Psychiatric News (3/6) reported, “People with a psychotic disorder and opioid use disorder (OUD) are as likely to stay in methadone treatment for OUD as those with other psychiatric disorders,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from 415 adults with OUD enrolled in community-based outpatient methadone maintenance treatment across Ontario.” The study revealed that “81% of the patients with psychotic disorders remained in treatment for OUD at 12 months, a rate comparable to the 84% of patients with nonpsychotic disorders.” The findings were published online March 2 in the Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Related Links:

— “Patients With and Without Psychotic Disorders Have Similar OUD Treatment Rates, Study Finds, Psychiatric News, March 6, 2020

The Washington Post (3/5, Horton) says that for decades the Department of Veterans Affairs has “unlawfully turned away thousands of veterans with other-than-honorable discharges, rendering some of the most vulnerable veterans invisible and desperate for help, according to a” report (PDF) from the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School. The article says that “systemic misunderstanding of the law within VA about which veterans it should care for – and which should be denied services – has triggered improper mass denial of care since 1980, the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School said in the study, leaving an estimated 400,000 more at risk of never gaining access to health care they may have earned.”

Related Links:

— “Requires subscription, The Washington Post, March 5, 2020

Healio (3/5, Gramigna) reports, “The current body of research regarding psychedelics has produced insufficient evidence to recommend FDA approval of any psychedelic compound for routine clinical use in psychiatric disorders,” research indicated, but investigators “noted the need to further study the efficacy of psychedelics for treating psychiatric disorders.” Included in the medical literature review study were “14 articles that reported on well-designed clinical trials investigating the efficacy of LSD, MDMA, psilocybin and ayahuasca for the treatment of anxiety and mood disorders, substance-related and addictive disorders, and trauma and stress-related disorders, as well as in end-of-life care.” The findings were published online Feb. 26 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Psychedelics appear promising for treating psychiatric disorders, but more research needed, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, March 5, 2020

MD Magazine (3/5, Walter) reports, “The response rate of antidepressant medications can be low when pharmacogenomics are not taking into account for patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD),” researchers concluded after examining “the success of guided-care compared to common treatment for major depressive disorder in a 24-week, randomized, controlled” study called “The Genomics Used to Improve DEpression Decisions (GUIDED) trial.” The study “included 1167 outpatient diagnosed with” MDD. The findings were published last April in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Related Links:

— “Pharmacogenomics Effective for Major Depressive Disorder Patients, “Kenny Walter, MD Magazine, March 5, 2020

The Washington Post (3/4, Dreier) reports that on March 4, “seeking to end a practice that one senator called a ‘profound betrayal of trust,’ legislation was…in the Senate and House of Representatives to stop the Trump administration from using confidential therapy notes against immigrant children in detention and deportation proceedings.” This “legislation is one of several efforts underway to protect the confidentiality of young asylum-seekers launched after The Washington Post reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been regularly using notes from therapy sessions against unaccompanied minors, often without the consent of the therapists involved, and always without the consent of the minors themselves.”

Related Links:

— “Bill would end practice of using confidential therapy notes against detained immigrant children, “Hannah Dreier, The Washington Post, March 4, 2020