Although there is no pharmacological agent that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of autism, new studies are showing promise in not only discovering the cause of autism, but pharmacological treatments as well.
The idea that drug response could be based on a patient's genetic background first surfaced over 100 years ago. Since then, technology has advanced to the point where prescribing medications based on a patient's genetic makeup no longer seems like science fiction. This article looks at the latest research on the pharmacogenetics of psychotropic medications and shows how far we still have to go.
Increasing variations in mechanisms of action of atypical antipsychotics, side-effect profiles, and efficacy among the atypicals enable clinicians to tailor treatments to individual response, side-effect history, and current medical conditions.
Decades of labor have been poured into the formulation of the DSM and its descendants. Is this system of classification still useful and relevant to clinical practice? Should psychiatrists continue to revise it or get rid of it altogether?
The field of schizophrenia recently has seen remarkable progress in the understanding and treatment of this disabling condition. Dr. Buckley provides highlights of this special report.
While housing problems for the mentally ill are usually associated with patients receiving public care, private patients also face obstacles over obtaining and keeping adequate housing. What are the issues, and what can agencies do to ensure all patients, regardless of socioeconomic status, have adequate housing?
Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric disorder that affects 1% of the population worldwide. Patients often suffer their first psychotic outbreak in their late teens or early 20s. Despite advances in neuroleptic drugs, many patients' symptoms remain refractory to treatment, with recurrent episodes of auditory and visual hallucinations, bizarre delusions, depression, and social withdrawal that can last an entire lifetime.
The World Trade Center attack changed the face of the United States and of psychiatry. Men and women of the cloth and of the clinic came together to care for the stricken masses. Yet, members of the clergy do not always refer congregants who exhibit duress to the psychiatrist, nor do psychiatrists refer patients to the clergy. What keeps these two fields apart? What is best for your patient?
Although late-onset psychosis is not as common as the early-onset variety, it can still pose difficulties in diagnosing and treating patients. How are patients with late-onset psychosis different from those who have early-onset, and what sorts of issues should clinicians be aware of?
The atypical antipsychotics have become the treatment of choice for patients with psychotic and other behavioral disorders. However, case reports, retrospective studies and epidemiological data suggest that these medications may be associated with new-onset type 2 diabetes and diabetic ketoacidosis.
HonorsThe National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) recently honored outstanding psychiatric researchers.
Repetitive self-injury can be one of the more difficult conditions to treat. What is the biochemical basis for self-injury and how can psychiatrists treat this condition?
Standardized test scores and adaptive functioning will now be used to determine who may be sentenced to death and who may not. Yet, legal and psychiatric experts continue to challenge each other to define mental retardation. Some say that retardation can be feigned and used to weaken the power of the death penalty. Others say the issue will not arise.
Assessing the Violent Patient: An Additional Case of Legal Implications
Medication and psychotherapy or counseling can be safely and effectively combined in patients with substance use and other psychiatric disorders. Differentiating between substance-induced psychiatric disorders and pre-existing psychiatric disorders facilitates the successful treatment of dually diagnosed patients. Find out what the latest research offers in the prognosis of psychiatric disorders and substance use.
Treatment with psychopharmaceuticals may prove problematic for pregnant women. The decision to discontinue medications or to adjust dosages to minimize the risk to the fetus has to be addressed. The dynamic balance of treatment options, maternal concerns and practitioner responsibility depends upon staying abreast of the latest research in psychopharmacology and pregnancy.
The threat that a patient may commit an act of violence challenges psychiatrists to wrestle with the legal system as they attempt to successfully build a therapeutic alliance. Patient history, solid medical care, and the duties to warn and to protect must be successfully balanced to navigate the crossroads between psychiatry and the law.
Despite the widespread, long-standing notion that pregnancy is a time of happiness and emotional well-being, accumulating evidence suggests that pregnancy does not protect women from mental illness. Like their nonpregnant counterparts, pregnant women experience new onset and recurrent mood, anxiety and psychotic disorders.
There is no doubt that the number of applications for disability is rising. How should psychiatrists deal with patients who ask for disability without compromising the therapeutic alliance or the goals of therapy?
Discussions of psychiatric ethics often devolve into discussions of applicable law. Although ethics is often operationalized by a society's laws, ethics differs dramatically in its foundations, framework and purpose.
How does a clinician deal with those patients for whom they can ultimately do nothing but help them stay numb for the majority of their days?
Patients with Alzheimer's disease and psychosis often have a more severe course of illness, with higher incidence of caregiver burden and hospitalization. Differentiating this disorder from Alzheimer's disease uncomplicated by psychosis is key to maximizing more positive outcomes.
While the deaths of several students have figured prominently in recent news, studies show that college students actually have a lower rate of suicide than their nonstudent peers. What can be done to lower suicide rates even further?
Deficient omega-3 fatty acids can result in myriad pathological changes including altering the central nervous system. Their balance or imbalance changes receptor function, prostaglandin and cytokine production. Understanding the roles of these essential fatty acids is vital to remedying the fatty acid abnormalities found in a number of psychiatric disorders.
College students are far less likely to kill themselves than are nonstudent peers, according to a 10-year research study examining suicide rates at 12 Midwestern campuses.
