Clinical Psychiatry News articles from May 2009

Clinical Psychiatry News archives from May 2009

A DSM home for cultural syndromes.
May 1, 2009... SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. -- After being told of a traumatic family event, a Puerto Rican woman screams, cries, and trembles uncontrollably in a trancelike state--which she later does not remember although her reaction seems to have relieved her...

FDA panel deems antipsychotic safe as add-on for MDD: other recommendations prove mixed.(major depressive disorder)(Report)
May 1, 2009... SILVER SPRING, MD. -- Quetiapine fumarate is safe as an adjunctive therapy for major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, according to a Food and Drug Administration panel. But the drug is safe only in certain instances as a...

Physician practices must craft Anti-ID theft plans.
May 1, 2009... Physicians and health care organizations may soon have to implement a formal identity-theft prevention program to protect their patients under a little-known set of regulations called the "Red Flags Rule." The rule, which was issued by the...

U.S. smoking prevalence declines to low of 20%.
May 1, 2009... The prevalence of U.S. cigarette smokers hit a historic low in 2007, falling to just below 20% of the adult population, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Physicians on the front lines against...

Physicians in private hospitals and practices earned over $78 per hour.(VITAL SIGNS)
May 1, 2009... Caption: Note: Data are from the 2007 National Compensation Survey program. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Cognitive PTSD changes are evident on fMRI: study of American soldiers provides early evidence of disorder's specific neuroanatomy biomarkers.(NEWS)
May 1, 2009... Specific neural signatures of posttraumatic stress disorder in cognitive as well as emotional brain centers have been identified on imaging studies of recently returned veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a finding that might advance...

Early onset of mental disorders found in worldwide Survey.(NEWS)
May 1, 2009... NEW YORK -- Most mental health disorders begin in childhood and adolescence, but the early onset of these disorders makes it less likely that individuals will promptly seek treatment, initial findings of the World Health Organization's World...

NIDA toolkit fosters screening for addictions.(NEWS)
May 1, 2009... Anew toolkit, called NIDAMED, is available to help primary care physicians identify addiction to tobacco, drugs, and alcohol, and refer those patients into counseling. The toolkit, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), includes...

Studies shed light on genetic variants in ASDs.(NEWS)
May 1, 2009... Three large genome-wide studies partly funded by the National Institutes of Health provide the strongest evidence yet of specific genetic factors that affect the risk of autism spectrum disorders. The findings point to the importance of...

Deep brain stimulator wins approval from FDA for severe OCD.(NEWS)
May 1, 2009... The Food and Drug Administration has approved humanitarian use of Medtronic's experimental deep brain stimulation device to treat severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is the first approval for deep brain stimulation for a psychiatric...

Cardiovascular, other safety data raise panel's concerns on sertindole.(NEWS)
May 1, 2009... SILVER SPRING, MD. -- The majority of a federal advisory panel agreed that sertindole, an oral atypical antipsychotic, has not been shown to be adequately safe as a first-line treatment of schizophrenia, but more than half of the panel agreed...

We must reduce material mortality.(EDITORIAL)
May 1, 2009... Societies are judged by the way they treat the most vulnerable. Hence, the World Health Organization uses maternal mortality statistics as a measure of the efficacy of health care delivery. In countries ravaged by famine and war, maternal...

Meet our editorial advisory board members.(OPINION)
May 1, 2009... Lee H. Beecher, M.D. Dr. Beecher is an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and president of the Minnesota Physician-Patient Alliance nonprofit think tank (www.physician-patient.org). He also is a Distinguished...

New lens needed on narcissism.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2009... I would like to respond to Dr. Paul J. Fink's recent article on narcissism (Fink! Still at Large, March 2009, p. 15). In this review, it seems to me that Dr. Fink was rather nihilistic about treating those with narcissistic problems that...

Informed guidance for patients.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2009... As usual, I enjoyed Dr. H. Steven Moffic's thoughtful column in the March 2009 issue. His discussion about strategies that patients might use in choosing a psychiatrist struck a chord ("Investing in a Psychiatrist," The Ethical Way, p. 17). ...

