The effectiveness of lamotrigine for persistent depressive disorder: A case report.

AIM: Persistent depressive disorder (PDD) was first introduced in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5), which encompasses numerous different conditions, including dysthymia, recurrent major depressive disorder, double depression, and chronic major depression. SSRIs are the first-line drugs for treatment of PDD; however, not all patients respond to SSRI treatment. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe a woman who was diagnosed with PDD. At the age of 38, the patient presented with anxiety, reduced energy, marked tiredness, and sleep disturbances. She was prescribed with three antidepressants (paroxetine, duloxetine, and mirtazapine), which were not effective in relieving her symptoms. She was also prescribed bromazepam, which was also not effective. Subsequently, she was switched to lamotrigine, which resulted in a marked improvement in symptoms. The antidepressants and bromazepam were gradually tapered and discontinued. CONCLUSION: This case demonstrates that lamotrigine may be effective for treating patients with antidepressant resistant PDD and suggests that it may be a promising alternative to combination therapy of antidepressants and benzodiazepines in the treatment of PDD.

Switching from blonanserin tablets to blonanserin transdermal patches improves tardive dyskinesia: A case report.

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a common side effect of antipsychotics, and it remains a persistent and challenging problem. The blonanserin transdermal patch, developed in Japan and launched in September 2019, is the first antipsychotic transdermal treatment. Here, we describe a patient with schizophrenia who exhibited markedly improved orofacial dyskinesia after switching from blonanserin tablets to blonanserin transdermal patches. We speculate that the patch formulation might have led to more stable plasma blonanserin levels, thus reducing the side effects. Specifically, the patch formulation might have contributed to stable plasma levels via the continuous and direct absorption of blonanserin through the skin.

Recent trends in mental illness and omega-3 fatty acids.

Although it is clear that nutrition affects physical and metabolic functions in humans, the importance of nutrition in mental illness has often been overlooked. Following a report by Hibbeln (Lancet 351:1213, 1998) published in The Lancet, which suggested that depression rates and fish consumption were inversely correlated, the relationships between a variety of nutritional/epidemiological treatments and neuropsychiatric disorders have received increased attention. In particular, many studies have been conducted on the omega-3 fatty acid mechanism of action in pathophysiological aspects of various neuropsychiatric disorders. Furthermore, many clinical studies have also been conducted on the effects of omega-3 replacement therapy. Therefore, this article reports recent trends in, and perspectives on, the use of omega-3 fatty acids to treat the five psychiatric disorders: schizophrenia (a delusion of the psychotic zone), depression and other mood disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (a developmental disorder), post-traumatic stress disorder (psychological trauma after the disaster), and Alzheimer-type dementia.

Genetic and environmental factors of schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder: insights from twin studies.

Twin studies of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder have employed epidemiological approaches that determine heritability by comparing the concordance rate between monozygotic twins (MZs) and dizygotic twins. The basis for these studies is that MZs share 100% of their genetic information. Recently, biological studies based on molecular methods are now being increasingly applied to examine the differences between MZs discordance for psychiatric disorders to unravel their possible causes. Although recent advances in next-generation sequencing have increased the accuracy of this line of research, there has been greater emphasis placed on epigenetic changes versus DNA sequence changes as the probable cause of discordant psychiatric disorders in MZs. Since the epigenetic status differs in each tissue type, in addition to the DNA from the peripheral blood, studies using DNA from nerve cells induced from postmortem brains or induced pluripotent stem cells are being carried out. Although it was originally thought that epigenetic changes occurred as a result of environmental factors, and thus were not transmittable, it is now known that such changes might possibly be transmitted between generations. Therefore, the potential possible effects of intestinal flora inside the body are currently being investigated as a cause of discordance in MZs. As a result, twin studies of psychiatric disorders are greatly contributing to the elucidation of genetic and environmental factors in the etiology of psychiatric conditions.