Welcome to the May/June 2023 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology (JCP).
There are many interesting and fascinating articles to explore in this issue. I would like to highlight a few of them. When I was attending the American College of Psychopharmacology Annual Meeting this past December, I heard an interesting and moving talk by Rachel Streiff, who has a family member that suffered from psychosis and anosognosia. I asked Ms. Streiff if she would be willing to write a Commentary on this topic for JCP from the perspective of a family member. She graciously agreed and her Commentary entitled, “Institutional Neglect of Anosognosia Is a Critical Barrier in the Treatment of Psychosis Related Disorders," can be found on pages 200-203. My accompanying Editorial titled “Can Psychopharmacology Do More for Our Patients With Anosognosia?" appears on pages 197-199. We both hope that the fields of Psychiatry in general, and Psychopharmacology, in particular, will pay more attention to anosognosia in the future including the enrollment of patients with anosognosia in clinical trials. Ms. Streiff and I, along with Digital Editor, Julia Ann Koretski, M.D., recorded a podcast on this important topic which can be found here.
This issue contains four original contributions and one brief report on clozapine, including long-term outcomes in treatment-resistant schizophrenia (pages 211-219), associated appendicitis (pages 228-232), the impact of the frequency of hematologic monitoring and cardiac adverse events on clozapine treatment interruptions (pages 233-238), pharmacovigilance studies of clozapine adverse drug reactions (pages 239-245), and clozapine use for bipolar disorder (pages 278-282).
Wong and colleagues (pages 283-294), in a paper titled, “Valproic Acid–Associated Hyperammonemia: A Systematic Review," summarize the evidence available around valproic acid-associated hyperammonemia and its prevalence, clinical outcomes, and management. The paper has an accompanying podcast which can be found here.
The Mitchell B. Balter Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding investigations on topics in pharmacoepidemiology published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. Choosing among publications in 2022, we are pleased to announce that the recipients of the 2022 Balter award are Tahir Rahman, MD, and colleagues for their paper entitled, “Risk of Breast Cancer With Prolactin Elevating Antipsychotic Drugs: An Observational Study of US Women (Ages 18–64 Years)," Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2022; 42(1):7–16.
There is an In Memoriam to Donald Robinson, MD, on page 210. Don was one of the early members of the Editorial Board of JCP and after decades of dedicated service to JCP, he retired from the Editorial Board in June 2014. He will be missed.
And as you will see, there are many interesting Original Contributions, Brief Reports, Review Articles, and Letters to the Editor in the May/June 2023 issue!
Anthony J. Rothschild, MD