Cultural Psychiatry

What harms are there in labelling (or rather often mislabelling) more than a quarter of our troops as mentally ill? The harms are numerous and potentially quite dangerous. . .

As psychiatrists, we have a potentially unique-and powerful-influence in the discussion of public figures. But what professional and ethical obligations should we follow in this role?

Federal law now strongly supports a patient’s right to view his or her psychiatric record on request. Here: a look at the ethical and legal issues.

Sid Caesar, who died on February 12, not only pleasured millions . . . he helped me get through a reasonably tormented adolescence.

The new Pope's message resonates with what is becoming a prevailing ethos of good mental health care--a belief that everyone has promise, can recover and rebuild from life's misfortunes and should be able to have what we all want.

Statutes in 8 states are not designed to assure informed decision-making, say these psychiatrists; instead they represent an unprecedented effort by the government to use physician communications as an instrument for discouraging pregnant women from exercising their constitutional right to make their own reproductive choices.

It may be difficult for our American and European colleagues to imagine the constraints under which Russian psychiatrists practice. In Russia, treatment of the psychiatric population is at the mercy of government and society.

How prevalent is dependence on amphetamines, cocaine, opioids, and other illicit drugs across the world? What is the associated disease burden? Insights here.

In order to make positive changes in the field of psychiatry, it is important to appreciate and understand the current challenges and significant limitations of the present approach to psychiatric therapy.

In the eyes of many, the current societal approach to the treatment of psychiatric disorders cannot possibly be considered humane. More in this commentary.

Insurers appear to have plenty of leeway to continue-or even expand-the kind of anti-psychiatrist policies at the core of 2 lawsuits filed last year. Details here.

PsychiatricTimes welcomes two new Editorial Board members, congratulates editor-in-chief, James Knoll, and introduces a reader advisory panel.

If clinicians are to take anything from the Johannesburg debacle, it is that we must be even more mindful of distress and despair. Like Poe’s purloined letter, profound sorrow may lie in plain sight under one’s clinical gaze-but not yet “thought upon.”

The mental health community was given some much needed relief when the Obama Administration implemented the final rule be put in place from the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. The new mandate will ensure that most health plans cover mental health and addiction services in the same way they treat other medical issues.

Here are a few of this year's popular features on our website, in no particular order.

In the opinion of this psychiatrist, the point of the MOC test isn’t to measure competence, but to convey the impression that competence was measured. The point of the test is to say that a test was given-and nothing else. More in this commentary.

"The main problem here is not that past DSM leaders were derelict or purely political. The problem is that they now say that they would place science below pragmatism," according to this clinician.

Five key events in 2013 will leave a longlasting mark on psychiatry. Here: a look at the impact that CPT coding, DSM-5, sunshine laws, a shrinking market for “shrinks,” and I-STOP are likely to have on our field.

In this brief video, Psychiatric Times’ new Editoral Board member talks about what DSM-5, the medical home, and the search for money to fund novel approaches to new psychiatric treatments may mean to the practice of psychiatry.

Various populations of patients can benefit from telepsychiatry. The goal is not to replace local mental health resources but to enhance existing capabilities. This article articulates successful interventions as well as topics to consider when developing a telepsychiatry service.

A patient’s spiritual “framework” can hold the key to therapeutic breakthroughs.

Articles on stigma, telepsychiatry, and designer drugs . . . matters germane, timely, and needed-that is what is here for you, our readers. Enjoy and learn.

At a moment when mental health is so much at the forefront of the minds of Americans and our media, it seems time, again, to try to understand the damaging views so commonly held about people with mental illness.

Noteworthy tweets in the world of mental health, week ending November 8, 2013, from NIMH, PsychCentral, Nature News, Time to Change, LA Times Health, and Neuro Skeptic.

Rorschach, inkblots. . . what do you see here?