The economy and our patients.(EDITORIAL)
May 1, 2009... Are we rich, Daddy? That was the question my teenage son asked me. As the son of a psychiatrist, he knew that he wasn't going to get a straight answer. This question led to an elaborate and intriguing discussion about who is rich. We...

PTSD research reaching underserved groups.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
May 1, 2009... SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. -- With the nation increasingly aware of posttraumatic stress disorder in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, some researchers are asking whether more attention should be paid to other underserved groups. ...

Frequency, intensity key in triaging for cybersex.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)(Report)
May 1, 2009... PENTAGON CITY, VA. -- Almost all technology with a wonderful use has a sexuality component, says David Delmonico, Ph.D. Given that, asking patients about what role the Internet plays their lives is a straightforward question that should be...

Revictimization far more likely for women.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
May 1, 2009... CHICAGO -- Gender plays a significant role in the rate and type of revictimization experiences of adults with a childhood history of abuse, according to a retrospective study of 207 adults. Revictimization was self-reported by 90% of the...

Modafinil's mechanism of action raises abuse risk.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
May 1, 2009... The wake-promoting drug modafinil raises dopamine levels in the brain, data from a pilot study of 10 men show. Until now, modafinil's mechanism of action has been uncertain, and it was thought to involve several other central nervous system...

Prevention of PTSD with propranolol.(EVIDENCE-BASED PSYCHIATRIC MEDICINE)(Clinical report)
May 1, 2009... The Problem You have a patient who experiences a severely traumatic event. Besides therapy, you wonder whether you can do anything to lessen the patient's chances of developing posttraumatic stress disorder. The Question Can...

PTSD: another Great Masquerader.(THE PSYCHIATRIST'S TOOLBOX)
May 1, 2009... Over the years, physicians have been familiar with certain diseases they refer to as the Great Masqueraders. These illnesses have the capacity to appear in different forms from the usual presentations, and medical students are taught,...

Mourning helps prostate cancer patients move on.(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)(Clinical report)
May 1, 2009... PENTAGON CITY, VA. -- The role of grief and mourning in helping prostate cancer patients move forward and improve their sexual function should not be discounted, results from a study of 50 men who underwent prostatectomies and a literature...

Polypharmacy for bipolar ever more complex.(PRACTICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY)
May 1, 2009... Recent findings from the STEP-BD trial may confirm what many psychiatrists already suspect: Polypharmacy is exceedingly common in the treatment of bipolar disorder (J. Clin. Psychiatry 2009;70:155-62). But just how complex that polypharmacy...

Fink! Still at large: a recent suicide raises questions about the heritability of depression and suicidal behavior. What should we be looking for while working with depressed patients?(ADULT PSYCHIATRY)
May 1, 2009... The suicide of Nicholas Hughes, the son of the famed poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, not only has led to much conjecture and age-old questions about heritability of depression. It also raises questions about suicide, suicide clusters, and...

Person-centered care decreases agitation: promoting choice, self-determination helps dementia patients without resorting to drugs.(GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY)
May 1, 2009... Holistic, person-centered care can reduce symptoms of agitation in dementia patients, compared with the effects of standard long-term care, a randomized controlled trial by Australian researchers indicates. Focusing on the patient as a...

Oldest in LTC less likely to have serious mental illness.(GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY)
May 1, 2009... NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. -- Long-term care residents aged 85 and older are less likely than younger residents to have a serious mental illness, more likely to have dementia, and equally likely to have depression or anxiety. Up to 80% of...

Naltrexone reduces heavy drinking, smoking.(ADDICTION PSYCHIATRY)
May 1, 2009... Naltrexone reduced heavy drinking in a 4-week exploratory study of 78 nicotine-dependent, nonalcoholic adults who were participating in a smoking cessation program. In the study, naltrexone had only a limited overall effect on alcohol...

