News

When a full-time writer's husband was diagnosed with cancer, she found writing poetry helped her cope. She guessed that others would, like her, find their experiences with cancer best expressed through poetry. So began The Cancer Poetry Project.

This article reviews end-of-life decision making by providing the information on associated legal decisions as well as a personal account of what is involved in making the final decision.

In the 1980s, thousands of patients insisted they were recovering childhood memories of physical and sexual abuse during Satanic cult rituals. Here: a look back at the moral panic.

A reexamination of flurothyl infusions holds promise for improved resolution of severe mood disorders, as well as for a greater understanding of the mechanism of their pathophysiology.

Pathological gambling is a common psychiatric condition that can present with a variety of symptoms. Treatment recommendations available for pathological gamblers, as well as resources for patients and their families in this Tipsheet.

Psychiatrists have found ways to bring their expert skills and knowledge to the care of medically ill patients who are nearing the final phase of life.

Because half of pregnancies in this country are unplanned, it's crucial to counsel women of reproductive potential about their medications-regardless of their plans to conceive.

With the multitude of nutritional products available to patients via the Internet and health-food stores, psychiatrists need to be prepared to respond to questions from patients about the value of these supplements.

The universe of psychiatric ethics has dramatically expanded. Let us boldly go together where psychiatric ethics has never gone before!

Case-based dialogues illustrate some virtues required in psychiatric practice.

What harms are there in labelling (or rather often mislabelling) more than a quarter of our troops as mentally ill? The harms are numerous and potentially quite dangerous. . .

As psychiatrists, we have a potentially unique-and powerful-influence in the discussion of public figures. But what professional and ethical obligations should we follow in this role?

Federal law now strongly supports a patient’s right to view his or her psychiatric record on request. Here: a look at the ethical and legal issues.

Sid Caesar, who died on February 12, not only pleasured millions . . . he helped me get through a reasonably tormented adolescence.

During the first year of her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship, this psychiatrist received an invaluable lesson regarding the importance of “treating the whole patient” in this case, a 16-year-old patient who is pregnant.

There are many stories written about serial killers and murderers, books that narrate the life course of individuals who commit heinous acts. However, few have been written by murderers explaining their lives first-hand.

Three years deep in despair, he’s swallowed every pill I prescribed...

The new Pope's message resonates with what is becoming a prevailing ethos of good mental health care--a belief that everyone has promise, can recover and rebuild from life's misfortunes and should be able to have what we all want.

President Obama has told his daughters that that he thinks smoking marijuana is a "bad idea." I will tell my grandchildren the same thing. But what do I know? Not a whole lot, I'm afraid. How about you?

Deep Brain Stimulation is a neurosurgical procedure initially developed for the management of treatment-refractory movement disorders. More recently, the rationale for the use of DBS in anorexia nervosa derives from several sources.

In March, the Supreme Court will need to set a national standard for the definition of intellectual disability. In doing so they will inevitably have to address a number of complications that arise when clinical constructs, such as intellectual disability, are used in the courtroom.

In the history of psychiatry, the First World War is often identified with the rise of the disorder of “shellshock.” However, many in both the medical community and the military establishment were dubious of the claim that war could produce psychiatric symptoms.

Thomas Szasz-a psychiatrist-was a lifelong ferocious critic of the institution of psychiatry. A significant body of discourse on the notion of mental disorder by psychiatrists and non-psychiatrists alike has been centered on understanding and responding to his critique.

Starting in 2015, psychiatrists will have to juggle antidepressant selections for Medicare patients. What might this mean for your patients?

Notwithstanding sparse treatment data, recent efforts are beginning to provide clinicians with some clear treatment guidelines for medically unstable adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

Practicing psychiatry in a correctional environment differs from traditional outpatient and inpatient venues and presents unique challenges. It can be a rewarding choice of workplace.

Statutes in 8 states are not designed to assure informed decision-making, say these psychiatrists; instead they represent an unprecedented effort by the government to use physician communications as an instrument for discouraging pregnant women from exercising their constitutional right to make their own reproductive choices.

Here's the story of a man with long-standing diabetes -- a pillar of the community-- who had been behaving strangely. He taught his physicians to look past the obvious clues and ultimately learn a lesson they never forgot.

Under the V of her cashmere sweater, sacs of silicone sag in tangled scar, their arc of cleavage a triumph...