Psychiatric Times Vol 19 No 10

College students are far less likely to kill themselves than are nonstudent peers, according to a 10-year research study examining suicide rates at 12 Midwestern campuses.

Today, a person diagnosed with mental illness is as likely as anyone to be a parent or to plan on becoming one. Treatment approaches can be optimized by considering patients' concerns as they intersect with the parental role.

While the deaths of several students have figured prominently in recent news, studies show that college students actually have a lower rate of suicide than their nonstudent peers. What can be done to lower suicide rates even further?

Many activities that are not themselves diseases can cause diseases, and a foolish, self-destructive activity is not necessarily a disease. When we find a parallel between physiological processes and mental or personality processes, we can mistakenly assume the physiological process is what is really going on, and the mental process is just a passive result of the physical process.

Deficient omega-3 fatty acids can result in myriad pathological changes including altering the central nervous system. Their balance or imbalance changes receptor function, prostaglandin and cytokine production. Understanding the roles of these essential fatty acids is vital to remedying the fatty acid abnormalities found in a number of psychiatric disorders.

Treatment successes can be hampered by treatment-refractory mood disorders. Nine key concepts are outlined to help guide the treatment of these patients.

Clinical observations have shown that patients who do not respond to antidepressants may show dramatic improvement if atypical antipsychotics are added to their regimen. How can successful patient outcomes be maximized?

Addiction-as-disease or addiction-as-choice may be better defined by delineating initial experimentation with addictive drugs from ongoing drug use. Repeated exposure to addictive substances changes the molecules and neurochemistry of the addict. Addiction-as-disease accepts the responsibility of the health care professional to treat the patient and precludes the stigmatization that addiction is a choice.

Many patients, particularly those living in colder climates, can suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD). What causes SAD and what are the treatment options for these patients?

College students are far less likely to kill themselves than are nonstudent peers, according to a 10-year research study examining suicide rates at 12 Midwestern campuses.

More women than men are diagnosed with depression. Yet, men who are troubled by depression are also more likely to die, even when suicide is removed from the factors of consideration. Vascular depression, hyperintensities within the brain, physiological changes and late-life onset provide both insight and more questions into the nature of depression and this enigmatic paradox.

One more mouth rimmed in charcoal after an OD screams for release: to probe the night for the man who left her. No one pretends an interest: at 4 a.m. it's too late to care.