Psychiatry

Let's start with an analogy:  When your car's engine is running and it's in park or neutral, the engine is idling at a fairly steady rate. You don't even have to press on the gas pedal because the delivery of fuel is at just the right amount to keep the engine turning steadily. Now imagine that without touching the gas pedal, the engine starts revving. Read More

An interview with Bruce Wampold, Ph.D., author of The Great Psychotherapy Debate Read More

How did we get to this point, this point in our history where it is common, if not mandatory, to think of our unhappiness as a disease? That's the big question in Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease. Gary Greenberg has written a blistering, rambling and entertaining attack on the biomedical disease model of depression. Read More

 Depression during medical school? Read More

For too long, psychodynamic therapists have been treated like the redheaded stepchildren of the mental health field. A treatment option offering substantial and lasting benefits has too often been dismissed as unscientific and outmoded. But now the evidence is in and the professional community is taking notice. Read More

The disaster in Haiti once again brings up a question for relief workers: Are methods such as critical incident stress debriefing or similar forms of intervention appropriate? And, in fact, can they be harmful? I believe that telling the story when it comes to trauma is a necessary part of recovery. The question is really when and how to "apply the brakes."

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The age of first time marijuana users is dropping, and fewer teenagers believe there are health risks associated with their use of marijuana. How can teens and their parents remain ignorant of the dangers when overwhelming brain research points to marijuana as a cause of first episodes of psychosis? Read More

It was probably only a matter of time before blowback began over the latest round of news about antidepressants. I was just surprised by the speed with which it came. Read More

My 24 year old patient, the subject of my most recent blogs, complained that he was scared at night when he was alone in his apartment. In a previous post, I commented that in the old days, his fear would have prompted him to ask me to prescribe medication. Read More