An item in the Boston Globe recently caught my eye. Apparently, a man who was fired by a large corporation for visiting an adult "chat room" while at work is suing the company. The man is claiming he is an "Internet addict" who "deserves treatment and sympathy rather than dismissal." Another item reported recently concerned a lawyer who argued that her client was not responsible for a rampage that he had committed because he "had been obsessed with comic book superheroes as a kid."
In this article we discuss psychoneuroendocrine influences on sexual orientation and the psychodynamics of internalized homophobia. Because of space limitations, we focus on homosexual orientation, although research in this area sheds light on heterosexual and bisexual orientation as well.
Among 25 to 30 million Americans in whom depression is diagnosed annually, 18 to 25 million are treated with antidepressants, of which 90% are SSRI or non-selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressants, the most frequently prescribed medications for all outpatients aged 18 to 65 years.
Any sexual behavior--normal or abnormal, masturbatory or partnered--ultimately rests on biological elements, psychological elements, interpersonal elements, and cultural concepts of normality and morality.
Ejaculatio praecox, or premature (rapid, early) ejaculation (PE), is a prevalent male sexual complaint. It may be part of the normal ejaculation variability in men, but it may also be the symptom of an ejaculatory dysfunction.
A new set of guidelines confirms the value of psychotherapy, medications-including SSRIs-and combinations of therapy in managing anxiety disorders in children.
Epidemiological studies report a lifetime prevalence rate of 24.9% for (any) anxiety disorder. Feelings of anxiety can also be related to normal fear of pain, loneliness, ridicule, illness, injury, grief, or death. In both these types of situations, anxiety can be difficult to deal with. Consequently, benzodiazepines, which offer almost immediate symptomatic relief for anxiety, can be quite appealing to many persons.
This May, the FDA called for a black box warning on antidepressants to indicate that patients aged 18 to 24 years are at heightened risk for treatment-emergent suicidality. But a member of the FDA advisory committee that recommended that warning has issued his own warning, saying that the "real killer in this story is untreated depression and the possible risk from antidepressant treatment is dwarfed by that from the disease."
Nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson disease [PD] are diverse and include sleep disorders, depression, and pain," reported Carlo Colosimo, MD, assistant professor of neurology at La Sapienza University in Rome. He noted that a screening tool is needed.
Initial symptoms include personality changes and the gradual appearance of small involuntary movements. These move- ments progress to frank chorea, ballism, and dystonia. Later in the disease course, a bradykinetic parkinsonian phenotype manifests. It is characterized by rigidity, severe dystonia, and contractures. Falls are common. Dysphagia is common as well and is progressive, becoming severe and often contributing to death from aspiration pneumonia.
Thus, a young woman describes her ex-boyfriend who had Tourette syndrome (TS), the impact of which caused their breakup. TS affects approximately 1 in 100 Americans and is marked by a fluctuating course of multiple motor and phonic tics, which can have devastating social, physical, and psychological consequences for the patient.
For 2 decades Maggie McPhersun's physicians had attributed her fatigue, episodes of choking, and periodic imbalance and numbness to chronic fatigue or depression. But the 51-year-old registered nurse and artist from Brunswick, Maine, knew that something was very wrong. When an MRI finally revealed multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions, the first thing McPhersun felt was relief. She finally had a sensible explanation for her symptoms.
Civilian cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) account for more than 50,000 deaths annually and represent about 50% of deaths attributed to physical injury. These injuries are a significant medical and socioeconomic burden and represent one of the leading public health problems in the United States. However, thanks to injury prevention and changes in hospital admission practices, a decline of almost 50% in civilian hospitalizations for TBI has been observed since 1980, with many patients now treated on an outpatient basis.
Involuntary Emotional Expression Disorder Often Misdiagnosed and Untreated
In this article, we examine the relationship between anxiety disorders and SDs, using DSM-IV-TR categories, although we are conscious of the limits of this approach. In doing so, we will consider not only the dichotomy between normal and pathological functioning but also the issue of sexual satisfaction as part of wellness.
Alejandro Gonzales's Babel is a meditation on the barriers to communication in a world divided by class, culture, and language. Although his vision is dark, he never surrenders to cynicism. His Babel, unlike the Bible story, holds out the promise of a universal language of the human heart. Psychiatrists know this language as empathy--the wordless connection that is the art form of every caring profession.
Mounting evidence shows that patients with bipolar disorder benefit significantly when their families are involved in treatment. Despite the challenges entailed, clinicians can successfully implement a family-focused approach if they’re willing, flexible and patient.
Democratic control of Congress may result in the dislodging of a long-stuck bill authorizing an unspecified amount of additional federal funding for research into postpartum depression. But in hearings in a House subcommittee recently, Republicans voiced an intention to add postabortion depression to the bill's focus.
Twenty years after the initial meeting of the International Congress for Schizophrenia Research (ICSR), this year's biennial ICSR remained true to its mission to serve as a venue for active researchers. ICSR hosted investigators in neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, basic and clinical psychopharmacology, psychosocial interventions, and genetics.
The Casebook of a Residential Care Psychiatrist is knowledgeable, humorous, compassionate, and historical, with a strong plea that the mental health community become more involved in the rehabilitation of patients in RCFs.
To assist in meeting the daunting challenge of medication management, the Clinical Manual of Geriatric Psychopharmacology is a valuable, up-to-date resource for any clinician who prescribes for elderly patients.
Response to SSRIs, the most frequently used first-line agents for major depression, tends to be slow, and full remission is obtained by fewer than half of treated patients.
Medication adherence is a particular challenge for patients with first-episode schizophrenia. In addition to physician and patient concerns about adverse effects of antipsychotics, many patients at this stage are particularly resistant to continuing medications over the long term.
One of the major challenges in child psychiatry is teaching the essentials of the field to the general physician or medical school student who needs some understanding of developmental issues and psychopathology. Dorothy Stubbe's contribution to this challenge is a small and well-written handbook published as part of the series, Practical Guides in Psychiatry.
Dr. Harvey Roy Greenberg briefly discusses the inaccuracies of psychiatry in today's movies and television shows.
Poetry of the Times
From our Readers
Perceptions
In past discussions on brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), parallels were drawn between emerging applications and the idea of the "bionic man." However, a presentation by John P. Donoghue, PhD, during a "Hot Topics" plenary session on May 2 at the 59th Annual Meeting of American Academy of Neurology in Boston suggests that current neural interface technology is much more about the marvels of the human neuron and will than about machinery.