April 11th 2024
Take a look back at our recent coverage relating to our April content theme.
For various reasons, up to half of patients stop taking their prescribed antidepressant within three months. Side effects are often the biggest obstacle in maintaining treatment adherence. How can clinicians help patients deal with the sexual dysfunction and weight gain that often accompany psychotropic treatment?
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Is Computer Addiction a Unique Psychiatric Disorder?
April 1st 2002Although it may be tempting to say that almost any rewarding activity can become addicting, new research appears to indicate that, at least in the case of Internet use, that may not be the case. In fact, "Internet addiction" may actually be a sign for other psychiatric disorders.
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Severe Psychiatric Disorders May Be Increasing
April 1st 2002In the 1800s there was widespread concern over the increase in the number of individuals with severe mental illnesses. Evidence from the 20th and 21st centuries is building that shows a similar trend. Why, then, is this increase not being currently addressed?
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Jose R. Maldonado, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, was named the 2001 recipient of the Psychiatric Times Teacher of the Year award. The award was presented to Maldonado at the 14th Annual U.S. Psychiatric & Mental Health Congress in honor of his outstanding achievements in and steadfast dedication to psychiatry. For his work with geriatric psychiatry, Dilip V. Jeste, M.D., has been appointed to the endowed Estelle and Edgar Levi Memorial Chair in Aging at University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Jeste is founder and chief of UCSD's division of geriatric psychiatry and Founding President of the International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology. He focuses his research on schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in late life and their successful treatment with the use of safer and more effective drug and psychosocial treatments.Helping people of all ages with schizophrenia to reintegrate into society is the focus of the Eli Lilly and Company-sponsored Reintegration Awards. Recognizing both patient advocates and mental health care professionals, these awards provide grants for their recipients' respective reintegration programs. In the Honorary category, the 2001 "Public Eye Recipient" is Elizabeth Baxter, M.D., a Tennessee-based psychiatrist who, while suffering from psychosis herself, is a mental health advocate on the national level. The 2001 Reintegration Awards were also given in the categories of Advocacy (New Jersey Association for Mental Health Agencies Inc. in Manasquan, N.J.), Clinical Medicine (The Whole Person Family Medicine Clinic in Torrance, Calif.), Education (The Guidance Center Supported Education Program in New Rochelle, N.Y.), Housing (Fred Geilfuss, Scott Reithel, Jack Rosenberg in Milwaukee), Occupational (Restoration Project in Acton, Mass.) and Social Support/Rehabilitation (Fountain House in New York City).
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Surgeon General's Report Highlights Mental Health Problems Among Minorities
March 1st 2002A report released by former Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., outlines the disparity in mental health diagnoses and treatment between majority and minority ethnic groups. The report also discusses ways of closing the gap in mental health treatment.
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The Psychopharmacology of Anxiety
March 1st 2002Many options exist for the pharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders. Are some more appropriate under certain conditions or for some patients? Mechanisms and efficacy of medicinal treatments, as well as some common herbal remedies, are reviewed.
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Effects of Ethnicity on Psychiatric Diagnosis: A Developmental Perspective
March 1st 2002Compared with Caucasians, African Americans receive an excess of schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses. Potential explanations for the ethnic differences in clinical assignment of psychiatric diagnoses are reviewed.
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When Does Shyness Become a Disorder?
March 1st 2002Social anxiety disorder, the third most common mental disorder, is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. A leading expert on SAD provides an overview, including highlights of the barriers to diagnosis, a differential diagnostic approach and treatment options for social anxiety disorder.
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Are Studies Misguiding the Choice of First-Line Treatments?
March 1st 2002A recently published meta-analysis questions if efficacy data garnered from clinical trials is relevant to everyday clinical practice. The authors ponder if enough patients are being included, if they are being followed long enough afterward, and whether exclusion criteria are too broad?
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Who Is Covered Under State Parity Laws?
February 1st 2002Will insurance coverage for mental health care ever equal that of physical health care? Until the federal government takes a stand, many states are implementing new laws or revising old ones to help level the grounds. However, with the states' options ranging from full parity to mandated offering and the option to base coverage on type of mental illness, equal mental health care coverage is still left on shaky grounds.
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The Genetic Basis of Addiction
February 1st 2002While progress in identifying the specific genetic variations that help determine an individual's vulnerability to addiction has been slow, a great deal has been uncovered about delineating the role that numerous genes and their protein products play in mediating the development of addiction.
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Contingency Management in Addiction Treatment
February 1st 2002Contingency management provides tangible reinforcement to modify patients' behaviors and has been found to reduce substance abuse across a number of clinical populations and settings. What types of tangible reinforcements are most effective?
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Although there are numerous media accounts of the detrimental effects of the drug Ecstasy, there may also be some clinical uses in the treatment of PTSD. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first-ever clinical trial of MDMA since it was banned in 1988. An expert in the field discusses what psychiatrists need to know about the popular "rave" drug and the compound's use as a therapeutic tool.
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Detox Diagnosis--Keeping Medicine in Psychiatry
January 1st 2002The following are case studies discussing the impact of proper evaluation of comorbid psychiatric illness and medical disorders. To read more case studies and find out how to effectively recognize and treat patients with these disorders, please see the January 2002 issue of Psychiatric Times.
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There Are Only Three Kinds of Psychotherapy
November 1st 2001Dr. Genova offers the antidote to the complexities of manualized and proceduralized psychotherapy that have arisen in imitation of procedural, technology-driven medicine. Supportive, directive and relational types of therapy and their correlation with various power structures within the doctor-patient relationship are described.
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Posttraumatic Spectrum Disorder: A Radical Revision
November 1st 2001The introduction of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) into psychiatric nosology has brought about a great deal of insight as well as controversy. Have complex clinical manifestations of PTSD created a need for further clarification of the disorder?
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The first magnetic resonance imaging studies in schizophrenia began to appear in the literature in 1984. These studies confirmed earlier theories and also contributed new findings such as changes in size of the hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum and so on in patients with schizophrenia. What other neuroimaging techniques are being used? What do recent studies show regarding the neuroanatomic abnormalities found in patients with schizophrenia?
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Addiction Resource Guide: An Internet Publishing Adventure
August 1st 2001A psychiatrist took his expertise in addiction medicine and coupled it with his desire to start a business. An addiction treatment facility clearinghouse, this Internet venture provides consumers with the opportunity to compare and contrast different treatment centers to find the one best suited to their needs.
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Disulfiram -- One Tool of Recovery
August 1st 2001When treating alcohol-dependent patients, clinicians may be well advised to integrate disulfiram into the treatment plan. Who are good candidates, and who are not? How can you enlist the aid of family members and friends to ensure compliance?
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