
Clinical Article Summary
Acute and Longer-Term Outcomes in Depressed Outpatients Requiring One or Several Treatment Steps: A STAR*D Report
The Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial was a 7-year nationwide clinical trial designed to evaluate the efficacy of different medications in patients who did not respond to an initial antidepressant. Rush et al. (2006) evaluated acute and long-term treatment outcomes in patients who participated in the STAR*D trial and identified differences in response and remission rates and time to remission across patients who received up to four sequential treatment steps.

Clinical Article Summary
The Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) Study and Its Implications for Patients With Chronic Schizophrenia
Lieberman et al reported efficacy and tolerability results from the first phase of the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) study, which compared first- generation antipsychotic medication with second-generation antipsychotic medication in people with schizophrenia. McEvoy et al and Stroup et al then reported efficacy and tolerability results from the second phase of CATIE, which compared responses to subsequent therapy with a different second-generation antipsychotic in people with schizophrenia who discontinued their previous second-generation antipsychotic.

Clinical Article Summary
Clinician Descriptions of Communication Strategies to Improve Treatment Engagement by Racial/Ethnic Minorities in Mental Health Services: A Systematic Review
Aggarwal et al. (2016) conducted a systematic literature review to identify patient-clinician communication factors that could account for low mental health treatment engagement rates among patients of racial/ethnic minority status.

Clinical Article Summary
Adjunctive Antidepressant Use and Symptomatic Recovery Among Bipolar Depressed Patients with Concomitant Manic Symptoms: Findings From the STEP-BD Study
Goldberg et al evaluated patients from the naturalistic treatment assignment of the STEP-BD study to determine whether antidepressant medications are effective in treating patients with bipolar depression with subsyndromal manic features.

Clinical Article Summary
Thresholds for Severity, Remission and Recovery Using the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) in Bipolar Disorder
Bonnin et al. (2018) aimed to define severity cutoffs on the Functional Assessment Short Test (FAST) to classify functional impairment more accurately in patients with bipolar disorders and inform the efficacy of pharmacologic and psychological treatments in randomized controlled trials.

Clinical Article Summary
Clinical Correlates of DSM-5 Mixed Features in Bipolar Disorder: A Meta-Analysis
Bartoli et al (2020) looked at clinical characteristics of patients with bipolar disorder with mixed features and identified correlates that appear to be distinct in people with manic/hypomanic index episodes.