Topics

Psychiatry

Is Grief an Illness?

By Elana Premack Sandler, L.C.S.W., M.P.H on February 22, 2012 in Promoting Hope, Preventing Suicide

There's a big debate going on in the mental health world. Right now, if someone is grieving following the loss of a loved one, feelings and experiences associated with depression are considered a normal part of the grief process. So, a person can experience sleeplessness, sadness, or crying spells and not be labeled as experiencing depression. Read More

ICD-10-CM Delay Removes Excuse for Rushing DSM 5 Into Premature Publication

By Allen J. Frances, M.D. on February 22, 2012 in DSM5 in Distress

Until yesterday, there were only two reasons to stick with the projected date of DSM 5 publication (May 2013): 1) the need to coordinate DSM 5 with ICD-10-CM coding, which was scheduled to start Oct 2013; and, 2) the need to protect APA publishing profits in order to meet budget projections. The first reason just dropped out. Read More

Ten Men and Half a Woman: Is Your Intelligence Underestimated?

By Dr. Gabriela Cora on February 21, 2012 in Alpha Females

I've been active in several groups, associations, and boards for a couple of decades now and one of the interesting ongoing conversations is bringing diversity into the groups. Yes, there is data to support that boards benefit from diversity. And there's also data to support that they don't. Read More

Debunking Antidepressants

By Jefferson Fish, Ph.D. on February 21, 2012 in Looking in the Cultural Mirror

On Sunday, 60 Minutes on CBS discussed Irving Kirsch’s work showing that anti-depressants are no better than placebos for all but the most severe cases of depression. Read More

Addicted to Drugs? Blame It on Brain Anatomy

By Professor Gary L. Wenk, Ph. D. on February 21, 2012 in Your Brain on Food

How easy is it for you to turn down another piece of chocolate, another line of cocaine or just one more beer before driving home? The ease with which you make your decision when faced with such risky choices is greatly influenced by the genes and unique brain anatomy that you inherited from your parents. Read More

The Bizarre Disorder of Hemineglect

By Jenni Ogden, Ph.D. on February 20, 2012 in Trouble in Mind

Patients who have right parietal damage and suffer from left hemineglect will often copy only the right half of a drawing, eat the food off only the right side of their plate and disown their left limbs. Read More

Why Ritalin is Wrong (Or... IS Ritalin Wrong?)

By Lynn E. O’Connor, Ph.D. on February 20, 2012 in Our Empathic Nature

I recently read an article in The New York Times by L. Alan Sroufe, suggesting that ADHD/ADD (attention deficit and attention hyperactivity disorder/attention deficit disorder) may not really exist, that it is over diagnosed and that medications are not effective over time. I found it disturbing, potentially harmful, and counter to clinical experience. Read More

The End of Mental Health—And Why That's a Good Thing

By Douglas LaBier, Ph.D. on February 20, 2012 in The New Resilience

The idea of mental health—as we know it—has reached a dead end. It doesn't describe much of anything relevant to people's lives today. If you Google "mental health," most of what comes up describes mental illness, not mental health. Read More

DSM-5 Hysteria: When Does Natural Grief Become Pathological Bereavement?

By Dr. Stephen A. Diamond, Ph.D. on February 19, 2012 in Evil Deeds

DSM-IV-TR clearly draws a distinction between "normal" and pathological bereavement. As it should. When does a "normal grief reaction" become a debilitating, prolonged and potentially life-threatening mental disorder? Read More

Now They Want to Label Grief "Depression"

By Eric Maisel, Ph.D. on February 19, 2012 in Rethinking Psychology

I am in the first few weeks of talking about my new book Rethinking Depression and its publication coincides with the efforts of the mental health labeling task force to re-label grief as "depression." I'll say more about that re-labeling obscenity in a moment. Read More

DSM 5 to the Barricades on Grief

By Allen J. Frances, M.D. on February 18, 2012 in DSM5 in Distress

The storm of opposition to DSM 5 is now focused on its silly and unnecessary proposal to medicalize grief. To paraphrase Voltaire, normal grief is not 'Major', is not 'Depressive,' and is not 'Disorder.' Grief is the normal and necessary human reaction to love and loss, not some phony disease. Read More

ADHD and Obesity

By Emily Deans, M.D. on February 17, 2012 in Evolutionary Psychiatry

If you were to guess, would you think that people with ADHD are more likely to be obese or skinny? Read More

Good Grief: The APA Plans to Give the Bereaved Two Weeks to Conclude Their Mourning

By Christopher Lane, Ph.D. on February 17, 2012 in Side Effects

Another week, another fiasco for the American Psychiatric Association. "The Lancet," Britain's leading medical journal, editorialized today about a major DSM-5 proposal, calling it "dangerously simplistic and flawed." Read More

Lancet Rejects Grief As a Mental Disorder

By Allen J. Frances, M.D. on February 17, 2012 in DSM5 in Distress

The Lancet is probably the most prestigious medical journal in the world. When it speaks, people listen. The New York Times is probably the most prestigious newspaper in the world. Again, when it speaks, people usually listen. The Lancet and The New York Times have both spoken on the DSM-5 foolishness of turning grief into a mental disorder. Read More

Bad Luck or Psychological Reversal?

