April 26th 2024
What is new in research on posttraumatic stress disorder?
Clinical Consultations™: Considerations for Customizing Care Plans for Patients with Parkinson Disease Psychosis
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Advances In™ Schizophrenia: Expanding the Therapeutic Landscape
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Expert Illustrations & Commentaries™: Visualizing New Therapeutic Targets in Schizophrenia
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Southern California Psychiatry Conference
September 13-14, 2024
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Updates on New and Emerging Therapies to Improve Outcomes for Patients With Major Depressive Disorder
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5th Annual International Congress on the Future of Neurology®
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2023 Annual Psychiatric Times™ World CME Conference
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Clinical Consultations™: Managing Depressive Episodes in Patients with Bipolar Disorder Type II
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Patient, Provider, and Caregiver Connection™: Exploring Unmet Needs In Postpartum Depression – Making the Case for Early Detection and Novel Treatments
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Medical Crossfire®: Understanding the Advances in Bipolar Disease Treatment—A Comprehensive Look at Treatment Selection Strategies
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'REEL’ Time Patient Counseling: The Diagnostic and Treatment Journey for Patients With Bipolar Disorder Type II – From Primary to Specialty Care
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Real Psychiatry 2025
January 2025 - Exact Date TBA
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More Than ‘Blue’ After Birth: Managing Diagnosis and Treatment of Post-Partum Depression
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Patient, Provider & Caregiver Connection™: Reducing the Burden of Parkinson Disease Psychosis with Personalized Management Plans
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Lifetime Psychiatric Comorbidity of Illicit Drug Use Disorders
April 1st 2007What is comorbidity? Psychiatric comorbidity refers to the occurrence of 2 or more mental or substance use disorders within a certain period. Research shows that comorbidity of substance use and other psychiatric disorders is common and often worsens the prognosis for each disorder.
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This study determined the prevalence of at-risk drinking in a psychiatric emergency service (PES) and compared the characteristics and functioning of at-risk drinkers with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder with those of at-risk drinkers with depression or anxiety disorders. Of the adult patients who entered the PES and met study criteria, 148 had schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and 242 had depression or anxiety.
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Comorbidity of Bipolar and Panic Disorders and Its Consequences
March 1st 2007Panic disorder occurs in about 1 in 5 individuals who have bipolar disorder. Anxiety amplifies the distress caused by depression and mania, but pharmacological approaches are tricky and under-studied. Frequent comorbidity and evidence of a possible genetic relationship of bipolar and panic disorders are suggestive of a causal relationship between the 2. Thus, it may be fruitful to look more closely at evidence for common biological abnormalities in both disorders to find a pathophysiological mechanism that links mania, depression, and panic attacks. Mood episodes and panic attacks can both be modeled as the result of deficits in amygdala-mediated emotional conditioning. From this model, some insight may be gained for potentially helpful treatment strategies for the 2 disorders when they occur together.
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Pathological Computer Game Use
March 1st 2007According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are approximately 50,000 violent deaths each year in the United States. Until recently, there were no comprehensive data available to the public regarding these deaths. It was with this in mind that the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) was created, not only to provide statistics of reported violent deaths, but also to educate and possibly prevent more violent deaths from occurring.
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Treatment of Somatic Symptoms in Generalized Anxiety Disorder
March 1st 2007Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive or unrealistic anxiety and worries about life circumstances. In the general population, the prevalence of GAD is 2% to 5%. It is the most frequent anxiety disorder seen in primary care, where 22% of patients complain of anxiety problems.1 DSM-IV lists 6 somatic symptoms associated with GAD: restlessness, increased fatigability, difficulty in concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance. These symptoms may present with hyperarousal, hypervigilance, and heightened muscle tension; autonomic symptoms are milder than in other anxiety disorders and can be absent.
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PTSD: Treatment Efficacy and Future Directions
March 1st 2007Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe and often chronic anxiety disorder that can develop following exposure to an event involving actual or perceived threat to the life or physical integrity of oneself or another person. Epidemiological studies such as the National Comorbidity Survey1 estimate that more than half the population of the United States has experienced one or more traumatic events and that 8% of the population has met criteria for lifetime PTSD. Thus, trauma and PTSD are significant mental health problems.
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Delirium: Emergency Evaluation and Treatment
March 1st 2007Delirium is a disorder that lies at the interface of psychiatry and medicine. It is an acute organic syndrome caused by an underlying medical condition and is defined clinically by disturbances in cognitive function, attention, and level of consciousness.1 Delirium is considered a syndrome because of the constellation of signs and symptoms associated with the disorder, coupled with a wide variety of potential etiologies.
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Clinical Assessment and Management of Pathological Gambling
March 1st 2007Pathological gambling (PG) is characterized by persistent and recurrent maladaptive patterns of gambling behavior (eg, a preoccupation with gambling, the inability to control gambling behavior, lying to loved ones, illegal acts, and impaired social and occupational functioning).1 With past-year prevalence rates similar to those of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,2 it is apparent that PG has become a significant public health issue. The aim of this article, therefore, is to introduce clinicians to the assessment and treatment of PG with the hope that early interventions will reduce the considerable personal and social costs associated with the disorder.
