July 8th 2024
The 2024 American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology Annual Meeting brought together researchers and clinicians to engage in discussion, education, and dissemination of research findings and new methodologies.
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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Schizophrenia Risk May Be Higher in Male Offspring of Young Fathers
May 18th 2009For almost 10 years, studies have shown that advanced paternal age may be a risk factor for schizophrenia in offspring. However, the risk of schizophrenia may also be higher in male offspring of fathers who are younger than 25 years, according to the results of a study presented at the 2009 American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.
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About the Supplements: A Note to Our Readers
May 7th 2009In a highly charged environment in which reports of potential conflicts of interest between physicians and pharmaceutical companies dominate the headlines almost daily, we want to point out that the supplements that were mailed with this month’s issue of Psychiatric Times were based on meetings funded by drug companies. The supplement on treatment-resistant depression, which was sponsored by Lilly USA,includes an article that focuses on the company’s drug Symbyax.
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Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Severe Mental Illness
April 17th 2009Psychotropic treatment can often prevent the relapse of psychotic and mood symptoms. However, many patients take medication intermittently or not at all; or the symptoms may be only partially responsive to medication. Therefore, there is a need for interventions that can supplement the effect of medication and improve treatment outcomes.
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Comorbidity: Psychiatric Comorbidity in Persons With Dementia
April 16th 2009The assessment and treatment of psychiatric symptoms in persons with cognitive dysfunction are becoming increasingly important. Prevalence estimates of dementia in the United States range from 5% in those aged 71 to 79 years to 25% to 50% in those 90 or older.
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Cormorbidity: Diagnosing Comorbid Psychiatric Conditions
April 16th 2009Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of 5 neuro developmental conditions (autism, Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified [PDD-NOS], Rett syndrome, and disintegrative childhood disorder).1 Once thought to be rare, the incidence of these disorders is now estimated to be 1 in 150 children in the general population.2 Furthermore, the number of recognized cases has increased markedly in recent years.
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Comorbidity: Schizophrenia With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
April 15th 2009The co-occurrence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and psychotic illness has been a challenge for clinicians and investigators for more than a century. Over the past decade, interest in this area has burgeoned because of recognition of higher-than-chance comorbidity rates of schizophrenia and OCD.
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Medications cannot be marketed in the United States without an FDA determination that they are safe and effective for their intended use. To obtain such certification, pharmaceutical companies submit their products to rigorous scrutiny (eg, in vitro studies, animal studies, human clinical trials) and present the subsequent data to the FDA, which determines whether the medication in question is safe and effective for a specific purpose.
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Allegations of suppressed research, promotion of drugs for unapproved uses, payment of kickbacks to physicians, and ghostwriting of a major journal article surfaced recently when the Department of Justice unsealed a civil complaint against Forest Laboratories and Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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Cognitive Difficulties Associated With Mental Disorders
March 13th 2009Any person who once “drew a blank” during an exam is familiar with the horrors of cognitive difficulties: that terrible moment is for most of us so rare that it remains a traumatic memory for years to come. Imagine those who suffer from protracted cognitive difficulties.
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Cognitive Difficulties Associated With Depression What Are the Implications for Treatment?
March 11th 2009Subjective complaints of impaired concentration, memory, and attention are common in people with major depressive disorder (MDD), and research shows that a variety of structural brain abnormalities are associated with MDD.1 These findings have intensified the interest in quantitative assessment of cognitive and neuropsychological performance in patients with mood disorders. Many studies that used standardized cognitive tests have found that mild cognitive abnormalities are associated with MDD and that these abnormalities are more pronounced in persons who have MDD with melancholic or psychotic features
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FDA Considers Pediatric Indications for Antipsychotics
March 7th 2009The FDA Pediatric Advisory Committee met in November to review drug trials and safety data for several medications under consideration for pediatric-specific labeling. Drugs included the antipsychotics olanzapine (Zyprexa) and risperidone (Risperdal). Although not yet finding sufficient evidence of safety and efficacy in this population, the committee specified additional information that could be submitted for the applications to be reconsidered.
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Eli Lilly and Company pleaded guilty on January 30 to one misdemeanor violation of misbranding Zyprexa (olanzapine) by promoting it for dementia. However, a question raised by bloggers and others remains: did the drug benefit the elderly despite the fact it was not approved by the FDA for such purposes?
