Psychiatry Blogs This is an OPML file. It can be used to export all the MedWorm RSS feeds on this topic into your personal RSS reader (usually you have to save this file to your own computer before clicking on an Import OPML command in your own feed reader to upload the file which will then import all the feeds) or it can be used by webmasters to integrate MedWorm feeds with their own website. This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader, such as GoogleReader, or to display this data on your own website or blog. Subscribe to this data using MyMedWorm.Subscribe to this data using GoogleReader.Subscribe to this data using Bloglines.Subscribe to this data using MyYahoo.

This page shows you the most recent publications within this specialty of the MedWorm directory. This is page number 3.

USA Today Publishes Harmful Prejudice, Misinformation About People with Mental Health Concerns
USA Today on Thursday published an editorial hopefully entitled, Editorial: Fix broken mental health system. Which would be fine as a stand-alone piece advocating more money, focus and resources for our nation’s patchwork system of mental health and recovery care. Instead, they — like many well-meaning but apparently brain-dead newspapers — tie the need to fix our mental health care system — something others have been advocating for for decades — to recent headline-news grabbing acts of atrocious violence. Only buried in this hypocritical, two-faced gutter-piece editorial do you find the trut...
Source: World of Psychology - January 12, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, PsyD Tags: General Mental Health and Wellness Minding the Media Policy and Advocacy Treatment Violence and Aggression Acts Of Violence Deaths Editorial Fraction Gun Violence Gutter Headline News Health Care System Health Mental Horrific Source Type: blogs

Psychiatric Drug Facts with Dr. Peter Breggin - The Big Suicide Loophole The Big Suicide Loophole in Antidepressant Drug Safety Studies By Peter R. Breggin, M.D.
http://breggin.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=117 Most important, two in-house memoranda show that Eli Lilly was purposely hiding suicide attempts and suicide ideation by coding them under false categories, such as “depression” and “no drug effect” (cf pp 3 and 4 of Part IV). Eli Lilly employee Claude Bouchy expressed shame about going along with this fraudulent practice: “I do not think I could explain to the BGA [the German regulatory agency], to a judge, to a reporter or even to my family why we would do this especially on the sensitive issue of suicide and suicide ideation."
Source: PharmaGossip - January 12, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs

Fiddaman praises Larsson
Journalists banging the drum are few and far between but they do exist in this murky pharma world. One such journalist is Janne Larsson, a Swedish man whose investigative skills and tenacity have to be admired by the street man and revered by the top executives within pharma, medicine regulators and apparent experts in the field of psychiatry. Larsson goes about his daily job without fuss. He rarely gets a mention on the regular activist blogs featured in my sidebar [right hand side of blog] Mickey Nardo, of Boring Old Man fame, is a retired psychiatrist who blogs regularly. He recently highlighted the work of Larsson, i...
Source: PharmaGossip - January 12, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs

Conor's Fredericton 2012 - Part II
The Autism Society New Brunswick met on several occasions with senior civil servants during the administration of successive provincial governments to advocate for a modern residential care facility and system. The concept was to have a facility located in Fredericton because of its central location and proximity to the autism expertise of UNB, UNB-CEL and the Stan Cassidy Centre. The centre would provide an alternative to the general psychiatric hospital facilities at Centracare in Saint John and at the Regional Hospital in Campbellton. The professional advisers at the centre could then provide services ...
Source: Facing Autism in New Brunswick - January 12, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Autism Reality NB Source Type: blogs

Reforming the Insanity Defense
Over on Peter Earley's blog there is a post entitled "How Fair Is The Insanity Defense" that you should all go over and read. I thought about writing a comment there but quickly released this would require a post of its own, so here it is. He starts out with a case description of a man with an undoubtedly severe mental illness who either shot or assaulted many people while delusional. In 1992, after a failed attempt at civil commitment, he shot and killed two people. At trial state psychiatrists testified that he knew killing was wrong, even though motivated by delusion---in other words, a legally sane crime by the McNaug...
Source: Shrink Rap - January 12, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: ClinkShrink Source Type: blogs

