Psychiatric Times Vol 16 No 9

Several incidents of serious violence, including the death of one woman, have pushed the issue of involuntary commitment of the noncompliant mentally ill higher on the priority list of the government of New York State.

Developmental traumatology research is the systemic investigation of the psychiatric and psychobiological impact of overwhelming and chronic interpersonal violence on the developing child.

Children whose parents have been diagnosed with affective disorders are far more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness-especially affective disorder-than their peers whose parents do not have mood disorders (Beardslee, 1998; Burge and Hammen, 1991; Downey and Coyne, 1990).

As traditional unions successfully expand the ranks of organized physician employees, and as the U.S. Congress considers an antitrust exemption so that all doctors can collectively bargain, the American Medical Association decided to unionize. Doing nothing would have been tantamount to leaving the bargaining table even before the negotiations began.

The Hotseat - Poetry of the Times

America's teaching hospitals are facing an unprecedented financial crisis that could leave more than one-third of the most respected institutions operating at a loss within the next five years, according to leaders in academic medicine. In addition to reducing their traditional educational programs, teaching hospitals may have to eliminate a wide variety of community health projects, poison control centers, safety programs and indigent care programs if budget cuts imposed by third-party payers are not reversed.

Present-day psychiatry has fallen into crisis because of the severe limitations of its conception of the person and, as a result, its conception of the patient. It objectifies the patient in a number of ways. Because of this reductionism, psychiatry fails to distinguish between healthy and pathological features of human life. It fails to consider adequately the psychological and social factors that cause and maintain each patient's problems.