Office management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differs in many important ways from ADHD management conducted in a research environment. In clinical trials, treatments and eligible patients are selected in advance by committees, patients are randomized to different management strategies, and both clinicians and pa tients are blinded to the treatments.
The setting of a fast-paced emergency department (ED) or psychiatric emergency service makes it especially difficult to sensitively elicit and address an individual patient's needs and concerns. When considering the myriad differences in culture that come into play between a patient and a psychiatrist or other mental health care clinician, optimal diagnosis and treatment can be even more challenging, as the cases described here illustrate. The important influence of culture cannot be stressed enough. Taking the time to understand "where the patient is coming from" can prevent an already stressful, highly emotionally charged situation from becoming even more convoluted.
Delirium is characterized by an altered level of consciousness, decreased attention span, acute onset, and fluctuating course. About 15% of elderly patients admitted to the hospital have delirium as a presenting or associated symptom. Delirium will develop in another 15% of elderly patients during hospitalization.
The increase in youth violence and aggression in the past 50 years has been called an "epidemic." This epidemic has had a tremendous impact on society. From an economic and public health perspective, primary prevention of youth violence is obviously desirable.
In a presentation given at the midyear meeting of the American Epilepsy Society, Andres Kanner, MD cited studies from the literature showing that the rates of depression, anxiety, psychosis, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are significantly higher among persons with epilepsy than among the general population
Sleep disorders are very common and are often underrecognized and underreported in children. If left untreated, these disorders can cause serious developmental and physiologic problems.
While some mental health services for adolescents allow self-referral, many require parental involvement. There is increasing evidence that working with the family and the child is important if only to increase compliance with medication and to tackle any comorbid difficulties.
Infant, or developmental, psychiatry is a subspecialty of child and adolescent psychiatry that focuses on the promotion of mental health in infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families through the consultation, assessment, and treatment of clinical problems.
Current treatments for autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are useful in some cases, but have little enduring impact. This had lead to many parents seeking nonconventional treatments that often border on quackery.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in girls may be more persistent than originally thought and may also be associated with a variety of behavioral and mental health consequences such as eating disorders, depression, and substance abuse.
New findings in epidemiology, developmental psychiatry, and neuroscience offer the opportunity for a new perspective on the problems of juvenile delinquency and bring to bear the insights of modern psychiatry in the treatment and successful rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.
Treating Parkinson disease with dopamine receptor agonists puts patients at risk for a number of symptoms over and above classic motor disturbances.
Because personality is shaped by experiences during childhood and adolescence, it is likely that mental disorders occurring during these years may have an influence on personality development.
The prevalence and debilitating nature of some of the personality disorders has impeded the study of psychopharmacology in these conditions. However, important advances have been made in the last several years.
The evidence showing a relationship between mental disorders in childhood and adulthood has increased in the last several decades.
The psychiatric community has a need for diagnostic and predictive tests. Some recent techniques have just become available for clinical care.
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.
autism, mirror neuron defect
The use of psychiatric medications in children, including antidepressants (such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and drugs used to manage attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, are continuing to be reviewed by the FDA.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs for children won't require . restrictive black box labeling, as the FDA has reversed its earlier ruling.
A second opinion on the need for new warnings on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs from the FDA advisory committee contradicts The Pediatric Advisory Committee recommendation.
Pediatric psychosomatic research shows that emotional, behavioral, and psychiatric symptoms are found more often in children and adolescents with chronic illnesses than in healthy children.
Delirium must be diagnosed accurately, prevented, and treated because of its pervasiveness and the associated risks of morbidity and mortality.
There is a tendency to avoid psychiatric medications during pregnancy, but the high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in pregnant women means that women and their physicians must make impromptu decisions regarding the initiation or continuation of drug therapy.
ADHD, epilepsy, depression