Goodbye to All That
Junior Seau had CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease known to afflict individuals who have sustained repeated head injuries over time. Junior Seau played football his whole life and was never officially diagnosed with a concussion. Last May he sat down one day and shot himself in the heart. Dave Duerson, the former Bears safety, did this too, as a way to preserve his cadaveric brain for post-mortem study. The official report from the NIH confirmed a diagnosis that surprises exactly no one. A lifetime of small, seemingly minor, but accumulative traumat...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 11, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD Source Type: blogs

Funding Opportunities Roundup
Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach and Enrollment (Cycle III) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - Grants to organizations that help families with children enroll in health coverage opportunities, including Medicaid, CHIP, and insurance affordability programs. Deadline: February 21, 2013 For more information: http://bit.ly/UZGOjO Understanding and Promoting Health Literacy HHS/Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality/National Institutes of Health - This Program Announcement invites applications to develop research on health literacy in general areas that include, but are not limited to, the following...
Source: BHIC - January 10, 2013 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Monica Rogers Tags: Scholarships and Grants Source Type: blogs

Time to Rethink Separating Out the Psychiatric Record?
Traditionally, most hospitals have separated out the psychiatric record from a patient’s medical record. This was done historically because of the stigma and discrimination associated with psychiatric concerns — and the serious lack of training in medical school for physicians to understand such information in proper context. As hospitals move to electronic records, the default behavior has been to simply keep things as they are — so no more processes than necessary have to change at the same time. This means keeping the psychiatric information in the electronic record segregated from a patient’s m...
Source: World of Psychology - January 10, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, PsyD Tags: General Policy and Advocacy Psychiatry Psychology Best Hospitals Comparable Institutions Default Behavior Discharge Summaries Electronic Access Electronic Health Record Electronic Record Electronic Records Emergency Department Me Source Type: blogs

Pain Pill Makers Get Guidance On Deterring Addicts
Amid the ongoing debate over the benefits and risks of prescription painkillers, the FDA has issued a draft guidance that attempts to help drugmakers determine which studies should be conducted to develop medicines to thwart abuse and the labeling claims that the agency may approve. The FDA is not requiring drugmakers to develop so-called abuse-resistant painkillers, which are designed to prevent people from crushing and then snorting, for instance. but the agency is trying to sort out which approaches may succeed, according to Doug Throckmorton, deputy director of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (here is t...
Source: Pharmalot - January 10, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Endo Health Solutkions FDA Opioids OxyContin Purdue Pharma Source Type: blogs

Kaiser Permanente’s eCare for Moods Racks up Another ‘Win’
This study took a really long time — more so than usual — to make it into publication. This study was begun in 2002 (and was supposed to include bipolar patients too) with data collected primarily in 2003 and 2004. Its results were first presented at a conference in 2009, and it finally appeared in a journal in late 2012. Draw your own conclusions.
Source: World of Psychology - January 9, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, PsyD Tags: Depression Disorders General Psychology Psychotherapy Research Self-Help Technology Treatment Appointment Calendar Bipolar Depressed Patients Depression Symptoms Ecare Health Care System Hunkeler Incentives Kaiser Permane Source Type: blogs

Brainsway Deep TMS Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation System FDA Cleared to Treat Depression
Jerusalem, Israel based Brainsway finally won FDA clearance for its Deep TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) to be used for treatment of drug resistant depression.The Brainsway system received a similar approval in Europe three years ago and is also being used there to control neuropathic chronic pain. Additionally, the technology is being trialed for a variety of conditions like Alzheimer’s and bipolar disorder, and even for smoking cessation (see flashbacks below).Read More
Source: Medgadget - January 9, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gene Ostrovsky Tags: Neurology Psychiatry Source Type: blogs

At University of Miami, Faculty Without Confidence in their Hired Managers Afraid to Identify Themselves
The University of Miami has provided some vivid examples of the contrast between the power and privileges of the leaders of large health care organizations and the subservient role of faculty and staff. Background Back in 2006, we noted that while the University of Miami was paying its janitorial support staff less than seven dollars an hour, and supplying them with no health insurance, its President, Donna Shalala, was living in a 9000 square foot official mansion, with staff hired to make her bed. While Ms Shalala did not seem very perturbed about the living conditions of the lowliest University staffers, as a...
Source: Health Care Renewal - January 9, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: executive life style mission-hostile management medical schools Donna Shalala free speech University of Miami anechoic effect Source Type: blogs

