A focus on QTc monitoring in patients receiving psychotropics, especially when multiple medications are prescribed.
Despite high prevalence and negative consequences of anxiety disorders in later life, this area has received little research attention. A relatively small number of outcome investigations on late-life anxiety have focused on the impact of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments.
In 2007, cancer was diagnosed in 10,400 children and adolescents under the age of 15 years.1 While cancer remains the second leading cause of death in children, increasing numbers of children with cancer are surviving into adulthood.2 Over the past 30 years, 5-year survival rates for children with cancer have significantly improved, from 59% in 1975 to 1977 to 80% in 1996 to 2004.3 Pediatric cancer, increasingly considered a chronic rather than an acute condition, is an intense emotional and physical experience for patients and their families.4
Depression is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death in many ways, directly and indirectly. It is independently linked to smoking, diabetes, and obesity-all of which are risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD).1 Depressed patients are more likely to be noncompliant with treatment recommendations, including diet, medications, and keeping appointments, and are more likely to delay presentation for treatment with an acute coronary event.2-4
In this article, Julie Sherman, PhD and Jay Tarnow, MD briefly discuss the latest research findings on ADHD.
These are exciting times for genetics research: Science magazine chose our new appreciation of human genetic diversity as the scientific breakthrough of the year 2007.1 The year brought a new genetic bonanza with the announcement of the 1000 Genome Project, a plan to capture human diversity by obtaining the entire genome sequence information of 1000 individuals.
Current therapy for acute ischemic stroke remains limited to intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) administered within 3 hours of symptom onset, but despite strong evidence supporting its effectiveness,1-5 only 2% to 4% of all stroke patients currently receive tPA.
Dr Wayne Katon (1950-2015) revolutionized care for patients around the world.
HIV/AIDS, peripheral neuropathy, sensory neuropathies, subjective peripheral neuropathy screen
Details here about a protocol for opioid abusers and the mentally ill that helped avoid deaths from drug overdose after psychiatric hospitalization.
The human-animal relationship can provide insight into the patient’s ability to connect, to interact, and to show care and empathy. Plus, companion animals tend not to breach confidentiality.
Family involvement is often misunderstood as being a hindrance to individuation, when in fact family-oriented interventions can improve patient functioning, agency, and autonomy.
The abuse of this dangerous designer drug that can be purchased online is rapidly on the rise in the US.
This article summarizes clinically relevant advances in the psychiatric care of women during and after pregnancy, including recent changes in how the FDA classifies pregnancy risk for medications, and best practices in perinatal psychopharmacology.
The introduction of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) into psychiatric nosology has brought about a great deal of insight as well as controversy. Have complex clinical manifestations of PTSD created a need for further clarification of the disorder?
Insurance restrictions sometimes make for strange bedfellows. My story begins with a phone call from a man about to lose his job. He said that he had been placed on probation and was about to be fired. He asked if he could see me. We met the following day.
There is no predictive tool that is likely to have validity for rare outcomes such as terrorist attacks. More here.
During their time in Ayacucho, these visiting psychiatrists learned that American psychiatric training has wide-reaching cultural value.
Although most studies have focused on the risk of metabolic syndrome for patients with schizophrenia exposed to atypical antipsychotics, other psychiatric patients appear to be at risk for metabolic disturbances as well.7-9 Major depressive disorder (MDD) may be of particular interest because it is much more common than schizophrenia and is treated with a broad range of psychotropics.
Further evidence-based antidepressant treatments are needed for children and adolescents with depression.
Forensic psychiatrists expressed near-unanimous opposition to 3 controversial new sexual diagnoses after a spirited debate at a recent conference of the American Association of Psychiatry and Law (AAPL).
Between 50% and 80% of people with mental disorders smoke cigarettes. Are the tobacco companies targeting this population, and are mental health care facilities promoting the use of tobacco? What are psychiatrists' responsibilities in the overall health of their patient?
Psychiatrists may encounter patients who present with severe emotional consequences because they are victims of stalking. In addition, psychiatrists themselves are at increased risk for becoming victims of stalking because of the nature of their profession and their interaction with lonely and unhappy individuals.
The authors review the association between depression and violence, and the role that anger and emotional dysregulation play.
Worldwide, nonfatal deliberate self-harm is common among young people. However, when studying this phenomenon, methodological issues arise. Differences between genders have been found in presenting to the hospital following self-harm and in motive for engaging in this troubling behavior.
Posttraumatic stress disorder is one of the most devastating psychiatric disorders. Research has shown that a combination of multiple genes can lead to conditions for PTSD. Environmental factors, as well as comorbidities, must also be considered when looking for genetic conditions of PTSD.
Karl Doghramji, MD, FAASM, DFAPA, and Chelsie Monroe, MSN, APN, PMHNP-BC, conclude the discussion with advice for clinicians who treat patients with narcolepsy.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent, chronic, debilitating mental illness associated with marked impairment in daily functioning.1 An ongoing evolution of the definition of GAD has resulted in a bifurcation of the historical anxiety neurosis designation.2 A diagnosis of GAD currently implies chronic, excessive worry lasting at least 6 months and 3 of the possible 6 somatic or psychological symptoms (restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and sleep disturbance).3 GAD typically presents in an episodic pattern of moderate improvement or remission and relapse characterized by a chronic and complicated clinical course.
The vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT) is a membrane-embedded protein that transports monoamine neurotransmitter molecules into intraneuronal storage vesicles to allow subsequent release into the synapse.1,2 By accumulating both newly synthesized neurotransmitter molecules and freshly returned neurotransmitter molecules from the synapse, VMAT function plays a critical role in the signaling process between monoamine neurons. The VMAT exists in 2 distinct forms: VMAT1 and VMAT2.3