July 11th 2024
What is new in research on alcohol use disorder?
Southern California Psychiatry Conference
September 13-14, 2024
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Updates on New and Emerging Therapies to Improve Outcomes for Patients With Major Depressive Disorder
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PER® Psychiatry Summit
November 7, 2024
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5th Annual International Congress on the Future of Neurology®
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2023 Annual Psychiatric Times™ World CME Conference
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Clinical Consultations™: Managing Depressive Episodes in Patients with Bipolar Disorder Type II
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Patient, Provider, and Caregiver Connection™: Exploring Unmet Needs In Postpartum Depression – Making the Case for Early Detection and Novel Treatments
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Medical Crossfire®: Understanding the Advances in Bipolar Disease Treatment—A Comprehensive Look at Treatment Selection Strategies
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'REEL’ Time Patient Counseling: The Diagnostic and Treatment Journey for Patients With Bipolar Disorder Type II – From Primary to Specialty Care
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Real Psychiatry 2025
January 17 - 18, 2025
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More Than ‘Blue’ After Birth: Managing Diagnosis and Treatment of Post-Partum Depression
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Patient, Provider & Caregiver Connection™: Reducing the Burden of Parkinson Disease Psychosis with Personalized Management Plans
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Expert Perspectives in the Recognition and Management of Postpartum Depression
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Detainee Interrogations: American Psychological Association Counters, but Questions Remain
September 2nd 2008I am writing to correct several inaccurate assertions in the essay, “The American Psychological Association and Detainee Interrogations: Unanswered Questions” (Psychiatric Times, July 2008, page 16), by Kenneth S. Pope, PhD, and Thomas G. Gutheil, MD.
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Medicare Bill Brightens Mental Health Outlook for Psychiatrist
September 2nd 2008Psychiatrists were among the chief physician beneficiaries of the Medicare bill (HR 6331) that Congress passed in July. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 included an historic elimination of the discriminatory co-pay for Medicare outpatient mental health services.
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Doing Psychiatry Wrong Author Responds to Critique
September 2nd 2008In his review of my book, Doing Psychiatry Wrong: A Critical and Prescriptive Look at a Faltering Profession (Psychiatric Times, June 2008, page 57), S.N. Ghaemi, MD, MPH, citing George Orwell, writes that I “seek to justify an opinion” rather than “seek the truth.” He claims that my “errors are numerous and fundamental.”
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Comprehensive Treatment of Stalking Victims
September 1st 2008Psychiatrists may encounter patients who present with severe emotional consequences because they are victims of stalking. In addition, psychiatrists themselves are at increased risk for becoming victims of stalking because of the nature of their profession and their interaction with lonely and unhappy individuals.
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The Age of Conflicts-of Interest
August 2nd 2008In our own time, many so-called conflicts of interest (COI) boil down to temptation, as James DuBois,3 professor and department chair of health care ethics at Saint Louis University, notes in his excellent chapter on this subject. A physician-researcher is tempted to slant the results of his or her study in order to maintain funding from a medical technology company.
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Intimate Partner Violence: Practical Issues for Psychiatrists
August 2nd 2008The term “domestic violence” emerged in the United States with the rise of the women’s movement in the 1970s. Before that, violence between partners was considered a private matter. A specific type of domestic violence, intimate partner violence, refers to violence between intimate partners. Public awareness campaigns help us identify one type of intimate partner violence in which one partner, typically the male partner, is the aggressor, and the other partner, typically the female, is the victim.
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Trust can be a scary proposition. Among other characteristics, trusting someone involves the ability to measurably predict a behavior on the basis of nothing more than a memory, an impression, or a whim. For creatures like us, who spend a ridiculous amount of time with unpredictable strangers, brokering trust is an oddly important survival strategy.
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he key manifestations of DSM-IV somatoform disorder are unexplained physical symptoms or complaints that tend to coexist with other psychiatric syndromes or are linked to psychological issues. These symptoms typically lead to repeated medical or emergency department visits; are associated with serious discomfort, dysfunction, and disability; and lead to significant health expenditures.
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Behavioral Comorbidities in Rheumatoid Arthritis
August 1st 2008While tremendous therapeutic advancements have been made, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a myriad of comorbidities, including fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbances. Data on the comorbidity of psychiatric disorders with arthritis are also striking: according to the NIMH Catchment Area program, the lifetime prevalence of psychiatric disorders among patients with RA is 63%.
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Dynamic Psychotherapy for Cancer Patients and Their Partners
August 1st 2008The estimated number of patients with cancer in this country is 10.5 million. Close to a million and a half are new cases, and it is estimated that 560,000 people die of cancer each year.1 There is clearly a large group of cancer patients and their families at high risk for serious psychiatric illness. In this article, I focus on the advantages of a psychodynamic approach and address how this approach is helpful in the liaison function and psychotherapy of cancer patients and their partners.
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Personality Disorder: “Untreatable” Myth Is Challenged
July 2nd 2008Success with new approaches to the psychotherapeutic treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and other DSM-IV personality disorders has been reported in several studies recently, raising hopes that an intractable set of illnesses may not be as hopeless as once thought.
