Three patients experienced marked separation anxiety after risperidone was added to their other medications. In the first 2 patients, the separation anxiety appeared to be a recurrence of an earlier condition. Symptoms for all 3 patients included excessive worry and nightmares about harm befalling the parents. None of the patients had persistent depression or anhedonia while taking risperidone. In all 3 cases, symptoms resolved after risperidone was discontinued. Two patients were subsequently treated with 5 mg/day olanzapine, without recurrence of separation anxiety; and 1 patient was maintained on a combination of fluoxetine and methylphenidate plus cognitive behavioral therapy.

Although risperidone is considered an atypical antipsychotic, it has a pharmacologic profile that is more similar to haloperdiol than other atypical antispsychotics, use of haloperidol is known to elicit separation anxiety. Olanzapine, unlike risperidone, has shown anxiolytic effects in laboratory animals. Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Alerts/April 2000.

Back to top

The first small study where doctors implanted a pacemaker-like device in the brain helped lift the moods of about 40 percent of severely depressed patients, doctors reported.

The 30-patient pilot study does not prove this unusual brain-stimulating treatment really helps depression, researchers cautioned. The stimulator alread is sold as a treatment for epilipsy. For depression, it is extremely encouraging as a potential treatment, but more study is needed to prove the effect.

A 200 patient study scheduled to begin this summer will offer a better test. Doctors are debating implanting all the patients with a stimulator, but not immediately turning on all the implants, hoping to prove any relief is not just a placebo effect. During the 30-second zaps, the implant can cause temporary hoarseness in about 30 percent to 40 percent of patients.

Back to top

Feedback? Questions? Email me at db@itascapsych.com