July 11th 2024
What is new in research on alcohol use disorder?
Southern California Psychiatry Conference
September 13-14, 2024
Register Now!
Updates on New and Emerging Therapies to Improve Outcomes for Patients With Major Depressive Disorder
View More
PER® Psychiatry Summit
November 7, 2024
View More
5th Annual International Congress on the Future of Neurology®
View More
2023 Annual Psychiatric Times™ World CME Conference
View More
Clinical Consultations™: Managing Depressive Episodes in Patients with Bipolar Disorder Type II
View More
Patient, Provider, and Caregiver Connection™: Exploring Unmet Needs In Postpartum Depression – Making the Case for Early Detection and Novel Treatments
View More
Medical Crossfire®: Understanding the Advances in Bipolar Disease Treatment—A Comprehensive Look at Treatment Selection Strategies
View More
'REEL’ Time Patient Counseling: The Diagnostic and Treatment Journey for Patients With Bipolar Disorder Type II – From Primary to Specialty Care
View More
Real Psychiatry 2025
January 17 - 18, 2025
View More
More Than ‘Blue’ After Birth: Managing Diagnosis and Treatment of Post-Partum Depression
View More
Patient, Provider & Caregiver Connection™: Reducing the Burden of Parkinson Disease Psychosis with Personalized Management Plans
View More
Expert Perspectives in the Recognition and Management of Postpartum Depression
View More
Suicide in Older Adults: Management and Prevention
January 1st 2007Beyond demographic characteristics, risk and protective factors for suicide in older adults have been much more clearly defined in recent years by a series of methodologically rigorous, case-controlled psychological autopsy studies.
Read More
Psychiatric Disorders and Substance Abuse
January 1st 2007Substance use disorder (SUD) plays a prominent role in the epidemiology, cause, and course of mental illness. Of the more than 5 million Americans with comorbid mental illness and SUD, fewer than half received treatment at either a specialty mental health or substance abuse treatment facility.
Read More
Schizophrenia and Substance Abuse: Is There a Role for Atypical Antipsychotics?
January 1st 2007The prevalence of substance use disorders in patients with schizophrenia is greater than the rate observed in the general population, with a dramatic increase since the 1970s. Several theories exist to explain the high rate of comorbidity. The "self-medication" hypothesis suggests that persons may abuse substances to treat underlying psychotic symptoms or adverse effects of medications commonly used to treat schizophrenia.
Read More
Implementation of a Diet Program for Inpatients With Schizophrenia
January 1st 2007Weight gain is a major concern in patients with schizophrenia, especially in those taking atypical antipsychotics. Although the exact mechanism of weight gain associated with atypical antipsychotics is unknown, we often hear patients complain about an increase in appetite and a decrease in satiety.
Read More
School Shootings and What Psychiatrists Can Do to Prevent Them
January 1st 2007Psychiatrists certainly do not know all the answers when it comes to the recent spate of school shootings, but we do know some of the most pressing questions. For example, is there a difference in the psychological makeup of adult shooters versus student, or juvenile, shooters? To what degree does untreated psychosis or depression play a part in the shooter's seemingly inexplicable behavior? How important is bullying in motivating some students to seek revenge on their peers? What are the earliest warning signs of an impending attack by an assailant of any age?
Read More
Substance Abuse in Women: Does Gender Matter?
January 1st 2007There has been a growing awareness in recent years of the importance of gender in medical treatment and research. While much past research in addiction focused on men, there is now recognition that biologic and psychosocial differences between men and women influence the prevalence, presentation, comorbidity, and treatment of substance use disorders.
Read More
The Bipolar Handbook: Real-Life Questions With Up-to-Date Answers by Wes Burgess
December 1st 2006Bipolar disorder is often seen as a perplexing illness by patients and clinicians alike. In recent years, there has been a growing appreciation in psychiatric circles of the disorder's prevalence. This increased attention has filtered its way down to the general public, which, in turn, has produced sometimes sensationalistic media portrayals of manic depression, a number of speculative books about historic figures and noted artists who purportedly had the illness, and an array of self-help books marketed to individuals (and their families) afflicted with the disorder.
Read More
Rehabilitative Management of Complications of Spinal Cord Injury
December 1st 2006Predicting extent of neurologic recovery is crucial. The most accurate and standardized method is clinical neurologic examination using the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury.
Read More
Compulsive Buying Disorder Affects 1 in 20 Adults, Causes Marked Distress
December 1st 2006More than 1 in 20 adults nationwide suffer from compulsive buying, according to a telephone survey of 2500 adults. And contrary to popular opinion, “compulsive buying appears to be almost as common in men as in women,” according to Lorrin M. Koran, MD, first author of a recently published prevalence study of compulsive buying behavior in the United States. Six percent of women and 5.5% of men in the study reported symptoms considered to be consistent with compulsive buying disorder.
Read More
Psychological Features of Human Reproductive Cloning: A Twin-Based Perspective
December 1st 2006Debates surrounding the psychological implications of human reproductive cloning (HRC) escalated in 1997, following the 1996 birth of Dolly, the cloned Scottish lamb. Aside from the physical risks to which cloned persons might be subjected, there was concern over psychological implications associated with family structure and relationships. Would cloned persons be deprived of autonomy and independence? Would parents impose unfair expectations on children who were their genetic replicas?
