Geriatric Psychiatry

“I’m so cold, so weary in my abandonment. Go and find my Mother, O Wind. Take me to the house I never knew.”

Psychotic episodes are devastating for the individuals who have them, their friends, and families. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if individuals could receive treatment before the first psychotic episode strikes, so that it could be avoided altogether?

The first week in October. Leaves fall. Kids start school. Temperatures descend. Weather fluctuates. Stigma decreases. Awareness rises-with the help of the 21st anniversary of NAMI's Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Although his plays are suffused with dynastic and generational issues, Shakespeare hardly wrote anything about grandparents per se.

From my standpoint as the author of Unhinged, Dr Haldipur’s review is both good news and bad news.

There are bad deaths and there are good deaths. Sometimes we can do nothing to affect which of these outcomes will occur, and other times there are variables that we can control.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, more than 34,000 Americans die by suicide annually. Of these, 10% have never been given a psychiatric diagnosis.

If psychiatry reduces or abandons its engagement with psychology and social science in understanding and treating mental disorders and focuses predominantly on the biological factors of mental disorders, what will our role as psychiatrists be?

I teach doctors and nurses how to assess, treat, and prevent delirium-an acute confusional disorder caused by multiple medical problems that mimics mental illness-but is actually a medical emergency.

In our survey, we found videophones a surprisingly understudied and underutilized tool in spite of the fact that they are easy to use and do not require any technical support.

The goal of the survey was to go beyond ethical lessons, useful as these may be, and to learn how Psychiatric Times’ readers-who are on the front line of psychiatric practice-handle a series of hypothetical ethical scenarios.

A report of dropoffs of elderly individuals at hospitals, elderly persons being reported for socially inappropriate behavior, and an increase in 911 calls concerning elderly relatives with dementia attacking family members and caregivers.

Excellence in psychopharmacology demands sensitivity to the associated ethical considerations. The key considerations of psychiatry are both complex and dynamic, and psychiatrists who develop and refine their ethics skill set will be in a better position to anticipate and respond to ethical dilemmas as they arise in their practice.

One of the most remarkable discoveries in the field of life span alteration occurred in the past century and has to do with caloric restriction.

The title of Gardiner Harris’s front-page story in the March 6 New York Times was blunt: “Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns Instead to Drug Therapy.” For those of us who see our profession as a humanistic calling, this piece is likely to provoke a mixture of sadness and anger.

Major mood disorders have been associated with increased suicidal behavior. This is especially true in patients with a mixed, manic-depressive, or dysphoric-agitated state.

Psychiatrists face some unappetizing developments with regard to Medicare fees starting January 1, 2011. The terms of the new benefits are not nearly as specific as mental health groups pressed for.

The team approach to dementia psychiatry services requires leadership for direction, decision making, and policy changes in order to make the process efficient and beneficial for all involved.

It is not surprising that one of the most complicated aspects of collaboration with faculty and staff in the ED setting is the professional or social contract.

As I lie in my hospital bed, attempting to breathe through my trach tube at a normal rate, waiting for my morning medication, and hoping to hear good, or at least manageable, results from my doctors when they come to me on rounds, my mind wanders. Despite the precariousness of my situation, I can’t help but smile as I think of my now monthly psychotherapy sessions.

For some patients with MDD, there are indeed “remembered gifts” that are appreciated on recovery from their depression. But this is not to say that MDD itself is “adaptive” during the course of the patient’s illness.

Would you be surprised to find out that Freud is gaining a foothold in China? As psychoanalysis and related therapies are slipping in the USA, psychoanalysts from the US are beginning to train a cadre of interested clinicians in China.

Depression, cognitive impairment, and disability often coexist in older adults. Therefore, to effectively treat late-life depression, clinicians need to evaluate the presence and degree of the patient’s cognitive deficits and level of disability.

Focus on Obesity, Insulin Resistance, and the Metabolic Syndrome

The aging of the world’s populations represents one of the most remarkable success stories in medicine and of humankind, but it is also a source of various challenges.