ECT is making something of a comeback because it remains a paragon of efficacy amidst other relatively disappointing treatments. 

Endocrine Psychiatry: The Dexamethasone Suppression Test and Electroconvulsive Therapy

 There is wide agreement that memory loss associated with ECT is short-term, usually temporary, and rarely has a major impact, “although it shouldn’t be taken lightly,” according to Ross.  

Possible Restriction of ECT Devices: Concern Grows Among Psychiatrists

 For those of us who treat seriously emotionally disturbed children, We’ve Got Issues is a welcome change from the invectives of those who believe that the use psychotropic medication is virtually criminal.  

We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication

 One of the most remarkable discoveries in the field of life span alteration occurred in the past century and has to do with caloric restriction. 

To Sirtuin With Love: Caloric Restrictions and the Genes of the Aging Brain

 Richard Berlin, M.D.: “There is something about the condensed pressure of poetry that feels very natural to me.”  

Critters

In cases of shared care, 90862 is often the only reimbursable CPT code available to the psychiatrist.

Unlucky Number 90862

 Digital technology is a valuable tool, but if it dazzles us with its speed and control, there is the risk that we may forget the old way of connecting. 

The “Bar-Coding” of Patients With Electronic Health Records

 The most important question is whether the new diagnostic criteria are an improvement. . . . I am highly skeptical that they are. 

Diagnosing Fibromyalgia: Development of New Criteria

 As experts in neurobiology, we can conduct and critically evaluate research to identify the short- and long-term risks and benefits of neuroenhancers for patients without recognized clinical indications.  

Should Psychiatrists Prescribe Neuroenhancers for Mentally Healthy Patients?

 The health reform legislation is likely to affect all mental health professionals throughout their lives, both as consumers and as practitioners of health care services. 

Demystifying Health Reform Legislation

Mixed states constitute a wondrously variegated universe of psychopathology. These states are characterized by the intrusion of features characteristic of depression into states of hypomania or mania and the converse. Mixed states assume a myriad of forms that as a family may be among the most commonly encountered states of affective illness.

Mixed States in Their Manifold Forms: Part 1

 All members of the mental health community opposed the use of standardized testing to determine deviations from the mean. But the consensus fell apart thereafter.  

The Fight Against Proposed Changes to Disability Requirements for Mental Disorders

 Discuss the results of the final cognitive testing, review the participant’s initial goals and the progress made toward them, and discuss future ambitions and how the gains made during cognitive training may help the participant achieve those goals. 

Guidelines for Developing a Cognitive Remediation Program for Patients With Schizophrenia

This article reviews methods to rehabilitate cognition in schizophrenia and suggests strategies for instituting a cognitive remediation program.

Cognitive Rehabilitation in Schizophrenia

Much resistance to disorder status for the psychosis-risk syndrome stems from the fact that only a minority of those given the diagnosis really have the disorder.

Early Antecedents and Detection of Schizophrenia

This article highlights the biological and clinical links between the two disorders, reviewing shared genetics, brain changes, and similarities and differences in clinical presentations.

Autism and Schizophrenia

Clinicians have long recognized that many of the psychiatric disorders lack clear boundaries, and that there is a substantial overlap in phenomenology and etiopathophysiology of various disorders.

Introduction: Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

The selection of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, to present the convocation lecture at the American Psychiatric Association’s upcoming annual meeting has so outraged some APA members that they have arranged meeting boycotts and protests. 

Boycotts and Protests To Meet APA Keynote Speaker, Desmond Tutu

Anyone who has written blogs or published articles online knows that the Internet is the new “Wild West,” so far as etiquette is concerned.

The Eight-Fold Path of Internet Ethics: A Primer for Health Care Professionals

Consider your pearly whites. You probably take 'em for granted anyway. When was the last time you flossed?

Psychiatric Times Vol 28 No 3