Suicide 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.

In 2001, depressive disorders were the third leading cause of disability in Western industrialized countries.

In 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.

Elder abuse is a concern for all practitioners who care for elderly patients or their family members. An elderly person’s fears of aging and dependence may be heightened by stories and news accounts of abuse. Medical and psychiatric care is fundamental in the identification, treatment, and mitigation of clinical effects of elder abuse, and physician documentation often provides evidence crucial for investigations of elder abuse.

According to the World Health Organization, by 2020, depression will be second only to heart disease as a cause of disability and premature death in established market economies. With unsatisfactory monoamine-based pharmacotherapy and the high comorbidity of medical illnesses in depression, the serotonin hypothesis seems to be insufficient in determining the cause of depression. Recently, ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have been gaining attention as a promising alternative treatment for mood disorders, based on epidemiological evidence, preclinical trials, case-control studies, and clinical trials. This review provides an overview of the efficacy, safety, and possible mechanisms of action of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the treatment of depression.

Impulsivity and compulsivity are natural behaviors controlled by brain mechanisms that are essential for survival in all species. Understanding these brain mechanisms may lead to targeted treatment strategies for these symptom domains when impulsivity and compulsivity become dysfunctional. Pathological impulsivity and compulsivity characterize a broad range of mental disorders and are the core and most debilitating symptoms, at least phenotypically, in some of the disorders in which these behaviors occur.