Mark L. Ruffalo, MSW, DPsa

American psychiatry reexamines its roots in psychopathology, challenging DSM's validity and advocating for a return to understanding mental illness.

The strong emphasis on neuroscience in the 1990s and early 2000s is now giving way to a new psychiatric pluralism, one that increasingly views psychotherapy as real treatment and psychosocial factors as fundamental to understanding the causes and basic nature of psychopathology.

Borderline personality disorder represents 10% to 25% of the patients who would be considered to have borderline personality organization. Explore the complexities of its stigma and effective treatment strategies.

Discover the innovative Borderline Personality Disorder Inventory (BPD-I™), a psychodynamically-informed tool for assessing BPD symptoms effectively.

Are you ready to put the Psychopathology Refracted into 7 Modalities (PRiSM) Scale into practice? Learn more here.

A final argument on psychiatric diagnoses.

Is the complex posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosis being used to avoid the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder?

It is simply not the case that the DSM diagnostic categories are defined only by symptoms...

Diagnostic criteria are not the same as the disorders they identify.

Not knowing the pathophysiology of a condition does not mean we have no causal explanation of the patient’s suffering and incapacity.

What role does countertransference play in physician-assisted suicide? Learn more here.

Here are 5 reasons why we need to study the history of psychiatry.

Here's a look at the characteristic methods of communication among patients with BPD.

Given the paradoxical nature of borderline personality disorder, double bind communication appears to be a common method of engagement which ultimately serves only self-defeating purposes.

Is adult ADHD validated by research? These authors think not.

"The history of psychiatry is a history of fads in theory, diagnosis, and treatment. Such rapid shifts in conceptualization—such as the emergence of the concept of adult ADHD—almost always warrant informed critical examination."

Although psychotherapy is a core treatment in psychiatry, it is currently underutilized in the management of schizophrenia.

A frequent criticism of psychiatry: psychiatrists do not learn, practice, or value psychotherapy. Is it true?

Let’s revisit the therapist’s attitude toward the patient in the psychotherapy relationship.

How important is psychotherapy today?

How does treatment for self-blaming depression differ from treatment of other types of depression?

How does schizophrenia as a pathology differ from normal human experience?

The emergency department is a primary care location for patients with schizophrenia. Here’s how to manage schizophrenia in this particular setting in an informed and caring manner.

Why did medicine and psychotherapy part ways? How can they be brought back together?

First conceptualized over a century ago, conversion disorder continues to present a challenge to clinicians.

More than any other medical specialty, we sometimes feel compelled, and empowered, to treat patients against their will. With this comes two great responsibilities.

The long-lasting impact of psychoanalysis on American psychiatry should continue to be taught and celebrated, if only as a testament to the human ability to seek understanding and find meaning in man’s suffering.