Transdermal Selegiline for Treatment-Resistant MDD
Psychiatry Education Forum Academy has released the next clinically relevant discussion today, where Dr. Harvinder Singh has discussed the role of Transdermal Selegiline for depression…
Category: Psycho-Pharmacology
Clozapine & GERD Medications: Drug Interaction
It is clinically relevant to have the knowledge of drug interactions between clozapine and medications used for common medical conditions, as certain medication can lower…
Can St. John’s Wort help with Depression?
Psychiatry Education Forum Academy is excited to announce our next presentation’s release date for Sep 10, 2022: WATCH INTRODUCTION VIDEO https://youtu.be/Q01KwQTdTqM There are many plant-based…
Managing Clozapine’s Adverse Events
Clozapine was FDA-approved for treatment-refractory schizophrenia in 1989 and has remained the gold standard treatment since then for this indication. Clozapine has established efficacy in…
Lamotrigine Dosing in Pregnancy & Postpartum
Let’s begin by answering this question first: Answer: Gradual increase in dose from first to third trimester; and dose taper within three days of delivery…
Safer Antidepressants with Bleeding Risk?
BEFORE SCROLLING DOWN ==> SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS FIRST 🙂 . . . . What is the Underlying Mechanism? SSRIs limit uptake of blood serotonin by…
Medications Affecting Clozapine Level?
Clozapine is indicated for the management of treatment resistant schizophrenia and hence it is likely that patient will also be taking other psychotropic and non-psychotropic…
Steroids Induced Psychiatric Side Effects
STEROIDS & NEUROPSYCHIATRIC ADVERSE EVENTS Neuropsychiatric Adverse Events from Non-Psychiatric Medications Patients on higher doses of steroids can present with affective, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms.…
Gingko Biloba for Antidepressants Induced Sexual Dysfunction?
Can Ginkgo Biloba help with antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction? WHAT IS THE LIKELY MECHANISM OF ACTION: Prostaglandin synthesis and vasodilation ==> resulting in increase peripheral blood…
Managing Aggression after Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury can significantly impact an individual’s life, in terms of cognitive, behavioral, and physical impairments. Among these, aggression remains the most challenging for…
Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Depression?
Recently Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have drawn the clinical attention for the treatment of major depressive disorder. The…
Lithium Adverse Events Management
Psychiatry Education Forum Academy just finished the lecture series on Understanding Lithium’s Adverse Events Management. Here we have discussed the clinical details of how to…
Lithium & Gastrointestinal Side Effects
We continue our lecture series on Lithium Adverse Events Management with the discussion of Lithium Induced Gastrointestinal side effects. Nausea and/or diarrhea are common gastrointestinal…
Lithium Induced Hyperparathyroidism
We continue our lecture series on Lithium Adverse Events Management with the discussion of Lithium Induced Hyperparathyroidism. The first case of Lithium induced hyperparathyroidism was…
Lithium Induced Hypothyroidism
We continue our lecture series on Lithium Adverse Events Management with the discussion of Lithium Induced Hypothyroidism. The antithyroid effects of lithium were recognized in…
Lithium Induced Tremors
We continue our lecture series on Lithium Adverse Events Management with the discussion of Lithium Induced Tremors. Tremors are one of the common side effects…
Lithium Induced Polyuria
Lithium is the oldest mood stabilizer approved for bipolar disorder and still is considered the gold standard treatment. Lithium is not protein bound, is not…
Viloxazine: Non-Stimulant Medication now FDA Approved for Adult ADHD
Viloxazine ER (Qelbree) was initially approved for pediatric ADHD and now had received FDA approval for the management of ADHD in adult patients. We have…
Lithium Adverse Events Management: Academy’s Lecture Series
A patient in his mid 30s was brought to the hospital by police for increased aggression towards his family members. On evaluation he reported a…
Lumateperone Two New Dosages Approved: 21 mg & 10.5 mg
Lumateperone received its first FDA approval for the management of adult schizophrenia in 2019, and recently FDA has just approved this medication for depressive episodes…
Can Gabapentin help with Alcohol Withdrawal Management?
