News

Forensic psychiatrists expressed near-unanimous opposition to 3 controversial new sexual diagnoses after a spirited debate at a recent conference of the American Association of Psychiatry and Law (AAPL).

Cozolino reveals how much those “givens” have strong scientific underpinnings and underlines the urgency of re-integrating them into the training and the minds of 21st century therapists.

Anyone who has written blogs or published articles online knows that the Internet is the new “Wild West,” so far as etiquette is concerned.

Sometimes, when I recommend an antidepressant, patients will ask if it will make them happy. No, I usually eventually answer. I try to gently and empathically point out that what we have are called antidepressants. They are not called happy pills for a good reason.

Mist rises from the Mediterranean and fills the black folds of mountains like incense . . .

Many psychiatrists, residents, and other mental health professionals believe that psychodynamic therapy lacks empirical support or that other psychotherapies are more effective.

Many people associated with DSM-5 have privately expressed their serious doubts to me, but felt muzzled into public silence by constraining confidentiality agreements and loyalty to the process.

Critics have noted that meta-analysis, when misused, resembles statistical alchemy, taking the dross of individually negative studies to produce the gold of a positive pooled result.

December 17, 2010 was a special day in the history of psychiatric diagnosis. Bob Spitzer retired after a remarkable 52 year career.

Which treatment was found to be detrimental to patients with PTSD? What is the Brøset Violence Checklist used for? These questions and more in this week's quiz.

Here’s a question. As you sit across from your patient, what or whom are you treating: Ms Smith’s bipolar illness, or Ms Smith, a person with bipolar illness? The DSM leans toward the first choice.

Consider your pearly whites. You probably take 'em for granted anyway. When was the last time you flossed?

Have you been following the recent dust-up in the anthropology world? It all started, as Nicholas Wade wrote, “…after a decision by the American Anthropological Association at its recent annual meeting to strip the word “science” from a statement of its long-range plan.”

We are delighted that you have appointed a DSM-5 Scientific Review Work Group and charged it with assessing the quality of evidence supporting the DSM 5 proposals.This is great news, probably the last hope to weed out proposals that could do great harm to the Association, our field, and to our patients.

The team approach to dementia psychiatry services requires leadership for direction, decision making, and policy changes in order to make the process efficient and beneficial for all involved.

Psychiatrists helping nonpsychiatrists refer their patients has a long but not always illustrious history.

Although acute pain typically resolves on its own with little need for intervention, for some persons pain persists past the point where it is considered an adaptive reaction to injury.

Just what exactly are university and college students being taught about the history of psychiatry these days? We editors at H-Madness were interested in finding out.

It is not surprising that one of the most complicated aspects of collaboration with faculty and staff in the ED setting is the professional or social contract.

At the holidays, there is no shortage of inspirational movies, television shows, school plays, countless "…….Who Saved Christmas" specials, so perhaps this is the best time for you to share one of your own tales from your practice.

The face of the woman sitting across from me begins to quiver, and my job as a psychiatrist is to keep my mouth shut. I knew when she came in and said her beloved Scottie of 15 years had died how big a loss that was.

Contrary to the popular belief that quitting increases anxiety, a recent study reports that stopping smoking can lift depression, decrease anxiety, and give quitters a sense of accomplishment during the period of abstinence.

Do patients with the personality trait alexithymia have trouble understanding the written language? What percentage of patients with dementia have at least one psychiatric comorbidity? These and more in this quiz.

Billing 99213 for individual patients seen together in a group visit is fraud.

Medicare says no split/shared evaluation for a consult.

The end of this week could bring either a long-term delay of Medicare reimbursement cuts for physicians nationwide, either through true compromise or perhaps forced concession. Reports today, including from Politico, indicate that bipartisan leaders in the Senate have agreed on a proposal to delay Medicare reimbursement payment cuts to physicians under the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for a period of one year.

One of the most powerful features of an EHR is the instantaneous access that it offers providers to patient information. From a workstation at the office or at home, physicians can access their entire patient panel and quickly drill down into clinical minutiae with a speed and precision that a paper chart can’t touch.

A funny thing happened to me on the way back from the New Hampshire Governor’s Statewide Conference on Domestic & Sexual Violence. I don’t mean funny in a comedic sense, but rather in an unexpected, shocking sense.

We've just had Thanksgiving and I have been in a most thankful mood. I'm still feeling that way after returning to work--and even after an email from a colleague reminded me of one of the many problems facing our field.

I believe this book will serve as an invaluable resource for all students of psychodynamic theory as well as their teachers-and I would venture to say that this magisterial text is destined to become a classic.