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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No-Suicide Contracts as a Suicide Prevention Strategy
July 1st 2007The role of no-suicide contracts is but a small tactical piece of the larger strategic approach to the assessment and prevention of suicide. Its many obvious limitations-to some degree in assessment, but primarily in suicide prevention-should have driven serious discussion of no-suicide contracts out of consideration as a practical measure in clinical practice and a legal talking point in the courtroom.
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Reducing Risk Associated With Seclusion and Restraint
July 1st 2007This article briefly reviews the federal standards regarding S/R and methods of reducing the risk associated with their use. CMS standards that went into effect February 6, 2007, will be emphasized; however, some of these standards vary from JCAHO standards.
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Persons With Substance Use Disorders Unlikely to Seek Treatment
June 1st 2007Although there are many treatments and interventions available for drug abuse and dependence, few persons with substance use disorders actually use them, a new survey reports. The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, conducted by scientists from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, was published in the May 2007 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The survey used face-to-face interviews with over 43,000 US adults aged 18 years or older.
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FDA Adds Young Adults to Black Box Warnings on Antidepressants
June 1st 2007The FDA has ordered the addition of a "black box" warning to antidepressant labeling of increased suicide risk in adults aged 18 to 24 years. The labeling will also note that no increased risk has been seen in older adults and that, in fact, the incidence of suicidal thoughts and behavior has been found to decrease during antidepressant therapy in patients 65 years and older.
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Pain Sensitivity and the Importance of Choosing Your Parents Wisely
June 1st 2007I grew up with a neighborhood kid who was a nice guy but burst into tears at even the tiniest of scrapes--heck, even if he fell down--so we always called him a crybaby. He seemed to be very tuned to his sensory environment--in our gang's perspective, overly tuned--hence the epithet for his behavior. The many unjust cruelties of childhood notwithstanding, was that really a fair accusation? There is growing evidence that may supply a solid molecular answer to this question. It may reveal the accusation to be not only emotionally unkind but also biologically unsound.
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Substance Abuse Research and Gender
June 1st 2007There are important distortions in the article "Substance Abuse in Women: Does Gender Matter?" (Psychiatric Times, January 2007, page 48). My concerns regard the political assumptions made (rather than those based on science) that put a spin on data rather than letting the data stand alone.
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Intensive MIT Cures Aphasia, “Rewires” Brain
June 1st 2007Intensive Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) results in significant gains in speech production, and functional improvements are matched by longlasting neural changes, according to research by a team led by Gottfried Schlaug, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of neuroimaging at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
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* INTENSIVE MIT CURES APHASIA, "REWIRES" BRAIN
June 1st 2007Intensive melodic intonation therapy (MIT) results in significant gains in speech production, and functional improvements are matched by long-lasting neural changes, according to research by a team led by Gottfried Schlaug, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of neuroimaging at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
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Integrating Psychosocial Treatment for PTSD and Severe Mental Illness
June 1st 2007Patients with severe mental illness (SMI), such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, are more likely to have experienced trauma in childhood, adolescence, and throughout their adult lives than the general population. This high exposure to traumatic events such as physical and sexual abuse and assault takes a heavy toll.
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The traumatic events surrounding the recent school shootings at Virginia Tech remind us that a disturbing aspect of our current culture is the rate at which America's youth are exposed to violence. Whether it is graphic episodes of violence on television, violent music, aggressive video games, hearing about or witnessing violence in the home or neighborhood, or being the direct victim of violence--violence is a pervasive part of society that disproportionately affects youth.
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Methamphetamine Abuse: Consequences and Treatment
June 1st 2007Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is not a new problem in the United States, but the current epidemic is more widespread and presents with more pernicious consequences than in the past. MA, frequently called "speed," "crystal," "crank," "ice," or "tina," is a potent psychostimulant that can be swallowed in pill form or administered via intranasal, intravenous, or smoking route.
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Grand mal convulsive seizures are characterized by the sudden loss of consciousness and motor inhibition, followed by tonic flexion and extension, repetitive clonic movements, and motor relaxation and lassitude. Seizures are elicited in all vertebrates that have been tested. The loss of both vigilance and the defenses of fight or flight incur life-threatening risks to the individual. In evolutionary history, we would expect this behavior to be extinguished. Its persistence prompts the query: What are the benefits of seizures?
