Special Reports

Treating eating disorders can feel challenging because patients are typically ambivalent about changing their behavior; however, it is also rewarding, as full recovery is possible even in the most chronically and severely ill patients.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe and debilitating illness with one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disorder. The illness course is often long, recovery is slow, and the rates of full recovery are low.

More than two-thirds of patients with eating disorders also have comorbid mood and anxiety disorders. This article considers how a transdiagnostic process called interoception may help to advance our understanding and treatment of eating disorders.

Eating disorders (EDs) are associated with high medical and psychiatric comorbidity, poor quality of life, and high mortality, and mortality from anorexia nervosa (AN) is the highest of all mental disorders. Fortunately, there are a number of evidence-based psychological treatment approaches for EDs.

The collective awareness of this devastating neurodegenerative disease will likely result in intensifying efforts to improve our understanding of disease pathology as well as exploring potentially a promising therapeutic regimen.

While the core features of autism impair functioning, a significant source of further impairment is comorbid psychiatric disorders.

The aim of this article is to show that tinnitus is secondary to an aberrant brain-ear circuitry affected by disorders such as mood, anxiety, and alcohol and substance abuse as well as executive dysfunction, migraine, sleep and stress. By treating these comorbidities, tinnitus tends to improve.

As a neuropsychiatric and general medical syndrome, catatonia represents an important diagnostic and treatment challenge for all clinicians given its morbidity and mortality.

As we discover new diseases of the brain that present with psychiatric symptoms, it remains incumbent upon us to remember the experience of patients and their families in the context of society at large.

While the process of diagnosing is common to all fields of medicine, this article specifically addresses missed “medical” diagnoses in patients who present to or are being followed by psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians.

DSM-5 categorizes PNES as a functional neurological disorder or conversion disorder with seizures. It is essential that neurologists, psychiatrists, and other clinicians coordinate care to ensure that patients with PNES receive a prompt diagnosis.

A collection of tools and best practices by psychiatrists who have "been there" to help you develop and structure your own rewarding practice.

Hearing loss before the development of language has a major impact on communication, identity, and social development, as well as how mental health symptoms present.

Pharmacogenetic testing can provide helpful guidance in the choice of treatment and should be interpreted as a decision-support tool to assist in thoughtful implementation of good clinical care.

Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in the general population, particularly in those with medical illnesses such as diabetes.

These thumbnail sketches of the articles in this Special Report produce an impressionistic sketch of the meaning of the word complicated in psychiatric practice.

By building a practice model that we enjoy, it enhances our ability to “cure sometimes, treat often, and comfort always.”

People-staff and patients both-confide secrets to strangers. We all need to unburden in a way that won’t come back to bite us.

The challenges of using social media can be as numerous as the benefits.

The Internet has transformed the way we get information. It is no surprise that finding health information online is a common activity.

This Special Report addresses several specific areas of concern that are of importance to psychiatrists: Can depression be prevented after traumatic brain injury? What are the risks? Are there special issues involved in treatment?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a public health epidemic. Psychiatric symptoms after TBI are not just common, but also troublesome.

The association between traumatic brain injury and negative psychiatric outcomes has a relatively long history. A review of the current state of the science and strategies for intervention.

Across all age groups, an estimated 5.3 million Americans are living with a TBI-related disability. Many of these individuals will live to be older adults.

The chronic and relapsing course of TBI-associated depression poses a challenge to the management of afflicted patients.

With the prevalence of schizophrenia in older adults set to double and reach 1.1 million people in the US by 2025, greater attention to research and policy regarding this population is needed.

Peter F. Buckley, MD introduces part 1 of our Special Report on schizophrenia.

Two compelling case reports provide additional evidence for potential mechanistic associations between the immune system and schizophrenia.