Objective. Antipsychotics have been associated with increased cardiac events including mortality. This study assessed cardiac events including mortality among antipsychotic users relative to nonusers. Methods. The General Practice Research Database (GPRD) was used to identify antipsychotic users, matched general population controls, and psychiatric diseased nonusers. Outcomes included cardiac m...

A high dose of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main Cannabis sativa (cannabis) component, induces anxiety and psychotic-like symptoms in healthy volunteers. These effects of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol are significantly reduced by cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabis constituent which is devoid of the typical effects of the plant. This observation led us to suspect that CBD could have anxiolytic and/...

OBJECTIVE Visual contrast detection has been reported in some studies to be normal in schizophrenia patients, but in other studies impairments have been reported. Because contrast detection in the visual processing system is mediated by dopamine, and because the pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia involves blocking dopamine postsynaptic receptor sites, the authors investigated the effects of dopam...

Diabetes and mental disorders are common chronic illnesses in the United States, affecting more than 16 million and 44.3 million Americans, respectively. As a result of the ever-increasing incidence of obesity, diabetes is being diagnosed more often, not only in the adult population but also in children. Additionally, more focus is being given to behavioral disorders in recent years, and the He...

BACKGROUND The role of antipsychotics in influencing mortality of patients with mental disorders is still unexplained. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine mortality rates of patients treated with atypical and typical antipsychotics and to compare these data with the mortality rates for the general population. METHODS The study was based on the 2008-2012 prescription drug reimbu...

OBJECTIVE The authors sought to determine by meta-analysis the efficacy and tolerability of adjunctive atypical antipsychotic agents in major depressive disorder. METHOD Searches were conducted of MEDLINE/PubMed (1966 to January 2009), the Cochrane database, abstracts of major psychiatric meetings since 2000, and online trial registries. Manufacturers of atypical antipsychotic agents without ...