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School Shootings: A Word of Caution
June 1st 2007After wading through the initial shock and horror of the murder of 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech on April 16 by student Seung-Hui Cho, there is a natural impulse to rush to enact laws to prevent this type of tragic event from ever happening again in our schools. As professionals, as parents, as concerned members of a community, we have a felt need for an immediate response to ensure that schools are safe and secure places to learn and grow. Action is demanded. Not only must this opportunity/obligation not be squandered, but we must make sure that by our actions we do not make things worse.
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Four physicians work on the same patient for days at a time, continually returning to a white board, where they list the patient's changing symptoms and their own differential diagnoses. They think inside and outside the box. As data come in from tests and as interventions succeed or fail, they remain flexible in their way of thinking. The attending physician's main lesson to his 3 fellows is to remain unencumbered by preconceived notions and to constantly revise their thinking to fit the data. Only then, he tells his trainees, is there any chance of a correct diagnosis and medical treatment.
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Troubleshooting Delirium in Elderly Inpatients
June 1st 2007Delirium is characterized by an altered level of consciousness, decreased attention span, acute onset, and fluctuating course. Approximately 15% of elderly patients admitted to the hospital have delirium as a presenting or associated symptom. Delirium will develop in another 15% of elderly patients during hospitalization.
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Reader Responses to the Virginia Tech Killings
June 1st 2007In the aftermath of the tragic events at Virginia Tech, we would like to suggest some ways in which psychiatrists, psychologists, and college personnel can help identify and treat students who have severe psychiatric disorders--and perhaps prevent another mass murder.
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Group Therapy and Cancer Survival-- Where Does the Evidence Lie in 2007?
June 1st 2007One of the most hotly debated questions within oncology over the past decade has been whether the promotion of psychological wellness can extend survival for patients with advanced cancer. The converse--that psychiatric disorder shortens survival--seems true, with mechanisms of poor self-care and reduced adherence to anticancer treatments resultant from depressive or psychotic disorders explaining this outcome.
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The Therapeutic Potential of Neural Stem Cells
May 1st 2007The following must be one of the strangest comments I have ever heard on television. An Iraqi businessman uttered it shortly after a wave of missile strikes during the Gulf War. "The rocket flew down my street and took a left," he said in English. It had smashed into its target, a nearby building--leaving his adjacent shop completely undisturbed.
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Intermittent Explosive Disorder and the Like: Overappreciated?
May 1st 2007In "Intermittent Explosive Disorder: Common but Underappreciated"(Psychiatric Times,January 2007, page 1), Arline Kaplan wrote that intermittent explosive disorder (IED) "is not just another name for bad behavior." She quoted Dr Coccaro from the University of Chicago as asserting that patients with IED who react with rage to minor irritants have been shown to have reduced down-regulation of certain cortical nuclei that should be reined in by inhibitory stimuli from the frontal cortex.
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Informed Consent and Civil Commitment in Emergency Psychiatry
May 1st 2007Medical school graduation usually involves taking the Hippocratic oath, in which physicians vow not to intentionally harm their patients. Keeping patients safe is another basic principle of patient care. Physicians are charged with ensuring that their patients are in a safe environment and minimizing risks to their patients by carefully selecting treatment options.
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The Science of Sleep. A quirky Indy motion picture by that title was in theaters last year. The plot concerned an odd but wildly creative and endearing fellow who ran into problems in his interpersonal relationships, in part, because he often couldn't distinguish between being awake and asleep. Wake and dream episodes mirrored each other, creating a penchant for the surreal and a personal narrative for the protagonist that wasn't quite in sync with that of the characters around him.
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House and Senate Parity Bills: Differences Complicate Passage Prospects
May 1st 2007The introduction of a House mental health parity bill in March has scrambled prospects for congressional passage of a bill that President Bush could sign. The introduction of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act (HR 1424) by Reps Patrick J. Kennedy (D, RI) and Jim Ramstad (R, Minn) threatens to split both the mental health community and the House and Senate.
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Nonconventional and Integrative Treatments of Alcohol and Substance Abuse
May 1st 2007In the first part of this column (Psychiatric Times, February 2007), I reviewed treatments whose beneficial effects are probably achieved through a discrete biological or pharmacological mechanism of action. These included dietary modifications; supplementation with specific vitamins, minerals, and amino acids; and medicinal herbs. In this part, I will review the evidence for approaches that reduce the risk of relapse, diminish craving, or mitigate withdrawal symptoms but for which there is no evidence for direct biological or pharmacological effect.
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