Alcohol abuse may lead to depression.(ADDICTION PSYCHIATRY)
May 1, 2009... Alcohol abuse and dependence appear to lead to major depression, rather than vice versa, according to a collection of statistical analyses reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Researchers used data from the ChristChurch Health...

Psychogenic disorder survey shows differences.(NEUROLOGY)
May 1, 2009... WASHINGTON -- Neurologists vary widely in their practices and beliefs when it comes to diagnosing and managing patients with psychogenic movement disorders, and those ranges might be indicative of the absence of practice guidelines, according...

Revisions needed to streamline diagnostic criteria for PMDs.(NEUROLOGY)(psychogenic movement disorders)(Report)
May 1, 2009... WASHINGTON -- Psychogenic movement disorders could be classified with greater simplicity and possibly diagnosed with greater accuracy in a system that expands the ways in which patients can meet criteria for the disorders, according to Dr....

Psychiatrists coordinate care under new model.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
May 1, 2009... The term "medical home" has become a health reform buzzword. But a new model of care for patients with severe mental illness has lately emerged: the mental health home. "The [mental health home] model of care incorporates medical home...

Policy & practice.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
May 1, 2009... State's Psychiatrists Top List Once again in Vermont, psychiatrists were identified as the top recipients of pharmaceutical industry funding in an annual report compiled by the state's attorney general. The data are from drug...

On-call duties usually mean additional pay.(PRACTICE TRENDS)(Survey)
May 1, 2009... Nearly two-thirds of physicians receive additional pay for providing emergency department on-call services in the hospital, a survey from the Medical Group Management Association shows. The survey of more than 2,500 physicians in group and...

U.S. launches AIDS awareness campaign.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
May 1, 2009... WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has launched the first major U.S. initiative against HIV/AIDS in more than a decade. The 5-year campaign, 'Act Against Aids," is a joint effort of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the...

Celebrating excellence in psychiatry.(THE ETHICAL WAY)
May 1, 2009... In last year's May column, I presented some examples of the best of psychiatry in celebration of the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association ("In Search of Sublime Psychiatry," The Ethical Way, p. 66). Sublime was defined per the...

Inhalant Abuse info for teens.(FYI)
May 1, 2009... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is offering a new publication on inhalant abuse aimed at teens. "Tips for Teens: The Truth About Inhalants" provides facts on the long- and short-term effects, physical and...

Oppositional Defiant Disorder.(FYI)
May 1, 2009... "Oppositional Defiant Disorder: A Guide for Families" is a free resource from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry that was developed from the academy's practice parameter for the disorder. It is intended to be a starting...

Depression Treatment Protocol.(FYI)
May 1, 2009... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment has published its Treatment Improvement Protocol 48, "Managing Depressive Symptoms in Substance Abuse Clients During Early Recovery" The new...

Tools to assess drinking habits.(FYI)
May 1, 2009... The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is offering a booklet and a Web site aimed at helping adults assess and change risky drinking habits. The "Rethinking Drinking" booklet and Website offer information on risky drinking...

Hospitals slow in adoption of electronic records: survey of 3,000 acute care hospitals shows about 1.5% meet definition of comprehensive system.(PRACTICE TRENDS)(Clinical report)
May 1, 2009... Less than 11% of U.S. hospitals have a "basic" electronic health record system operating in at least one major clinic unit, study results showed. A smaller percentage of hospitals have a "comprehensive" EHR system operating in all major...

Medicaid incentive for health IT beats that of Medicare.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
May 1, 2009... While Medicare is almost always a better payer than Medicaid, one notable exception is the health information technology funding contained in the Recovery Act. For physicians applying for incentive money to purchase electronic health...

Who is our brother's keeper?(REEL LIFE)(Report)
May 1, 2009... Albert Camus, in "The Myth of Sisyphus," said that suicide is the one truly serious philosophical problem, because, more than other human acts, it compels consideration of whether freedom (free will) is embraced or rejected by this act. Debate...