American Journal Of Psychiatry Research Articles

APA theme for annual meeting and current journal: Addiction

Last week's annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) featured much more than the usual addiction‐focused programming, which has been growing year by year. It was, under the direction of outgoing president Petros Levounis, M.D., himself an addiction psychiatrist, based on addiction. So is the current issue of the APA's flagship journal, the American Journal of Psychiatry, which featured three major articles on addiction. Two were presented last week; one, a commentary by Keith Humphreys, Ph.D., and colleagues, focused on the barriers to Medicaid reimbursement for treatment, mainly erected by a few states (ADAW will cover that in depth next week).

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

Treatment of late‐life depression improves cognitive function, review finds

A systematic review and meta‐analysis based on 22 studies has concluded that antidepressant treatment for late‐life depression improves cognitive function, particularly in the domains of memory and learning. Results supported an association between reduced depressive symptoms and improvement in cognition. Results of the review and meta‐analysis were published online Feb. 7, 2024, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

CBT may be effective first‐line treatment for youth with anxiety

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may normalize activity in some parts of the brain that are overactive in youth with anxiety disorders, suggests a report in the American Journal of Psychiatry, according to an American Psychiatric Association (APA) News Alert. After three months of CBT, youth with anxiety showed reduced activity in frontal and parietal brain regions, which are areas known to be involved with attention and emotional regulation.

Mindfulness training can reduce opioid use among military

Military personnel and veterans who have been taking opioids for chronic pain may experience greater benefits from group therapy that integrates mindfulness techniques than they do from supportive psychotherapy, according to a report published last week in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

Outcomes from individual antidepressants vary widely among older adults

A cohort study examining treatment outcomes for older adults in Denmark has found substantial variation in results from commonly used antidepressants. Most of the individual antidepressants were associated with a higher risk of treatment discontinuation and adverse events compared with sertraline, the antidepressant that is recommended as first‐line treatment in Danish clinical guidelines. Study results were published online Oct. 18, 2023, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

In Case You Haven't Heard…

You've heard it from the pro‐legalization advocates for years: Cannabis reduces illicit drug use. No, it doesn't, as studies have shown, most recently one published Nov. 29 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. For the study, “The Long‐Term Relationship Between Cannabis and Heroin Use: An 18‐ to 20‐year Follow‐Up of the Australian Treatment Outcome Study (ATOS),” researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia followed 615 people with heroin dependence for more than 20 years; many of the users also used cannabis. There was no evidence that illicit opioid use was reduced.

Study finds some children not affected by MI despite adversity

Some children are unaffected by mental illness despite exposure to childhood adversity and are considered “resilient,” suggest the authors of a new study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers aimed to follow up such resilient children in adulthood to characterize mental health status, substance use and functional outcomes.

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

Mediation of meaningful outcomes in early intervention: a commentary on Carruthers etal. (2023).

Across the spectrum of behavioral, naturalistic developmental behavioral, and developmental/relational interventions for young children with autism, there has been limited empirical testing of the mechanism of these early intervention approaches. Testing mediation provides insights to the how or why the intervention condition may be preferred in comparison to a control in the population sample (Kraemer, American Journal of Psychiatry, 2016, 173, 672). Combined with an understanding of moderation (for whom or under what conditions), we move toward a better understanding of how to personalize interventions to build on strengths and maximize skill gains for autistic children. Yet, to date there are very few published texts of mechanism in early intervention for young children with autism. This commentary explores a recently published article by Carruthers etal (2023) and examines themes and considerations for measurement of intervention outcomes and mediators.

Zuranolone shows rapid‐acting effects in women with postpartum depression

Zuranolone, at a dose of 50 mg/day, led to significant improvement in depressive symptoms relative to placebo at two weeks in women with postpartum depression, a Phase 3 trial has found. Study results were published online July 26, 2023, in the American Journal of Psychiatry. In early August, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved zuranolone for the treatment of postpartum depression.

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research on Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections

Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) are a clinical syndrome characterized by the abrupt onset of major personality, movement, and behavioral changes in a patient with a history of streptococcal infection. We aimed to do a bibliometric analysis of the published research on PANDAS. All the published articles available on the PubMed database from the time of inception till August 2022 were included in the study. All the PubMed IDs (PMID) of the articles were entered in Harvard Catalyst, a free online software, for bibliometric analysis, and data were extracted and verified. A total of 289 relevant published articles were identified. The average number of authors per article was 4.89 and the average number of times an article was cited was 11.19 (excluding self-citation). The H-index of the published articles was 31. The Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology published the maximum number of articles ( n = 36). The highest number of average citations (39.50 citations/articles) was for the articles published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The most common type of articles were journal articles ( n = 259) and of which 27 were original research articles. Most of the original research discusses the effectiveness of various interventions (penicillin and other antibiotic prophylaxis, role of immunoglobulin), neuropsychiatric symptoms, and outcomes in the longitudinal course. Though PANDAS is a well-researched entity, more clinical trials, and large-scale studies will help provide better insight on this subject.

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

The American Journal of Psychiatry: Table of Contents

Zuranolone rapidly improves symptoms of depression in Phase 3 study

Use of zuranolone at a dose of 50 mg/day led to significantly improved depressive symptoms at 15 days compared with placebo in adults with severe depression, a Phase 3 study has found. Greater improvement with zuranolone over placebo was apparent by day 3 of treatment, the investigators reported. Study results were published online May 3, 2023, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.