Gabapentin is currently FDA approved for restless leg syndrome, partial-onset seizures, and postherpetic neuralgia. Although not a first-line medication, recently many studies have shown gabapentin…
Trazodone: Basics & Beyond
This post will summarize Trazodone’s mechanism of action and answer the following two questions: What dose of Trazodone is effective for major depression disorder (MDD)…
IGALMI™ (Dexmedetomidine): First Sublingual Medication FDA Approved for Acute Agitation
Today FDA has approved the first sublingual medication, IGALMI (Dexmedetomidine) for the management of acute agitation in indications discussed below. We have summarized this medication…
Valproate Induced Tremors
Valproate is considered the first-line medication for bipolar disorder management but is known to cause various adverse events. Among these adverse events, tremors are one…
First Weekly Transdermal Patch Approved for Alzheimer’s Dementia: ADLARITY
On March 14, 2022: FDA has approved the first and only once-weekly transdermal patch for Alzheimer’s dementia: Adlarity (Donepezil). Psychiatry Education Forum Academy has summarized…
Naltrexone for Impulse Control Management?
Psychiatry Education Forum Academy (PEFA) is excited to announce our next lecture series on “Impulse Control & Self Injurious Behaviors: Pharmacological Management”. Today we released…
Can NAC help with Cannabis Use Disorder?
Cannabis is one of the commonly used illicit substances. The use has increased further with multiple states legalizing cannabis use in the United States. Cannabis…
Antidepressant Induced Excessive Sweating
Antidepressant-induced excessive sweating (ADIES) is reported in more than 20% of patients taking antidepressants. For this reason, the knowledge on how to identify and manage…
Antidepressant use during Lactation?
BEFORE SCROLLING DOWN ==> SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS FIRST 🙂 Antidepressant treatment is indicated for post-partum depression. For this reason, it is of direct clinical relevance…
Chronic Insomnia Pharmacological Treatment: Practice Guideline
According to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (Third Edition), Insomnia is defined as: either trouble initiating or maintaining sleep, associated with daytime consequences, and…
Chronic Benzodiazepine Discontinuation: Pharmacological Options
Although benzodiazepines are only indicated for short-term prescription use, a certain percentage of patients can end up on the long-term use resulting in both physiological…
Ulipristal Acetate for PMDD Treatment?
Share This Post Share on facebook Share on linkedin Share on twitter Share on email Close to 70-90 % of reproductive age women are known…
New Sleep Medication Approved: Daridorexant (Quviviq)
On Jan 10, 2022, FDA has approved this new medication for treatment of adults with insomnia: Quviviq (daridorexant). This FDA approval is based on the…
Comparing FDA Approved Bipolar Depression Medications
Depression in bipolar disorder is considered the most common mood phase and also a major clinical challenge. This is known to cause impairment from being…
Lumateperone: Newest FDA Approved Medication for Bipolar Depression
Dec 20, 2021. We know that Lumateperone received its first FDA approval for the management of adult schizophrenia in 2019, but FDA has just approved…
Comparing Serotonin Modulators: Vortioxetine vs Vilazodone
Serotonin modulators are a class of medications approved for the treatment of the major depressive disorder. Psychiatry Education Forum Academy’s recent chapter will compare these…
Antipsychotic of choice for “Schizo-Obsessive” Disorder?
BEFORE SCROLLING DOWN ==> SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS FIRST 🙂 There is growing evidence that patients with comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia may represent a…
Ginkgo Biloba for Antidepressants Induced Sexual Dysfunction
Can Ginkgo Biloba help with antidepressants induced sexual dysfunction? MECHANISM OF ACTION: Prostaglandin synthesis and vasodilation ==> resulting in increase peripheral blood flow and to…
Lithium Induced Diabetes Insipidus: Prevention & Treatment
Lithium is considered the gold standard and first-line treatment for bipolar disorder and is known to have adverse effects on the kidney, thyroid, parathyroid, neurological…
Comparing Long-Acting Methylphenidate: Concerta vs Jornay PM vs Adhansia XR
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common and impairing disorder affecting children, adolescents, and adults. Stimulant class of medications are considered first-line treatment for ADHD, including…
Antidepressant with Renal Impairment?
A 43-year-old male with a history of major depressive disorder is referred to you by his primary care physician for management of depression with the…
Bupropion & Risk of Seizures
With the IR formulation, the rate is 0.4% (4/1000) at doses of 300 to 450 mg/day. With the SR formulation, the rate is 0.1% (1/1000)…
Venlafaxine vs Duloxetine: How are they different?
