Worldwide, nonfatal deliberate self-harm is common among young people. However, when studying this phenomenon, methodological issues arise. Differences between genders have been found in presenting to the hospital following self-harm and in motive for engaging in this troubling behavior.
In the second part of this series, read about the special issues psychiatrists face when treating women, children and adolescents, and elderly people with bipolar disorder and dementia. What are the recommendations for care and monitoring strategies to maintain patients on effective, long-term treatment regimens?
Hostage and barricade situations occur frequently in law enforcement practice. Commonly, police deal with hostage/barricade subjects whose motivation is influenced by psychiatric illness, substance abuse or extreme emotional states. It has been argued that mentally ill people comprise 50% of all hostage/barricade subjects. How can psychiatrists assist in defusing these intense situations?
Are the metabolic side effects of the atypical antipsychotics fueling the next round of malpractice suits being filed against psychiatrists? Guidelines are being created, but how can clinicians protect themselves and their patients, while continuing to give their patients the best care available?
Although a lot remains to be learned, much is already known about the early childhood characteristics that predispose children to antisocial behavior and violence in adolescence and early adulthood, an expert in psychopathology said recently at a National Institutes of Health conference.
Despite the increasing number of elderly nursing home patients with dementia or Alzheimer's disease, there are problems providing appropriate care. Two of the major difficulties are lack of Medicare reimbursement and poor staff training. How can we better care for these elderly patients?
It has been well established that there is a high incidence of depression in conjunction with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. What are the best assessment and diagnostic methods, and which treatments will produce the best results?
The relationship between depression and epilepsy is bidirectional as not only are patients with epilepsy at higher risk of developing depression but patients with depression have a three- to sevenfold higher risk of developing epilepsy. Several studies have found that the presence of depression in patients with intractable epilepsy was a stronger predictor of poor quality of life than the frequency and severity of seizures. The principles of managing depression in epilepsy are reviewed in this article.
Despite the fact that awareness of HIV and AIDS transmission is pervasive, risky sexual behavior has been increasing in many parts of the world in recent years, with a concomitant rise in new cases of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Is sexual research still an orphan as far as recognition and funding? Yes. Yet sex and sexuality issues affect the quality of each person's life. As the articles in this Sex & Sexuality bonus issue show, sexual health remains in the physician's domain in this millennium and beyond.
An Illinois draft plan to screen children and pregnant women for mental illness has stirred controversy and raised questions about some elements of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report. Some critics fear the Illinois case sets a worrying precedent for mental health care throughout the United States.
Whoever you are, I am writing to make contact, to get my message to someone who will understand. It is Friday, 7 p.m. and I've just finished my fifth phone call to a managed care automaton in 800-Land, my patient on a gurney in the ER with an IV in his arm, and they've finally agreed to pay for one hospital day.
The postpartum period represents a time of increased vulnerability for women, though postpartum disorders are often under-recognized and undertreated.
The diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children remains controversial. One of the more disturbing facets of its presentation in such young patients is the presence of hypersexual behavior. How can these behaviors be differentiated from the effects of abuse and other psychiatric disorders?
Geriatric psychotherapy has begun to receive consistent and supportive attention in the psychiatric literature. Despite this growing interest in psychotherapy for older adults, studies of efficacy of either psychotherapy alone or of combined treatments for older patients are still limited in number, and more attention to the issue is needed.
A greater understanding of how the brain works, including the effect of environment on it development, has led to advances in diagnosing and treating psychopathology. The latest findings will be presented at an international meeting, along with a discussion of how much work is to be done and the great need for qualified child psychiatrists, especially in developing countries.
Although light therapy is an old treatment, new therapeutic uses are being researched. What is the optimal time and strength of light treatment to best help patients with depressive disorders?
As society and the definition of family in the West changes, fathers in the 21st century face emotional and psychological obstacles to a healthy parent-child relationship. This article examines professional interventions and other resources that can help prepare fathers to be effective parents.
A cross-cultural comparison of suicide in old age, including a discussion of recent epidemiological trends in suicide rates. The authors also discuss the impact of social and cultural variables on the detection of depression and the formulation of suicide prevention strategies.
Beginning a therapeutic relationship with an adolescent patient requires an understanding of the family dynamics and the patient's experience of their unique stage of life. In this rapidly evolving population, a thoughtful approach is essential to prevent many of the pitfalls in treating adolescents.
What are the current policy barriers to effective addiction treatment, and how can they be overcome? Attendees at the American Society of Addiction Medicine's Annual Meeting heard about new and innovative ways of helping patients suffering from substance abuse.
There appears to be a subgroup of children and adolescents who, despite repeated brief hospitalizations, do not improve, but along the way, these patients accumulate medications. During long-term residential treatment, however, these patients do improve and their medications are reduced.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy can be tailored for use with children who have experienced sexual abuse in order to relieve symptoms of PTSD.
Evidence is growing that trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is an effective treatment for sexually abused children, including those who have experienced multiple other traumatic events. This article reviews the research that has examined treatments for sexually abused children and suggests future research priorities in this regard.
The past two decades have ushered in a new era of methodological advances in tools for noninvasive imaging of the living brain. The information gleaned from advances in neuroimaging have been used to provide insights into ADHD's etiology, diagnosis and treatment.
