James L. Knoll IV, MD

What is truth? In the end, it is not a forensic psychiatrist's place to judge. He or she is a cog in a bigger machine that is supposed to treat psychiatric illness.

We welcome your thoughts and insights about treatment approaches for patients whose sexual addiction takes the form of sexting.

The Sandy Hook Promise . . “To do everything in our power to be remembered--not as the town filled with grief and victims; but as the place where real change began.”

American psychiatrists might be able to sympathize in the wake of recent mass tragedies leading to new, hastily conceived laws that directly impinge on psychiatric practice, confidentiality, and duty to protect third parties.

The humanities are a variety of academic disciplines that focus on the human condition with analytic and sometimes speculative methods. This is in contrast to the empirical methods of the natural sciences.

PTSD is a psychiatric illness resulting from a physical or psychological trauma that is sometimes related to warfare, but of course occurs in the case of civilian trauma as well. However, wars have been a propitious time for studying PTSD.

The news media has always been in the business of searching for "the right sort of madness" to capture the public's imagination.

Mental rigidity can occur at any age, while wisdom and experience are hard-won--over time.

In early September of 2012, a psychiatric colleague and friend passed away. Thomas Stephen Szasz, MD, was Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. Here is a personal reflection of the man I met, learned from, and considered a friend and colleague.

This tale involves a “clever” inmate. He enjoyed the respectable rung of bank robber, but found he had suddenly descended to approximately the level of a sex offender. The reason for his slippage was the inmate code, which demands allegiance to other inmates under virtually all circumstances. “Ratting out” a fellow inmate may cost one his life, or at the very least, result in a decidedly anxious, paranoid existence.

The California Supreme Court’s decision in the Tarasoff case over 30 years ago has become a standard part of mental health practice. This case influenced the legal requirements governing therapists’ duty to protect third parties in nearly every state in the US.

Bath salts and herbal incense-synthetic legal intoxicating drugs (so-called SLIDs)-have potentially serious adverse effects-including acute psychosis, delirium, violent behavior, seizures, and cardiovascular emergencies.

An increasing number of patients are being brought to the emergency room because of bath salts and/or herbal incense toxicity.

It is important for the inpatient psychiatrist to understand the perspective of the newly admitted patient. Many patients will find the experience depersonalizing, threatening, and socially alienating and may perceive it as a personal failure.

In treating a female who sexually abuses a minor, what should the clinician keep in mind? Is the treatment plan different for a female offender than a male?

We know that different people, cultures, and traditions all grieve differently. Yet it is ultimately our capacity for resilience that allows each of us to process the grief-inducing event in his or her own way.

The articles cover a broad array of controversial and advancing topics in psychiatry. We hope you will enjoy them.

Father and son psychiatrists offer the following advice, in the Oslerian spirit of honoring and guiding trainees-today’s psychiatric residents-who will become tomorrow’s psychiatric leaders.

Many inmates are carried along in the structured, routine flow of the New Asylums without receiving treatment until their situation so demanded. In the case of Mr Henry, the demand came in the form of self-induced isolation.

Here, Mr Hazelwood answers questions about serial murderers that are commonly posed to him. The term serial murderer (or serial killer) was not even a part of the forensic lexicon until the 1970s . . .

The term “pseudocommando” was first used to describe the type of mass murderer who plans his actions “after long deliberation,” and who kills indiscriminately in public during the daytime.

This brief editorial clarifies the position of Psychiatric Times with regard to our intent behind posting the many blogs about DSM-5 that appear on our Web site, www.PsychiatricTimes.com.

I believe it is incumbent on psychiatrists, as leaders in the mental health field, to help our patients and the general public distinguish the psychiatric fantasy from the psychiatric reality.

It would seem that the fluctuating boundaries of many mental disorders will continue to be debated until we devote sufficient time and attention to developing improved, scientifically valid and reliable methods of testing and effectively treating mental disease.

It is my honor-and my distinct pleasure-to welcome 4 new members to the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

“I’m so cold, so weary in my abandonment. Go and find my Mother, O Wind. Take me to the house I never knew.”

Whenever a suicide happens in the New Asylums, a palpable, muted dread descends over the institution...it is added as another sedimentary layer to the strata and culture of the particular institution. Before things get too deeply buried, it is important to excavate...

Gabe was in prison for killing a prostitute. During a bout of hyper-sexuality, intoxication, and paranoia, he believed the prostitute intended to rob him.

What follows is an excerpt from Dr Knoll’s introduction to his series Tales From the New Asylum, several of which are posted on his blog.

Here, Psychiatric Times presents the first recorded version of Dr James Knoll's Tales from the New Asylum-Yesterday. "He was five floors up, grasping the outside railing of a medium-security prison dormitory balcony . . ."