Two randomized controlled trials have shown the Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) program to be effective in reducing the intensity of core aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD), Dr Donald Black and social worker Nancee Blum announced at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association held recently in San Francisco. Black summarized, “Data from several studies show that STEPPS reduced global severity as rated by clinicians and patients, borderline personality disorder symptoms, and depressive symptoms.”

The fear of death has been hardwired into all of us, but therapists can help patients with death anxiety by providing powerful ideas along with a powerful human connection, said Irvin D. Yalom, MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, California. He is the author of a number of books on existentialism and psychotherapy, and most recently has written Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) produced improvements in key areas of cognition and in short-term verbal memory in patients with major depressive disorder, and no adverse cognitive effects were shown. The results of this research were presented by Mark Demitrack, MD, vice president and chief medical officer of Neuronetics, Inc, and colleagues at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in May.

An array of military-related presentations were given at this year’s American Psychiatric Association (APA) conference, addressing the rise of psychiatric issues in returning veterans and their families. These constitute a significant public health problem, according to Mary Helen Davis, MD, a member of the APA’s Committee on Mental Health of Veterans, Active Duty Military and Their Families. “Overall, approximately 20% of active duty and 42% of reserve troops have been identified as needing further mental health assessment and treatment post deployment,” Davis said.

In response to the resolution made in 2008 by the US Congress that proclaimed May to be borderline personality disorder (BPD) awareness month, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) decided to make BPD a key track of this year’s meeting. Among the several excellent presentations on BPD was Dr John G. Gunderson’s lecture on the ontogeny of the disorder. Having spent the past 30+ years studying BPD, both as a researcher and a clinician, Dr Gunderson of McLean Hospital of Harvard Medical School is an expert on the history of BPD.

New treatments for patients with schizophrenia may be on the horizon, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in San Francisco. While some of these therapies may help treat the negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, a few are associated with QTc interval prolongation.

Cardiovascular disease kills more people worldwide than everything else combined, said Dean Ornish, MD, cardiologist and clinical professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco. Dr Ornish is well known for his lifestyle-driven approach to the control of cardiovascular disease. Depending on the extent of personalized lifestyle changes, disease progression can be stopped and even reversed.

The molecular events that accompany drug abuse and addiction are different for women than for men, according to new studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). As yet, little if any of this knowledge has made its way into gender-based differences in pharmacological and behavioral treatments for addiction. But according to some of the speakers, it could and it should.

As transgender activists protested outside the American Psychiatric Association meeting, speakers at the meeting were presenting on the same topic: gender identity disorder. Some of their words would add clinical weight to the political slogans.

For almost 10 years, studies have shown that advanced paternal age may be a risk factor for schizophrenia in offspring. However, the risk of schizophrenia may also be higher in male offspring of fathers who are younger than 25 years, according to the results of a study presented at the 2009 American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.