Couch in Crisis

Many inmates are carried along in the structured, routine flow of the New Asylums without receiving treatment until their situation so demanded. In the case of Mr Henry, the demand came in the form of self-induced isolation.

Here, Mr Hazelwood answers questions about serial murderers that are commonly posed to him. The term serial murderer (or serial killer) was not even a part of the forensic lexicon until the 1970s . . .

“I’m so cold, so weary in my abandonment. Go and find my Mother, O Wind. Take me to the house I never knew.”

The recent spate of Op-Eds in the New York Times says it all: both the psychiatric profession and the general public have strong feelings about the pending DSM-5—what many in the media like to call “Psychiatry’s Bible.” These emotions are certainly understandable.

The New York Times recently ran a front-page story regarding numerous controversies surrounding the DSM-5, most notably, the issue of eliminating the so-called bereavement exclusion in diagnosing a major depressive episode. Here, Dr Pies responds to Dr John Grohol, Psychologist and Editor of the Psychcentral Web site.

Some months ago, I received a stern admonition from my family doctor. My fasting blood sugar of 99 mg/dL was “right on the border”, he said, and I had better work on bringing it down. “But,” I protested, “when I was in medical school (in the 70s), the normal FBS range went up to 110 mg/dL!” "Well,” he replied a bit huffily, “they changed the criteria!”

Maybe the “Occupy Wall Street” movement suggests a different kind of protest for this year’s APA meeting. What about “Occupy Medicine” for us psychiatrists?

Have you heard the news that citalopram should no longer be used at doses greater than 40 mg? Steven Moffic, MD, explores the issues surrounding this recent recommendation.

In psychiatry, it seems like our traditions are often ignored or discarded as being outdated. Do we not have some time-tested literature that is still relevant to our psychiatric times?