Author Archives: Dr. Joris Wiggers

Heritable Variation, With Little or No Maternal Effect, Accounts for Recurrence Risk to Autism Spectrum Disorder in Sweden – Biological Psychiatry

Autism is inherited. There doesn’t seem to be much about fetal or postnatal environmental influences. That should relieve unnecessarily guilt, for sure. http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(17)31991-1/fulltext?{$trackingTag}&elsca2=email&elsca3=0006-3223_20180401_83_7_&elsca4=Psychiatry/Addiction Medicine|Neuropsychiatry|Pharmacology

The Future: Woebot, a text based psychotherapy that is AI. And it works, Stanford study.

Well, as one psychiatrist put it: we’re going to need Woebot; we may be out of a job. Check out the Stanford study here: https://mental.jmir.org/2017/2/e19/ And get the APP on Appstore, searching for Woebot. It’s free. It does CBT, don’t expect psychoanalysis, but apparently Woebot really helps; and your “therapist” is available, 24/7.

Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on Weight Loss in Overweight Adults | Lifestyle Behaviors | JAMA | The JAMA Network

The common sense results are in: Don’t stress about low fat or low carb: just go with a well balanced whole foods diet with plenty of vegetables, grains, and proteins, and skip the processed foods and added sugars. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2673150

Combined effects of prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and material hardship on child ADHD behavior problems – ScienceDirect

Air pollution and poverty largely influence ADHD rates in offspring. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935117312252

Benzodiazepines: Sensible prescribing in light of the risks

https://www.mdedge.com/currentpsychiatry/article/157350/anxiety-disorders/benzodiazepines-sensible-prescribing-light-risks I would like this article to speak for all physicians; the medication class with all the controversy these days may be the opiate, but the benzodiazepine is just behind. In fact, the benzodiazepine epidemic may be just around the corner. No doubt anxiety disorders respond very well to this class of medications, but the […]
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Recommend high CBD, low THC products to marijuana-using patients with psychosis

This is interesting for us in BC. Turns out CBD works like antipsychotics. See this link for further conversation. https://www.mdedge.com/clinicalpsychiatrynews/article/151125/mental-health/recommend-high-cbd-low-thc-products-marijuana

Virtual reality–based CBT may improve social participation in psychosis

Dutch study: Fascinating form of therapy using VR shows efficacy in schizophrenia/psychotic disorders, after 16 sessions, in virtual conversations with avatars. AVATAR project in UK yields similar results. https://www.mdedge.com/clinicalpsychiatrynews/article/158561/schizophrenia-other-psychotic-disorders/virtual-reality-based

Bipolar Depression diagnosed with CRP levels and predicts use of celebrex

Plasma C-reactive protein levels in bipolar depression during cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor combination treatment Journal of Psychiatric Research — | February 15, 2018 Edberg D, et al. – Researchers, for the first time, analyzed blood levels of the pro-inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein (CRP) in bipolar disorder patients treated with the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, celecoxib (CBX). Findings showed a […]
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Next chapter on antidepressants in Bipolar Disorder, A surprise!

Shvartzman Y, et al. – This trial was formulated in order to compare the rehospitalization rates of patients with bipolar disorder (BD)-I depressive episode who were discharged with mood stabilizers (MSs) and/or atypical antipsychotics (AAPs) with or without adjunctive antidepressants (ADs). Data unveiled a lower rate of and a longer time to rehospitalization due to […]
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Birth of the Developmental Risk Factor Model of Psychosis

This is a excellent state of the art summary of our understanding of schizophrenia. Very interesting conclusion: we need to stop high potency cannabis from getting into the hands of teens. That is the primary intervention best suited to prevent schizophrenia from increasing in our society. GP screening for minor psychotic symptoms plus social dysfunction, […]
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