News

Diabetes doubles the likelihood of comorbid depression, which impairs functioning and quality of life. This mood disorder has a unique importance in diabetes because of its associations with treatment noncompliance, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and an increased risk for diabetes complications.

Asthma is a serious health condition that can be exacerbated by emotional triggers. Furthermore, depression in these patients can affect treatment compliance, thus worsening prognosis. What role does psychiatry play in treating these patients?

What happens when a chemically dependent patient is in urgent need of timely medical and/or surgical interventions? According to one psychiatrist, logic and humility are two core principles essential to providing these patients with the care they deserve.

In this second article of a series, innovative research and technologies presented at the 41st Annual New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit meeting are highlighted.

The very immediacy of the recent terrorist attacks makes the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder problematic since there is no distance of time or space from the event itself. How can clinicians deal with this shift to best treat patients?

Source: Simons RC (1983)

Dr. Genova offers the antidote to the complexities of manualized and proceduralized psychotherapy that have arisen in imitation of procedural, technology-driven medicine. Supportive, directive and relational types of therapy and their correlation with various power structures within the doctor-patient relationship are described.

What was it like to be at "Ground Zero"? Three psychiatrists discuss their experience and the impact the attack on the World Trade Center will have on the future.

Given the recent anthrax scares, it is important for psychiatrists to be on the alert. However, this should be balanced with the realization that life must continue as normal as possible.

Since Sept. 11, health care professionals and their patients have been trying to make sense of the tragedy as well as cope with the possibility of future attacks. While the following list of books, articles, Web sites and so forth is certainly not exhaustive, it serves as a starting point of information sharing.

How the News Comes - Poetry of the Times

Over the past two decades, there has been considerable progress in understanding the functions of the prefrontal cortex of the brain and its regulation of mental activities that allow for self-control and goal-directed behaviors. These mental activities are unified under the term executive functions.

There is currently great controversy over the issue of obsessive-compulsive behaviors in schizophrenia. Are patients who display these behaviors suffering from a separate subtype of schizophrenia?

The introduction of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) into psychiatric nosology has brought about a great deal of insight as well as controversy. Have complex clinical manifestations of PTSD created a need for further clarification of the disorder?

In the glossary of our book The Culture-Bound Syndromes, Charles C. Hughes, Ph.D., listed almost 200 folk illnesses that have, at one time or another, been considered culture-bound syndromes (Simons and Hughes, 1986). Many have wonderfully exotic and evocative names: Arctic hysteria, amok, brain fag, windigo.

Sleep Lab Meditation

The Human Genome project has provided an abundance of genetic information, including identification of many disease-causing genes. Clinical applications, genetic counseling and the potential ethical issues raised by the availability of genetic testing are all areas of concern in gene research. Will genetic counseling in classical genetic diseases help to provide guidelines for behavioral disorders?

In the first of this series of articles, some of the innovative research and technologies presented at the 41st annual New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit meeting in Phoenix in May are discussed.

Although many of the physiological functions of neurosteroids are currently unknown, evidence suggests that these endogenous molecules may play a role in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders and treatment strategies. Neurosteroids have been linked to SSRI action and may be relevant to antipsychotic drug effects. Do neurosteroids have neuroprotective properties or HPA axis effects?

The first magnetic resonance imaging studies in schizophrenia began to appear in the literature in 1984. These studies confirmed earlier theories and also contributed new findings such as changes in size of the hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum and so on in patients with schizophrenia. What other neuroimaging techniques are being used? What do recent studies show regarding the neuroanatomic abnormalities found in patients with schizophrenia?

Research conducted over the past 30 years leads to the conclusion that televised violence does influence viewers' attitudes, values and behavior.

Role Model - Poetry of the Times

The Child School in New York City provides a unique learning experience for children with learning and developmental disabilities. What teaching methods and curriculum are employed at the school? What is the link between parent and teacher involvement and the children's progress at The Child School?

House Minority Leader, Richard Gephardt addressed the National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers as part of their new Inform America campaign. Gephardt discussed not only what needs to happen for Americans to have good mental health care, but what Congress has already accomplished.

A recent large, randomized, controlled trial showed fluvoxamine to be effective in treating anxiety disorders in children. The eight-week trial raises many questions about anxiety, the most common psychiatric disorder in children. A panel of experts looks at past and future research.

Do children's reactions to losing a parent to cancer differ according to the child's age and mental status? What treatment options are most efficacious for each age group?

In Illinois, the Department of Public Health and a nursing home facility came under fire after two mentally ill residents were charged with murder. Two recent federal government reports look into the nature of nursing homes and their role as long-term care mental health facilities. Are nursing homes providing appropriate care for mentally ill patients or are these facilities merely being used as warehouses for mentally ill patients?

By definition, gambling is the process of placing something of value (usually money) at risk in the hopes of gaining something of greater value (Potenza et al., 2001). It is a human behavior that has persisted for millennia; some of humanity's earliest historical accounts document gambling as a practice of ancient civilizations (France, 1902; Potenza and Charney, 2001).

In almost all cases where the mother kills the father, the mother has endured years of abuse at the hands of the father. Unfortunately, the children also suffer. How can psychiatrists help these children heal after such a tragedy?

Bullying and being bullied put adolescents at risk for developing violent behaviors. Depression and anxiety are two of the underlying issues related to this type of behavior. Recognizing the warning signs may help mental health care professionals prevent violence in the adolescent's life.