University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Richard Weisler, adjunct professor of psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, is the lead investigator in a phase-3 clinical study which found that the drug quetiapine fumarate, currently used forschizophrenia and bipolar disorder, may also help people with a form of clinical depression known as major depressive disorder (MDD).

The six-week, randomized, multicenter, double-blind study of 723 patients found significantly reduced depression scores by day 4 of treatment in all quetiapine XR (extended release) dosage groups versus
placebo.

Weisler notes that with existing antidepressants, it usually takes two to three weeks or longer for patients with MDD to begin showing responseto treatment. [continue reading…]

Most people occasionally worry about germs, strange noises in the night, or whether they forgot to turn off the oven before leaving on vacation. But for as many as 5 million Americans with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), such anxieties are constant – and can almost literally take over their lives.

Now two expert clinical psychologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will, for the first time, use cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat couples in which one partner has OCD. The therapy has been effective in treating individuals who have OCD, and in treating couples where one partner suffers from another health problem. This is the first time the therapy will be used in couples involving a partner with OCD. [continue reading…]