Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Pharmacological and nonpharmacological strategies to treat and manage comorbid schizophrenia and addiction concern psychiatrists who are learning strategies to help improve functional outcomes.

There has been substantial interest lately on the early stages of schizophrenia and the effects of untreated psychosis. Clinical trials have focused on medications for first episode, assessments of adverse effects, and “care paths” for the early/prodromal stage of psychosis.

A plethora of studies support the hypothesis that inflammation plays a role in the pathophysiology of major psychiatric disorders.

DSM-5 presents psychiatry with a potential “reset button” for diagnostic reliability.

A recent case has caused a flurry of opposing opinions. Not surprisingly, transgender advocacy groups have praised the judge's decision that the inmate in question has an eighth amendment right requiring the state to support and pay for sex reassignment surgery.

It would not be overstating matters to say that during his long career, Dr Thomas Szasz has been one of the most controversial figures in the psychiatric profession.

Disparate means of accessing marijuana complicates the evaluation of the quality, purity, and potency of cannabis.

Is the expression “mental illness” merely a metaphor? If so, does that tell us something about the persons we identify as having a mental illness? To clinicians who deal with devastating psychiatric disorders every day-and to those afflicted with these conditions-these questions may seem like a lot of semantic nonsense.

Do not be surprised if you hear more about hybrid models of psychiatric diagnoses included in DSM-5. The categorical and dimensional model approaches are 2 sides of the same coin as you look at the same patient from 2 different angles.

The new annual suicide rate of 12.0 per 100,000 people translates into 100.8 suicides per day and 1 suicide every 14.3 minutes. Here, you will find tools and tips to help identify patients at risk.

In this review, we discuss the established medications as well as experimental therapeutic options that may emerge as future medications for alcohol intoxication, withdrawal, and/or long-term abstinence maintenance or harm-reduced drinking.

Four studies sprang from the TORDIA trial on treatment-resistant depression in children and adolescents and showed that several factors influence treatment efficacy following treatment resistance.

Has any progress been made in our ability to manage negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

In schizophrenia therapy, the question arises whether a patient with hyper-religiosity as a main symptom can be treated with an antipsychotic (like clozapine) that targets that symptom.

In spite of a chronic mental illness (schizophrenia)and a psyche that increasingly blurred the boundaries between fantasy and reality, this lawyer and professor graduated from Vanderbilt with a perfect academic record.

What effect has the new antipsychotic Latuda had in patients with psychosis? Is a mood stabilizer as an adjunctive therapy necessary for schizophrenia or is the use of an antipsychotic alone sufficient?

With the recent tragedy in Colorado and the high likelihood that questions about psychiatry will be inextricably tied into it, guidance for practicing psychiatrists can be gleaned from this coincidence.

Anti-psychiatry proponents forget it is widely recognized that the DSM is a provisional diagnostic system pending progress in better understanding uniquely human disorders of our most complex organ.

The role of subtyping and bipolarity in TRD was discussed in Part 1 of this 2-part article. Here we review a number of the most common confounding factors of TRD but limit our scope to comorbidities that can be directly addressed and treated by psychiatrists.

Ongoing advances in functional brain imaging will permit studies on postulated roles of magnetic fields, biophotons, and macroscopic highly coherent quantum field effects on normal brain functioning and mental illness.

Should we accept the analysis of a journalist who has not treated a patient or implemented a study and reaches conclusions that run counter to well-established practice guidelines?

Our current diagnostic system is based more on subjective clinical judgments and less biological psychiatry. There is not one way to develop symptoms of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or autistim or OCD.

The current system of payment for mental health care in the US can lead, or even incentivize, clinicians to focus on and code for Axis I disorders and their more readily reimbursed psychopharmacological treatment approaches.

Weight gain is a known side effect of some medications for schizophrenia. Here: strategies to prevent and manage weight gain.

Importantly for lay and clinician readers alike, the book Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety reads as humor-laced triumph with many lost battles along the way rather than enduring unrelenting tragedy.