Lockup Doc

Assume for a minute that you do not have an underlying psychiatric or neurologic condition. You’re healthy. If you could take a pill that would significantly improve your memory, help you to concentrate through great distractions, keep you full of energy even though you’ve slept little, help you to be more social, or keep you from worrying much, would you take it?

That’s really the issue at stake with the concept of cosmetic psychiatry. Is it okay for psychiatry to evolve beyond simply treating disease and relieving suffering to the point where the goal is also enhancement of “normal” functioning? Read more…

Clinical Psychiatry News (Nov. 2009) published an article by Drs. Jan Leard-Hansson and Laurence Guttmacher entitled, “Treating Peginterferon-Induced Depression.” In order to determine the best evidence-based antidepressant treatment, the authors reviewed 170 studies but ultimately narrowed these down to 4 to include only randomized controlled trials.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is not an uncommon health condition among prison inmates. The three most common HCV genotypes that occur in North America are 1, 2, and 3. Genotype 1 is treated with a 48-week course of weekly IM peginterferon and daily oral ribavirin. Types 2 and 3 are treated with a 24-week course. Approximately 1/3 of patients undergoing peginterferon treatment develop depression. Of this 1/3 who develop depression, 3/4 become depressed within the first 8 weeks of treatment.

Anecdotally I have found that citalopram works well for most patients. I have found it fascinating to treat patients with no mental health history who have abruptly developed Read more…