News

When assessing a sleep-related problem in a psychiatric patient, investigating all possible causes may be more helpful than assuming the complaint is a result of medication or the underlying condition.

Mental health screening and treatment plans for soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are being scrutinized after criticisms of the program have appeared in print and Web publications.

Dr Ronald Pies questions the statements in regards to antidepressant response time from an October 2005 article in Psychiatric Times.

Although psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are more likely to be stalked than the average person, they receive little training regarding stalking.

How does the difference between objective evidence and subjective evidence relate to the practice of psychiatry?

You are surprised when a patient of yours, a physician recovering from a substance abuse problem, tests positive for morphine. Do you believe his explanation of a false-positive result?

Researchers found a high incidence of health problems such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes in predominantly Hispanic outpatients with chronic mental disorders.

With expansion of the concept of bipolar disorder (BD), there has been concern about the potential for overdiagnosis. However, diagnostic errors in bipolar disorder are currently skewed towards underdiagnosis.

The psychiatric community has a need for diagnostic and predictive tests. Some recent techniques have just become available for clinical care.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for children with anxiety disorders may be especially effective when the family is included in treatment.

Dr Muller describes a case of a patient with a paranoid psychosis who clearly needs help, yet refuses treatment.

Should physicians be allowed to assist in their patients' dying, and how can physician-assisted suicide be reconciled with the physician’s role as a healer?

The common sense notion that a child will benefit from an improvement in her mother’s depression has been confirmed in a prospective evaluation.

A House committee is seeking to prohibit FDA members who have a financial interest in a company proposing a new drug (or in its competitors) from voting on new drug approvals from that company.

Antidepressants may have a protective effect on the hippocampal atrophy seen in patients with severe, untreated depression. This atrophy may be caused by an overabundance of glucocorticoids.

In a 20-year longitudinal study, it was found that after acute hospitalization, continuous psychosis was diagnosed in only 30% of patients with schizophrenia; 20% of patients showed no signs of reoccurrence of psychosis after the acute phase.

A study of primary care training directors conducted by Hoyle Leigh,MD, Ronna Mallios, MPH, and Deborah C. Stewart, MD, found thatmost directors believed their psychiatry training programs were inadequate.

Drinking a carbohydrate-rich beverage appeared to improve symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in a small double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Physicians should be prepared to screen for posttraumatic responses that may be triggered by routine hospital care in previously traumatized patients.

The Risk of Cerebrovascular Problems in Patients With Dementia Treated With Atypical Antipsychotics

How effective is psychotherapy for the treatment of depression in children and adolescents?

A discussion of new neurobiologic discoveries that bear the promise not just of controlling but of reversing protean levels of damage.

Reexamining the Link Between Antidepressantsand Suicidality in Children and Adolescents

This article examines the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychosis, the evidence for its use, and the implications for practicing psychiatrists given the short-comings of pharmacologic therapy.

Alzheimer disease, antihypertensive therapy, diuretics, potassium-sparing diuretics

Colin T. McDonald, MD, specialized in neuro-critical care at Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General), Harvard Medical School in Boston in 1998, when the father of an emergency room physician at an affiliated hospital became one of his patients. One morning, the father experienced symptoms of stroke, which the son immediately recognized. Doing something about those symptoms, however, was complicated; the father and son were on Martha's Vineyard, where the local hospital was not equipped for emergency neurology care.

mild traumatic brain injury, MTBI, concussion, post-concussive syndrome

ischemic stroke, statins, lipid-lowering agents, secondary prevention of stroke, stroke prevention

mental notes

Neurotechnologic devices are proving themselves in clinical medicine. Many of these devices offer several distinct advantages over traditional pharmaceutical-based therapies: their effects are reversible, they are often cheaper than pharmaceuticals, and they solve therapy adherence issues. "If a problem occurs, you can turn off the device; or if the disease evolves over time, you can dynamically adjust the device," explained Ali R. Rezai, MD, chairman of the Center for Neurological Restoration at the Cleveland Clinic.