Changes in Body Weight and Psychotropic Drugs: A Systematic Synthesis of the Literature

<div><h3>Introduction</h3><p>Psychotropic medication use is associated with weight gain. While there are studies and reviews comparing weight gain for psychotropics within some classes, clinicians frequently use drugs from different classes to treat psychiatric disorders.</p> <h3>Objective</h3><p>To undertake a systematic review of all classes of psychotropics to provide an all encompassing evidence-based tool that would allow clinicians to determine the risks of weight gain in making both intra-class and interclass choices of psychotropics.</p> <h3>Methodology and Results</h3><p>We developed a novel hierarchical search strategy that made use of systematic reviews that were already available. When such evidence was not available we went on to evaluate randomly controlled trials, followed by cohort and other clinical trials, narrative reviews, and, where necessary, clinical opinion and anecdotal evidence. The data from the publication with the highest level of evidence based on our hierarchical classification was presented. Recommendations from an expert panel supplemented the evidence used to rank these drugs within their respective classes. Approximately 9500 articles were identified in our literature search of which 666 citations were retrieved. We were able to rank most of the psychotropics based on the available evidence and recommendations from subject matter experts. There were few discrepancies between published evidence and the expert panel in ranking these drugs.</p> <h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Potential for weight gain is an important consideration in choice of any psychotropic. This tool will help clinicians select psychotropics on a case-by-case basis in order to minimize the impact of weight gain when making both intra-class and interclass choices.</p> </div

L'étude de l'aliénation dans la société de masse

Seeman Melvin. L'étude de l'aliénation dans la société de masse. In: Sociologie du travail, 9ᵉ année n°2, Avril-juin 1967. pp. 180-185

Les conséquences de l'aliénation dans le travail

Les conséquences de l'aliénation dans le travail, c'est-à-dire de l'engagement dans un travail qui n'offre pas de satisfaction intrinsèque, sont examinées en utilisant un échantillon pris au hasard parmi les travailleurs d'une communauté suédoise. Ces conséquences , communément attribuées à l'aliénation professionnelle par les critiques de la société industrielle moderne , sont l'hostilité inter-groupe , l'anomie, le retrait politique, la recherche du statut et un sentiment d'impuissance. Que celles-ci soient produites par l'aliénation dans le travail n'est pas confirmé en Suède ; et cette infirmation de «l'hypothèse de généralisation » n'est pas, semble-t-il, attribuable à des difficultés méthodologiques. De même les facteurs sociaux essentiels à la théorie de la société de masse (par exemple, l'appartenance à une communauté ou à une organisation professionnelles) influent peu sur l'aliénation. Enfin, une orientation aliénée (extrinsèque) vers le travail n'est pas reliée à des variables telles que l'hostilité ethnique, l'engagement politique et l' impuissance. L'auteur discute la signification de ces découvertes négatives concernant les images que l'on se fait du travail dans la société contemporaine.Seeman Melvin. Les conséquences de l'aliénation dans le travail. In: Sociologie du travail, 9ᵉ année n°2, Avril-juin 1967. pp. 113-133

Quatre problèmes concernant l'aliénation : vers un «nouveau» débat

Seeman Melvin. Quatre problèmes concernant l'aliénation : vers un «nouveau» débat. In: Sociologie du travail, 9ᵉ année n°2, Avril-juin 1967. pp. 202-209

Powerlessness, health and mortality: A longitudinal study of older men and mature women

National samples of older men (age 45-59 in 1966) and mature women (30-44 in 1967), surveyed periodically over more than a decade, establish the association over time between the sense of powerlessness and various indices of health status (chiefly, psychosocial symptoms and limits on physical activities). The results are basically coordinate for men and women, and they are replicated for initially healthy and initially impaired sub-samples. The results show that: (1) in each year, powerlessness is associated with greater activity limits and more psychosocial symptoms; (2) powerlessness also provides prospective prediction, since high initial powerlessness scores are associated with health problems observed five and ten years later, with initial health controlled; (3) increasing powerlessness accompanies deterioration in health (with stringent controls on prior health); and (4) for a sub-sample of men, mortality between 1976 and 1981 is also associated with initially high powerlessness scores (with prior health controlled). These results are discussed for their import in relation to the steadily growing interest in social psychological factors in health.health powerlessness mortality alienation

Social status and biological dysregulation: The “status syndrome” and allostatic load

Data from a national sample of 1255 adults who were part of the MIDUS (Mid-life in the U.S.) follow-up study and agreed to participate in a clinic-based in-depth assessment of their health status were used to test the hypothesis that, quite part from income or educational status, perceptions of lower achieved rank relative to others and of relative inequality in key life domains would be associated with greater evidence of biological health risks (i.e., higher allostatic load). Results indicate that over a variety of status indices (including, for example, the person's sense of control, placement in the community rank hierarchy, perception of inequality in the workplace) a syndrome of perceived relative deprivation is associated with higher levels of biological dysregulation. The evidence is interpreted in light of the well-established associations between lower socio-economic status and various clinically identified health morbidities. The present evidence serves, in effect, both as a part of the explanation of how socio-economic disparities produce downstream morbidity, and as an early warning system regarding the ultimate health effects of currently increasing status inequalities