Psychiatric Times’ Hot Blogs of 2016

The Stranger in Our Midst
These few stories of refugees remind us what a stress to one’s sense of self the immigrant experience entails. They emphasize how important this perspective is when we are asked to evaluate and treat those recently here in the US, and sometimes those who have been here for a generation.

How Antipsychotic Medication May Save Lives
For patients suffering the chronic, debilitating symptoms of schizophrenia, antipsychotic medication is a critical component of treatment-and may literally be life-saving.

Maintenance of Certification and Self-Mortification
Health care and medical education must march ever onward-although recently there has been a growing uprising among the ranks of experienced physicians.

Can the President-Elect Yield Gross National Happiness?
On a daily basis, our patients demonstrate their resilience to face reality and rise above their challenges, despite the odds. So shall we.

The Holiday Syndrome: Who Exactly Came Up With the Idea of Those Christmas Blues?
Since ancient times, doctors have shown a good deal of interest in identifying seasonal patterns in the incidence of symptoms and disease. Could the holiday blues be a myth?

Election Addiction Disorder: Mackey Rules!
In this satirical (and fictional) piece, the author writes about “Election addiction disorder, undifferentiated, DSM-5A-177.6x,” characterized by an overwhelming need to watch anything and everything related to the current race for the White House, no matter how microscopic.

The Social Cure For Mental Illness
By failing to provide adequate care and housing for the mentally ill, we have condemned 350,000 to jails and 250,000 to the streets.

Neuropsychiatry: Toward Solving the Mysteries That Animate Psychiatry
How do meaning, memory, emotions and, especially, human suffering arise from the brain?

The Mirror
"You don’t have the hands of a surgeon, or the demeanor. It’s a good thing you are a psychiatrist.”

Did Freud Ever Do This? A Reflection on the Epidemic of Crazy
“Hey, man, why is the world so crazy these days?”