Read More
Health and Psychiatric Issues in Children of Rural Methamphetamine Abusers and Manufacturers
December 1st 2006Many abusers of methamphetamine in rural areas manufacture the drug for their personal use. These "mom-and-pop cooks" produce methamphetamine in and around homes where children are also living. This article provides an overview of the mental health of children whose parents abuse methamphetamine.
Read More
Religious/Cultural Heritage and Patient Perceptions of Psychotropic Drugs
December 1st 2006One of the major concerns of health professionals working in the area of psychiatry is understanding the conditions under which patients adhere to prescribed treatments. While adherence is linked to some extent to the patients' comprehension of their illness, it is also a function of their social and demographic characteristics, such as age, social milieu, or sex. Another attribute also merits our attention, however: the patient's cultural affiliation and in particular, his or her religious background.
Read More
The Concept-Laden Prescription
December 1st 2006Compared with the many recent articles addressing medications' multiple meanings for the patients who take them and the psychiatrist-therapists who prescribe them, there has persisted in the literature and in clinical practice a curious literal conception of the prescription itself. This article challenges the idea that the only medication that can be prescribed comes in the form of pills or tablets; on the contrary, ideas constitute some of the most potent "medication" known.
Read More
Does the Biopsychosocial Model Help or Hinder Our Efforts to Understand and Teach Psychiatry?
December 1st 2006In this essay, I approach the question about the BPSM from the perspective of a teacher of psychiatry, medical school dean responsible for (among other matters) student career advising, and clinician. In those capacities, my duties include fostering an understanding of psychiatric disorders among medical students and residents, instilling confidence in and respect for the discipline of psychiatry among students as well as nonpsychiatric colleagues, and explaining psychiatric diagnosis and treatment to patients and their families.
Read More
Novel Rehabilitation Methods for Stroke, Cerebral Palsy, and Spinal Cord Injury
December 1st 2006Traditional physical therapy for neurologic conditions can be boring for the patient and tiring for the physical therapist, making it difficult to put in the required number of training hours. That is why researchers are developing a new generation of physical therapy tools that use video games, robotics, and virtual reality.
Read More
New Compounds, Novel Strategies Reported at NCDEU
November 1st 2006Investigational drugs and novel applications of established agents for psychiatric illness were described in a number of reports at the 46th annual NIMH-sponsored New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) meeting in Boca Raton, Fla, June 12-15, 2006.
Read More
Differences Cited in Substance Abuse in Women
November 1st 2006According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), gender differences can influence the causes, effects, consequences, and treatment of substance abuse disorders. A recent NIDA News Scan focused on several investigations supported by the NIDA.
Read More
Epilepsy affects about 2% of the US population and is a disability fraught with unique psychosocial and health care challenges. Authors of a study appearing in the journal Epilepsy and Behavior note that the ongoing quest of persons with epilepsy is to find informed physicians, effective therapies, and resources to help them achieve an adequate level of normalcy.
Read More
The Huntington's Disease Society of America: Dedicated to Education and Care
November 1st 2006Huntington disease (HD) is a devastating hereditary, degenerative brain disorder for which there is, at present, no effective treatment or cure. More than a quarter of a million Americans have HD or are at risk for the disease because of potential genetic transmission. The disease slowly diminishes the affected person's ability to walk, think, talk, and reason. As it progresses, concentration and short-term memory diminish and involuntary movements of the head, trunk, and limbs increase.
Read More
Clinical Challenges in Co-occurring Borderline Personality and Substance Use Disorders
November 1st 2006Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious illness involving multiple symptoms and mal adaptive behaviors. According to DSM-IV, “the essential feature of borderline personality disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects” (p. 650). This pervasive pattern of instability also applies to behaviors that are impulsive and potentially damaging, including excessive spending, sexual promiscuity, reckless driving, binge eating, and substance misuse.
Read More
Vision Loss and Depression in the Elderly
November 1st 2006The emotional and functional consequences of sensory impairment in older persons have not been well studied despite the increasing prevalence of vision loss, in particular, and its substantial adverse effects. This review examines the impact of vision loss on psychological health, discusses factors that may reduce its negative effects, and describes new in terventions to help older people cope with eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Read More
Pinpointing the Cause of Non-Alzheimer Dementia
November 1st 2006Many physicians, including psychiatrists, may shy away from seeing elderly patients with symptoms of dementia because they imagine that there are a large number of alternative diagnoses and that differential diagnosis is complicated. In fact, however, the number of possible diagnoses in most situations is relatively small and the diagnosis of dementia in older patients is certainly feasible in primary care psychiatry.
Read More
Real-World Office Management of ADHD in Adults
November 1st 2006Office management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differs in many important ways from ADHD management conducted in a research environment. In clinical trials, treatments and eligible patients are selected in advance by committees, patients are randomized to different management strategies, and both clinicians and pa tients are blinded to the treatments.
Read More
Keys to Successful Cotreatment
November 1st 2006For patients with psychiatric illnesses, the treatment team today often consists of a psychotherapist, psychiatrist, and/or primary care physician-all of whom are motivated to achieve the same goals. These include full remission of symptoms; improvement and restoration of function, quality of life, and relationships; and the delay and preferably prevention of recurrence of symptoms.
Read More