Vol 31 No 6

An overview of special coverage on advances in the treatment of alcohol use disorders.

Very few heavy drinkers receive treatment and fewer still are prescribed medications with demonstrated efficacy. Here, a summary of current research, key takeaways, and highlights from a study on topiramate treatment for heavy drinkers by the lead author of that study.

In addition to the approval of novel medications for alcohol use disorders, the past several years have been marked by an emphasis on development, standardization, and dissemination of new behavioral therapies, including computer-based interventions.

There is increasing evidence and support for medications for alcohol use disorders to be used in regular clinical practice, and not to be limited to specialty substance abuse settings. Here, special considerations for pharmacological management.

This easy-to-read manual represents the author's concise views on how to achieve “more accurate” diagnoses with DSM-5, as well as when to avoid DSM-5 altogether.

A brief psychological portrait of this psychiatrist/poet.

To run an effective telepsychiatry practice, a solid partnership between skilled personal on-site with patients and the psychiatrist on the other end of the call is a must.

A limited sampling presented here lends no support to Dr Thomas Szasz’s claim that 19th century physicians regarded the term “mental disease” as merely a figure of speech; on the contrary, several prominent physicians of this era recognized such conditions as both real and debilitating.

First published in August 1992 in Psychiatric Times, this psychiatrist joyfully recounts a memorable outing with his grandson.

22 Years after he wrote of a memorable beach outing with Igor, his toddler grandson, this psychiatrist looks back on their joint adventure through a life "full of adventures, full of wonders!"

If you haven't read this book that was recently republished by The New York Review of Books, here's why you might want to take a look.

As the use of social media becomes necessary for the online presence of medical professionals, this topic will continue to be essential for the training of both current and future psychiatrists.

This review focuses on clinically important interactions that occur between foods and medications prescribed for psychiatric disorders.

Clearly, some with schizophrenia fare better without antipsychotic drugs. But not all. Many individuals with schizophrenia are better off taking antipsychotic drugs for long-term.

Mood disorders in older adults are neither inevitable nor particularly resistant to treatment. With attention to the special needs of older patients during evaluation, treatment, and follow up, clinicians can help many patients derive greater enjoyment from their later years.

Psychiatrists experience the impact of managed care perhaps most acutely during the utilization review process, which has become a standard tool for the review of treatment modalities and levels of service in the managed care environment.

The authors emphasize the importance of risk and protective factors and risk prediction models; analyze the growing evidence base for preventive interventions; and describe the concept of mental health promotion.

With over 2 dozen FDA-approved antidepressants on the market, it is reasonable to ask: which antidepressants are most effective?

With regard to visual adverse effects in patients who take psychotropic medications, new is not always better or safer. More in this Brief Communication.

Treatment approaches to counter adverse metabolic effects associated with the atypicals.

What forces influence your decision to treat ADHD? Case vignettes and a back-to-basics approach may bring clarity to the diagnostic and therapeutic clinical processes that surround the decision.

I begin by remembering my hours as a patient and Freud’s “Fundamental Rule”: Say Whatever Comes to Mind...

Clinicians will be drawn in by author Charles R. Cross's personal experience documenting, Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain. Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, committed suicide 20 years ago this month.

Take-home messages on the immunology of schizophrenia and NMDA receptor encephalitis from the Schizophrenia International Research Society conference here.

In the trenches of Alzheimer research, the battle continues . . . but where do we stand? Is the war on AD dementia nearing conclusion, or are we simply in the initial throes of the fight? Three experts weigh in.

How the Repressed-Recovered Memory–Multiple Personality Disorder iatrogenic epidemic-surely one of the most tragic chapters in the history of psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy-ended, and how psychotherapy patients came to be protected by informed consent.

A discussion of computerized cognitive training programs with the most independent supportive research that demonstrates a previously unrecognized degree of neuroplasticity, or cognitive flexibility, in the brain.