A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society ranking the safety and effectiveness of the four most common drugs found that donepezil (brand name Aricept) was most likely to effectively improve cognition in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. However, patients who took donepezil were more likely to experience side effects including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea than those who received a placebo, reported PsychCentral.com. Full Story

Psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms,” is a promising intervention for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and appears to offer a rapid, sustained effect, new research shows. Investigators led by David Nutt, MD, PhD, professor of neuropsychopharmacology, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, collected pre- and posttreatment fMRI data on the use of psilocybin in 19 patients with severe major depression who had failed to respond to conventional treatments, reported MedScape. The patients experience dramatic improvements in depressive symptoms 1 day following treatment; close to half met criteria for full response at 5 weeks. Full Story

NASMHPD has just released new SAMHSA technical assistance resources to support states in implementing the Mental Health Block Grant’s 10% Set-Aside for early serious mental illness, including programs to serve people experiencing a first episode of psychosis. These resources provide reliable information to promote access to evidence-based treatment and services with the long-term goals of reducing or eliminating disability and supporting individuals in pursuing their life goals. The resources are posted on the Early Intervention in Psychosis Virtual Resource Center on the NASMHPD website, which also includes information from the national RWJF-funded demonstration to identify and prevent the onset of psychotic illness and other early intervention initiatives. Full Story

Military personnel are significantly more likely to disclose post-traumatic stress symptoms while being interviewed by a virtual human compared to when they are taking a computer survey, according to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI. The researchers believe that the computer-generated “human” interviewer offers the advantages of anonymity while also giving a sense of social connection and rapport, which can help service men and women reveal more about their mental health symptoms, reported PsychCentral.com. Full Story

A recent Healthcare Design article looks at three features to improve behavioral healthcare environments. They include enabling better observation, enhancing the setting with light and replacing the panic button. Full Story

On October 3, U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Representatives Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced S 1905, a bill to expand the Excellence in Mental Health Act pilot program, which supports the implementation of Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHCs). S 1905 funds the 8 pilot states for another year and expands the pilot to 11 more states. Full Story

FDA issued letters notifying 74 manufacturers of IR opioid analgesics intended for use in the outpatient setting that their drugs will now be subject to a more stringent set of requirements under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). The REMS requires that training be made available to health care providers who prescribe IR opioids, including training on safe prescribing practices and consideration of non-opioid alternatives. Full Story

Lawyers for the state of Alabama have proposed roughly doubling the mental health staff working in state prisons as part of a fix for a federal judge's finding that care in the system is "horrendously inadequate," reported AL.com. The plan would add about 125 full-time employees to the mental health staff at a cost expected to be more than $10 million annually. Full Story

The National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care announced that it met its goal of reducing the national prevalence of antipsychotic use in long-stay nursing home residents by 30% by the end of 2016. Between the end of 2011 and the end of quarter one of 2017, the national prevalence of antipsychotic use in long-stay nursing home residents was reduced by 34.%, decreasing from 23.9% to 15.7% nationwide. All 50 states and every Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) region showed improvement. Full Story

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is Accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.