Dr. Jeffrey Mattes, psychiatrist in Princeton, New Jersey speaks about drug interaction warnings that appear during electronic prescribing and how these warnings may be influenced by drug company promotion.

This interview is part of a series covering the 2018 ASCP Annual Meeting.

Here is the summary of this interview:

• Drug interaction warnings are issued by drug compendia, which claim to be independent of drug company influence. However, this has been recently questioned and there are examples that point to drug warnings being motivated by drug company promotion.
• Clinicians should meet these warnings with skepticism and be aware of this potential.

Resources

• Access a text version of this episode here
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Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris speaks about the use of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression.  Here are some key points from this interview:

- Psilocybin, a psychedelic, is a 5-HT2A agonist.  Stimulation of the 5-HT2A receptor promotes neural plasticity

-A potential mechanism of action of psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression involves “brain resetting”

- Psilocybin has a good safety profile. However, patients may experience challenging psychological experiences that may turn out to be frightening for some people

- Administration of psychedelics needs to be done in a controlled environment with psychological support 

• Download a PDF of this interview here
• Learn more about our memberships here

At the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Robert Patterson (psychiatrist at McLean Hospital Boston) spoke about the benefits of following a structured approach to psychopharmacology.

In this episode, Dr. Patterson explains why algorithms are good for patient outcomes and how they support clear decision making.

• Get our key points from the 2018 APA Annual Meeting here
• Learn more about our memberships here