Arline Kaplan

After formulating and signing “Melancholia: A Declaration of Independence,” an international cadre of psychiatrists recently launched a campaign to have the upcoming DSM-V recognize melancholia as a distinct syndrome rather than as a specifier for the mood disorders of major depression and bipolar disorder.

The details may, by now, be familiar but they are no less shocking: Army psychiatrist, MAJ Nidal Malik Hasan, MD, accused of killing 13 people and wounding 33 others-including fellow behavioral health providers- is recovering from gunshot wounds and meeting with his attorneys.

Virtual reality (VR)-facilitated exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), recently evaluated under combat conditions in Iraq, appears to be safe and effective, according to LCDR Robert McLay, research director for mental health with the US Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD). Speaking at the 17th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR-17) Conference in Long Beach, Calif, McLay said that military providers need to make PTSD treatments available in such military theaters as Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as stateside. (McLay was speaking as an individual, not as a US Navy or Department of Defense representative.)

The following medical and behavioral health providers were killed or wounded during the November 5 Fort Hood shooting rampage that left 13 dead and 29 wounded.

A stand-alone bill to permanently repeal Medicare’s “flawed” Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula failed to garner enough support in the Senate yesterday to surmount procedural barriers.

As the nation’s uninsured population climbs to 46.3 million and Congress grapples with health care reform, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has intensified its efforts to advocate for a public health insurance option, insurance market reforms, changes in Medicare’s physician payment system, and preservation of parity for mental health.

Abortion trauma syndrome is a fabricated mental disorder conceived by anti-abortion activists to advance their cause and is not a scientifically based psychiatric disorder. So said 2 psychiatrists at the American Psychiatric Association’s recent annual meeting in San Francisco.

Alarmed by the rising suicide rate among soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and “wanting to help,” Matthew “Matt” Houseal, MD, a psychiatrist with the Texas Panhandle Mental Health Mental Retardation Center (TPMHMR), reenlisted as an Army Reservist and volunteered to serve in Iraq.

A collaborative effort of prominent medical leaders seeking to wean professional medical associations (PMAs) from pharmaceutical and device industry funding serves as a major step toward building best practice models for managing conflicts of interest (COI), said the president of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP).

Forest Laboratories recently set aside $170 million in anticipation of eventually settling a federal government complaint about the company’s marketing and promotional practices.

Despite their severe physical impairment, disability, and frequent medical complications, tetraplegic patients reported a very positive outlook on life, according to a recent study. In another, 63% of major lottery winners chose to con­tinue working full-time at their same jobs.

The FDA recently released its long-awaited but highly controversial final guidance permitting drug and device manufacturers to distribute medical journal articles and medical or scientific texts that discuss off-label uses of approved products.

Allegations of suppressed research, promotion of drugs for unapproved uses, payment of kickbacks to physicians, and ghostwriting of a major journal article surfaced recently when the Department of Justice unsealed a civil complaint against Forest Laboratories and Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Eli Lilly and Company pleaded guilty on January 30 to one misdemeanor violation of misbranding Zyprexa (olanzapine) by promoting it for dementia. However, a question raised by bloggers and others remains: did the drug benefit the elderly despite the fact it was not approved by the FDA for such purposes?

Because numerous diseases- infectious, endocrinological, metabolic, and neurological, as well as connective-tissue disease-can induce psychiatric and/or behavioral symptoms, clinicians need to distinguish these neuropsychiatric masquerades from primary psychiatric disorders, warned José Maldonado, MD, the director of Stanford University’s Psychosomatic Medicine Service.

Does adoption pose psychological risks? University of Minnesota researchers revisited this controversial issue recently and found that common DSM-IV childhood disorders are more prevalent in adoptees than nonadoptees.

After some members and mental health writers criticized the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for “secrecy” surrounding the development of DSM-V, the Board of Trustees of the APA voted to make public regular DSM-V reports as well as summaries from work group chairs on the Web site at www.dsm5.org.

An increasing youth suicide rate may point toward an emerging public health crisis, necessitating national efforts to develop effective interventions, experts recently warned.

Although several studies indicate that psychotherapy (alone or in combination with medications) can help psychiatric patients reach recovery faster and stay well longer, a declining number of office-based psychiatrists are providing psychotherapy to their patients.

Reports of 1 in 5 military service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or depression and rising suicide rates have led researchers and military leaders to warn civilian psychiatric care providers of a “gathering storm”1 headed their way.

William Bruce, a young man with symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, was released from Maine’s state-run Riverview Psychiatric Center in April, 2006. Two months later, he killed his mother with a hatchet. Bruce subsequently was found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity and was recommitted to Riverview.

Both the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) are embroiled in the widening Senate investigations of pharma’s possible influence on CME in particular and on medicine in general.

A recent decision by Pfizer to eliminate all direct funding for continuing medical education/continuing education (CME/CE) programs conducted by commercial providers including medical education and communication companies (MECCs) raises questions about whether it is an isolated action or a signal that MECCs will no longer conduct business as usual

Debates over conflicts of interest (COIs) in medical research and practice are intensifying with recent proposals to ban industry funding of medical education, to better “manage” industry-physician relationships, and to mandate public disclosure of industry payments to physicians and medical institutions. Caught in the cross fire are prominent psychiatrists accused of underreporting payments received from pharmaceutical companies.

Two recent studies present clinical evidence that the use of stimulants to treat boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) does not increase their risk of later substance use disorders. This evidence provides clinicians and families with much needed reassurance.

The brutal murder of New York psychologist Kathryn Faughey and attempted murder of psychiatrist Kent Shinbach this past February has provoked warnings to psychiatrists about personal safety and overreliance on clinical judgment. David Tarloff, a person with schizophrenia, was indicted for the attacks. According to press reports, Tarloff blamed Shinbach for having him institutionalized in 1991. While he was wait-ing to see Shinbach, Tarloff allegedly entered Faughey's nearby office and slashed her to death with a meat cleaver and knives. Shinbach heard her screams, tried to rescue her, and was assaulted and robbed.

Patients' beliefs about antidepressant drugs are a key factor driving adherence to therapy. According to a recent study, beliefs about efficacy and adverse effects, along with demographic attributes, are among the factors affecting antidepressant adherence.

An international team of experts recently proposed expanding the diagnostic criteria for several subtypes of bipolar disorder, adding a pediatric bipolar disorder category and eliminating the schizoaffective disorder category.

Nearly one sixth of the world's population has experienced mass violence, be it abducted Ugandan children who are forced to commit atrocities against their families and serve as child soldiers or Iraqi civilians who daily live with bomb blasts, killings, and sectarian violence.

Just 2 minutes before an episode of the television show Boston Legal aired, Roger Pitman, MD, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, received a telephone call from his sister-in-law informing him that the show would include a segment on propranolol, a drug he was researching for the prevention and treatment of PTSD.