The financial crises caused by personality disorder?
Buffer How is it that successful business men, bankers, and other financial leaders caused the financial crises. Is it a personality disorder? Or is it hubris? A new term not familiar to me. Look at this short talk by Lord Owen about personality, personality disorder and hubris. This interview stems from a meeting to mark the publication of a report. The report “Did Anyone Learn Anything From Equitable Life?”, was presented at King’s College on 7 September 2012. Lord David Owen said that it is essential more research is carried out into hubris in Chief Executives and this is now being assessed by the Daed...
Source: Dr Shock MD PhD - January 9, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dr Shock Tags: Academic Source Type: blogs

First Ever Alzheimer's Patient Diagnosed - 106 Years Later
More than a hundred years after Alois Alzheimer identified Auguste Deter as the first Alzheimer's patient an analysis of that original patient's brain has revealed the genetic origin of Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's Reading Room Alois Alzheimer Aloysius Alzheimer (1864 – 19 December 1915) was a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist. Alzheimer is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which his colleague Emil Kraepelin would later identify as Alzheimer's disease. Amazingly, the pathological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is still generally based on the same investigative metho...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - January 9, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs

Results of the Survey on the New CPT Codes
101 responses What is your profession? Psychiatrist8281% Nurse Practioner1111% Physician's Assistant22% Prescribing Psychologist00% Other66% Are you ready to begin using the new CPT codes next week? Yes3838% No3232% I'm not sure if I'm ready2929% I didn't know I had to change how I code.22% What have you done to learn the new codes? Taken a real-life course2929% Taken the APA's online course2525% Read the E/M manual pertaining to psychiatry5152% Asked colleagues5051% Watched Dinah's YouTube tutorial series2020% Taken another (not APA) course1313% Nothing, I am no...
Source: Shrink Rap - January 9, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs

The Sandy Hook Massacre. Could it have been prevented?
Nobody wants to be killed by a crazy gunman. But the same disease the crazy gunman had might be inside of you and killing you silently. December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut. 20 year old Adam Lanza came into the school building and started shooting. He brutally killed 20 children and 6 adults. Earlier, he killed his mother. As soon as responders arrived, he killed himself. December 24, 2012, Webster, NY. William Spengler set fire his house and started shooting when firefighters arrived. Result: 2 firefighters killed. Then he killed himself. December 27, 2012, Queens, NY. A middle-ag...
Source: Doctor Kalitenko antiaging blog - January 8, 2013 Category: Physicians With Health Advice Authors: admin Source Type: blogs

Soldier Suicides
Last year, more active duty soldiers died from suicide than in the field of combat. There were 177 documented suicides in 2012, up 54% from 2007. And even these appalling statistics underestimate the true suicide epidemic when you factor in discharged or retired soldiers. You will hear calls for increased military spending on mental health resources. Greater funding will be sought for Defense Department anti-suicide initiatives. Although certainly warranted, do not think for a moment that simply hiring more psychiatrists and mental health professionals is the sol...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 8, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD Source Type: blogs

Punishing Poets is Not the Way to Stop School Violence
Anyone can understand why school authorities would be jumpy, after the recent mass shooting at Newtown, CT. But the recent suspension — and possible expulsion — of San Francisco high school student, Courtni Webb, is a fine example of how not to deal with suspected school violence. Ms. Webb was suspended, according to news reports, for writing a poem about the Newtown killings, which apparently violated the school’s policy against threats of violence. Poets, of course, have been deemed a threat to society ever since Plato banned them from his ideal “Republic.” Poetry, Plato argued, spoke to the heart, no...
Source: World of Psychology - January 7, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Ronald Pies, M.D. Tags: Anger Children and Teens General Minding the Media Psychology Students Violence and Aggression Acts Of Violence Adolescence Classmates Depressive Symptoms Dr James Expulsion Intimations James Knoll Killings Low Self Esteem Source Type: blogs

