The New York Times (11/9, Ghorayshi) reports, “Antidepressants have long been among the most widely prescribed drugs in the U.S.” However, “many of the most popular antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or S.S.R.I.s, come with sexual side effects.” When the “S.S.R.I.s went on the market in the late 1980s, patients began telling their psychiatrists that they were having sexual problems.” American Psychiatric Association Council on Research Chair Jonathan Alpert, MD, PhD, said, “Only in going back and looking more carefully and gathering more data did we realize that actually those serotonergic drugs, the older ones, also caused sexual dysfunction.” Still, “in many cases, the problems caused by the medications can be managed.” For instance, “adding the non-S.S.R.I. antidepressant Wellbutrin, which acts on norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain, has been shown to diminish sexual symptoms in many patients, Dr. Alpert said.”

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— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (11/7, Murez) reports, “Many people with type 2 diabetes also struggle with depression, and this combination can lead to premature death, researchers say.” In a study published in Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, researchers found that “overall, participants with diabetes were 1.7 times more likely to die prematurely than those without diabetes, the data showed.” And “the risk of death more than quadrupled for participants with both diabetes and depression compared to those without diabetes or depression.”

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— “Depression Can Be a Killer for People With Diabetes,”Cara Murez, HealthDay, November 7, 2023

The Washington Post (11/6, Searing) reports, “People who experienced trauma as a child or adolescent were found to be 48 percent more likely to have serious and recurrent headaches as an adult than were those who had not experienced trauma in their early years.” The findings, published in Neurology, are the result of an “analysis of data from 28 studies, involving 154,739 people.” Overall, 31 percent “reported having experienced a traumatic event at least once before age 18.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (11/6) reports, “The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to approve brexpiprazole (Rexulti) for the treatment of agitation related to Alzheimer’s disease in May was met with a mixed response.” However, “JAMA Neurology published the results of a key phase 3 clinical trial used in the FDA’s decision.” The study found that after 12 weeks, participants’ average Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) scores “dropped by 22.6 points in the combined brexpiprazole groups and 17.3 points in the placebo group, which was a statistically significant difference.”

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— “Clinical Trial Supports Use of Brexpiprazole for Alzheimer’s Agitation, Study Suggests , Psychiatric News, November 6, 2023

The AP (11/6, Perrone) reports, “As U.S. doctors scale back their use of opioid painkillers, a new option for hard-to-treat pain is taking root: ketamine, the decades-old surgical drug that is now a trendy psychedelic therapy.” Ketamine prescriptions “have soared in recent years, driven by for-profit clinics and telehealth services offering the medication as a treatment for pain, depression, anxiety and other conditions.” However, “with limited research on its effectiveness against pain, some experts worry the U.S. may be repeating mistakes that gave rise to the opioid crisis: overprescribing a questionable drug that carries significant safety and abuse risks.”

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— “Mind-altering ketamine becomes latest pain treatment, despite little research or regulation,”Matthew Perrone , AP, November 6, 2023