The Suicide Prevention Contract: Contracting for Comfort
March 1st 2011I recently shared a research article on “no-suicide contracts” with a colleague who is very knowledgeable about suicide. That article concluded--as virtually all the previous literature had-that use of suicide prevention contracts (SPC) remains a questionable clinical practice intervention.
The Rejection of Paraphilic Rape: A First Hand Historical Narrative
March 1st 2011There have been four ringing rejections of the concept of paraphilic rape--in DSM-III, in DSM-IIIR, in DSM-IV, and in a 1999 APA Task Force report. The circumstances surrounding the latter three decisions are fairly well known, the first less so.
Jared Loughner, Mental Illness, and the Media: Debating the Potential Impact of Media Coverage
February 15th 2011On January 24, Dr Ronald Pies posted a thoughtful piece titled “Who Can Forgive Jared Loughner?” which advocates the importance of relinquishing hatred in cases like the ones in Tucson and transforming “our revulsion and rage into something higher and nobler.”
Solving The Problem Of Questionable Diagnoses Grandfathered Into DSM
February 11th 2011Charles Moser, PhD, MD, has forwarded an interesting suggestion to solve the problem of weak diagnoses that have received a free ride through previous revisions of DSM. His is a middle way intended to steer between the contrasting risks of continuing questionable diagnoses and the risks of eliminating them.
Psychiatric Assessment and Treatment in Preschool Children
February 10th 2011Expansion of age-appropriate developmental psycho-therapeutic services must become a top public health priority to make these treatments more widely available to young children and to capture the potential greater benefit of the earliest possible intervention for mental disorders.
Diagnostic Criteria for PIISD: Private Insurance–Induced Stress Disorder
February 10th 2011The essential feature of private insurance–induced stress disorder (PIISD) is the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to an insurance-induced traumatic stressor involving direct personal experience of an event or witnessing an event that threatens another person.
Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Second Most Controversial Medical Procedure
February 9th 2011ECT, like abortion, is surrounded by controversy and strong opinions on both sides. Fortunately, for those of us who practice ECT, the discussion is not quite as heated nor the risks as high as for our colleagues in ob-gyn.
Quiz on Violent Behavior, Anxiety in Children, Delusions
February 8th 2011Is violent behavior a proxy indicator for the relationship between severity of substance abuse and suicide risk? What has the strongest influence in promoting doubt about a delusion in a patient with schizophrenia? These questions and more.