The Strange & Surprising Science of Sleep
In his book Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep, author David K. Randall calls sleep “one of the dirty little secrets of science.” That’s because despite spending almost a third of our lives sleeping, we don’t really know much about the process of sleep. In fact, Randall, a senior reporter at Reuters, notes that sleep is one of the youngest fields in science. Until the 1950s, researchers believed that our brains remained quiet during slumber. But the discovery of the stages of sleep shattered this perspective. For instance, our brains are just as active in REM sleep — aptly named rapid eye m...
Source: World of Psychology - January 7, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Books Brain and Behavior General Health-related Industrial and Workplace Mental Health and Wellness Psychology Research Sleep Anecdotes Artificial Lighting david k. randall Dirty Little Secrets dreamland First Sleep History P Source Type: blogs

The recipe for a great hospitalist program
Internal medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with diseases of the internal organs in adults. It also involves dermatology, minor surgical procedures, general psychiatry and preventive care of well people. It is an excellent field, full of opportunities to think and feel and connect with people, mysteries to be solved and an endless variety of stuff to be learned. Internal medicine contains the subspecialties of nephrology (kidneys), cardiology, oncology and hematology (cancer and blood), infectious diseases, pulmonary and critical care medicine, endocrinology (glands), rheumatology (joints), gastroenterology (gut...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 7, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Physician Hospital Hospitalist Source Type: blogs

We're Still Talking About Those Damn CPT Codes
Over on Clinical Psychiatry News, my dear co-blogger, Roy, has an article on the value of organized medicine and the good things about the big picture of using E/M codes for psychiatry. He's a fan. Check out his article HERE. Roy discusses why people (like me) don't like the new CPT coding and lists some reasons. He's a big advocate of parity, and mental illness like any other disorder, so I do understand why he likes E/M coding, it's what the other docs do. I also understand that it makes no sense to pay one fee for a 'med check' no matter how long or complex it is, and why E/M rates may make sense for ...
Source: Shrink Rap - January 7, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs

Responsibility for Treatment Compliance
One of the most difficult challenges to overcome when dealing with a mental illness is the temptation of the excuse. With a psychiatric diagnosis comes an excuse for everything. Any bad behavior, lack of motivation, or failure can be passed off as a symptom or the result of an episode. The excuse is always available. Don’t take it. No one’s asking you to take responsibility for having a mental illness. That’s not your fault. But you have to take responsibility for your actions and for your recovery. Sure, unexpected things happen as a result of serious mental illness, but most of our behavior is within our control,...
Source: World of Psychology - January 6, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: George Hofmann Tags: Disorders General Health-related Medications Mental Health and Wellness Motivation and Inspiration Psychology Self-Help Treatment Bad Behavior Depression Drugs Alcohol Drugs And Alcohol Excuse Heart Disease Institute Of Menta Source Type: blogs

Spirit Possession as a Trauma-Related Disorder in Uganda
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has waged a long and brutal campaign to overthrow the government of Uganda. Rape and torture are commonly used tactics. Children are kidnapped and forced to serve as soldiers — children and youth comprise almost 90% of the LRA, according to the UN. These child soldiers experience incredibly high rates of trauma exposure, post-traumatic stress, and depression.A recent study examined the culturally-specific psychological syndrome of spirit possession in this population (Neuner et al., 2012). Although spirit possession is common in many cultures, the phenomenon investigated here is a local v...
Source: The Neurocritic - January 5, 2013 Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs

2 ways to help your patients get better sleep
Are you or your patients sleeping well? Mine are not, and I wasn’t either. Do you ask them how they sleep? I never used to ask, and no one asked me. When I was in medical school, we had rigorous instruction in taking detailed medical histories. Sleep quantity and quality were not included.Continue reading ... Follow KevinMD.com on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 5, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Conditions OB/GYN Psychiatry Source Type: blogs

