A panel of experts at the APA Annual Meeting discussed how changes in DSM-5 may affect clinical practice. Highlights here.

A clinician’s notes and clinical records should document and defend treatment decisions, and are the best defense in court. Here: 3 key things every patient record should include.

According to Drew Ramsey, MD, the human brain needs to be nourished. To function properly, it requires omega-3 fatty acids, folate, fiber, choline, iron, zinc, and vitamins B12, D, and E among other nutrients. More on this presentation at this year's APA meeting.

Education and discussion will be the most powerful ways to mitigate the risks of DSM-5. The more people know about psychiatric diagnosis, the more safe, accurate, and useful it will be.

Certain aspects of depression result from maladaptive stress-induced changes in reward circuits of the brain. Dr Eric Nestler discusses in this video.

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.

Here: an expert describes the steps involved in a thorough, thoughtful capacity evaluation.

The British Psychological Society has issued a press release that rivals the silliness of DSM-5 and the National Institute of Mental Health.

Two problems persist in the treatment of severe mental illness that constitute a barrier to effective patient-centered care: excessive reliance on a limited number of antipsychotic medications at the expense of other effective treatments, and the underutilization of other evidence-based treatment options.

The flat out rejection of DSM-5 by National Institute of Mental Health is a sad moment for mental health--and an unsafe one for our patients. The APA and NIMH are both letting us down, failing to be safe custodians for the mental health needs of our country.

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.

Which of the following complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies may have beneficial effects on symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer disease (AD)?

This psychiatrist has learned to ask if his Hmong patients have also consulted a shaman to help with their depressive symptoms and with their PTSD.

Quick . . . name a class of prescription medications that, by most evidence, appears to be overprescribed and abused and the use of which has resulted in an increasing number of emergency department visits. If you said "opioids," you would be right.

How often are you confronted with an ethical dilemma in your clinical practice? How comfortable—and how prepared—are you to deal with these issues?

Being a Therapist features intimate portraits of psychotherapists in their own work spaces. An excerpt of his interview with Otto Kernberg, MD, follows.

Exploring treatment options such as N-acetylcysteine and bipolar-specific psychotherapies is on the horizon for this bipolar series. But with DSM-5 about to arrive, one more examination of bipolar diagnosis is warranted.

Come next year, psychiatrists will start seeing patients who have purchased new individual and small-group health plans on the state exchanges mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

When it comes to aging, is there anything to look forward to from a neurocognitive perspective? What can we do to protect our brains from cognitive and functional decline? In this podcast, geriatric psychiatrist Helen Lavretksy outlines strategies to stimluate and revitalize an aging brain.