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But I still have bottles of pretty pills . . . I throw like life rafts to keep them afloat . . .in choppy seas, me passing my doctor-days

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In this clip from A&E's Hoarders, Dr Suzanne Chabaud counsels a family living in a hoarding household.

More and more research is being conducted in the US and abroad on the role of psychiatric pharmacogenomics in identifying new gene variants and in predicting treatment response to specific medications.

Beyond safety benefits, pharmacogenomic testing may improve adherence by helping patients avoid suboptimal or harmful treatments.

Medicare announced in October that it would pay for depression screening in primary care settings that have “staff-assisted depression care supports” in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and follow-up.

Understanding pediatric psychopharmacology in the context of medical illness.

Skin diseases are not just a cosmetic issue; they are associated with a variety of psychological reactions that affect patients’ level of functioning and can produce agony for the family.

The prescription of psychotropic medications for patients with complex comorbid medical and psychiatric conditions is a cornerstone of psychosomatic medicine (PM) practice.

In psychiatry, it seems like our traditions are often ignored or discarded as being outdated. Do we not have some time-tested literature that is still relevant to our psychiatric times?

A study has reported a link between postpartum psychosis in women within 2 weeks after childbirth and a future risk of developing it.

In his book, How We Age: A Doctor’s Journey Into the Heart of Growing Old, Dr Marc Agronin helps reduce the stigma of ageism and provides clinical guidance for seasoned geriatric psychiatrists, primary care clinicians, and medical students alike.

This article explores the use of functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP)-a behavioral, evidenced-based approach to psychotherapy that can add psychotherapeutic benefit to your existing brief approaches during medication checks.

Insurance often pushes pills rather than talk therapy, believing drugs are less expensive (although there is a fair amount of evidence to the contrary).

ADHD is often inaccurately diagnosed and prematurely treated with medication-especially under the pressure of heavy drug company marketing to physicians and direct advertising to parents and teachers.

More than 50 years ago, Charles M. Schulz, creator of “Peanuts,” coined the term “Happiness is a warm puppy.” Schulz may have been more visionary than he recognized.

This blog is a follow-up to an earlier post. The great news is that there is an active public debate on DSM-5.

Although memoirs have become all the rage, they are rarely written by anyone in the field of psychiatry . . . and for good reason.

The purpose of suicide risk assessment is to identify treatable and modifiable risks and protective factors that inform the patient’s treatment and safety management requirements.

Max Fink, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology Emeritus at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, received the Thomas William Salmon Award for outstanding contributions to the field of psychiatry.

The report notes that pain is a significant public health problem that affects more than 100 million Americans, costs our society at least $560 to $659 billion annually, and can be severely detrimental to the lives of sufferers.

The race to patent bio-tests for schizophrenia and depression: some say this initiative is destined to fail.

Neuroimaging… is it still a research tool in psychiatry, or is it ready for prime time? In this video, Jair Soares, MD, of the University of Texas at Houston, touches on the main brain imaging techniques and their possible uses in mental health practice.

Aggressive behavior is one of the most frequent reasons for consultation with a mental health professional in community-based settings. Dr Hendren presents a neurodevelopmental model for the assessment and treatment of aggression in youths.

Many health care professionals do not know how standards of care and medical malpractice are determined. This lack of knowledge can result in either inadequate communication or defensive medical treatment. Dr Rodgers reviews malpractice standards and addresses issues regarding technologies such as email, social networking, and cyber-treatment.

The goal of treating the whole patient, ie, integrating the mind-body connection into mental health care inititiatives, is to provide health care professionals with tactics to effectively identify interdependent conditions of the mind and body that impair psychiatric well-being, as well as strategies for successful treatment and management options in the clinical setting to improve patient care, outcomes, and overall wellness.