Getting Close!
I saw my psychiatrist for the last time until the move this week, and he was very generous and gave me prescriptions for an entire year so I could find a doctor in Chicago. It was sad leaving his office, I wanted to tell him how much he had helped me, hug him, something, but he's not an emotional guy. I did tell him that he had "saved" me and he seemed genuinely happy about that, but it's hard to tell someone the huge impact they've had in your life. I've been to the depths of depression hell so many times for him to lift me out quickly time and again. He helped me get well when I met him and was sui...
Source: bipolar.and.me - January 5, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Source Type: blogs

The Secret that Lady Gaga & Nevada Share
You wouldn’t think Lady Gaga and the state of Nevada have much in common. After all, one is a pop singer and the other is our nation’s 36th state. One entertains mostly teen and young adult women “monsters,” while the other entertains mostly older white men with Vegas lounge acts (although it’s certainly cleaned up its image in recent years to become a more “family-friendly” environment). But here’s the secret they share — they both are going to offer innovative mental health treatment. In a nation sorely lacking it. And that’s something to write about. The ment...
Source: World of Psychology - January 4, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, PsyD Tags: General Policy and Advocacy Psychology Psychotherapy Treatment Adult Women Bullying School Cbs Cbs News Class Providers Concert Goers Group Chats Half Brother Health Care System Health News Health Officials Lady Gaga Medi Source Type: blogs

Alzheimer’s Study Focuses on Knowledge Based Impairment
Alzheimer’s disease studies that focus on the earliest stage of the disease, which is mild cognitive impairment (MCI), have typically focused on short-term memory loss. Now, a study published last month in the American Journal of Psychiatry has concluded that people who develop Alzheimer’s may have shown knowledge based (semantic) impairment prior to memory loss, had they been tested for this cognitive deficit. Terry...
Source: Carol Bradley Bursack's SharePosts - January 4, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs

Why You Should Care About FISA
I know everybody's been concerned about the fiscal cliff lately, but meanwhile something important has slipped under the radar that could be more serious than that for all of us. Last week both houses of Congress overwhelmingly passed a five year extension to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the law which allows warrantless eavesdropping, wiretapping and monitoring of anyone who may represent a threat to national security. The renewal has been signed into law already by President Obama. Under this act, government investigators can datamine telephone, email and other online communications pretty much at w...
Source: Shrink Rap - January 4, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: ClinkShrink Source Type: blogs

Diary of an Iraqi Cosmopolitan Citizen
"As Syria descends deeper into chaos, knives are being sharpened and battle lines being drawn in Iraq." says an article last December in Foreign Policy.That was an enough dose of "foreign" policy to me so I switched the internet navigation to more "internal" affairs of this big world and the best story that appealed to me was Depardieu's. The french actor Gerard Depardieu, says an article, was granted the Russian nationality and passport. Depardieu wanted to get rid of the high taxes for the high salaries in France. As an Iraqi, living in Baghdad, I understand him!They say that chronic stress can cause, among oth...
Source: psychiatry for all - January 3, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

2007 Connecticut AG Report Critical of MH Access for Kids
This report found that some payers had advertised networks that were 2, 3, and 4 times their actual effective size. (Is that fraud?) Homework for the future: How many psychiatrists are in your network? How accurate is it?----- Listen to our latest podcast at mythreeshrinks.com or subscribe to our rss feed. Email us at mythreeshrinks at gmail dot com Our book is out now.
Source: Shrink Rap - January 3, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Roy Source Type: blogs

Overmedicating Patients & Speaking For Drugmakers
A jury in upstate New York recently found that a doctor’s negligence caused a patient to commit suicide by overmedicating him with psychiatric drugs. As it turns out, the same doctor was also paid more than $200,000 by various drugmakers for more than a decade to promote some of the same psychiatric medicines to other doctors, The Syracuse Post-Standard reports. There is more. William Beals, 61, a family medicine doctor in Liverpool, New York, was disciplined by the state early last year for prescribing drugs to patients for years without ever seeing them in his office, the paper writes. In September, he was censured...
Source: Pharmalot - January 2, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Cymbalta Effexor Eli Lilly GlaxoSmithKline Paxil Pfizer Zyprexa Source Type: blogs

