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Fronteiras do Pensamento » O Blog:
Valderês e eu estamos acompanhando semanalmente as conferências do "Fronteiras do Pensamento" e gostaríamos de compartilhar com os amigos algo do que temos aprendido. Vai aqui o link para o Blog do curso no qual podem ser lidas resenhas (obviamente com imperfeições) das conferências. Na última 3a. feira (15 de maio) assistimos dois psicanalistas (um Belga, Lebrun, e outro francez, Melmann), acessíveis através deste Blog, conversando sobre o mundo sem limites...

"Fronteiras do Pensamento é um curso de altos estudos, parte integrante do Projeto Copesul Cultural, realizado de março a dezembro de 2007 em Porto Alegre.
Este Blog é um espaço semanal organizado por nossa equipe para levar ao público fotos, vídeos e matérias dos eventos ocorridos nos Salões de Atos da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul e da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do RS.
A Programação e mais informações sobre o Fronteiras do Pensamento estão disponíveis no site www.fronteirasdopensamento.com.br
Seja bem-vindo!"

Depression, Antidepressants, and the Risk of Suicide

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMp078015?query=TOC
On May 2, 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered that all antidepressant medications carry an expanded black-box warning incorporating information about an increased risk of suicidal symptoms in young adults 18 to 24 years of age. Since October 2004, antidepressants have been required to have a black-box warning indicating that they are associated with an increased risk of suicidal thinking, feeling, and behavior in children and adolescents.
The new warning also states that there is no evidence of an increased risk for adults older than 24 years of age and that the risk is actually decreased for adults 65 years of age or older. Strikingly, the label states that "depression and other serious psychiatric disorders are themselves associated with increases in the risk of suicide," which makes it the first black-box warning to note that a disease itself carries risk — and implies that there is risk in not using the very medication being warned about.
The new warning was developed in the wake of a December 2006 meeting of the FDA's Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee, which focused on the controversial link between antidepressants and suicide risk in adults. During an often contentious public session, the advisory committee heard from psychiatric experts and from aggrieved family members, who sometimes expressed outrage at the FDA when they spoke of the death of loved ones who had taken antidepressants. In the end, the committee voted 6 to 2 in favor of extending the black-box warning to include adults 18 to 24 years of age.
The notion that antidepressants might be associated with an increased risk of suicidality (suicidal ideation, behavior, or both) in some patients is hardly new. Clinicians have known for years that during the first few weeks of treatment with antidepressants, some patients become "activated" — energized and agitated — before their depressed mood lifts, and that combination makes them more likely to act on preexisting suicidal impulses. But because suicidal thinking, feeling, and behavior are core symptoms of depression, there is no way to know whether suicidal symptoms that develop during treatment are due to the underlying illness or the medication. /.../

Dementia UK

Dementia UK

A report into the prevalence and cost of dementia prepared by the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the London School of Economics and the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, for the Alzheimer’s Society
Project directors: Professor Martin Knapp and Professor Martin Prince Research team: Dr Emiliano Albanese, Professor Sube Banerjee, Sujith Dhanasiri, Dr Jose-Luis Fernandez, Dr Cleusa Ferri, Professor Martin Knapp, Dr Paul McCrone, Professor Martin Prince, Tom Snell, Dr Robert Stewart
Alzheimer’s Society 2007

Available online as PDF file [103p.] at: http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/News_and_Campaigns/Campaigning/PDF/Dementia_UK_Full_Report.pdf

“….It is now over a century since 1906 when German neurologist Alois Alzheimer diagnosed the disease which bears his name. What progress has been made? How much better do we understand the diseases that cause dementia? As our population ages, Alzheimer’s disease and other causes of dementias are becoming ever more common and important. We urgently need to understand the impact of dementia in the UK now and in the future. This report is an attempt to answer these key questions and to inform a serious debate about how we as a society can respond to the challenges posed by dementia.

There has been significant progress since 1906, both in our scientific understanding of dementia and public awareness about the diseases which cause it.
We know more now than we ever did. We know that dementia is not a natural part of ageing and that it is caused by a variety of diseases which affect people in different ways. We also now have a range of options to treat the symptoms of dementia and to offer practical support to people with dementia and their families. However, we are a long way from fully understanding dementia and being able to offer a comprehensive response…..”

