The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which funded some of the accused individuals, has initiated an internal review system to detect potential problems with the management of financial conflicts of interest and has implemented changes to minimize possible bias in its funded studies. More broadly, the NIH is substantively revising its regulations on financial conflict of interest, which were originally adopted in 1995. The proposed new regulations are slated to be available for public comment in early spring 2010. But one of the largest effects of this scandal has been to raise a difficult and still unanswered question about the integrity of psychiatrists. Is the financial conflict of interest problem worse for psychiatrists or are psychiatrists just an easy target? A review of evidence is in order

Thoughtful editorial that suggestions caution regarding some of the current relationships that exist today. More transparency is the rule of the day.

Full text [HTML; subscription required]: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/303/12/1192

Senate Bill 1046 RSS feed for this bill

Relating to prescriptive authority for licensed psychologists; declaring an emergency.

Authorizes Oregon Medical Board to issue certificate of prescriptive authority to certain licensed psychologists and sets forth requirements and procedure for issuance of certificate.

This bill has passed the House and the Senate. Please contact Oregon Governor Kulongoski to express your concerns with this bill: http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/contact_us.shtml

Under pressure from out-of-state interests, our Legislature is about to consider passage of Senate Bill 1046, enabling psychologists to prescribe medication. This bill would jeopardize the safety of our citizens while creating unnecessary costs. The work group proposing the bill held only five sessions, without public testimony. Remarkably, one member of the work group was from California (and required a temporary Oregon license to participate) and heads a distance-learning post-doctoral psychology training program in clinical psychopharmacology that stands to benefit from the bill's passage. I hope that the Legislature will defer judgment on such an important issue to a regular session during which full and open testimony can be offered.

I am not in favor of this kind of legislation, which I think sets a dangerous precedent. I agree with the author of this editorial that it would be interesting to see if this actually expands care into rural and undeserved populations.

Instead of increasing the scope-of-practice for this profession, I feel a better option would be to encourage the expansion of professionals already credentialed to provide medication therapy.

A new study suggests that fish oil may be beneficial in adolescents and young adults who are at risk of developing psychotic disorders.

Some earlier evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acids may have positive effects on various psychiatric illnesses, such as depression and schizophrenia. Since using antipsychotic medicine to prevent psychotic disorders is controversial, researchers set out to test the preventative effects of fish oil supplements, which are rich in fatty acids and have few side effects when used appropriately.

The study included 81 people who had low-level psychotic symptoms, transient psychotic symptoms, a schizophrenia-like personality disorder or a close relative with schizophrenia. The participants were 13-25 years old and all experienced a drastic decline in mental function within the last year.

The subjects were randomly assigned to receive fish oil supplements that contained 1.2 grams of omega-3 fatty acids or placebo daily for 12 weeks. The researchers monitored the participants for 40 weeks after treatment, and a total of 76 people completed the study.

By the end of the follow-up period, just five percent of people in the omega-3 group developed a psychotic illness compared to 28 percent in the placebo group. Additionally, people in the omega-3 group experienced significant improvements in psychotic symptoms and mental function.

Encouraging results. I am curious as to the proposed neuroprotective mechanism: is it inflammation? Or is this patient population at risk for nutritional deficiencies? Additionally, would the same results be achieved by dietary recommendations, such as increasing intake of foods known to be high in omega-3 fatty acids (e.g., flaxseed).