In Practice

A Practicing Doctor's Views on Psychiatry and Contemporary Culture.

Peter D. Kramer is a psychiatrist and author. His books include Against Depression and Listening to Prozac. See full bio

October 9, 2009

Nobelobama: Yes, You Can!

What do these Scandinavians have in mind? Read More

October 3, 2009

Due for a Comeback?

What future for the serotonin transporter gene? Read More

July 22, 2009

No Joints: How Psychiatry Carves Up Nature

Just a note to say that I have a piece posted at double X on the latest dust-up about DSM-V. Read More

June 20, 2009

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Just a note to say that I have an essay in the Wall Street Journal "Culture" section about good work and its effect on identity and private life. Read More

June 17, 2009

I'm always curious about what the New York Times considers news. Today it features a debunking report based on a JAMA overview piece that undercuts a famous study, by Avshalom Caspi, of what the press dubbed the "depression gene." That research had found that different variants of the (to use its prior sobriquet) "Woody Allen gene" made people more or less liable to the effects of stress, and thus more or less vulnerable to depression and suicide. Read More

March 30, 2009

One Patient, One Doctor, One Year

I'm back to recommend another book by a medical colleague who is also a good friend. Today sees the publication of The Addict, by Michael Stein. Michael is an internist specializing in the treatment of infectious disease, but his work with drug addicts displays the sensitivity and insight of the best psychotherapy. Read More

March 11, 2009

Ave atque Vale

I have received a number of emails from readers asking about the disappearance of my postings to "In Practice." I am grateful for the expressions of concern and encouragement, but I have decided to set this blog aside - at the least, to stop contributing to it regularly. From the start, the blog was a one-year experiment. The year is up, and I have had to weigh the effects of my participation. Read More

February 19, 2009

Fuhgeddaboudit

If we had a drug that could erase bad memories, should we use it? Read More

February 18, 2009

As They Say on Facebook: Status Update

Just a note to let readers know that shortly (morning West Coast, afternoon, East) I will be participating in "AirTalk with Larry Mantle," on public radio. The topic is the ethics of memory modulation - via medications, such as propranolol, that may be able to interfere with the consolidation of fearful associations. (One British headline for a story on the topic reads: "Pill to erase bad memories: Ethical furore over drugs 'that threaten human identity.'") Read More

February 17, 2009

Why Ski

The family took a trip to the mountains this weekend. Skiing is an impossible sport. From where we start, the drive north takes four and a half hours, if you don't hit bad weather or traffic, but you always do. This time, on our way up black ice slowed the interstate to thirty, allowing for a leisurely view of the spinouts. Then there's the equipment. Once, when the kids were young, my wife and I started listing items that needed to make it to the slopes; we stopped counting when we reached on one hundred. The expense, the risk - who needs any of it?

Yesterday, on the ride home in the van, someone asked, "What do we like about skiing?" Read More

Psychiatry Basics

In its ongoing attempts to define, understand, and categorize disorders, and determine the best treatments, the medical specialty of psychiatry is always up against the protean complexity of the human brain.

Go to the Psychiatry Basics page for more on Psychiatry including:

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