Content:
1 Introduction
2 The Expert Delphi Consensus on the prevalence of dementia in the UK
3 Number of people with dementia in the UK
3.1 Calculation methods
3.2 Number of people with dementia in the United Kingdom
3.3 Projected increases in the number of people with dementia in the United Kingdom
3.4 Regional variation
3.5 Young onset dementia
3.6 Projected increases in the number of people with young onset dementia
3.7 Number of people with young onset dementia, by age and gender
3.8 Late onset dementia
3.9 Projected increases in the number of people with late onset dementia
3.10 Number of people with late onset dementia, by age and gender
3.11 Dementia subtype
3.12 Residential status
3.13 Ethnicity
3.14 Mortality
3.15 Conclusions
4 Service development
5 Mapping social service provision
Residential care provision
Home care provision
Day care provision
Comparisons of indicators across countries
6 The financial cost of dementia in the UK
7 Recommendations
References
Appendices

Drug Disorders Has Affected 10% of Americans -

A Variety of Drug Disorders Has Affected 10% of Americans - CME Teaching Brief® - MedPage Today
Primary source: Archives of General PsychiatrySource reference: Compton WM et al. "Prevalence, Correlates, Disability, and Comorbidity of DSM-IV Drug Abuse and Dependence in the United States: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions." Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64:566-576.
BETHESDA, Md., May 7 -- About one American in 10 has had a problem with legal or illegal drug use according to researchers here.That figure includes about one in 50 who has been frankly dependent on drugs at some point, according to Wilson Compton, M.D., of the National Institute on Drug Abuse here.
Action Points
Explain to interested patients that drug use disorder includes drug abuse and drug dependence, according to the DSM-IV.
Note that this survey suggests that about one American in 10 has either abused drugs or been dependent on drugs over the course of his or her lifetime.
These data come from face-to-face interviews with 43,093 persons in the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, Dr. Compton and colleagues reported in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
The survey is the first in more than 16 years to try to get a handle on drug use among American adults, the researchers said.
"Although extensive data on drug use in the U.S. population have been available on an ongoing basis for adults and adolescents," they reported, "epidemiologic data on the prevalence, correlates, disability, treatment and comorbidity of drug use disorders among adults are seldom collected."
Using DSM-IV definitions, the survey used a validated questionnaire aimed at discerning details of alcohol and drug use disorders, nicotine dependence, mood and anxiety disorders, and seven of the 10 personality disorders, the researchers said.
The questionnaire asked about the use of sedatives, tranquilizers, opiates (other than heroin), stimulants, hallucinogens, cannabis, cocaine (including crack cocaine), inhalants/solvents, heroin, and other drugs.
The study found:
10.3% of Americans had drug-use disorder at some point in their lives.
That was broken down into drug abuse (7.7%) and drug dependence (2.6%).
Over the year immediately prior to the interview, 2.0% of Americans reported a drug-use disorder.
That broke down into 1.4% reporting drug abuse and 0.6% reporting drug dependence. /.../

From MEDPAGE TODAY
U.S. Psychiatric & Mental Health Congress
San Francisco, CA • April 21, 2007
New Definitions on Tap for Mixed Manias SAN FRANCISCO -- Dysphoric mania and other mixed mania states of bipolar disorder will become easier to diagnose with better definitions, a researcher said here. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/USPsychiatricMentalHealthCongress/mr/5511
Insomnia Treatment Boosts Antidepressant Efficacy SAN FRANCISCO -- A significant number of patients with major depression also suffer from chronic insomnia that hampers recovery, and treating the insomnia may improve both conditions. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/USPsychiatricMentalHealthCongress/mr/5510
Atypical Antipsychotic Medication Cuts Behavioral Symptoms in Autism SAN FRANCISCO -- While the behavioral symptoms of autism have been treated with a wide spectrum of medications, atypical antipsychotics may be the most effective drug class.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/USPsychiatricMentalHealthCongress/mr/5509
Depression Remission Rates Remain Low, But There’s Hope SAN FRANCISCO -- Remission rates remain low for major depression even with multiple antidepressant drug classes available, but the recently approved selegiline patch (Emsam) aims to bring the rates up. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/USPsychiatricMentalHealthCongress/mr/5508
Vigilance Still Necessary for Atypical Antipsychotics SAN FRANCISCO -- Atypical antipsychotic medications have improved adverse-event profiles compared with the older generation of antipsychotics, but careful attention to major side effects is still required. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/USPsychiatricMentalHealthCongress/mr/5507
Concurrent Treatment Works for ComorbidADHD and Substance Abuse SAN FRANCISCO -- Given the high prevalence of substance abuse in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), psychiatrists need to consider comorbidity in assessment of both conditions. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/USPsychiatricMentalHealthCongress/mr/5501