From the Pages of Psychiatric Times: June 2022

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In the June issue of Psychiatric Times^TM, we worked with experts from multiple areas in psychiatry to bring you thoughtful articles about a wide variety of psychiatric issues, from youth mental health in competitive sports to the implications of civil commitment for substance use disorders. Here are some highlights from the issue.

Civil Commitment for Substance Use Disorders: Coercion or Compassion?

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The United States of America has entered the third year under siege from not just 1, but 2 epidemics: COVID-19 and addiction. Each scourge has multiplied the victims and magnified the death toll of the other; together, they have caused immeasurable suffering and loss.² On November 17, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made the grim announcement that annual overdoses passed the 100,000 mark. The 100,306 tragic deaths represent a nearly 30% increase from the prior year. Fatalities from synthetic and semisynthetic opioids, especially fentanyl, along with methamphetamine and cocaine were all higher in the past 12 months than in the period before.³ The vast majority of those who overdosed would meet criteria for a substance use disorder (SUD). Continue Reading

An Update on the Presentation, Nosology, and Causes of Postpartum Psychosis

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Postpartum psychosis (PP) is an umbrella term for the impairing and isolating psychotic-mood symptoms experienced by a small proportion of women (1 to 2 women every 1000 deliveries) shortly after childbirth. Despite being recognized for centuries, the condition has historically been understudied. However, over the past 10 to 15 years, stimulated by a growing interest in women’s health and increasing crosstalk among biomedical practitioners in diverse fields, we are finally starting to characterize PP more comprehensively and beginning to understand its associated risk factors and biological basis. Continue Reading

On Thin Ice: Competitive Sports & Youth Mental Health

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Your patient is 15 years old. Legally, they cannot smoke, they cannot drink, they cannot drive or make decisions for themselves. But they are pressured to take a cocktail of drugs, vitamins, and supplements, limit their diets, wear skin-tight costumes, and compete under a global microscope. There, the whole world watches them shine…or delights in their failures. What do you advise your patient and their family caregivers? Continue Reading

Navigating to a Broader Population of First-Episode Patients

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One of the core and troubling lessons that I learned during my psychiatric residency in the late 1980s continues to haunt me. For patients with serious mental illnesses (SMI), the greater the duration of time before a patient is diagnosed and enters treatment, the longer a symptomatic episode lasts, the more episodes the patient has, the less adherent the patient is with treatment, the more psychosocial stressors the patient is challenged by, the greater the presence of comorbid substance abuse, and the more disconnected the patient becomes from mainstream society, the worse the patient’s long-term prognosis will be. Intuitively, this is simply common sense. Continue Reading

See the full June issue of Psychiatric Times^TM here. And be sure to stay up-to-date by subscribing to the Psychiatric Times^TM E-newsletter.

Do you have a comment on any of these or other articles? Have a good idea for an article and want to write? Interested in sharing your perspectives? Write to us at PTeditor@mmhgroup.com.