In November Australian Psychiatry Review features a focus section on psychiatric genetics, rejuvenated by recent replications of genome-wide association studies. Other highlights of the literature reviewed this month include Atigari and Healy’s suggestion that the proconvulsant effects of clozapine. lithium, and ketamine, may be a novel therapeutic principle rather than a side-effect. Jelovac and colleagues provide a systematic review showing maintenance ECT does not change relapse after a primary ECT course. Zipursky and colleagues persuasively argue against what they describe as the myth that schizophrenia is a neurodegenerative disorder. Finally, Priebe and colleagues report that small financial incentives can greatly increase treatment adherence in previously poorly adherent patients on depot antipsychotics.

November 2013

Australian Psychiatry Review is a monthly podcast which collects news, reviews, and research from the major Australian and international journals of psychiatry, and notes significant papers of interest to psychiatric doctors in general medical journals.

Highlights of the literature in May include articles on the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia, major reviews of psychological interventions in psychosis in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a special issue of Biological Psychiatry describing the boundaries between neurology and psychiatry in neurodegenerative disease, and a nursing-initiated project for managing conflict and containment on psychiatric wards, called Safewards. Finally, there is an important Swedish registry study demonstrating an association between psychotropic medication prescription and reduced violent crime in the Lancet.

May 2014

Highlights of the literature in April include debate over whether CBT for psychosis has been oversold, calls for an end to the use of the phrase schizophrenia as an increasingly inaccurate anachronism, exploration of the overinclusive concept of bipolar spectrum disorder including difficulties separating it from borderline personality disorder, and evidence that rates of substance use disorders comorbid with severe mental illness have been underestimated. Finally, a viewpoint by Sederer analyses New York’s initiative to fully integrate behavioral health care into primary practice.

April 2014

Highlights of the literature in March include include evidence from a case series that sleep deprivation and bright light therapy may rapidly improve depressive symptoms and suicidality of patients with severe bipolar depression; a systematic review which shows that modern antidepressants have improved acute but not long-term outcomes of depression; and two family studies which suggest that mania and depression do not lie on opposite ends of a spectrum, but vary independently, consistent with recent increased awareness of mixed states in severe mental illness. Finally, the BMJ published a summary of the updated guidance for the management of psychosis by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

March 2014

Highlights of the literature in February include ongoing dissection of the prospects for the ICD-11 in the ANZJP, with multiple commentaries suggesting the forthcoming edition appears unlikely to improve upon existing nosologies. The ANZJP also includes a proposal for systemic improvements required to humanely manage the growing incidence of behavioural sequelae of dementia in aged care facilities. JAMA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the US Surgeon General report linking smoking to lung cancer, which initiated largely successful public health initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence, alongside data suggesting these initiatives have been far less successful in patients with severe mental illness.

February 2014

Text and references for the January 2014 Australian Psychiatry Review podcast.

November 2013

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