H. Steven Moffic, MD

As most mental health professionals know by now, psychiatry's D-Day is rapidly approaching. DSM-5 is scheduled to be officially released at the American Psychiatric Association meeting. However, there has never been an official treatment manual to complement the diagnostic one.

In our time, it seems that the number of psychiatrists who believe in a God are increasing, parallel with the decreasing influence of Freud’s ideas.

It is yet unclear whether the overwhelming shock of Newtown will galvanize action not only to prevent future mass murderers, but also to finally reduce the public health and mental health risks of more chronic, common, and routine gun violence in America.

The therapeutic effect of animals on humans. If we treat them well, they can provide healing to us.

In some expected and unexpected ways, the year 2012 seemed to be a watershed year for psychiatry.

What we know for sure is that for all the young children and adults who were killed in Newtown, their world ended a week ago. Soon after the tragedy, one of the fathers of a child killed tearfully pleaded for society to learn from what happened in order to prevent future mass murders. Here, recommendations from a psychiatrist.

In this time of Thanksgiving, the excerpt from “Thank Heaven for Little Girls,” most famously sung by Maurice Chevalier, conveys one of life’s blessings for fathers.

Now that President Obama has been re-elected, the Monday morning quarterbacking has begun. There were obvious policy differences and principles in the 2 campaigns. From a psychiatry perspective, the most interesting difference turned out to be in the candidates’ relationships with their fathers, a difference that led me to reflect on the role of fathers in today’s America.

Four years ago, the winning presidential slogan went: “Yes, we can. Yes, we can.” We haven’t heard that slogan this time around. Maybe we’ve come back down from this idealism to a more sobering reality.

R.I.P. Rest Inspiring Psychiatrists. I am grateful for having known you. In the brief comments that follow, in alphabetical order, here is how I would honor these departed psychiatrists.