Vol 31 No 11

The past decade has been an exciting one for the field of psychosomatic medicine. It has been recognized as a specialty and now has a certification examination. In this Special Report, we discuss some of the approaches that are being taken to special populations within the psychosomatic medicine community.

This article provides a practical framework that can guide consultation-liaison psychiatrists through solving problems of capacity and informed consent.

Although the somatizing disorders cover a vast array of symptomatic domains across many medical specialties, this article addresses the broad topic conceptually.

The need to integrate psychiatric treatment with somatic care puts psychosomatic medicine in a unique position to focus on older patients who would not otherwise seek specialized treatment.

For severely ill patients, understanding the neurobiological underpinning of assertive coping provides an additional map for rapid assessment, formulation, and intervention to bolster assertive coping.

An overview of select topics in clinical psycho-oncology, including assessment and management of delirium and brain lesions, mood and anxiety disorders, medication adverse effects, and existential death anxiety.

The role of transplant psychiatrists is to assess both transplant and donor candidates to determine capacity to consent to the surgery, recent stressors and coping skills, social supports and availability of caregivers, and whether there are psychological or substance abuse issues that would affect outcomes.

Key issues about geriatric bipolar disorder-epidemiology, assessment, medical and psychiatric comorbidity, and treatment-are the focus.

There are a considerable number of aging patients with an eating disorder who have only partial symptom remission or who remain ill for many decades. Here is a case in point.

The case for training residents to conduct evaluations of impairments in patients with chronic mental health issues.

This volume is written from an emerging edge of basic science and will reward a clinical readership.

Here: the case of a woman with bipolar disorder who was admitted for aggressive behavior and nonadherence to medications. Art therapy and pharmacotherapy played a pivotal role in her recovery.

Psychiatrists should be playing a key role in end-of-life decisions as well as, not coincidentally, in pain management.

What signs are generally regarded as negative symptoms? What etiological factors contribute to a negative symptom presentation? How to treat these symptoms? Insights here.

There are probably many social, economic, and familial forces at work in generating the trend toward public incivility, and it would be silly to blame the Internet for the riot in Keene.

This article reviews the reasons for measuring serum levels of psychotropics and provides optimum serum levels for various psychotropic agents to optimize their effectiveness and safety.

The use of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence is on the rise. However, buprenorphine withdrawal has its own withdrawal symptoms that in many cases can be as severe as symptoms of opioid withdrawal.

This study highlights the need to consider a holistic approach when discussing the problem of disruptive behavior in health care settings.

Although the early focus of the NIH component of the BRAIN Initiative is on tool development, the examples listed in this article show that these tools will have relevance to practicing clinicians within the lifetime of the Initiative.

We’ve been meeting since his PSA spiked and he decided on surgery. Radiation finished, nerves nicked by the robot...

We need to join forces with our natural allies: the patients we treat and their families, as well as government, community, and business leaders, to make addressing the impact of violence and abuse one of our highest public health priorities.

After years of working with troubled individuals claiming to have been abducted by extraterrestrials, Harvard University Professor John Mack published a book. What made Mack and the book so controversial was the fact that he had come to accept that his patients’ stories were an accurate description of real events.

In the US, suicide is a leading cause of death, ranking third among youths aged 15 to 24. Rates of suicide attempts and death are highest among US Pacific Island indigenous youths. Emergency departments play a key role in suicide prevention, especially in this and other minority populations.