Leslie Knowlton

In an attempt to reframe the either-or debate over the impact of genetics versus environment on emotional makeup, a panel convened at the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Winter 2005 Meeting in New York City. This article highlights studies presented at the meeting.

What actually happens neurochemically in the brain to cause addiction? A well-known researcher discusses her findings on the role that dopamine levels play in addiction and aversion to cocaine.

Can brain scans show a difference between drug therapy and psychotherapy? A researcher at University of California at Los Angeles uses positron emission tomography to observe the difference in brain changes between these two types of treatment for major depression.

Dietary supplementation of SAM-e--naturally produced and physiologically necessary compound for living cells--is being investigated for its use as a viable treatment for depression.

(Additional information regarding violence and trauma can be found in the Special Report section of the April 2001 issue of Psychiatric Times-Ed.)

The National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression awarded the 2000 Nola Maddox Falcone Prize. A brief description of each recipient's contributions to research with affective disorders is given.

This article presents addictive behavior as a chronic illness rather than an acute illness. Studies of characteristics and treatment of addiction, similar to that of other chronic illnesses, are discussed.

After this Tibetan monk's release, he fled across the Nepali border, made his way to India and then to New York City, where he was referred to a program for survivors of torture.

Sexuality is a very important life issue for the elderly, but is often overlooked, according to Cynthia L. Ardito, Psy.D. Ardito frequently speaks on this subject to various health care provider groups in the United States and Canada.

A national company has chosen final candidates for a new group of regional manager positions. Even though the firm likes its choices, it wants an outside opinion to assess those candidates' leadership and management skills and make suggestions for their executive development.

As chief of the division of sleep and chronobiology in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, David F. Dinges, Ph.D., focuses on ways sleep and the endogenous circadian pacemaker interact to control wakefulness and waking neurobehavioral functions such as physiological alertness, attention, cognitive performance, fatigue, mood, neuroendocrine profiles, immune responses and health. In an interview with Psychiatric Times, Dinges discussed neurobehavioral consequences of sleep loss, factors that impair sleeping, the pervasiveness of sleepiness and new ways to manage sleepiness.

More than 430 psychiatrists, research donors and others gathered in late October for the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)'s awards dinner in New York City. The black-tie fundraising event was held in conjunction with the organization's 10th annual scientific symposium at which 15 selected NARSAD grantees presented their ongoing research over two days of sessions devoted to basic science, schizophrenia and depression.

Other Hormones on Behavior - Poetry of the Times

For her work in establishing the Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) model for use with chronically suicidal individuals suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD), Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D., is this year's recipient of the annual research award given by the New York City-based American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).

For her work in establishing the Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) model for use with chronically suicidal individuals suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD), Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D., is this year's recipient of the annual research award given by the New York City-based American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Linehan is professor of psychology and adjunct professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington.

Despite threatening skies on a Sunday afternoon in late May, about 2,000 people gathered in New York City's Bryant Park for the fourth annual picnic given by National Picnic for Parity, a broad-based coalition of mental health providers, consumer groups, legislators and other advocates interested in achieving parity for mental illness.

Women and their special needs regarding addiction was the topic of a recent two-day conference held at New York University (NYU).

Is it appropriate for physicians to accept assisted-death requests at face value, or should they be interpreted as clinical indications of suffering? Should physicians act on patient requests to die, or should they address patient needs through other measures? Such are the difficult questions facing most physicians today.

Bestowed in gratitude in recognition of (his) superb, invigorating leadership of the American Psychiatric Association, his dedication to the principle that the highest quality patient care rests firmly on a true integration of the latest advances in psychodynamic and psychobiological thinking, and his strong advocacy for the scientific validation of what we do--all accomplished with his own consummate grace and elegance.

In the two years since receiving a $1.5 million private grant from William and Joy Ruane to study the effects of psychiatric medications in children and adolescents, the division of child psychiatry at New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI)-the nation's oldest psychiatric research facility-has opened a pediatric psychopharmacology research unit and established a federally supported research unit in pediatric psychopharmacology (RUPP), one of the first in the United States.

There's such an enormous need, said Renshaw, noting that a study of 100 white, middle-class, well-educated couples revealed that more than 70% of the women and 50% of the men reported they had sexual problems. "Ours is a small clinic, in no way able to meet the demand for treatment or training from all who request it. About 80 couples a year are treated. The waiting list is much too long. Couples wait between three and 10 months to come in for therapy, a far from ideal situation."

In 1962, fewer than 4 million Americans had ever tried illegal drugs. By 1983, that number had risen to 80 million. Drug use peaked in 1985 and dropped until 1992. Since then, use has been increasing steadily, particularly among teenagers. This increase is partially a result of a trend back toward glorification of drug experimentation and legalization, and also because there's a general resurgence of smoking. Whether it's marijuana, tobacco, opiates or cocaine, it's still smoking.

Is the rising use of psychotropic medication to treat anxiety and mood disorders incompatible with the psychoanalytic approach? As a psychopharmacologist and psychoanalyst who frequently provides consultation to analysts regarding medication for their patients, Steven P. Roose, M.D., has studied this question and presented his findings and opinions in various scientific papers, books and meetings.

During a career that has spanned four decades and taken him around the globe, Ari Kiev, M.D., J.D., has studied everything from folk psychiatry in Haiti to community psychiatry in England.

As a result of today's competitive and rapidly changing economic arena, an increasing number of physicians outside academic centers are getting into the business of establishing investigator sites in which to conduct clinical trials for new drugs.

Project for Psychiatric Outreach to the Homeless Inc. (PPOH) is an award-winning program through which volunteer psychiatrists help agencies treat the homeless mentally ill started by psychiatrist Katherine Falk, M.D. "Up to this point I could walk by people living in cardboard or over gratings, shrug my shoulders and say 'at least they get taken to Bellevue,'" Falk recalled. "But what I found out is... they weren't taken to Bellevue or anywhere else."

In 1885, Georges Gilles de la Tourette, M.D., described in the Achives of Neurology  a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by chronic motor and vocal tics that begin in childhood. During the next century, researchers demonstrated that the disorder, which came to be called Tourette's syndrome (TS), is probably inherited as a dominant gene that expresses with widely varying symptoms, even within monozygotic twin pairs.

Mood disorders and their impact on women and their families was the topic of a half-day conference held at New York City's Algonquin Hotel;, former haunt of the famous-and depressed- writer Dorothy Parker, who made at least one suicide attempt there in the early 1900s.

September 1996, Vol. XIII, Issue 9Reflecting today's surging interest in computers and what they can do for mental health professionals, it was standing room only at many of the 19 computer-related presentations offered at the American Psychiatric Association's 149th annual meeting, more than triple the number included at last year's convention.

Brain serotonin levels as a predictor of suicide has been the subject of intense research scrutiny over the past several years, with scientists trying to find easily accessible markers so that the neurotransmitter's levels might someday be readily measured in clinical settings.