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

November 21, 2008

Treating Anxious Kids -- Part II: How Much Zoloft?

A study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine found Zoloft to be highly effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. But is the news all good? Read More

November 18, 2008

Chicken and Egg

Does depression cause brain differences, or do brain differences cause depression? A scientist whose past research pointed to the latter conclusion has just published findings that reverse the direction. Read More

November 13, 2008

Rational Health Care: Siding With the Bad Guys

It's rare that a doctor feels moved to disagree with the executive editor, managing editor, and editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, not to mention the editorial board of the Gray Lady, the New York Times. For that matter, it's not often that I'm inclined to side with Big Pharma, the Bush Administration, and (probably) Judge Antonin Scalia. But the stakes are high in a case now before the U. S. Supreme Court, and to my mind the bad guys have it right, and the good guys have it wrong. Read More

November 11, 2008

The New Genetics

Just a note to say that in today's New York Times, most of the science section is devoted to articles about the new view of genes, DNA, RNA, and our old friend epigenetics. Read More

November 7, 2008

Can We? Concerns About Obama's Health Care Plan

Two things are clear. America needs universal health care. And the transition from the current system to one that covers the uninsured will be costly. It may be unaffordable if we begin with the assumptions that buttress the Obama-Biden plan to guarantee "accessible health coverage for all." Read More

November 5, 2008

"A Place Where All Things Are Possible"

Hurrah for America! Hurrah for Obama! Hurrah for us all! Read More

November 3, 2008

Treating Anxious Kids -- Part I

Big news this past week on medication and psychotherapy. Read More

October 29, 2008

Time Flies Like an Arrow, Fruit Flies Like Obama

As a doctor, I'd love to believe that if the Republicans lose big Tuesday, it will be the fruit fly dig that sent them over the cliff. I don't know that they'll lose big. I don't know that they'll lose at all. As I said to the Wall Street Journal reporter when she phoned this week, we liberals are never confident, so when we can, we take our pleasures in advance, via the polls. And rationally, I know that insects won't sway a single vote. But a man can dream. Read More

October 27, 2008

How Adversity Changes the Brain -- and Its Genes

How does adversity translate into depression? In particular, how does life experience make a person suicidal? This month, scientists opened a new window on mood disorder in the brain, using the tools of a discipline we have been tracking on this blog, epigenetics. The study shows causation in a direction that is only just becoming familiar: harmful experiences can give rise to harmful genetics. Read More

October 24, 2008

Drugs With No Side Effects

Internists and rheumatologists prescribe placebos and defend the practice as ethical.Surgeons and neurologists say the drugs they prescribe have no side effects. Are their patients the better for the deception? . . . And should psychiatrists follow suit? 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:

Current Issue

Everyday Creativity

How to start living creatively and reap the benefits.

Subscribe to In Practice

Psychiatry Basics

Current Issue