Psychiatry Countdown to the Election

Election Addiction Disorder: Mackey Rules!
Desperate craving for election news during the endless 2016 presidential campaign has become serious enough to warrant clinical attention-and even intervention. DSM’s sachems have come up with “Election addiction disorder, undifferentiated, DSM-5A-177.6." Perhaps you recognize these signs and symptoms in some of your patients?

Frankly, My Dear, They Don’t Give a Damn
The travesty that we substitute for a thoughtful national discussion of critical issues in a presidential election (not to mention for Congress and state and local government) will soon be over. I haven’t heard almost any discussion about health care, or particularly mental health issues. Instead, the focus is on walls and emails.

Deconstructing and Reconstructing the “Goldwater Rule”
It is far from clear that the Goldwater Rule can be “simply put” or that its language is easily transferable to the complex ethical issues that arise when psychiatrists express opinions about figures who are “in the light of public attention.” Ronald Pies, MD, explores.

Whistle While You Work, Stevenson’s a Jerk
When was the last time in the midst of a presidential campaign that psychiatric diagnostic criteria were discussed so widely?

Secret Poll: Your Preference for Our Next President?
In a first-ever poll of its kind, we polled readers about you’re their fears, concerns, and hopes about how this election will affect psychiatrists and their patients. Take a look at the results.

The Results of a Psychiatric Poll on Presidential CandidatesPsychiatric Times conducted a first-ever (to our knowledge) poll of the mental health community in an attempt to take this this population’s pulse about how the next President might affect mental health care. Here's what we found. We are ethically constrained by the Goldwater rule, but here are the data from an artfully crafted secret poll on the Presidential campaign.