Cultural Psychiatry

It may be difficult for our American and European colleagues to imagine the constraints under which Russian psychiatrists practice. In Russia, treatment of the psychiatric population is at the mercy of government and society.

How prevalent is dependence on amphetamines, cocaine, opioids, and other illicit drugs across the world? What is the associated disease burden? Insights here.

In order to make positive changes in the field of psychiatry, it is important to appreciate and understand the current challenges and significant limitations of the present approach to psychiatric therapy.

In the eyes of many, the current societal approach to the treatment of psychiatric disorders cannot possibly be considered humane. More in this commentary.

Insurers appear to have plenty of leeway to continue-or even expand-the kind of anti-psychiatrist policies at the core of 2 lawsuits filed last year. Details here.

PsychiatricTimes welcomes two new Editorial Board members, congratulates editor-in-chief, James Knoll, and introduces a reader advisory panel.

If clinicians are to take anything from the Johannesburg debacle, it is that we must be even more mindful of distress and despair. Like Poe’s purloined letter, profound sorrow may lie in plain sight under one’s clinical gaze-but not yet “thought upon.”

The mental health community was given some much needed relief when the Obama Administration implemented the final rule be put in place from the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. The new mandate will ensure that most health plans cover mental health and addiction services in the same way they treat other medical issues.

Here are a few of this year's popular features on our website, in no particular order.

In the opinion of this psychiatrist, the point of the MOC test isn’t to measure competence, but to convey the impression that competence was measured. The point of the test is to say that a test was given-and nothing else. More in this commentary.

"The main problem here is not that past DSM leaders were derelict or purely political. The problem is that they now say that they would place science below pragmatism," according to this clinician.

Five key events in 2013 will leave a longlasting mark on psychiatry. Here: a look at the impact that CPT coding, DSM-5, sunshine laws, a shrinking market for “shrinks,” and I-STOP are likely to have on our field.

In this brief video, Psychiatric Times’ new Editoral Board member talks about what DSM-5, the medical home, and the search for money to fund novel approaches to new psychiatric treatments may mean to the practice of psychiatry.

Various populations of patients can benefit from telepsychiatry. The goal is not to replace local mental health resources but to enhance existing capabilities. This article articulates successful interventions as well as topics to consider when developing a telepsychiatry service.

A patient’s spiritual “framework” can hold the key to therapeutic breakthroughs.

Articles on stigma, telepsychiatry, and designer drugs . . . matters germane, timely, and needed-that is what is here for you, our readers. Enjoy and learn.

At a moment when mental health is so much at the forefront of the minds of Americans and our media, it seems time, again, to try to understand the damaging views so commonly held about people with mental illness.

Noteworthy tweets in the world of mental health, week ending November 8, 2013, from NIMH, PsychCentral, Nature News, Time to Change, LA Times Health, and Neuro Skeptic.

Rorschach, inkblots. . . what do you see here?

Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries will pay more than $2.2 billion to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from allegations relating to the prescription drugs Risperdal, Invega and Natrecor, including promotion for uses not approved as safe and effective by FDA and payment of kickbacks to physicians and to the nation’s largest long-term care pharmacy provider.

Experts address specific concerns when treating the immigrant sector and describe supervised mental health services for uninsured, largely undocumented patients.

The depth and duration of medical training in psychiatric residency is yet to be determined, but given the increasing emphasis on integrated care, the role of psychiatrists is changing. More in this video.

The challenges of identifying patients at risk for alcohol withdrawal have been found to be mitigated by the development of a Risk Stratification Questionnaire, now being adopted by the VA regionally throughout New England. More in this video.

As the month of October comes to an end, we look at a handful of noteworthy tweets in the world of psychiatry.

Some serendipitous occurrences made me wonder (even as a rational psychiatrist) whether something spooky and supernatural had been transmitted to me by the shaman who conducted a "Mother Earth" ceremony. Here's what happened.

In this video, Dr Lloyd Sederer, Medical Director of the New York State Office of Mental Health; Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; and Mental Health Medical Editor for The Huffington Post discusses a topic close to his heart.

A range of psychiatrists are remembered-from pioneers in psychoanalysis to trance studies; from psychopharmacology to reality therapy; from the normality of homosexuality to the psychopathology of “brain fag” syndrome; from flowers to film; from childhood to old age; from everyday clinicians to courageous challengers of the status quo; and from student to expert.

Here, barriers to successful referral to a psychiatrist, principles of management of medically unexplained symptoms, and tips on when to refer a patient to a psychiatrist.

During the first half of the 19th century, the asylum appeared to offer an innovative way for society to humanely manage and effectively treat mental illness.