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When did my colleagues grow so old? When did the women and men I’ve known for thirty years start to stoop and tremble? When did all the old Chiefs die?

During residency training, young doctors learn the requisite skills, knowledge, and values essential to the practice of medicine. We will all agree that to learn, the resident must have the desire and drive to master the essential knowledge and skills of his or her specialty.

As I lie in my hospital bed, attempting to breathe through my trach tube at a normal rate, waiting for my morning medication, and hoping to hear good, or at least manageable, results from my doctors when they come to me on rounds, my mind wanders. Despite the precariousness of my situation, I can’t help but smile as I think of my now monthly psychotherapy sessions.

As I was driving to work on February 10, 2010, I listened to the National Public Radio host Melissa Block talking about how children labeled “bipolar” may get a new diagnosis. I was shocked that the chair of one of the DSM5 work groups, David Shaffer, MD, would discuss a controversial diagnostic topic with the media.

New research into cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and serotonin-1A receptors may help explain the relationships between cholesterol levels and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Creative people tend to see the world in novel and unconventional ways, and they often seek out intense and destabilizing experiences. Creative ideas are frequently generated during chaotic mental states characterized by loosening of associations that resemble the psychosis of mania or schizophrenia.

The ideal field test would study how the diagnostic manual will eventually perform under conditions most closely approximating its future everyday use. The goal is to avoid unpleasant surprises in translation from what has been written on paper to what is practiced in real life. No field test can ever approach the ideal.

In the wake of ongoing investigations by Senator Charles Grassley (Republican, Iowa) into potential conflicts of interest between academic researchers and the pharmaceutical industry, numbers recently posted on the web site Pro Publica, an independent non-profit organization, may come as something of a surprise.

Are there any recent sources talking about the use of buprenorphine (low dose) for people who were never drug addicts or abusers but who were diagnosed with treatment resistant depression?

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LIVE FROM PSYCHIATRIC CONGRESS It is no surprise that pain, depression, and anxiety form a "terrible triad"--but now there’s proof, according to results from research presented1 at the 2010 US Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress (Psych Congress).

Dr Allen Frances pleads for the United States Supreme Court to “step up to the plate” and halt the “disturbing misuse” of the “makeshift” psychiatric diagnosis of Paraphilia NOS (nonconsent).

Speaking in a language a person has never learned; extraordinary shows of strength; sudden aversion to things spiritual; severe sleeplessness; lack of appetite; cutting, scratching, and biting one's own skin. . . these are the "classic signs" of possession by a demon, according to Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Illinois.

Eventually, DSM-5 will be a rushed patch-work. The only hope for a usable DSM-5 is for the Trustees to exert their authority to correct an errant process. But they will act only if there is mounting outside pressure and widespread public concern.

The DSM does and must involve both science and pragmatism. It must use the science that is available, but it must also make countless judgment calls that are not grounded in solid empirical evidence-and surely it makes sense to consider practical consequences in doing the latter.

Every year, more than 1 million children are exposed to sexual or physical abuse or neglect in the US. The research summarized here clearly demonstrates that exposure to stress before adulthood can result in persistent effects on both mental and physical health.

The mental health implications of disasters on individuals and communities are enormous. Psychiatrists play a key role in helping to mitigate and lessen the traumatic burden and in fostering resiliency efforts.

The characteristics that bring people into the caring professions are, ironically, the very factors that make them vulnerable to vicarious trauma and job burnout. It is our responsibility to ensure that these adverse outcomes are minimized among those who have chosen such a career.

There are feasible and replicable ways for caring adults to help heal themselves as well as the next generation through mass application of reflection and altruistic caring for the remaining offspring, whether in Sichuan, Gaza, New Orleans, or Haiti.

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In this autobiographic work, Darryl Cunningham explains mental illness in a succinct and novel way. It is already proving to be of use to both health professionals and mental health service clients. Published in the UK this year, its US release is scheduled for February 2011.

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).

An antidote to the ubiquitous arrogance, impulsivity, and knee-jerk reactivity surrounding us is to gather as much information as possible, weigh the pros and cons of any intervention, think critically and act mindfully. We can, as Thoreau decided to do, “live deliberately.”

I do not believe that a nation as rich as ours (albeit with most wealth concentrated among the upper income levels) can shirk its moral responsibilities in the matter of providing basic health care for all its citizens.

Is ADHD in a child foreshadowed by ADHD in other family members? Have acute-phase treatments for major depression been found to be effective in children and teens? These questions and more in this quiz.

For some patients with MDD, there are indeed “remembered gifts” that are appreciated on recovery from their depression. But this is not to say that MDD itself is “adaptive” during the course of the patient’s illness.