Bipolar Disorder

Effective, early intervention and appropriate support for and treatment of the caregivers of these vulnerable children will improve short-term outcomes and also may provide positive lifelong benefits.

Much of the controversy on the relationship between grief and depression following recent bereavement has focused on whether the so-called “bereavement exclusion” in DSM-IV should be eliminated, as some have proposed, in the DSM-5.

Each of the boys in question could meet criteria for the DSM-5 proposed criteria for Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD). But do you think that these presentations are all the same syndrome that share a similar neurobiological basis, family history, and response to treatment?

Charles Dickens might well say of American psychiatry, “These are the best of times and the worst of times.”

Comorbid obesity and bipolar disorder together affect the executive functioning of patients.

Do you know someone that has fought the brave fight against serious mental illness? They deserve recognition and applause. Do nominate them or let them know of the Reintegration Awards.

Dr Roger McIntyre answers a reader's question. How would you answer? Take the quiz.

Philadelphia will host this year’s annual meeting that will take place from May 3 to 5, 2012. The chosen location will be at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel at 1200 Market Street, with easy access to many of the city’s main attractions.

Special Report chairs discuss patient education and provide a brief overview of materials that provide an opportunity for patients to help themselves.

Patients with bipolar disorder need a great deal of information about the illness. Without this education, adherence to your recommendations is uncertain; with it, outcomes will likely be better (and your job easier).

This essay is a brief update on an earlier Psychiatric Times article by Dr James Phelps. Several major studies have appeared since the publication of the original article, which shed further light on this issue.

But I still have bottles of pretty pills . . . I throw like life rafts to keep them afloat . . .in choppy seas, me passing my doctor-days

More and more research is being conducted in the US and abroad on the role of psychiatric pharmacogenomics in identifying new gene variants and in predicting treatment response to specific medications.

Skin diseases are not just a cosmetic issue; they are associated with a variety of psychological reactions that affect patients’ level of functioning and can produce agony for the family.

A study has reported a link between postpartum psychosis in women within 2 weeks after childbirth and a future risk of developing it.

This article explores the use of functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP)-a behavioral, evidenced-based approach to psychotherapy that can add psychotherapeutic benefit to your existing brief approaches during medication checks.

On November 21, 2011, John Oldham, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), wrote a response letter to Don W. Locke, EdD, president of the American Counseling Association, who had some concerns with proposed revisions for DSM-5.

The articles by Arline Kaplan and Hagop Akiskal, MD, in the November 2011 issue of Psychiatric Times highlight the race to patent bio-tests for schizophrenia and depression.

Currently, there are 350,000 Americans who receive maintenance dialysis for renal failure, and this predominantly elderly population with multiple comorbidities is growing.

Biomarkers for mental disorders is a field whose time has come. Optimists will say within a few years, pessimists might say a decade or beyond.

The petition to reform DSM-5 continues to gain momentum. In its first full week, more than 2300 people have already expressed their disapproval of the DSM-5 proposals and their desire to see dramatic changes. And the numbers are growing each day.

On the BSDS what score range indicates that there is a moderate probability of bipolar spectrum disorder? During euthymia, bipolar patients may have chronic impulsivity that predisposes them to aggression-especially those with comorbid features of which disorder? These questions and more in this quiz.

In Part 3 of this 3-part series, Dr Dilsaver discusses dichotomization versus a continuum model and concerns that bipolar disorders are over-diagnosed.

A recent front page story by Shari Roan in the Los Angeles Times explores the heated controversy over the DSM-5 proposal to include a Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) in DSM-5. I very much oppose the inclusion of this new "disorder."

I do not hear loud applause for our current antidepressant armamentarium. I believe I hear the sound of one hand clapping.

Increased activity of the enzyme phospholipase A2 (PLA2) has been documented in schizophrenia and is now reported to occur in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy . . .

On the wide range of symptoms in schizophrenia, including alterations of the dopaminergic and/or glutamatergic systems, abnormal neurodevelopment, and the theory of immune system imbalance.

An initiative from the BRIDGE study group has determined that approximately half of patients presenting with a depressive episode are mistakenly diagnosed with unipolar major depression.

Several available agents in addition to methylene blue are being investigated for bipolar disorder and were in a in a recent review.

A study presented by Canadian investigators at the 24th Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) in Paris, September 5 evaluated whether methylene blue can reduce residual symptoms of depression and mania in bipolar disorder.