Eclipse of the Memory
What is the benefit of reading poetry for example? And to make the question more answerless we can add "since you will forget most of what you have read?"Lately I found a movie which was issued back in the 90s, "Total Eclipse: Rimbaud and Verlaine". I was estranged to the emotional unrest of Rimbaud and Verlaine. Back in the 90s a friend lent me a book about Rimbaud, a book that I liked to a degree that I photocopied it. And since not more than 2 months I have bought a new book about the life and poetry of Rimbaud. But when I saw the movie it seemed that I am getting to know Rimbaud for the first time in my life. When I re...
Source: psychiatry for all - January 1, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Professional and Scholarly Concern About the Science Behind the DSM5
Although Frank Farley makes his comments about the DSM5 and the state of academic psychology in a CBS interview in an understated, diplomatic manner the comments should give reason to pause for anyone interested in autism and other psychology issues given his former status as American Psychological Association president: "Frank Farley, a Temple University psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association, agreed that a significant number of professionals and scholars were skeptical about the science that went into the DSM-5. Looking to 2013, an international movement has arisen...
Source: Facing Autism in New Brunswick - January 1, 2013 Category: Autism Authors: Autism Reality NB Source Type: blogs

You ain't seen nothing yet
Once again I have nothing to say, at least not in here. 2012 is just about gone and the world hasn't ended...yet! ow that pResident obongo will be starting his second term, congratulations you suckers that voted him back in. I know a few well educated black people who didn't vote for him fist time around and they didn't vote for him this time either. The total destruction of the former US of A can now commence We had megastorm number one pass through a week ago dumping around 4 inches of rain and today storm number 2 wound down, a mere 8-13 inches of snow, but tempteratures are now heading into the Siberian deep freeze ...
Source: Nightmare Hall - Welcome to my nightmare - December 30, 2012 Category: HIV AIDS Source Type: blogs

Pedantic Observation of the Day
AP headline: Psychiatric test for suspect in NYC subway death No. There will be a psychiatric or psychological evaluation. No doubt, more than one. If tests are employed in the evaluation, they will be psychological tests. Psychometrics is us, not them. It isn't just a turf question. Psychiatrists don't study or train to be psychometricians. The author of the article didn't get it wrong. The headline writer made the error. That happens.
Source: Dr. X's Free Associations - December 30, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: DrX Tags: Front Page Source Type: blogs

Jibra Ibrahim Jibra
"Al-Amirat(=Princesses) Street" in Al-Mansoor district in Baghdad was a calm quarter with beautiful houses with huge trees and flowering gardens. Jibra Ibrahim Jibra lived and described his life in it in an autobiographical book named "Princesses' Street". Jibra wrote about his love of walking in the street and thinking about what he would write. He was married to Lamea'a and lived with her in a house in this street. He wrote: Portrait of Lamea'a by Jibra"Lamea'a was very Baghdadi and very cosmopolitan, belonging to a mesopotamian era and belonging, at the same time, to the absolute time to whom we are attracted b...
Source: psychiatry for all - December 30, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Pan Positive Review of Systems? I Think I Just Became A Complaint.
The review of systems (ROS) is the long series of questions patients are asked during a face-to-face physician or nurse encounter. Sometimes, these questions are provided in questionnaire form. The form may contain a statement such as, "Have you experienced any of the following" and then list a bunch of signs or symptoms for you to circle. Other times the physician may ask a rapid fire series of yes and no questions to try and discover any complaints you may or may not have. This is your review of systems. Look for this process the next time you see your physician. ...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - December 30, 2012 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs

Psychiatrists/ Prescribers: Please Take My CPT Poll
Loading...----- Listen to our latest podcast at mythreeshrinks.com or subscribe to our rss feed. Email us at mythreeshrinks at gmail dot com Our book is out now.
Source: Shrink Rap - December 28, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs

