Rape, Psychiatry, and Constitutional Rights-Hard Cases Make For Very Bad Law
September 1st 2010The most disturbing turbulence at the boundary between psychiatry and the law is the misuse of a makeshift psychiatric diagnosis to justify the involuntary, indefinite psychiatric commitment of rapists. This is a disguised form of preventive detention and an abuse of psychiatry.
If I Am Not For Myself: The Trials and the Triumphs of the Transgendered
September 1st 2010Just imagine. If you are not a transgender individual, what must it feel like to always think, as far back as you may remember, that you should have the body of the opposite gender? That you were “born in the wrong body”.
There Are No Vaccines for PTSD and Suicides in the Military
August 12th 2010The latest information released by the US Army reveals that last year American soldiers attempted suicide at the rate of about 5 /day. There were 160 successful suicides last year and during June the rate was 1/day. Military research has reported that one in 10 Iraq veterans may develop a severe case of PTSD.
How Can Medical Schools Graduate Students Who Are Empathic?
June 7th 2010Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand what they are feeling. This is something that psychiatrists try to do in our everyday work. Those of us who have worked in medical schools have struggled with the question of whether or not this is something that can be taught.
No Condolence Letter For Families of Soldiers Who Commit Suicide
January 20th 2010When a soldier is killed while in the military service the President writes a condolence letter to the family. However, if a soldier is psychologically injured and then commits suicide, there is no Presidential letter of condolence.
Deconstructing “Conflicts of Interest”: A User’s Guide
November 24th 2009The debate within the medical profession over “conflicts of interest” (COIs) has often been shrill, and sometimes seems to be based on misunderstandings or myths about what COIs entail. In this psychiatrist’s view, it is helpful to step back from confident proclamations, acknowledge that the issues involved are complex, and aspire to some semblance of humility. Nobody has cornered the market on “the right way” to deal with COI in the realms of medical research, publication, and education.1 At the same time, as Alan Stone, MD, has noted (personal communication, August 27, 2009), ethical considerations lie at the heart of any debate on COI-in particular, the ancient dictum, “Do no harm.” Indeed, ethicist James M. DuBois has pointed out a direct connection between some types of COI and harm to the general public: “Mental health consumers are at risk when studies that involve questionable scientific and publication practices are translated into therapeutic practice.”1(p205)
Doctor: Are You “Drugging” or “Medicating” Your Patients?
October 29th 2009You have read the blogs and seen the placards a dozen times: doctors prescribe too many “drugs” for too many patients. Psychiatrists, in particular, are popular targets of politically motivated language that seeks to conflate the words “medication” and “drug”-thereby tapping into the public’s understandable fears concerning “drug abuse” and its need to carry out a “War on Drugs.”
Pharmonitor: Reality-Checking and Journalistic Integrity
March 5th 2009Regular readers of Psychiatric Times know that we have been engaged in a comprehensive review of our “conflict of interest” (COI) and disclosure policies, which now include posted disclosure statements from all our editorial board members. So far as we are aware, Psychiatric Times is the only major psychiatric journal to require this of its editorial board, as well as of our regular writers.
Sexually Violent Predator Statutes: The Clinical/Legal Interface
December 1st 2008Since 1990, many states have instituted sexually violent predator (SVP) or sexually dangerous person (SDP) civil commitment statutes that seek to identify the small group of extremely dangerous incarcerated sexual offenders who would present a threat to public safety if released from custody.