SNRIs: Venlafaxine vs Duloxetine © Psychiatry Education Forum FOR ACADEMY MEMBERS: (1) SNRI use with RENAL impairment This chapter will summarize the dosage adjustment of…
L-Methylfolate for Depression: When to use?
L-MethylFolate is used as an augmentation agent to antidepressants in patients with major depression disorder, but who is a good candidate for considering L-Methylfolate as…
Can we use Lamotrigine with Oral Contraceptives?
The drug interaction between Lamotrigine and Oral Contraceptives is of direct clinical relevance for your daily clinical practice. This topic is summarized in the following…
Augmentation Strategies for Clozapine-Resistant Schizophrenia?
Clozapine is considered a gold-standard medication for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but close to 50% of these patients on clozapine may show poor or no response. What…
Is Bupropion Effective for Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a common psychiatric disorder with chronic waxing and waning course for some. Serotonergic medications (SSRIs and SNRIs) are considered first-line…
Valproate Adverse Events Management
Valproate is considered first-line treatment for the management of bipolar disorder with the following recommendations per recent CANMAT & ISBD 2018 guidelines: Acute Mania: First…
Treatment-Resistant MDD: Modafinil Augmentation
Partial response, no response, or residual symptoms following antidepressant therapy is common in clinical psychiatry. Hence, it is of clinical importance to have knowledge of…
Safest Antidepressant with Warfarin?
Answer: (b) Sertraline. Warfarin has two isomers: S-isomer (three times more potent than R-isomer): metabolized by 2C9. R-isomer: metabolized by 1A2 (major) and 2C19 & 3A4 (minor) —> monitor…
How to use Pramipexole for Bipolar Depression?
Pramipexole is currently only FDA approved for Parkinson’s disease & Moderate-to-severe primary Restless Legs Syndrome but Pramipexole has promising data as an augmentation option for…
Emotional Blunting with Antidepressants Versus Anhedonia from MDD?
Antidepressants are well known to cause this side effects of emotional blunting. It is clinically relevant to diagnose this early in the treatment as this…
Invega Hafyera™ (6-monthly paliperidone palmitate): FDA Approved for Schizophrenia
Sep 01, 2021. Today FDA approved the first and only 6 monthly long-acting injectable for schizophrenia treatment: Invega Hafyera. We have summarized Invega Hafyera clinical…
Topiramate & Cognitive Dulling
Topiramate is well known to cause cognitive dulling and patients should use caution when operating machinery including automobiles. How can we prevent the risk of…
Mood Stabilizers Use During Pregnancy & Postpartum
The perinatal period can increase the risk of mood symptoms recurrence for patients with bipolar disorder, including the risk of depressive episode recurrences and postpartum…
Antidepressant & Tamoxifen use in Breast Cancer?
Depression and anxiety are common comorbidities in breast cancer patients. As a results patients with breast cancer may require treatment with antidepressants. For this reason,…
Antipsychotics & risk of Hypersexual or Paraphilic Behaviors
We know that dopamine agonism can result in hypersexual or paraphilic behaviors but interestingly, case reports for second-generation antipsychotics association with increase in hypersexual behavior…
Clomipramine for Pediatric OCD?
We know that CBT and SSRI are considered first-line treatments for pediatric OCD management, but few patients are treatment-refractory and they do not respond to…
Cyproheptadine for PTSD Nightmares
The diagnosis of PTSD requires the endorsement of one of two symptoms from the symptom clusters of (1) reexperiencing, (2) avoidance, and (3) sense of…
Memantine for Treatment-Resistant OCD
OCD is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder that can cause significant psychosocial impairment (Goodman et al., 2021), and delay in treatment is associated with poor outcomes…
Clomipramine Therapeutic Level
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) of psychotropic medication is a clinically relevant topic as TDM can be a beneficial test in following clinical scenarios checking medication…
Antipsychotics Induced Edema
Antipsychotic-induced edema is not an uncommon side-effect. In most cases, this can be a transient and self-limited side effect but it is important to know…
Autism Spectrum Disorder: Aggression & Irritability Management
We know that medications are not the first-line treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) management but they are helpful when first-line behavioral interventions are not…
Alzheimer’s Disease: Comparing FDA Approved Medications
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type/cause of dementia. As we know that FDA recently approved Aducanumab (Aduhelm) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (read…
[Journal Club 11 + Coffee Club]: Benzodiazepines & Risk of Subsequent Dementia?
