Ronald W. Pies, MD

“Even after the Pittsburgh shootings, our ability to empathize suggests otherwise,” writes Ronald W. Pies, MD, in a commentary regarding the nature and origin of hatred.

This is not yet another philosophical discourse arguing against physician-assisted suicide. This piece is about life with dignity-even amidst its raw and ravaging agonies.

The authors discuss two fundamental misconceptions: the myth of the patient’s autonomy, and the myth of the incurability of the patient’s illness.

The thorny issue of “end-of-life care” is likely to remain controversial in the US, with physicians themselves holding a wide variety of views.

Why aren’t we Americans as happy as we should be, given all the wonderful things we have in our lives?

Labeling a (clinically unexamined) public figure as "dangerous" can do as much or more harm as promulgating a specific psychiatric diagnosis.

Imagination and psychosis are different categories of experience, and should not be confused or conflated.

We can encourage more responsible media coverage of mass shootings in an effort to cut down on “copy-cat” killings. Here are 4 guidelines.

No, there is no generalized epidemic of mental illness in the US, nor credible evidence that psychiatric drugs are driving up rates or severity of mental illness. But there is an urgent need for more and better treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Six fundamental assumptions underlie the medical model most psychiatrists use in their clinical work.

There are no simple solutions to the plight of the terminally ill patient. With commentary by Cynthia Geppert, MD.

The nightmarish reality of psychosis is vividly detailed by Deborah Danner, a woman with self-described schizophrenia, recently shot to death by a New York City policeman.

The supposed “epidemic” of mental illness turns out to be mostly a myth in the US adult population, 2000-2015.

The ethical core of the Goldwater Rule is sound, but the rule needs clearer and more nuanced language.

The authors examine the literature on "quality of life" and how antipsychotics improve that for patients with schizophrenia.

Should doctors be legally allowed to assist terminally ill patients in committing suicide?

For patients suffering the chronic, debilitating symptoms of schizophrenia, antipsychotic medication is a critical component of treatment-and may literally be life-saving.

How radically do we want to alter the physician’s traditional ethical obligations to the most vulnerable of patients?

Both the literature and clinical experience point to considerable risk in discontinuing antipsychotic treatment, for many chronically psychotic patients. Here's why.

We can teach patients a lot about the biopsychosocial causes of depression-even in 5 minutes.

What can we do, as a society, to reduce the levels of incivility and narcissism that appear to be on the rise?

Gun violence by alienated, disgruntled individuals isn't new. So what changes may help account for our recent spate of mass shootings?

Most psychiatrists do not fit neatly into the biological or psychodynamic camps. Instead, like surgeons, they will implement tools that reduce the suffering and enhance the well-being of the patient.

If serotonin was once American psychiatry’s “high school crush,” the field now appears wedded to a more mature model of biological and psychosocial understanding.

Ronald Pies, MD reviews the second edition of Ansari and Osser’s overview of psychopharmacology.

May we forgive a murderer on behalf of his victims?

Critics of psychiatry claim there is an “epidemic” of mental illness in the US-and some argue this is a consequence of psychiatric treatment. But the best epidemiological evidence reveals no such epidemic in this country, rendering the iatrogenic “explanation” null and void.

There is a myth circulating in the blogosphere-usually among the most extreme critics of our profession-that there exists some monolithic entity called “Psychiatry” (with a capital “P”).

For many of us who went into psychiatry, relieving the patient’s suffering is not a business enterprise, but an ethical and spiritual calling.

A recent report that argues against descriptive diagnosis in medicine is historically ill-informed and medically naive, in the opinion of this psychiatrist.