Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a chronic mental illness that affects an estimated 5-26% of adults at some time in their lives. Treatment is often started as pharmacotherapy using a single drug such as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. If a patient fails to respond adequately to the initial antidepressant, typically three pharmacotherapy options are available to the practitioner. The dose of the current therapy can be maximized, a change can be made to a different drug, or the current regimen can be augmented with another drug. Atypical antipsychotics have recently become a major focus for augmentation of traditional antidepressant therapy. This review summarizes the evidence for efficacy and safety of augmenting treatment-refractory or treatment-resistant depression with atypical antipsychotics. The National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database was searched for all English-language articles published from January 1966-December 2011 describing the use of atypical antipsychotics in treatment-resistant depression. The literature retrieved was limited to case series, open-label trials, and randomized controlled trials (RCT). Studies of bipolar depression, psychotic depression, or studies conducted in children and adolescents were excluded. Thirty-five studies using atypical antipsychotics for augmentation treatment of depression were included in this analysis. Trials were identified for aripiprazole (six open-label; three RCT), clozapine (one case series), olanzapine (three open-label, including two case series; four RCT), quetiapine (four open-label; five RCT), risperidone (two open-label; five RCT), and ziprasidone (two open-label). The atypical antipsychotics may be effective as adjunctive therapy in MDD; however, their adverse effect profile may be unfavorable to some patients. Trying at least one alternative treatment strategy after an initial antidepressant is indicated before augmentation is implemented with these agents. If atypical antipsychotics are used, safety and efficacy should be frequently reassessed and dosage should be individualized.

The flu vaccination rate among this study's population was lower than the general population. Interventions targeting the above factors should help increase vaccination rates among the mentally ill population.

Health care providers treating patients with mental illness can significantly reduce medication costs by following the combinatorial PGx report recommendations. PCPs, who treat the majority of patients with mental illness, reported a significant reduction in medication costs for both central nervous system and non-central nervous system drugs.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common, chronic mental illness that has a significant burden on the patient's quality of life. Treatment for GAD routinely consists of monotherapy with a proven anxiolytic such as an antidepressant or benzodiazepine, but many patients do not respond fully to these drugs, and additional treatment may be needed. Therefore, we reviewed the safety and efficacy of atypical antipsychotics as adjunct therapy to standard GAD pharmacotherapy in patients deemed treatment resistant. We performed a literature search of the MEDLINE database for English-language articles published from January 1966-May 2009. Identified articles were evaluated, and only open-label trials and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included in the review. Relevant references from the articles were also evaluated. Only a few reports of large-scale RCTs that assessed an atypical antipsychotic for treatment-resistant GAD have been published. Articles were found for five of the eight currently available atypical antipsychotics, but not for asenapine, clozapine, and paliperidone. Several open-label trials and smaller RCTs support the need for further evaluation of aripiprazole and quetiapine for treatment-refractory GAD, although one quetiapine trial demonstrated negative results. There is disparate data for risperidone, with one open-label trial and one small RCT showing positive results and one large RCT showing negative results. One open-label trial of ziprasidone and one RCT of olanzapine both showed beneficial effects of the drugs. Adverse effects were specific to each agent, with weight gain being the most common, but many studies did not monitor systematically for lipid level, weight, or glucose level changes. Although data suggest efficacy regarding the use of atypical antipsychotics for augmentation of treatment-refractory GAD, more rigorous studies (large, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials) on the safety and efficacy of these agents are needed in order to recommend their use in patients with GAD.

This retrospective review and subsequent case reports confirm the rare, but serious, potential of serotonin syndrome associated with the combination of linezolid and serotonergic antidepressants.

Current data indicate that prazosin is an effective agent for the treatment of nightmares associated with PTSD. However, the data are limited by small study sizes, lack of diversified investigators, and lack of regional diversity.

Eating disorders are complex, chronic disorders that are difficult to treat. In addition, the 2 primary eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, may have acute, life-threatening consequences. Medication trials for eating disorders have been hampered by high dropout rates, high placebo response, short trial duration, insufficient doses, and difficult outcome measures. Only 1 medication has been FDA approved for any eating disorder to date, and that is for fluoxetine in the treatment of bulimia. Clearly, new large-scale, independent studies using novel agents, and studying the use of medications for both short- and long-term outcomes, are needed.

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