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Clandestinely produced Fentanyl has been linked to hundreds of fatal and nonfatal overdoses across the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic Regions of the United States since late 2005. Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate approximately 50 times more potent than heroin. Clandestinely produced Fentanyl powders, fentanyl mixed with heroin, and, to a lesser extent, fentanyl mixed with cocaine have been distributed in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic Regions. The primary markets have been Chicago (IL), Detroit (MI), and Philadelphia (PA)/Camden (NJ). Overdoses linked to Fentanyl have been reported in areas of Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin Fentanyl has been sold to drug abusers, primarily heroin abusers, in drug markets in each of the aforementioned areas, and abusers typically reflect the population demographics of those areas. Currently, there are an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 hard-core and casual heroin abusers in th...

December 18, 2006 · In: Healthcare Companies Healthcare Regulations Has drugmaker Eli Lilly been promoting the off-label use of antipsychotic Zyprexa for elderly patients with dementia symptoms? According to an investigation by The New York Times, Lilly has been doing just that since late 2000, despite FDA rules to the contrary. Materials given to the NYT outline a campaign called Viva Zyprexa, in which sales reps are told to suggest the drug for older dementia patients. However, such marketing would run afoul of FDA rules, as Zyprexa is approved to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, not dementia or dementia-related psychosis. In fact, Zyprexa actually carries an FDA warning stating that the drug can increase the risk of death in older patients with dementia-related psychosis. A Lilly spokesperson contended that older patients who seem to have dementia may actually have untreated schizophrenia, but psychiatrists have strongly contested that claim. Lilly is currently facing fede...

Provided by: Associated PressWritten by: ANDREW BRIDGES Dec. 13, 2006 WASHINGTON (AP) - Antidepressants increase the risk of suicidal behaviour for people up to age 24, the government said Wednesday. It plans new warning labels, and says users of all ages should be closely monitored.The label change proposed Wednesday would expand a warning now on the antidepressants that applies only to children and adolescents.T The Food and Drug Administration presented its plan to update the drug labels at a meeting of outside advisers on the issue. They endorsed the plan.The FDA also stressed that patients of all ages should continue to be carefully monitored for signs of suicidal tendencies when they are beginning treatment on the drugs. Public reaction was split, with some saying the changes were overdue and others arguing they could keep drugs from those who need them.In emotional testimony illustrated at times by slides of family photos, relatives of suicide victims pleaded for the new warnin...

As therapists, we generally are cast as the support-person, the listeners, the helpers, the objective re-framers and other client-focused “providers”. Clinicians, some more than others, tend not to self-disclose much with their clients; some prefer to keep their own feelings, life trials and even personal mental health experiences separate from the therapy relationship. Like most aspects of the client-therapist relationship there are no real hard and fast boundaries about how to act, what to say, what to reveal, when to set limits, etc; it is the art of therapy and the clinician experience that determines how the relationship develops. Therapist self-disclosing can be an effective teaching opportunity that has real, human information and it can be a tremendously powerful client-therapist relationship building tool, remembering always that self-disclosure has its limits and the therapy session is for the client. I have personally known clinicians that quickly get caught up in self-discl...

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 22 -- Although pharmacological treatments are the mainstay of therapy for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults, psychosocial treatments may be a useful adjunct and improve patients' quality of life. Psychosocial treatments include not only psychotherapy and counseling but less-well known approaches such as an ADHD "coach" and a professional organizer, said Carol E. Watkins, M.D., of Northern Country Psychiatric Associates in Baltimore. Dr. Watkins outlined the array of psychosocial treatments available to adults with ADHD at the U.S. Psychiatric & Mental Health Congress here. Individual psychotherapy : This approach can help patients identify "maladaptive patterns" related to the ADHD and find better ways of coping with them. Both the insight-oriented therapy and cognitive and behavioral therapy can be useful, Dr. Watkins said. Couples and family therapy: ADHD can put a major strain on a marriage, Dr. Watkins said. Sp...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pregnant women and those who plan to become pregnant should avoid taking the antidepressant Paxil if possible because of the risk of birth defects, a group of U.S. obstetricians said Thursday. The opinion issued by the obstetric practice committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists comes nearly a year after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline reclassified the drug to reflect studies in pregnant women that showed the drug poses a risk to the fetus. Two studies of pregnant women who were taking Paxil during their first trimester have shown that their babies have heart defects at a rate that is as much as twice the norm, the FDA said at the time. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also said the decision whether to treat pregnant women with SSRIs, a class of antidepressants that includes Prozac, Zoloft and Lexapro as well as Paxil, should be considered on an individual basis. Exposure to SS...