News

Poetry of the times

Two new studies of antipsychotic efficacy for nonpsychotic behaviors in persons with developmental disability provide data where there has been relatively little, but their contrary findings leave this a controversial use of medication.

Aristotle's concept of the incontinent will and Augustine's concept of the captive will.

A number of studies have found decreased scores on quality-of-life scales in persons with insomnia, which is associated with a wide assortment of daytime impairments, some intuitive and some startling.

The practice of one human being helping another to feel better through the use of talk is as old as humanity itself. As a profession, however, psychiatry has existed for only 100 years.

As new data emerge, the debate over whether atypical antipsychotics are superior to typical antipsychotics for treating patients with schizophrenia continues. The May 2008 issue of Psychiatric Services presented several studies that highlight current prescribing trends and opinions.

In working with adolescents, mental health care professionals often draw on their own developmental experiences to help guide their patients; however, nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is not likely to be a personal experience that psychiatrists can often draw on.

There is substantial comorbidity with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is important to determine the effect of comorbid ODD and CD on the clinical course in youth with ADHD. Biederman and associates1 recently published clinical findings from a 10-year prospective, longitudinal study of boys with ADHD, following them into early adulthood.

Addiction-related prevention, research, and treatment have remained important areas of concentration in the field of psychiatry.

The brutal murder of New York psychologist Kathryn Faughey and attempted murder of psychiatrist Kent Shinbach this past February has provoked warnings to psychiatrists about personal safety and overreliance on clinical judgment. David Tarloff, a person with schizophrenia, was indicted for the attacks. According to press reports, Tarloff blamed Shinbach for having him institutionalized in 1991. While he was wait-ing to see Shinbach, Tarloff allegedly entered Faughey's nearby office and slashed her to death with a meat cleaver and knives. Shinbach heard her screams, tried to rescue her, and was assaulted and robbed.

These are exciting times for genetics research: Science magazine chose our new appreciation of human genetic diversity as the scientific breakthrough of the year 2007.1 The year brought a new genetic bonanza with the announcement of the 1000 Genome Project, a plan to capture human diversity by obtaining the entire genome sequence information of 1000 individuals.

Mr A was desperate. He was about to lose yet another job, not because he was at risk for being fired, but because his lying behavior had finally boxed him into a corner. He had lied repeatedly to his colleagues, telling them that he had an incurable disease and was receiving palliative treatment. . .

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the major cause of death and disability among young adults. In spite of preventive measures, the incidence of a TBI associated with motor vehicle accidents, falls, assault, and high-contact sports continues to be alarmingly high and constitutes a major public health concern. In addition, the recent military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in a large number of persons with blast injuries and brain trauma. Taking into account that cognitive and behavioral changes have a decisive influence in the recovery and community reintegration of patients with a TBI, there is a renewed interest in developing systematic studies of the frequency, mechanism, and treatment of the psychopathological alterations observed among these patients.

Everyone is unique at the level of social, cultural, psychological, biological, and possibly "energetic" functioning. By extension, in every person, the complex causes or meanings of symptoms are uniquely determined. The diversity and complexity of factors that contribute to mental illness often make it difficult to accurately assess the underlying causes of symptoms and to identify treatments that most effectively address them.

The mind-brain dichotomy has been on a roller-coaster ride over the past few hundred years. Clinically astute European neuropsychiatrists in the 18th and 19th centuries described various neuropsychiatric disorders based on observations of their patients.

Psychiatry has gone wrong by being too symptom-focused, too brain-oriented, and riddled with misdiagnoses. It should go back to seeking the "meaning" of things in patients' subjective experiences. This is the main theme of this short polemic based on case studies. The author selectively cites studies or opinions to make his point rather than trying to get at the truth by offering other perspectives. As George Orwell pointed out, books are of 2 types: those that seek to justify an opinion and those that seek the truth.

What is the effectiveness (if any) of antidepressants in bipolar depression? What is the risk of manic switching? How effective are antidepressants in preventing relapse of bipolar depression? Insights here.

As psychiatrists we need to clarify within our profession and with our patients what therapies actually treat an illness and what therapies help one learn to function better.

Psychiatry is changing so rapidly that it seems impossible to predict 1 year ahead, let alone 10 years. In 1967, when my psychiatry training ended, the community psychiatry movement had just begun, DSM-II was in the works, and the biological revolution was still around the corner.

Despite an abundance of studies linking both traumatic experiences and anxiety disorders with eating disorders, relatively little has been reported on the prevalence of associated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or partial PTSD in patients with eating disorders.

Prognostication is a major part of what physicians do in many fields of medicine, and it is particularly relevant when a treatment or procedure is controversial or anxiety-provoking. Being able to accurately tell a prospective ECT patient how likely he or she is to respond would be helpful.

Anorexia nervosa is often complicated by devastating medical problems and may result in death. Although studies suggest a multifactorial cause for the disorder, treatment trials have yet to provide clinical guidance about how best to approach anorexia nervosa.

In the past several years, there has been an increasing awareness of the syndromal persistence of ADHD into adulthood. Once considered only a childhood disorder, ADHD has become increasingly recognized as a valid psychiatric disorder in adults.

Patients with low back pain (LBP) face many decisions, ranging from the nature and extent of the evaluation they should undergo to determining which treatments are likely to be most effective. These choices can be confusing not only to those who are in pain but also to their health care providers.

The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual1 (PDM) was created by a task force chaired by child psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan, MD, in cooperation with the American Psychoanalytic Association, the International Psychoanalytical Association, the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, and the National Membership Committee on Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work.

When historians try to understand why psychiatric diagnosis abandoned validity for the sake of reliability in the years surrounding the millennium, they will rely on The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder.

Traumatology has become an increasingly multidisciplinary field. Originally the province of psychiatry and clinical psychology, the field has now been enriched by the contributions of epidemiologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and historians.

Considering that the brain is increasingly being credited with having a role in everything we think, feel, and do, it was probably just a matter of time before it was postulated that religious belief has a neural substrate.

The March 27 announcement from the FDA that it is looking into a possible connection between Merck's biggest seller, Singulair (montelukast sodium) and suicidality once again raises questions about whether the agency is requiring close enough scrutiny during clinical trials of possible connections between new drugs and psychiatric effects.

One recent survey found that more than 1 in 4 patients who have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were receiving cholinesterase inhibitors in Italian AD treatment centers even though these medications were being used "off-label."