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Ideology is much less important than common sense solutions. The mentally ill have many unmet needs and suffer from great and undeserved coercion.

In a PsychCongress presentation on perinatal mood disorders, Marlene Freeman, MD, stressed that treatment is essential for women with mood disorders-but whether to treat becomes complicated during a women’s reproductive years.

This member of the DSM-5 Work Group for Psychotic Disorders describes the 8 dimensions used to define the presentation of psychosis-the biggest and most clinically important of the changes in the schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders section.

You’ve come a long way, baby. But maybe not long enough, according to Dr Rajiv Tandon, who shared the evolution of schizophrenia diagnosis and highlighted the current status for attendees at the US Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress.

In this video, Dr H. Blair Simpson gives a brief overview of the hallmarks, themes, and common comorbidities found in OCD.

Big things are happening in Alzheimer disease research. Recent developments are shaping the future for assessment and diagnosis and allowing for early detection and treatment of the disease.

Can drugs be categorized as good (eg, medicinal), bad (eg, recreational with deleterious side effects and addiction issues), or is there a middle ground? That was the underlying theme in a lecture at PsychCongress, “Perils and Promise of Psychoactive Drugs: A Focus on Harm Reduction Psychiatry.”

It is hard for mental health professionals to discuss completed suicides. Legal fears, confidentiality concerns, shame, and stigma are formidable obstacles. But talk we must, for talking-and listening-is a key to prevention and treatment.

Lack of communication is often a key factor in mass murder, according Phillip Resnick, MD. Although HIPAA is important, the safety of the individual and the public should outweigh privacy issues, and “risk to human life always trumps confidentiality.”

You have a platform here to share with your colleagues your hopes and concerns about the impact of the Affordable Care Act on your practice.

If you could talk to a clinician-in-training about how they can better help people suffering from addiction, what would you say? A Q&A between Arjune Rama, MD, and comic Marc Maron.

An exchange that contributes in some small way to greater interaction and synergy among all of us who are trying to do our part to relieve emotional and mental suffering.

Some attorneys have argued that SSRIs cause serious adverse events, capable of compelling defendants to engage in strikingly complex criminal behavior. On close examination, however, these phenomena may be clearly distinguished from criminal behavior.

"Although at times we may need to wipe away blood and tears, through the process we become better physicians and ultimately, better people. These are the victories that we can attain in our ring," says this 4th-year medical student.

We avoid a basic aspect of human existence-namely, we are all a little lost and not knowing, and we had better accept this. In reminding our patients that the worst fate in life is not to suffer-but to suffer alone-we also remind ourselves.

Behavioral problems “masquerade” as physical symptoms. The time has come to treat the whole patient and to make psychiatry part and parcel of primary care.

Most persons who use CAM modalities to self-treat a mental health problem take prescription antidepressants concurrently. Combined use can result in serious supplement-drug interactions.

Here, suggestions for mental health professionals serving the needs of refugees from around the world who have been traumatized by violence.

It is the opinion of this psychiatrist that overtesting and overtreating is promoted and protected by the enormous economic and political power of the medical industrial complex. Here's just a beginning list of what needs to be done.

What is truth? In the end, it is not a forensic psychiatrist's place to judge. He or she is a cog in a bigger machine that is supposed to treat psychiatric illness.

Psychiatric Times is conducting its 2013 ethics survey. We invite you to share your perspective and participate in the survey.

Emergency departments are often forced to hold patients who are acutely dangerous to themselves or others for long periods until an inpatient bed can be obtained.

Most people look forward to their morning jolt from coffee, but could that cup of Joe be doing more than keeping us alert? According to researchers from Harvard University, java may indeed have another benefit-that of reducing suicide risk.

New findings provide powerful evidence that inhibition of inflammation or its downstream effects on mood may open up a host of new approaches to treatment for depression, especially for patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Half of all mental health disorders occur by age 14. Early interventions may mitigate progression to more serious and persistent mental health concerns.

Older Latinos with depression report higher levels of impairment and are more persistently ill than non-Hispanic white older adults, yet they have lower rates of guideline-concordant treatment. Cognitive and problem-solving psychosocial modalities are emerging as key treatment considerations for older Latinos.

A risk to benefit ratio of treatment must be established to determine the optimal treatment for perimenopausal depression. Untreated depression during the perimenopause exacerbates heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Details about management options here.

Is depression a systemic disorder of oneself and the brain’s intrinsic activity?

For many patients with depression, full symptom remission remains elusive despite multiple trials of antidepressants. This article focuses on psychopharmacological and related interventions.

Inpatient suicides are viewed as the most avoidable and preventable because they occur in close proximity to staff. Included here are factors that may guide the clinician in treating these at-risk patients.