Psychiatric Associates of Atlanta Mental Health News |
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Hepatitis C plagues mentally ill at rate 10 times national average BY KAREN PATTERSON The Dallas Morning News DALLAS - (KRT) - It's as if psychiatric sickness weren't enough of a medical problem. A liver-threatening virus known as hepatitis C particularly plagues the mentally ill. And the standard treatment for the virus can fuel new mental problems or worsen existing ones. As a result, some psychiatrists - often a patient's only regular source of health care - are working to better understand their patients' treatment troubles and viral vulnerabilities. Tuesday, July 15, 2003
OUR OPINION: EDITORIAL: To break jail cycle, treat mental illness Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Sunday, July 13, 2003 The woman stood before the judge, wearing an airport security guard's uniform. Yes, she promised, she was still taking her medication. Then she pumped her fist in the air and said, "I'm making twenty-six-seven." Everyone in the courtroom, including the prosecutor who had originally pressed a simple battery charge against the woman, cheered along with her. The scene played out before Fulton Magistrate Judge Kimberly Warden in a new, experimental "diversion court," where defendants who need mental health or substance-abuse treatment can choose that route rather than jail. "Discharge managers" --- trained clinicians from the Fulton County Mental Health Division --- help to arrange treatment and housing and establish contact with families and services. The aim is to keep the individual anchored in society and as self-sufficient as possible. Tuesday, July 08, 2003
GlaxoSmithKline gets FDA approval letter for Wellbutrin Associated Press RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Thursday it has received a Food and Drug Administration letter that indicates it has cleared some hurdles for the approval of an extended release formulation of Wellbutrin, its widely used anti-depressant. The British pharmaceuticals giant - which is Europe's biggest drug maker - said the agency's so-called "approvable letter" involves "resolution of routine matters" required before Wellbutrin XL can be approved by the FDA. The company has dual U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia and Research Triangle Park, N.C. The company said its still thinks the new, once-daily version of the drug will be cleared by the FDA by the second half of 2003.
Antidepressant Regimen Aids Bipolar Disorder-Study By Deena Beasley LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Patients with bipolar disorder should continue taking antidepressants even after their symptoms have eased, researchers suggested on Tuesday in a break with standard practice. Usual guidelines for treating the chronic disorder, also known as manic depression, recommend discontinuing antidepressants within six months of improvement. But researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles found that patients treated under those guidelines were nearly twice as likely to relapse as those who continued taking antidepressants along with mood stabilizing medication for the first year after remission of acute bipolar depression.
FDA Approves Lamictal (Lamotrigine) For Long-Term Maintenance Treatment Of Bipolar I Disorder RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC -- June 23, 2003 -- GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) announced today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of Lamictal® (lamotrigine) tablets for the long-term maintenance treatment of Bipolar I Disorder. Specifically, the FDA approved Lamictal for the maintenance treatment of adults with Bipolar I Disorder to delay the time to occurrence of mood episodes (depression, mania, hypomania, mixed episodes) in patients treated for acute mood episodes with standard therapy. Additionally, the FDA has noted that findings for Lamictal maintenance treatment were more robust in bipolar depression.
B-Vitamin Problems May Cause Depression in Some Sat Jul 5, 4:27 PM ET By Alison McCook NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New findings suggests that some people with depression might have problems metabolizing the B vitamin folate -- supporting the idea that supplements could help ward off the condition, researchers say. Investigators in Norway found that depression occurred more commonly in people who had high levels of the amino acid homocysteine in their blood, and in those who carried a form of a gene that encodes a protein involved in processing folate.
Worker Kills Five in Mississippi Plant Shooting By Leslie Doolittle MERIDIAN, Miss. (Reuters) - A worker who allegedly disliked blacks opened fire at a Lockheed Martin aircraft parts factory in eastern Mississippi on Tuesday, killing five co-workers before committing suicide, police said. Eight other employees at the plant near Meridian, Mississippi, were taken to local hospitals with gunshot wounds, said Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie. Two others were treated for shock. |