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Of Stress and Alcoholism, Of Mice and Men
July 2nd 2008This month I will examine the relationship between alcohol use disorder, stress, and a neuropeptide called substance P (SP). The data that led directly to research with human subjects came from the mouse-based genetic manipulation of a gene called neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1R), the receptor for SP. To understand this research thread, I will need to review some basic biology behind a class of biochemicals called tachykinins, of which SP is its most famous member. I begin, however, with an attempt to understand the relationship between the experience of stress, relapse rates in alcohol-dependent populations, and how mouse research ended up helping a cohort of stressed-out patients.
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Risk of Substance Abuse Not Increased by ADHD Drugs
July 2nd 2008Two recent studies present clinical evidence that the use of stimulants to treat boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) does not increase their risk of later substance use disorders. This evidence provides clinicians and families with much needed reassurance.
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Substance Use With Comorbid Obesity in Patients With Bipolar Disorder
July 2nd 2008The rising prevalence and dispersion of obesity in North America in the past decade is analogous to a communicable disease epidemic. Longitudinal and cross-sectional associations between major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and obesity have been established. Existing evidence also indicates that there is an association between bipolar disorder and obesity.
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Anxiety Disorders in Later Life
July 1st 2008Older adults can present with anxiety or worries about physical health (illness, changes in vision or hearing), cognitive difficulties, finances, and changes in life status (widowhood, care-giving responsibilities, retirement). Clinicians need to be aware that older adults may deny psychological symptoms of anxiety (fear, worry) but endorse similar emotions with different words (worries, concerns).
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Concern About Psychotropic Drugs and Foster Kids
July 1st 2008Concern is on the rise about psychotropic medications-especially atypical antipsychotics-given to foster children covered under Medicaid. Two state Medicaid officials and a representative of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) spoke at hearings of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support on May 8. Rep Jim McDermott, MD (D, Washington), the only psychiatrist in Congress, has introduced legislation that requires states to improve care coordination for foster children.
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The American Psychological Association and Detainee Interrogations: Unanswered Questions
July 1st 2008News accounts and court records of detainee interrogations in such settings as the Guantnamo Bay detainment camp and the Abu Ghraib prison have sparked controversy over involvement of mental health professionals and behavioral scientists. Authors of articles in medical, psychological, legal, and scientific journals have struggled with complex ethical questions about psychiatrists and psychologists who participate in planning or implementing detainee interrogations.
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Reframing ADHD in the Genomic Era
June 2nd 2008In the era of genomics, psychiatry-like all areas of medicine-will likely undergo radical change. As genetic risk factors are uncovered and the dynamic nature of gene expression is elucidated, novel approaches to prevention will diminish or preempt diagnosis and treatment for many psychiatric and neurobehavioral disorders.
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Antipsychotic Use Questioned for Developmentally Disabled
June 2nd 2008Two new studies of antipsychotic efficacy for nonpsychotic behaviors in persons with developmental disability provide data where there has been relatively little, but their contrary findings leave this a controversial use of medication.
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Adolescent Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Evaluation and Treatment
June 2nd 2008In working with adolescents, mental health care professionals often draw on their own developmental experiences to help guide their patients; however, nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is not likely to be a personal experience that psychiatrists can often draw on.
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Violent Attacks by Patients: Prevention and Self-Protection
June 2nd 2008The brutal murder of New York psychologist Kathryn Faughey and attempted murder of psychiatrist Kent Shinbach this past February has provoked warnings to psychiatrists about personal safety and overreliance on clinical judgment. David Tarloff, a person with schizophrenia, was indicted for the attacks. According to press reports, Tarloff blamed Shinbach for having him institutionalized in 1991. While he was wait-ing to see Shinbach, Tarloff allegedly entered Faughey's nearby office and slashed her to death with a meat cleaver and knives. Shinbach heard her screams, tried to rescue her, and was assaulted and robbed.
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Pathological Lying: Symptom or Disease?
June 1st 2008Mr A was desperate. He was about to lose yet another job, not because he was at risk for being fired, but because his lying behavior had finally boxed him into a corner. He had lied repeatedly to his colleagues, telling them that he had an incurable disease and was receiving palliative treatment. . .
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Nonconventional Approaches in Psychiatric Assessment
June 1st 2008Everyone is unique at the level of social, cultural, psychological, biological, and possibly "energetic" functioning. By extension, in every person, the complex causes or meanings of symptoms are uniquely determined. The diversity and complexity of factors that contribute to mental illness often make it difficult to accurately assess the underlying causes of symptoms and to identify treatments that most effectively address them.
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Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: The Next 10 Years
May 2nd 2008Psychiatry is changing so rapidly that it seems impossible to predict 1 year ahead, let alone 10 years. In 1967, when my psychiatry training ended, the community psychiatry movement had just begun, DSM-II was in the works, and the biological revolution was still around the corner.
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The Links Between PTSD and Eating Disorders
May 2nd 2008Despite an abundance of studies linking both traumatic experiences and anxiety disorders with eating disorders, relatively little has been reported on the prevalence of associated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or partial PTSD in patients with eating disorders.
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