Psychiatrists who are concerned with the perils of misdiagnosing a psychiatric presentation as primary mental illness will find Susannah Cahalan’s Brain on Fire of great interest.
This book draws together the entire spectrum of the relevant psychosocial dimensions and data necessary to adequately assist in the evaluation and treatment of patients who may be candidates for bariatric surgery.
Periprocedural advancements, including liberalization of concomitant and pre-treatment medications, add to the comfort and tolerability of ECT, but adverse effects do exist. More in this quiz.
Psychiatric Times presents exclusive coverage of the American Psychiatric Association Conference. Here we will report the latest news, resources, and updates from the 2013 APA Conference, the 166th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, May 18-22, 2013, in San Francisco, CA. Read More
Test your diagnostic skills and knowledge by quickly identifying and assessing various mental health disorders. The Psychiatric Times Diagnostic Champions' Challenge is meant to educate and entertain. Test your clinical acumen in this activity that is sure to make you think.… Read More
We've put many of the clinical scales online, hoping healthcare professionals—whether in specialty practices, primary-care settings, or emergency services—will find this format convenient. … Read More
In 1885, Georges Gilles de la Tourette, M.D., described in the Achives of Neurology a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by chronic motor and vocal tics that begin in childhood. During the next century, researchers demonstrated that the disorder, which came to be called Tourette's syndrome (TS), is probably inherited as a dominant gene that expresses with widely varying symptoms, even within monozygotic twin pairs.
"The Internet is like being in another world- you can pretend to be everything you ever wanted to be. There are no rules and no sense of time. In one hour you can tell each other all about yourselves. It's so interactive- question and answer and so quickly. No limits." Exhilaration was the expression of a 49-year-old divorced male gynecologist with the password "lady's doc."
Mood disorders and their impact on women and their families was the topic of a half-day conference held at New York City's Algonquin Hotel;, former haunt of the famous-and depressed- writer Dorothy Parker, who made at least one suicide attempt there in the early 1900s.
The past decade witnessed major strides in our understanding and treatment of affective disorders in adults, children and adolescents. One of the baffling problems in child and adolescent psychiatry was the question of psychiatric illness spanning a lifetime. The existence of depressive disorders in prepubertal children has been generally recognized and acknowledged since the 1960s; however, only in the last decade did evidence become available that supports the notion that depression in different ages represents the same entity, albeit manifesting different clinical symptoms in each developmental period (Cytryn and others 1986).
Reflecting today's surging interest in computers and what they can do for mental health professionals, it was standing room only at many of the 19 computer-related presentations offered at the American Psychiatric Association's 149th annual meeting, more than triple the number included at last year's convention.
The development of computerized speech dictation has been a long-standing goal of mental health professionals who spend an extraordinary amount of time and money on dictating patient records.
In what well may be a first in the managed behavioral health care industry, the New Jersey Psychological Association (NJPA) and seven psychologists filed a lawsuit against MCC Behavioral Care Inc. contesting the firm's utilization of "without cause" termination contract provisions. The case may break new ground in the way managed care companies interact with providers, and may question whether managed care companies can deselect providers despite the potential harm to patients.
With the exploding growth of the Internet, more and more people are going on-line. Mental health professionals are finding discussion groups filled with like-minded researchers and practitioners in every aspect of the field. Laypeople are discovering the value and enrichment that mutual self-help support groups and educational materials lend to their treatment. It is important, if not invaluable, to become familiar with this new world of opportunity and to learn about what's currently available and what's coming in future years.
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DSM-5: If You Don't Like the Effects, Look at the Causes •“‘Post-modern’” outlook on psychiatric diagnosis often leads to cynicism and nihilism—as if to say, ‘Nobody really knows anything about anything, and we shouldn’t trust anybody!’ Actually, there is a good deal of secure and well-founded scientific knowledge in psychiatry. ” Add your response...
Migraine and Psychiatric Comorbidity •“Sleep-related bruxism is high among those with fibromyalgia, anxiety, and migraines—but it is often overlooked as a dental problem. A long-acting benzodiazepine at night can make a big difference in patients with migraines who clinch or grind their teeth.” Add your response...
Can a Suicide Scale Predict the Unpredictable? •“The multifaceted nature of suicide requires both formal tools indicated in this article, as well as an awareness of changes in the patient (eg, outlook, behavior, attitude)—these and other factors may indicate suicide risk.” Add your response...
Eco-psychiatry? If you’re thinking, “Aren’t I already dealing with a lot in my daily practice?” you are invited to spend the next few minutes listening to what Dr Steven Moffic has to say about how the environment may be affecting your patients and what impact ecologically-related syndromes might have on DSM-5.
Thinking about suicidal behavior as a diagnosable problem will help bridge the gap in how psychiatrists think about suicidality and how it is perceived by patients and their families. Dr Maria Oquendo elaborates in this video.
Primary Care Can't Thrive Without Nurse Practitioners Courtney H. Lyder, ND, May 17, 2013 With a projected shortfall of primary-care physicians, it's time for alternate solutions to patient care. Nurse practitioners are one logical remedy.
ADHD can persist into adulthood and have a significant impact on a person's relationships, careers, and even safety. The ASRS (Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale) is a checklist of 18 questions about symptoms that are based on the diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV. The patient answers the questions and a positive score suggests the need for a thorough clinical evaluation with a healthcare professional.
The Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (BSDS) was developed by Ronald Pies, MD and was later refined and tested by S. Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH and colleagues. The BSDS arose from Pies’s experience as a psychopharmacology consultant, where he was frequently called on to manage cases of “treatment-resistant depression.” In Pies’s experience, most of these cases eventually proved to be undiagnosed bipolar spectrum disorder.