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Mental Illness in US Latinos Addressed in Survey, Outreach Efforts
March 1st 2007Early findings from a national study are shedding light on differences in the type and prevalence of mental disorders in US-born and immigrant Latinos, as well as differences among Latinos from various countries of origin.
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The Link Between Psychotic Disorders and Substance Use
January 1st 2007Psychotic disorders are a group of syndromes characterized by positive symptoms, including hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorder; and negative symptoms, including mood symptoms, social withdrawal, and reduced motivation. Cognitive deficits also appear with psychotic disorders. Psychotic disorders rank 22nd in the World Health Organization's list of worldwide causes of disability. This ranking is adjusted for the relatively low lifetime prevalence rate for psychosis; the perceived burden of the disease on those affected with psychotic disorders, as well as their relatives and caregivers, is much higher.
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Intermittent Explosive Disorder: Common but Underappreciated
January 1st 2007Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is not yet on the radar screens of many psychiatrists, but it is more prevalent than panic disorder and warrants extensive research and attention, 2 experts on IED said recently.
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Schizophrenia and Substance Abuse: Is There a Role for Atypical Antipsychotics?
January 1st 2007The prevalence of substance use disorders in patients with schizophrenia is greater than the rate observed in the general population, with a dramatic increase since the 1970s. Several theories exist to explain the high rate of comorbidity. The "self-medication" hypothesis suggests that persons may abuse substances to treat underlying psychotic symptoms or adverse effects of medications commonly used to treat schizophrenia.
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Substance Abuse in Women: Does Gender Matter?
January 1st 2007There has been a growing awareness in recent years of the importance of gender in medical treatment and research. While much past research in addiction focused on men, there is now recognition that biologic and psychosocial differences between men and women influence the prevalence, presentation, comorbidity, and treatment of substance use disorders.
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Compulsive Buying Disorder Affects 1 in 20 Adults, Causes Marked Distress
December 1st 2006More than 1 in 20 adults nationwide suffer from compulsive buying, according to a telephone survey of 2500 adults. And contrary to popular opinion, “compulsive buying appears to be almost as common in men as in women,” according to Lorrin M. Koran, MD, first author of a recently published prevalence study of compulsive buying behavior in the United States. Six percent of women and 5.5% of men in the study reported symptoms considered to be consistent with compulsive buying disorder.
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Issues and Challenges in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Mentally Ill Hispanic Patients
December 1st 2006Despite the accepted validity of Hispanic as a distinct demographic and cultural category, we have only fragmentary evidence and scarce guidelines regarding the treatment of mentally ill Hispanic Americans. This article provides a brief review of the topics with the most clinical relevance to diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders in Hispanic Americans.
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From Our Readers Psychiatric Evaluation and Time Constraints
November 1st 2006Certainly, with the advent of the atypicals, it has become almost too easy to forget about doing an Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) checklist. Given the time and reimbursement constraints of current psychiatric practice, however, it is close to impossible to find time for clinical rating scales.
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Racial, Ethnic Variables Shape the Experience of Chronic Pain
November 1st 2006That depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and other neuropsychological conditions are often associated with chronic pain isn't news to most neurologists. But physicians who do not specialize in pain management are largely unaware of a growing body of research suggesting that the race (a genetic classification) or ethnicity (a cultural classification) of a patient with chronic pain may determine the patient's risk of neuropsychological symptoms.
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Real-World Office Management of ADHD in Adults
November 1st 2006Office management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differs in many important ways from ADHD management conducted in a research environment. In clinical trials, treatments and eligible patients are selected in advance by committees, patients are randomized to different management strategies, and both clinicians and pa tients are blinded to the treatments.
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Treatment-Resistant Anxiety Disorders: Neurotrophic Perspectives
October 31st 2006Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in the United States. Although effective treatments are available, such as the SSRIs and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), it is estimated that in about 40% of patients, anxiety disorders are partially or completely resistant to first-line treatment.
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Neurotransmitters, Pharmacologic Synergy, and Clinical Strategies
October 31st 2006Although studies now suggest that some psychotropic medication regimens have a somewhat higher success rate than the one-third rule would have predicted, psychiatrists are still left with the problem of why it is that only one third to one half of patients who are treated get better, and why fewer still sustain that improvement over time
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Addressing Psychiatric Comorbidities in Patients With Epilepsy
October 1st 2006In a presentation given at the midyear meeting of the American Epilepsy Society, Andres Kanner, MD cited studies from the literature showing that the rates of depression, anxiety, psychosis, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are significantly higher among persons with epilepsy than among the general population
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Treating Adolescents With Major Depression and an Alcohol Use Disorder
October 1st 2006Alcohol is the drug of choice for adolescents, with cigarettes and marijuana being second and third. Contrary to widespread belief, alcohol dependence is most common in 18- to 20-year-olds, with progressively decreasing rates of alcohol dependence in older age groups.
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