News

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?

The common sense notion that a child will benefit from an improvement in her mother’s depression has been confirmed in a prospective evaluation.

A House committee is seeking to prohibit FDA members who have a financial interest in a company proposing a new drug (or in its competitors) from voting on new drug approvals from that company.

Antidepressants may have a protective effect on the hippocampal atrophy seen in patients with severe, untreated depression. This atrophy may be caused by an overabundance of glucocorticoids.

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.

The Risk of Cerebrovascular Problems in Patients With Dementia Treated With Atypical Antipsychotics

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.

Reexamining the Link Between Antidepressantsand Suicidality in Children and Adolescents

This article examines the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychosis, the evidence for its use, and the implications for practicing psychiatrists given the short-comings of pharmacologic therapy.

Alzheimer disease, antihypertensive therapy, diuretics, potassium-sparing diuretics

Colin T. McDonald, MD, specialized in neuro-critical care at Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General), Harvard Medical School in Boston in 1998, when the father of an emergency room physician at an affiliated hospital became one of his patients. One morning, the father experienced symptoms of stroke, which the son immediately recognized. Doing something about those symptoms, however, was complicated; the father and son were on Martha's Vineyard, where the local hospital was not equipped for emergency neurology care.

mild traumatic brain injury, MTBI, concussion, post-concussive syndrome

ischemic stroke, statins, lipid-lowering agents, secondary prevention of stroke, stroke prevention

mental notes

Neurotechnologic devices are proving themselves in clinical medicine. Many of these devices offer several distinct advantages over traditional pharmaceutical-based therapies: their effects are reversible, they are often cheaper than pharmaceuticals, and they solve therapy adherence issues. "If a problem occurs, you can turn off the device; or if the disease evolves over time, you can dynamically adjust the device," explained Ali R. Rezai, MD, chairman of the Center for Neurological Restoration at the Cleveland Clinic.

Parkinson disease, hallucinations, thought disorderCognitive decline, role of estrogen in cognitive decline

Parkinson disease, depression, hallucinations, psychosis, suicidality, motor control, psychiatric adverse effects

In last month's editorial, I touched on the pitfalls of the information age: the ironic inability of many patients to effectively absorb and understand information given to them by their physicians and the lack of accuracy in health care reporting by the general media. A look at the recent research on stroke education and outreach magnifies the challenge faced by physicians.

Poetry from the June 2000 issue of Psychiatric Times.

Diagnosing Alzheimer disease at its earliest stage can lead to effective early interventions.

There is hope for patients with schizophrenia who do not respond to first-generation antipsychotic drugs: phase 2 results of the CATIE study show that second-generation antipsychotic drugs may be effective.

Every young woman who reads Pride and Prejudice imagines herself as the heroine, Elizabeth. Can a male director who confesses a lack of literary influences create a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved work?

Was Virginia Woolf mad? Thomas Szasz seeks to answer that question in his 30th book

Eating disorders in patients with schizophrenia have been underappreciated and poorly studied. Profiling characteristic phenotypic patterns will help clarify the distinctions among eating behaviors that are part of the spectrum of schizophrenia, those that represent distinct coexistent entities, and those that represent overlapping comorbidity.

A discussion of the current evidence base of psychosomatic medicine in the context of its public health significance and suggestions for the future development of the field.

BasicNeeds is a program in developing countries that works with individuals with mental illness or epilepsy, their families, and their communities to establish accessible treatment programs, satisfy basic needs, and reduce social marginalization and stigma.