma.

Method: A total of 24 high schools and 534 students in the regional area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada participated in this randomized controlled trial. Schools were randomly assigned to either the curriculum or control condition.

Adolescent Initiation of Cannabis Use and Early-Onset Psychosis.

Background: It is important to evaluate the impact of cannabis use on onset and course of psychotic illness, as the increasing number of novice cannabis users may translate into a greater public health burden. This study aims to examine the relationship between adolescent onset of regular marijuana use and age of onset of prodromal symptoms, or first episode psychosis, and the manifestation of psychotic symptoms in those adolescents who use cannabis regularly.

Methods: A review was conducted of the current literature for youth who initiated cannabis use prior to the age of 18 and experienced psychotic symptoms at, or prior to, the age of 25.

Second generation antipsychotics in Asperger's Disorder and high functioning autism: a systematic review of the literature and effectiveness of meta-analysis.

Objective: Second generation antipsychotics (SGA) have gained increased evidence for the treatment of irritability and aggression in children and adolescents with lower functioning autistic disorder. Individuals with Asperger's Disorder (AD) and High Functioning Autism (HFA) experience significant emotional and behavioral problems and psychiatric comorbidity. There is a need to review the published literature on SGA treatment efficacy in the AD and HFA populations to provide more effective treatment choices for these subgroups.

Adolescent substance use disorder during the early stages of bipolar disorder: a prospective high-risk study.

Background: There is a paucity of longitudinal data characterizing the relationship between substance use disorder (SUD) and the early clinical course of bipolar disorder (BD). We studied this relationship in a prospectively assessed cohort of high-risk offspring.

Methods: Eligible families had one parent with confirmed BD based on SADS-L interviews and best estimate diagnostic procedure.

Effects of nicotine on electroencephalography and affect in adolescent females with major depressive disorder: a pilot study.

Background: Given that smoking is typically initiated during adolescence, and that this period in brain development seems to be uniquely sensitive to nicotine, depressed youth may be most susceptible to the neuromodulatory and mood-altering effects of nicotine. Electroencephalographic (EEG) studies suggest that individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit left frontal lobe hypoactivation (indexed by increased EEG alpha), a region implicated in positive affect regulation, as well as right parietal hypoactivation. Smoking/nicotine abstinence has been associated with increased left frontal and right parietal alpha activity (reduced activation), which has been correlated with increased depression ratings; nicotine administration seems to normalize this depression-associated asymmetry.

Neurocognitive functioning in the early stages of bipolar disorder: visual backward masking performance in high risk subjects.

Introduction: Cognitive deficits, including deficits in early information processing, are associated with remitted bipolar disorder. The temporal relationship between these deficits and the clinical course is not known. The current study investigated whether or not deficits in early information processing were present before the onset and/or during the early stages of bipolar disorder.

Maintenance treatment of adolescent bipolar disorder: open study of the effectiveness and tolerability of quetiapine.

Background: The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness and tolerability of quetiapine as a maintenance treatment preventing against relapse or recurrence of acute mood episodes in adolescent patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Methods: Consenting patients meeting DSM-IV lifetime criteria for a bipolar disorder and clinically appropriate for maintenance treatment were enrolled in a 48-week open prospective study. After being acutely stabilized (CGI-S < or = 3 for 4 consecutive weeks), patients were started or continued on quetiapine and other medications were weaned off over an 8-week period.

Prospective assessment of cannabis withdrawal in adolescents with cannabis dependence: a pilot study.

Objective: To prospectively identify and assess withdrawal symptoms in adolescents with cannabis dependence.

Method: Twenty-one adolescents ages 13 to 19 years voluntarily entering residential and day/outpatient substance abuse programs, with cannabis dependence as their only current substance of dependence, were assessed using the Teen-Addiction Severity Index, Substance Use Survey, Cannabis Withdrawal Scale, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Childhood Diagnoses Substance Use Disorders Module. Weekly assessments continued for 4 weeks.

The early manifestations of bipolar disorder: a longitudinal prospective study of the offspring of bipolar parents.

Objective: A major aim of this longitudinal high-risk study is to identify reliable early indicators of emerging bipolar disorder (BD) among offspring from well-characterized parents.

Methods: High-risk offspring were recruited from families in which one parent had BD diagnosed on the basis of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia - Lifetime version (SADS-L) interviews and DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and the other parent was well. Bipolar parents were further subdivided on the basis of response or non-response to long-term lithium.

A consecutive series of treated affected offspring of parents with bipolar disorder: is response associated with the clinical profile?

Objective: In adults with established bipolar disorder (BD), differential response to mood stabilizers has been associated with the clinical profile. Long-term treatment studies of youth with BD are lacking. This paper provides longitudinal observations of response to mood stabilizers early in the course of illness in youth with BD.

Dissociating medication effects from learning and practice effects in a neurocognitive study of schizophrenia: Olanzapine versus haloperidol.

Objective: To contrast the effect of a typical antipsychotic (haloperidol) and an atypical antipsychotic (olanzapine) on neurocognitive functioning in schizophrenia when learning and practice (LP) effects are controlled.

Methods: Two groups of participants were recruited, 27 schizophrenia patients in their first 5 years of illness and 13 normal controls. Prior to double-blind randomisation, all subjects were assessed on four occasions within 5 days (prerandomisation period) on the same neurocognitive battery.

Open-label pilot study of St. John's wort in adolescent depression.

Aim: Clinical experience suggests the use of alternative remedies, such as St. John's Wort (SJW), in adolescents with affective disorders is increasing. In view of the paucity of documented, well-established, and safe antidepressant medications for children and adolescents, it was important to investigate the potential usefulness of SJW in adolescents with major depressive disorders (MDD).

Major depressive disorder in adolescence: a brief review of the recent treatment literature.

Objective: Treating adolescents with depression remains a major clinical and public health challenge. Because of the serious morbidity and mortality associated with adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD), there is a need to review the published literature on treatment efficacy to establish effective treatment choices for these adolescents.

Method: We reviewed the recent literature on the treatment of MDD in adolescents using the Medline and PsycINFO computerized databases.

A retrospective chart review of risperidone use in treatment-resistant children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders.

Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat a wide variety of child psychiatric disorders characterized by psychotic symptoms, aggression, excitement, tics, stereotypies and hyperactivity nonresponsive to other therapies. Unfortunately, typical antipsychotics have many adverse effects limiting their long-term use. Novel antipsychotics with combined dopaminergic and serotonergic action, such as risperidone, appear to offer better safety and efficacy profiles in controlled studies of adult patients, and therefore appeared as promising pharmacotherapeutic agents in child psychiatry.