The 2024 APA Annual Meeting: Saturday, May 4

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CONFERENCE REPORTER

The 2024 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting is in full swing. Here are some highlights from Saturday, May 4, in Psychiatric Times®.

ADHD, Stimulant Use, and Failure to Thrive in Pediatric Patients

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Addressing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while ensuring the proper physical development of child and adolescent patients can be a challenge. A holistic, multidisciplinary approach to managing failure to thrive (FTT)—a condition in which children do not grow at a rate for their age—is critical. This includes a psychiatric consultation to address comorbidities.

The poster, “Stimulant Use in Pediatric ADHD: Balancing Behavioral Management and Physical Development - A Case Study and Literature Review,” presented at the 2024 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, reviewed the current literature on the relationship between stimulant use and FTT. To demonstrate findings, it presented a new case involving an adolescent patient with comorbid ADHD and conduct disorder. Continue Reading

A Protocol to Assist With Cannabis Use Disorder

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Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug. Approximately 19.5% of users develop a cannabis use disorder (CUD), which, as of 2021, equates to about 16.3 million individuals. Unfortunately, few of those seeking treatment for CUD can achieve a substantial reduction or abstain from cannabis use. Furthermore, cannabis withdrawal syndrome impacts about half of those who use regularly.

Presenters of, “Motivational Enhancement and Cannabis Use: Implementing a Brief Cannabis Cessation Protocol,” one of the starting sessions of the 2024 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, sought to help attendees identify barriers to improvement, engagement, and change in CUD, as well as share their brief cannabis cessation protocol to increase patient motivation for change. Continue Reading

The Failed Concept of Treatment Resistance

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According to some estimates, about 20% to 60% of psychiatric diagnoses eventually become labeled “treatment resistant,” yet psychiatry seems to lack a consensus on what “treatment resistance” means, including clear criteria, H. Paul Putman III, MD, told Psychiatric Times in an exclusive interview.

Putman, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow and former Laughlin Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists (ACP), led the session “Encountering Treatment Resistance and Finding Solutions” at the 2024 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in New York City, May 3-8, 2024.1 In his presentation, he explored the concept of treatment resistance and how these cases may actually be a result of treatment failure. The goal, he noted, is to help patients, including those whose initial outcomes are disappointing. Continue Reading

See more coverage from the 2024 APA Annual Meeting in Psychiatric Times here. And be sure to stay up-to-date by subscribing to the Psychiatric Times E-newsletter.

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