Today we posted the following 11th journal club in PEFA Journal Club’s discussion series and discussion with an expert in our Coffee Club’s discussion section:…
[Journal Club #10]: Antipsychotics & Weight Gain
Today we posted our 10th journal club in PEFA Journal Club’s discussion series, discussing the risk of weight gain with antipsychotics: Journal Club #10: Almost…
[Journal Club #9 + Coffee Club]: Adjunctive Metformin for Antipsychotic-Induced Dyslipidemia.
Today we posted the following 9th journal club in PEFA Journal Club’s discussion series and discussion with an expert in our Coffee Club’s discussion section:…
[Journal Club #8]: Is Vortioxetine Effective for Emotional Blunting in MDD?
Today we posted the eighth journal club in PEFA Journal Club’s discussion series, discussing if Vortioxetine is effective for emotional blunting in MDD after inadequate…
How to Switch Between Valproate Formulations?
Valproate is an FDA approved treatment for bipolar disorder. According to CANMAT and ISBD (2018 guidelines) valproate is indicated for the following phases of bipolar…
Benztropine or Glycopyrrolate: Which one is preferred for Antidepressants Induced Sweating?
Glycopyrrolate is preferred over Benztropine for the following reasons: for Glycopyrrolate is less known to cross the blood-brain barrier, hence less central adverse events (less…
Psychotropics & Risk of Tinnitus
Tinnitus is defined as the conscious awareness of a sound in the absence of an external auditory stimulus. Psychotropic medications are commonly used as the…
Naltrexone XR: When & How to Initiate?
Naltrexone XR is an opioid antagonist, which is FDA approved for opioid use disorder. The main benefits of naltrexone-XR are: extended duration of its action…
Restless Legs with Antidepressants?
Restless leg syndrome is defined as having following four essential clinical consensus criteria: (a) Compelling urge to move the legs with or caused by uncomfortable…
Is Olanzapine Effective for Bipolar Mixed Features Management?
Share this post Share on facebook Share on google Share on twitter Share on linkedin Share on pinterest Share on print Share on email Bipolar…
Propranolol for TBI
PROPRANOLOL FOR TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY Traumatic brain injury can significantly impact an individual’s life, in terms of cognitive, behavioral, and physical impairments. Among these, aggression…
Asenapine: Transdermal vs Sublingual?
ASENAPINE: TRANSDERMAL VS SUBLINGUAL This post will summarize the key differences between the transdermal and sublingual formulation of asenapine in the following 10 minutes of…
Lithium & Renal Damage: Prevention?
How to Minimize Renal Damage Risk with Chronic Lithium Use? <img width=”768″ height=”854″ src=”https://psychiatryeducationforum.com/project1/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/02889320-0192-4269-938a-0f27a483c3f2-copy-768×854.jpg” alt=”” loading=”lazy” srcset=”https://i1.wp.com/www.psychiatryeducationforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/02889320-0192-4269-938a-0f27a483c3f2-copy.jpg?resize=768%2C854&ssl=1 768w, https://i1.wp.com/www.psychiatryeducationforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/02889320-0192-4269-938a-0f27a483c3f2-copy.jpg?resize=270%2C300&ssl=1 270w, https://i1.wp.com/www.psychiatryeducationforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/02889320-0192-4269-938a-0f27a483c3f2-copy.jpg?w=813&ssl=1 813w” sizes=”(max-width: 768px) 100vw,…
Role of NAC for Treatment-Resistant OCD
ROLE OF NAC FOR TREATMENT-RESISTANT OCD This is a short 5-minute video from <a href=”https://psychiatryeducationforum.teachable.com/p/conference1″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Psychiatry Education Forum’s 1st CME Conference</a>. Here I…
Grinding your Teeth in Depression
We all know about the risk of extrapyramidal symptoms with the use of antipsychotics. A similar risk can also be seen with antidepressants, but this…