By Susan Heitler, Ph.D. on February 16, 2012 in Resolution, Not Conflict

What seems like bad luck may stem from the subconscious workings of a phenomenon that therapists are just at the very beginning stages of recognizing and treating. Read More

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

By Judy Scheel, Ph.D., L.C.S.W. on February 16, 2012 in When Food Is Family

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (Feb. 26 - March 3) is a time to look at the role empathy plays in helping loved ones recover from an eating disorder. Read More

DSM 5 Minor Neurocognitive Disorder

By Allen J. Frances, M.D. on February 16, 2012 in DSM5 in Distress

Within the next 3-5 years, we will likely have biological tests to accurately diagnose the prodrome of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Much remains to be done in standardizing these tests, determining their appropriate set points and patterns of results, and negotiating the difficult transition from research to general clinical practice. Read More

Quitting Self-Injury

By Peter Adler, Ph.D., and Patti Adler, Ph.D. on February 16, 2012 in The Deviance Society

Self-Injury is sometimes viewed as addictive, but sociological research shows that people can and do quit for reasons and at points in their self-injury careers that follow predictable patterns. Read More

Medicalized Psychiatry: Is an M.D. Sufficient?

By Adrian Preda, M.D. on February 16, 2012 in A Psychiatrist at Large

Is a your psychiatrist a philosopher? Read More

A Quick and Quirky Addition to Depression Treatment Options

By Susan Heitler, Ph.D. on February 14, 2012 in Resolution, Not Conflict

Extensive medical research has established that when people feel a sense of well-being there is more energy in their left than their right prefrontal lobe. Their brain, by contrast, has more energy in the right prefrontal lobe when depression is present. Read More

Essential Reads: Editor's Picks

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Psychiatry Blogs

  • Adrian Preda, M.D.

    A Psychiatrist at Large

    The brain, behavior, and everything in between
    By Adrian Preda, M.D.
  • Stephanie Newman, Ph.D.

    Apologies To Freud

    The psychopathology of everyday life.
    By Stephanie Newman, Ph.D.
  • Dr. Jory F. Goodman

    Attention, Please

    Your appointment was yesterday . . .
    By Dr. Jory F. Goodman

  • Beyond Freud

    A dose of common sense
    By Lawrence Blum, M.D. and Leon Hoffman, M.D.
  • Charles F. Zorumski, MD

    Demystifying Psychiatry

    A resource for patients and families.
    By Charles Zorumski, M.D., and Eugene Rubin, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Allen Frances, M.D.

    DSM5 in Distress

    The DSM's impact on mental health practice and research.
    By Allen Frances, M.D.
  • Emily Deans, M.D.

    Evolutionary Psychiatry

    The hunt for evolutionary solutions to contemporary mental health problems
    By Emily Deans, M.D.
  • Amir A. Afkhami

    Global Mental Health

    The history and future of mental health around the world.
    By Amir A. Afkhami, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Steven Schlozman, MD

    Grand Rounds

    Why we do the things we do.
    By Steven Schlozman, M.D.
  • Robert Whitaker

    Mad in America

    History, Science, and the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders
    By Robert Whitaker
  • Victoria-Dunckley

    Mental Wealth

    How Small Investments Create Big Returns
    By Victoria L. Dunckley, M.D.
  • Nassir Ghaemi

    Mood Swings

    A Psychiatrist Surveys the Mind and the Wider World
    By Dr. Nassir Ghaemi
  • Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D.

    Science Isn't Golden

    Matters of the mind and heart
    By Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D.

  • Shrink Rap Today

    Three psychiatrists explain their work.
    By Steve Daviss, M.D., Annette Hanson, M.D., and Dinah Miller, M.D.

  • The Pacific Heart

    Psychiatry, Spirituality and Culture
    By Ravi Chandra, M.D.
  • Samantha Smithstein, Psy.D.

    What The Wild Things Are

    Understandings of Self, Awareness, and Mental Health in an Ever-Changing World
    By Samantha Smithstein, Psy.D.
  • Stuart L. Kaplan, M.D.

    Your Child Does Not Have Bipolar Disorder

    The bad science and misdiagnosis of childhood bipolar disorder.
    By Stuart L. Kaplan, M.D.