From the Pages of Psychiatric Times: January 2022

In the January issue of Psychiatric Times^TM, we worked with experts from multiple areas in psychiatry to bring you thoughtful articles about a wide variety of psychiatric issues, from treatment resistance and Lyme disease to delirium diagnosis and the Goldwater Rule. Here are some highlights from our first issue of 2022:

This is the Water: The Social Determinants of Mental Health and the Future of Psychiatry

The social determinants of mental health surround us. You only need to take a look around to see them. For instance, consider the following scenarios.

The gunshot that changed him. “He shot my friend and his little boy as they were going into their house. I had just been walking with my friend when that guy walked right by me and shot them. I had just said goodbye on their front steps and was only about 20 feet away. My friend was a few years older, and I looked up to him. His son was 6. We both knew the guy who shot him, but I have no idea why it happened. I started feeling really depressed a few weeks later and made an appointment at the clinic.” Continue Reading

Chatbots for Child Mental Health Care: Helpful, But Limited

Childhood: a carefree time for many. However, children today face countless sources of stress: academic pressure, schedules crammed with activities, lack of sleep, bullying, family instability, world events, social media, and more. Mental health issues among children are growing at a dangerous rate, and it is important that we use all of our innovative technologies to help them. Continue Reading

Lyme Disease in Psychiatry: Controversies, Chronic Symptoms, and Recent Developments

Since its first appearance in a group of children in Old Lyme, Connecticut in the late 1970s, Lyme disease has proliferated throughout the United States and abroad. Only 30,000 to 40,000 cases are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) per year, although recent studies looking at the time period between 2010 and 2018 estimate the actual number to be more than 10 times higher at approximately 476,000. Lyme disease is transmitted when an infected tick bites a human and injects the causative bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, into the skin. Continue Reading

Doorknob Moments: Why They Happen and How to Use Them

We have all had the experience of a patient dropping a bomb—a critical disclosure that moves the treatment forward—on their way out, with a hand on the doorknob.

When the patient becomes distraught following a shocking revelation, it feels at least unkind and at worst harmful to say, “Sorry, too bad you’re bleeding, but we don’t have time to pack that wound.” What to do? Continue Reading

See the full January issue of Psychiatric Times^TM here. And be sure to stay up-to-date by subscribing to the Psychiatric Times^TM E-newsletter.

Do you have a comment on any of these or other articles? Have a good idea for an article and want to write? Interested in sharing your perspectives? Write to us at PTeditor@mmhgroup.com.