The Journal of clinical psychiatry
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Olanzapine in refractory schizophrenia after failure of typical or atypical antipsychotic treatment: an open-label switch study.
When patients with schizophrenia fail to respond to an atypical antipsychotic, they are sometimes switched to another atypical compound. However, the benefits of such a switch have not been adequately studied. We present an open-label prospective 14-week trial with olanzapine in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder whose treatment resistance to clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone, and haloperidol had been determined prospectively. ⋯ Our results indicate that in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, a switch to olanzapine after treatment failure with an atypical agent or haloperidol may not reduce psychopathology in general, but may improve symptoms related to cognitive function.
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Comparative Study
A longitudinal view of triggers and thresholds of suicidal behavior in depression.
Recurrent brief depressive disorder (RBD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) share the same diagnostic picture of full-blown depression and are both associated with increased suicide attempt rates. However, longitudinal diagnostic shifts from RBD to MDD or vice versa, called "combined depression" (CD), have demonstrated a substantially higher risk of suicide attempts in epidemiologic and clinical studies. Following the stress-diathesis model of suicidal behavior, we compared possible triggers and thresholds for suicidal behavior among patients with RBD, MDD, and CD. RBD and MDD diagnoses were based on DSM-IV criteria. Furthermore, the goal of this study was to determine if impulsivity as an underlying factor could explain high suicide attempt rates in CD. ⋯ CD seems to be an important clinical risk factor for the prediction of suicide attempts, similar to risk factors such as substance use disorders and borderline personality disorder. All of these factors share the same diathesis for increased impulsivity and suicidal ideation, which could explain comorbidity and suicidal behavior. The coexistence of a greater propensity for suicidal ideation and impulsivity in RBD might also explain why such patients are more prone to attempt suicide, even if they do not, in the case of RBD, meet the duration criteria for MDD.