Psychiatric Times Vol 23 No 8

It is common for mental health professionals to label a patient as difficult, however, it remains unclear as to what the classification actually means or what it entails.

A discussion of the epidemiology, assessment, diagnostic dilemmas, and treatment of avoidant personality disorder.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for children with anxiety disorders may be especially effective when the family is included in treatment.

Should physicians be allowed to assist in their patients' dying, and how can physician-assisted suicide be reconciled with the physician’s role as a healer?

In a 20-year longitudinal study, it was found that after acute hospitalization, continuous psychosis was diagnosed in only 30% of patients with schizophrenia; 20% of patients showed no signs of reoccurrence of psychosis after the acute phase.

A study of primary care training directors conducted by Hoyle Leigh,MD, Ronna Mallios, MPH, and Deborah C. Stewart, MD, found thatmost directors believed their psychiatry training programs were inadequate.

Drinking a carbohydrate-rich beverage appeared to improve symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in a small double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Physicians should be prepared to screen for posttraumatic responses that may be triggered by routine hospital care in previously traumatized patients.

How effective is psychotherapy for the treatment of depression in children and adolescents?

A discussion of new neurobiologic discoveries that bear the promise not just of controlling but of reversing protean levels of damage.