Mental Illness & Violence: We Need to Step Up
It’s impossible to write a blog post about mental illness without confronting the violence that has descended on this country all too often. Too many innocent victims have fallen at the hands of too many offenders to set the issue aside. My heart bleeds for the victims lost and the loved ones remaining. Nothing written can take away the pain of the survivors. But a call to action may help to prevent such crimes from continuing. The offenders in these incidents are often troubled and plagued by recurrent mental illness. The tragedy begins when our mental health system fails these individuals and their families as the...
Source: World of Psychology - December 27, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: George Hofmann Tags: Disorders General Mental Health and Wellness Policy and Advocacy Psychology Treatment Violence and Aggression Act blog Challenges Crimes Fear Heart Bleeds Ill Offenders Innocent Victims Leaves Many People Meds Mental He Source Type: blogs

Bereavement, Depression & Happy Drugmakers, Pt. 2
In a move certain to create controversy, the American Psychiatric Association has voted to include bereavement in the definition of major depressive disorder, or MDD, that will be contained in the upcoming version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which will be known as the DSM-5, The Washington Post writes. The decision is significant because the manual is widely considered to be a biblical-like reference tool for psychiatrists and by eliminating the so-called bereavement exclusion – which appeared in the last DSM that was published in 1994 – the APA may generate what some experts c...
Source: Pharmalot - December 27, 2012 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized American Psychiatric Association APA Depression Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM GlaxoSmithKline Major Depressive Disorder Paxil Wellbutrin Source Type: blogs

Good grief
In what some prominent critics have called a bonanza for the drug companies, the American Psychiatric Association this month voted to drop the old warning against diagnosing depression in the bereaved, opening the way for more of them to be diagnosed with major depression — and thus, treated with antidepressants. The change in the handbook, which could have significant financial implications for the $10 billion U.S. antidepressant market, was developed in large part by people affiliated with the pharmaceutical industry, an examination of financial disclosures shows. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/antide...
Source: PharmaGossip - December 27, 2012 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs

Are we fair to schizophrenic patients?
This op-ed in the NY Times stimulated my thinking - Our Failed Approach to Schizophrenia My first exposure to schizophrenia occurred as a young boy. My father, a clinical psychologist, worked in a state mental health institution. We ate in the cafeteria every Sunday for lunch. I remember seeing some strange patients during those years. My father tried to explain schizophrenia to me during my high school years. His Ph.D. thesis involved the prognosis of paranoid schizophrenia related to the rapidity of onset. He found that rapid onset (after a clear trigger) recovered more often than slow ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - December 26, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs

An Early Blood Test for Autism Shows Promise: Interview with Sek Won Kong, MD
Approximately 11 out of every 1,000 US children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) annually, according to the CDC. While autism is usually diagnosed clinically, genetic evaluations have been thought to have potential in aiding definitive and early diagnosis of autism. Such early diagnosis is essential because pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions made when children are younger have been shown to lead to positive effects on habilitative progress, functional outcome, and quality of life. Since imaging may be costly and ineffective, and a brain biopsy is infeasible, developing a sensitive blood-ba...
Source: Medgadget - December 24, 2012 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Ravi Parikh Tags: Diagnostics Genetics Medgadget Exclusive Pediatrics Psychiatry Source Type: blogs

Psychosis In the Waiting Room
Last week, sniffling and certain that I might perish at any moment, I made an appointment with my doctor. I am an impatient person. This is why I make appointments when seeing my physician. I assume he will stick to a schedule and I will enter and exit, with a prescription in hand, within fifteen minutes. A nice, compact, amount of time. This time I was left waiting. Children screamed and people who may be as impatient as I am moved their legs up and down rapidly. Everyone made a socially concerted effort not to look at each other. I decided to settle in and read. At the rate the room was moving — sort of like a tu...
Source: World of Psychology - December 24, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: NatalieJeanne Champagne Tags: Bipolar Disorders General Health-related Mental Health and Wellness Psychology Schizophrenia Treatment Amount Of Time Angelina Jolie Appointment Appointments Assortment Beautiful Woman Bleach Brochure Rack Calcium Celebri Source Type: blogs

