A new study rethinks the treatment of schizophrenia and proves that patients would benefit from fewer antipsychotics.

Schizophrenia is a mental health disease that affects more than two million people in the United States alone. The condition is often treated with heavy, dazing antipsychotic drugs.

The medication stops the symptoms of schizophrenia but leaves patients with a slew of side effects, such as severe weight gain or debilitating tremors.

A new federally-funded study calls for a different way to treat schizophrenia, focusing on providing less medication and more options for therapy.

The Study

Researchers found that talk therapy benefited patients who were experiencing the first schizophrenic episode.
Image: The Daily Beast

The research was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry after a series of in-depth trials. The study suggests that patients who took small doses of antipsychotics combined with one-on-one talk therapy and family support saw better results than those who were overprescribed and sedated.

Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the study found that patients who received active therapy after the first schizophrenic episode did much better in recovery.

“I’m very favorably impressed they were able to pull this study off so successfully, and it clearly shows the importance of early intervention,” said Dr. William T. Carpenter, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The study is based on successful programs that have been used in Australia and Scandinavia for decades. This is the first real-world trial of this method.

The study was conducted at 34 community mental health centers in 21 states randomly assigned either drugs, therapeutic treatment or both. It included 404 people with first-episode psychosis in their late teens or 20s, half of which received the new approach. The other half of patients received antipsychotic care.

The patients were monitored with standardized checklists that rate symptom severity and quality of life, taking into account the ability to work and get along with family. Patients in the combined program had more symptom relief and functioned better.

The medicated group experienced side effects including weight gain, extreme drowsiness or emotional numbing. Studies show that three-quarters of people prescribed antipsychotics stop taking them within a year and a half.

“As for medications, I have had every side effect out there, from chills and shakes to lockjaw and lactation,” said a 20-year-old trial participant named Maggie. Maggie benefited from the newer approach and is now attending nursing school.

Medications were still used during treatments, but doses were kept at a minimum to keep side effects at bay. The therapy package included help with work and school decisions and increased education for family members. The final component is one-on-one talk therapy, in which the doctors help the patient build social relationships, reduce substance use and manage the symptoms.

“One way to think about it is, if you look at the people who did the best — those we caught earliest after their first episode — their improvement by the end was easily noticeable by friends and family,” Dr. Kane said.

A Change In Mental Health Reform

Regulators are attempting to provide funding for combined-treatment programs that employ active therapy and low doses of medication.
Image: Huffington Post

Mass shootings related to mental illness continue to increase, and Congress is currently deciding on reforms that will help combat episodic violence.

In its guidelines, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services strongly agreed with the combined therapy approach. The reform bills now “mention the study by name,” said Dr. Robert K. Heinssen, the director of services and intervention research at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Congress awarded $25 million to states to fund early intervention mental health programs in 2014. Dr. Heinssen told the New York Times that 32 states have begun using those grants to fund combined-treatment services.

Critics believe that the current methods used to treat schizophrenia are ineffective, especially in the onset of psychosis. The early stages of the disease usually occur in the late teens or early 20s. The hope is that the study will set a new standard for care.

Dr. Kenneth Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an advocacy group, said the study was “a game-changer for the field” because it chooses a therapeutic method based on the stage of the disease.

The post New Approach To Treating Schizophrenia Suggests Fewer Prescriptions appeared first on Citizens Report.

In a historic move, California legislators have approved the state’s revised version of the heavily debated right-to-die bill.

Legislators in the state of California voted to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives after an emotional debate on Sept. 11.

The right-to-die bill passed in the Senate with a vote of 23-14 on the last day of the legislative session. The approval was influenced by the story of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old death for dignity advocate with terminal brain cancer who brought a renewed focus to medical aid-in-dying.

Voting Yes To Medial Aid-In-Dying

The decision was heavily influenced by the case of Brittany Maynard, an advocate who used her experience to speak out for other terminally ill patients wishing to medically end their lives.
Image: SodaHead

The original right-to-die bill passed in the Senate but didn’t make it through the entire legislative process. It has since been revised, with the altered version requiring approval from two doctors and the presence of two witnesses. The final stipulation is that the patient must be able to take the medication themselves after submitting multiple written requests.

After an initial failure to pass, the bill will now permit doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to patients. The case of Brittany Maynard is believed to have heavily influenced the legislative outcome.

Maynard was a California woman with terminal brain cancer who only had a few months left to live. She moved to Oregon from California after being denied the right to medically take her own life. Right-to-die medications are also permitted in Washington, Vermont and Montana.

The bill is extremely controversial. Those who argued for its approval believed it was important to assist terminally ill patients in avoiding a painful, drawn out death. Maynard’s relatives were present at the debate.

“Eliminate the needless pain and the long suffering of those who are dying,” urged Sen. Lois Wolk (D-Davis), one of the bill’s co-authors.

But the bills opponents worried that the law would leave too many unanswered questions. They predicted an increase in premature suicides.

“I’m not going to push the old or the weak out of this world, and I think that could be the unintended consequence of this legislation,” said Sen. Ted Gaines (R-Roseville).

An Uncertain Future

The bill may not make it to the final stages if Gov. Jerry Brown, a former Jesuit seminarian, refuses to sign it into law.

But a video testimony from Maynard, released by her husband a few weeks before her death, urges the government to make the law a permanent fixture in California. The testimony was played at the hearing.

“As elected officials, you have the power to make this happen,” Maynard said her video testimony. “Please take action. Every terminally ill American deserves the choice to die with dignity. Let the movement begin here, now. Access to this choice lies in your hands. Freedom from prolonged pain and suffering is a most basic human right. Please make death with dignity an American health care choice.”

The post Death With Dignity Approved In California appeared first on Citizens Report.

Alexis Benter

Imagine the very medicine that is meant to maintain and restore health by preventing certain illnesses is found to do the exact opposite? Well, a recent study released by the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle has found just that.

“Our study is the first to address whether oral anticholinergic medications affect the risk of pneumonia in older people,” says senior author Dr. Sascha Dublin, an associate investigator at the institute.

Anticholinergic drugs block the neurotransmitter acetylcholine responsible for involuntary movement of smooth muscles. They are used for conditions such as allergies (e.g. Benadryl), overactive bladder (e.g. Ditropan) and depression (e.g. Doxepin).

The study shows that there is an increased health risk of pneumonia associated with the use of these medications.

“This is important because so many older people use these medications, and pneumonia is such a common cause of illness and death in this age group,” Dublin adds.

What is Pneumonia?

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung affecting the alveoli (microscopic air sacs responsible for gas exchange). Some of the most common symptoms associated with the illness include headaches, excessive sweating of the hands and a sharp chest pain that gets increasingly worse with each deep breath or cough.

Although pneumonia is usually caused by infection from a virus or bacteria, it is also, although less commonly, caused by drugs.

The Connection:

The research involved more than 1,000 patients with pneumonia (ages 65 to 94), and another group of over 2,000 people without pneumonia who were matched by age and gender.

The true cause of why anticholinergic medications raise the risk of the illness may be related to the possibility that through sedation and altered mental status, breathing problems and lung infections increase (according to the study by Group Health).

However, it is important to note that the study did not lead to a direct cause-and-effect relationship between use of the drug(s) and pneumonia, but rather an association.

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