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“What Do You Mean, I Don’t Have Schizophrenia?”
February 2nd 2009My first job after residency involved working at a large Veterans Affairs hospital in an outpatient dual diagnosis treatment program that focused on the comorbidity of schizophrenia and cocaine dependence. Having recently completed a chief resident position at the same hospital’s inpatient unit that focused on schizophrenia without substance abuse, I was struck by how “unschizophrenic” my new patients were. They were organized and social. Their psychotic symptoms were usually limited to claims of “hearing voices,” for which insight was intact and pharmacotherapy was readily requested.
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Understanding and Managing Adolescent Disruptive Behavior
February 1st 2009The words attributed to Socrates resonate with the perspectives of many contemporary parents and clinicians.1 The endurance of the concern suggests something fundamental about the psychopathology of deviant, disruptive behavior of youth. Yet clinicians struggle to understand its origins, to help parents control their children, and to help the children control themselves. Clinically, this manifests in failed pharmacological treatments, incompleted courses of individual therapy, problems in engaging families in treatment, and controversies over which therapy is most effective.
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Eli Lilly Settles Zyprexa Suit for $1.42 Billion
February 1st 2009In a resolution that has been expected since October 2008, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly pled guilty to a criminal charge and has agreed to pay $1.42 billion in a settlement for what federal prosecutors called the illegal promotion of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa (olanzapine). The drug was found to increase the risk of severe adverse effects, including sudden cardiac death, heart failure, and life-threatening infections, in certain populations.
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Enhancing Suicide Risk Assessment Through Evidence-Based Psychiatry
January 2nd 2009Suicide risk assessment is a core competency that all psychiatrists must have.1 A competent suicide assessment identifies modifiable and treatable protective factors that inform patient treatment and safety management.2 Psychiatrists, unlike other medical specialists, do not often experience patient deaths, except by suicide. Patient suicide is an occupational hazard. A clinical axiom holds that there are 2 kinds of psychiatrists: those who have had patients commit suicide-and those who will.
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Metabolic Syndrome in Patients With Major Depressive DisorderAssociated Risk Factors
January 2nd 2009Although most studies have focused on the risk of metabolic syndrome for patients with schizophrenia exposed to atypical antipsychotics, other psychiatric patients appear to be at risk for metabolic disturbances as well.7-9 Major depressive disorder (MDD) may be of particular interest because it is much more common than schizophrenia and is treated with a broad range of psychotropics.
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Insanity Defense Evaluations - Basic Procedure and Best Practices
December 2nd 2008The insanity defense represents a prominent symbol of the relationship between law and psychiatry. Despite the fact that it is infrequently raised and seldom successful, the insanity defense is the subject of intense legal and public scrutiny.
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The term “paranoia,” derived from the Greek &lduo;para” (beside) and “nous” (mind), was coined as a descriptor of psychopathology by Heinroth in 1818.1 By the end of the 19th century, 50% to 80% of patients in asylums in German-speaking countries had received a diagnosis of paranoia.1 Beginning in 1899, Kraepelin’s efforts to define paranoia more precisely resulted in a decrease in diagnoses of paranoia in favor of dementia praecox and, later, schizophrenia.1,2 This narrowing of the definition of paranoia is reflected in current nosology and practice. In DSM-IV-TR, the prevalence of delusional disorder is estimated at 0.03% of the general population and accounts for 1% to 2% of psychiatric admissions. The prevalence of paranoid personality disorder is 0.5% to 2.5%; this condition accounts for 10% to 30% of psychiatric admissions.3
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Atypical Antipsychotics No Better Than Older Antipsychotics in Treatment Trial
November 2nd 2008Recent headlines point to research that suggests atypical antipsychotics are no more effective than their older counterparts in the treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia and psychosis.
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Underdiagnosing and Overdiagnosing Psychiatric Comorbidities
October 1st 2008Diagnostic assessment of psychiatric disorders and their comorbidities is a challenge for many clinicians. In emergency settings, there is no time to conduct lengthy interviews, and collateralinformation is often unavailable.
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The Dementias: Neuropsychiatric Syndromes of the 21st Century
October 1st 2008In the new century, the dementias will probably become 1 of the 2 or 3 dominant behavioral health problems in the United States. This article provides an overview of the major clinical features of these cognitive loss syndromes and emphasizes the perspective of the practicing psychiatrist.
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