Healthcare Update — 12-24-2012
Didn’t take long for that “harmless” drug to kill someone after being legalized in Washington. Vancouver, WA man charged with driving under the influence of marijuana after running down a pedestrian. Just like guns, we should ban it before more people are killed. If it saves one life, it is worth it. It has affected almost 15% of adults in this country, has allegedly been the cause of multiple mass shootings, and yet the government keeps cutting funding for evaluation and treatment. Is lack of mental health care killing America? Wonder if this works for other parts of the body, too. Squeezing breasts decreases the ra...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - December 24, 2012 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs

Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard Medical School studies placebos | Harvard Magazine
TWO WEEKS INTO Ted Kaptchuk's first randomized clinical drug trial, nearly a third of his 270 subjects complained of awful side effects. All the patients had joined the study hoping to alleviate severe arm pain: carpal tunnel, tendinitis, chronic pain in the elbow, shoulder, wrist. In one part of the study, half the subjects received pain-reducing pills; the others were offered acupuncture treatments. And in both cases, people began to call in, saying they couldn't get out of bed. The pills were making them sluggish, the needles caused swelling and redness; some patients' pain ballooned to nightmarish levels. "The sid...
Source: Psychology of Pain - December 24, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs

Psych Central Responds to the NRA on the Sandy Hook Tragedy
On Friday, the National Rifle Association, a special interest group of 4 million members, released a statement about the Sandy Hook tragedy that occurred a week earlier. In that tragedy, 20 children were murdered by 20-year-old Adam Lanza. Few details have been officially released yet about Lanza’s life, because he had few friends, was shy, and apparently was socially awkward. However, that hasn’t stopped the news media from focusing on some statements of relatives who believe Lanza either had a “personality disorder” (says his brother), “was autistic” (again, his brother), or had Asperg...
Source: World of Psychology - December 24, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, PsyD Tags: General Mental Health and Wellness Minding the Media Policy and Advocacy Research adam lanza Adults Ap Article Article Notes Authorities Brother Criminology Hasn Innocent Children Insane James Alan Fox Mass Killings Membe Source Type: blogs

Newtown, Narcissism, and the Romancing of Rage
How do we respond constructively to the terrible carnage in Newtown, CT? Many voices have already been heard on this vexing question. But only a few commentators have recognized that such rare and tragic events are but a small part of the widespread violence in this country. A mass shooting may be likened to the sudden eruption of a volcano on a slowly sinking island — the volcano gets the attention and publicity, and few stop to ask why the island is sinking. To be sure, we must reduce the easy availability of lethal weapons and ammunition in this country; improve access to mental health services for severely dis...
Source: World of Psychology - December 23, 2012 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Ronald Pies, M.D. Tags: Anger General Mental Health and Wellness Parenting Personality Psychology Aggressive Behavior Air Rage American Culture Control Anger Desk Rage Disaffected Youth Firearms Control Helen Smith Lethal Weapons Many Voices Menta Source Type: blogs

Denying the Inconvenient Truth About Study 329
On 1BoringOldMan, Mickey, the semi-anonymous retired psychiatrist blogger, has updated the saga of Study 329. The manipulation of Study 329 was a central part of the US government's case against GlaxoSmithKline that was recently settled for $3 billion and resulted in three guilty pleas by the company (look here and here.) Mickey's previous voluminous series of posts on this subject are listed here. He and others, most notably Dr Jon Jureidini, have attempted to get the journal that published the now widely ridiculed Study 329 retracted. His three recent posts on the subject are:the lesson of Study 329: an...
Source: Health Care Renewal - December 23, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: Study 329 manipulating clinical research Paxil GlaxoSmithKline Martin Keller Source Type: blogs

Dealing with Tricky Situations - The Bipolar Question of the Week
In my most recent post, Breaking Out of Our Own Defenses, I cited Harvard psychiatrist George Vaillant in support of the proposition that our various ways of dealing with life - putting up defenses - leave a lot to be desired. This strongly implies that the key to a better life has to do with acquiring more skills in our use of defenses. Roughly translated, we are aiming for the ability to respond to tricky situations by learning to keep our...
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - December 23, 2012 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs