Medical News Today story - "The Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center medical team involved in the research and development of an innovative therapy for depression - vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) - is starting a new clinic for patients who have treatment-resistant depression. The vagal nerve stimulator was approved Friday by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant depression following clinical trials around the United States, including Saint Louis University."

 Psychiatry Matters story - "Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) appears to be an effective adjunctive treatment for the positive symptoms associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, Swiss investigators report. Despite the proven effectiveness of antipsychotic drug treatments, a substantial proportion of people still experience treatment-resistant positive symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and feelings of being controlled by outside forces, note Gregoire Zimmermann and colleagues from the University of Lausanne. To investigate whether CBT as an adjunctive treatment could help to alleviate such symptoms, the team analyzed the results of 14 studies, involving 1484 patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or delusional disorder, and at least one positive symptom, published between 1990 and 2004. The chosen studies all included at least one CBT group compared with a control group."

 Psychiatry Matters story - "Up to half of all patients visiting their primary care physician with a new illness complaint have a current psychiatric diagnosis, study findings show. The results, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, also reveal that a third of such patients have more than one type of psychiatric condition. To better understand the prevalence and co-occurrence of mental health disorders among patients within the primary care setting, Tomas Toft and colleagues, from Aarhus University Hospital in Demark, screened for mental and somatic symptoms, illness worry, and alcohol dependency in 1785 patients aged between 18 and 65 years who were waiting to be seen by a primary care physician for new complaints."

 Psychiatry Matters story - "Self-help information for patients attending accident and emergency departments following acute traumatic injury does not prevent the later onset of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), UK researchers have discovered. People who undergo traumatic injury often suffer adverse psychological consequences, including PTSD and other psychological symptoms, as well as socioeconomic problems. Early and time-limited interventions have, so far, failed to show significant benefits among patients. However, such secondary prevention methods remain an attractive option, says Graham Turpin, from the University of Sheffield, and colleagues..."

 A Medscape CME - "Ethnographic studies have demonstrated that schizophrenia is present in all existing cultures, from the pre-literate to the most highly advanced. Psychotic symptomatology and schizophrenic-like syndromes were clearly present in ancient civilizations. Recorded descriptions of the disorder appeared before 2000 BC in the ancient Egyptian Book of Hearts, which is part of the Ebers papyrus. Psychological symptoms were thought to emanate from the heart and uterus, and were associated with blood vessels, purulent or fecal matter, poisons, or demons. Hindu descriptions date back to approximately 1400 BC and can be found in the Atharva Veda, one of the 4 Vedas, which are primary texts of Hinduism..." "med"

 Health News Digest story reprinted at PsycPORT - "Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is well established for treating depression and other psychiatric disorders. Though effective, ECT produces short-term confusion and occasionally some memory loss, and patients require general anesthesia and muscle relaxants. Now a growing body of research suggests that new techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may offer less disruptive ways to use electromagnetic energy against depression, schizophrenia, and other psychiatric disorders, reports the August issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter."

 National Institute of Mental Health press release - "Recent suicide attempters treated with cognitive therapy were 50 percent less likely to try to kill themselves again within 18 months than those who did not receive the therapy, report researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A targeted form of cognitive therapy designed to prevent suicide proved better at lifting depression and feelings of hopelessness than the usual care available in the community, according to Gregory Brown, Ph.D., Aaron Beck, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, who published their findings in the August 3, 2005 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). "

 44-page report in PDF format from the Century Foundation that "examines how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) extended far beyond the New York population directly exposed to the September 11 attacks. Television coverage brought the disaster to a much larger audience and caused full-blown and sub-syndromal cases of PTSD throughout the nation. The report recommends increasing training for PTSD diagnosis and treatment so that primary care physicians are able to refer or assist patients suffering from the disorder. "