News

How often do insomnia and anxiety disorders coexist? And how best to treat patients with comorbid insomnia and anxiety? Answers here..

Simple, standardized protocols ensure that ECT can be provided safely and comfortably in many facilities, with consistent anti-depressant results and a favorable adverse-effect profile.

This essay is a brief update on an earlier Psychiatric Times article by Dr James Phelps. Several major studies have appeared since the publication of the original article, which shed further light on this issue.

The term “pseudocommando” was first used to describe the type of mass murderer who plans his actions “after long deliberation,” and who kills indiscriminately in public during the daytime.

The response of psychiatrists to Medicare’s continued inhospitability to psychiatrists in 2012 is cautious.

The scar on her sternum is a zipper . . . opened once to reveal her heart,. . . . the smooth arc of her breasts

Accurate diagnosis is absolutely crucial in SVP hearings because the potential outcome is so consequential-involuntary incarceration in a psychiatric hospital that may well last a lifetime. In no other clinical or forensic situation does so much ride on the presence or absence of a psychiatric diagnosis.

You're Invited!

Psychiatric Times has contacted many of the nation’s leading psychiatrists to answer the following question: “What is the best advice you would give to a psychiatry resident?”  In the series, you will find advice from psychiatrists who span the gamut of experience: clinicians to researchers to administrators, psychotherapists to psychopharmacologists, outpatient to inpatient, child to adult. It is our hope that you will find the advice practical as well as inspiring. Please check back each month to read from another Master Psychiatrist. The most recent contributor is Dr Sharon Packer, author of several books and a psychiatrist in private practice.    Howard Forman, MD Fellow in the Division of Psychiatry and the Law Albert Einstein College of Medicine Dr Forman is a regular contributor to the Psychiatric Times Residents Blog at www.psychiatrictimes.com/blog/residents-corner. He is the Book Review Editor for Psychiatric Times.

Critics of DSM-5 argue that the expansion of diagnostic criteria may increase the number of “mentally ill” individuals and/or pathologize “normal” behavior, and lead to the possibility that thousands-if not millions-of new patients will be exposed to medications which may cause more harm than good.

Some say that study subjects who are not severely depressed may respond better to placebo than subjects who are severely depressed. Is the data thus unreliable?

While there has been a robust interest for decades among scholars in the history of psychiatry, comparatively little has been shown the history of clinical psychology, despite its marked impact on mental health care.

Anton Porsteinsson, MD, discusses some specifics for fine-tuning the care of patients with Alzheimer disease. Here: optimizing physical health and mental stimulation and promoting a brain-healthy diet and aerobic exercise.

Can stimulants increase function in people with early stage Alzheimer disease? Here, Anton Porsteinsson, MD, discusses the pros and cons.

In this video, Anton Porsteinsson, MD, discusses some of the causative factors of Alzheimer disease: genetics, environment, personality. He goes on to explain that although there are clear determinants for AD, there are preventive actions that can be taken to delay the onset of disability.

We will remember Professor Shuman as an exceptional scholar, a valued collaborator, and a cherished friend.

Here we address some of these problems of meaningless phrasing, empty shells, and template-distorted recording in an attempt to improve clinical documentation for both clinical care and risk management.

This brief editorial clarifies the position of Psychiatric Times with regard to our intent behind posting the many blogs about DSM-5 that appear on our Web site, www.PsychiatricTimes.com.

We both have the brilliant everlasting dumb luck to be fueled with oxytocin, the urge to eat and to bond. St Francis called his body “brother ass.” I call mine “brother dog.”

I believe it is incumbent on psychiatrists, as leaders in the mental health field, to help our patients and the general public distinguish the psychiatric fantasy from the psychiatric reality.

It would seem that the fluctuating boundaries of many mental disorders will continue to be debated until we devote sufficient time and attention to developing improved, scientifically valid and reliable methods of testing and effectively treating mental disease.

Sexual identity development is a complex, multidimensional, and often fluid process. One must consider cognitive, social, emotional, cultural, and familial complexities among other aspects of the individual’s experience to contextualize a narrative concerning sexual identity development.