Neuropsychiatry

Can we predict risk for depression? There are no genetic tests or imaging tests that can be used to predict individual risk. But a longitudinal study at Stanford University is worth watching.

The authors review the evidence for the use of ECT and other novel neurostimulation techniques in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Although the somatizing disorders cover a vast array of symptomatic domains across many medical specialties, this article addresses the broad topic conceptually.

For severely ill patients, understanding the neurobiological underpinning of assertive coping provides an additional map for rapid assessment, formulation, and intervention to bolster assertive coping.

This psychiatrist takes notice when he hears public remarks by celebrities on their alleged psychiatric illnesses. A perfect example is when Jerry Seinfeld claimed he was “a bit autistic” to Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News.

Although the early focus of the NIH component of the BRAIN Initiative is on tool development, the examples listed in this article show that these tools will have relevance to practicing clinicians within the lifetime of the Initiative.

An expert Q&A with Laurence Steinberg, PhD. His newest book offers insights into the malleable adolescent brain and provides guidance to parents hoping to better understand adolescents.

Advances in psychiatric research, spanning the entire spectrum of biological, psychological, and social aspects of mental processes and functions, have transformed the field of psychiatry. More in this inaugural piece by Psychiatric Times' Editor in Chief.

In his blog for Mental Illness Awareness Week, NIMH Director Thomas Insel talks about the complexity of mental disorders and the need for scientists, clinicians, patients, and families to work together in searching for better treatment.

The discovery that a single IV infusion of low-dose (subanesthetic) ketamine exerts rapid antidepressant effects constitutes an expansion in our understanding of the neurobiology of depression and provides new avenues for drug development.

We have medications that can affect serotonin, norepinephrine, and-to a lesser extent-dopamine. Many other neurotransmitters are involved with mood disorders, but we have no medications yet to target them. Neurostimulation offers a non-systemic somatic approach to depression, often with an improved side effect profile. More in this Q&A.

The SSRIs, although principally targeting serotonin transporter, are complex drugs that might work on other neurotransmitter and receptor systems. It is likely worthwhile to look at the effects of other monoamine and neuropeptide systems on the enzymatic machinery cleaving the amyloid precursor protein.

What is your first impression of this image and why?

Some doubt that even $650 million will go very far in speeding up the solution to the vast jigsaw puzzle known as neuroscience. According to this author, we have learned a great deal in basic science, but nothing at all that translates to better clinical care.

Innovative approaches that advance our understanding of the mechanisms that confer risk for psychiatric illness in youths is the focus.

When psychosocial treatments are delivered with high quality and fidelity, outcomes improve. That is the parity all of us should be fighting for. More in this commentary by NIMH Director Thomas Insel, MD.

In the trenches of Alzheimer research, the battle continues . . . but where do we stand? Is the war on AD dementia nearing conclusion, or are we simply in the initial throes of the fight? Three experts weigh in.

A discussion of computerized cognitive training programs with the most independent supportive research that demonstrates a previously unrecognized degree of neuroplasticity, or cognitive flexibility, in the brain.

We talk about mental disorders as brain disorders, but what does that really mean? How does it change the way we think about autism, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar, and other illnesses? The answer to these questions are still evolving. More in this video exclusive with NIMH Director Thomas Insel, MD.

The study of moral cognition now carries age-old questions and observations into the era of neuroimaging and cognitive neuroscience by the shift toward a capacity for asking, “What are the structures necessary and sufficient for moral reasoning?”

Research is now making progress in understanding what happens before and during the illness and how this behavior can be explained.

Evidence has accumulated on the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation in major depression. The authors review its potential mechanism of action, findings from recent clinical trials, and potential role in the treatment of depressive disorders.

How are individuals with anorexia nervosa able to ignore signals regarding hunger that otherwise motivate eating, even when they are severely emaciated? Expert insights and online coverage by Psychiatric Times during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

An overview of Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, a medical specialty committed to better understanding links between neuroscience and behavior and to the care of individuals with neurologically based behavioral disturbances.

The term “CTE” was introduced recently to describe progressive neuropathological changes and diffuse neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with a history of TBI. Here, a clinical overview of TBI and CTE.