News: International focus on psychiatry

Psychiatric Services devotes the March issue to how the rest of the world grapples with treatment and consequences of mental illnesses. Topics span a broad range, from the public health response in Israel, where schools played "a significant role" for adolescents with an emotional or behavioral problem, to programs in Russia where people with mental illness are likely to be excluded from services.
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, services, therapies | Comments (0)

Did You Know: France dropped transsexuality from mental disorders.
"Last month, France became the first country in the world to remove transsexualism from its official list of mental disorders," writes Gaëlle Faure in Time Magazine. Read more....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis | Comments (0)

News: The bar for normal -- DSM update
Advancing the conversation about revising the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-V, On the Media's Brooke Gladstone. . .
Full Story | Topics: addiction, bipolar disorder, diagnosis, DSM-V, psychiatry | Comments (0)

News: Blizzard of news about DSM-V
Would introducing a category for the risk of psychosis promote early diagnosis that leads to better treatment? Or will it promote unnecessary worry, stigma and giving drugs to young adults who don't need them? These are among the questions posed by the release of the American Psychiatric Association's newest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V). . .
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, DSM-V, psychiatry, therapies | Comments (2)

News: Brain scans detect PTSD
A highly technical study with remarkably optimistic rates of accuracy for confirming a diagnosis of PTSD was explained in Scientific American. Magnetoencephelography (MEG),. . .
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, PTSD, research, treatment programs | Comments (0)

News: Cultural difference and symptoms of mental illness
In a New York Times article titled, "The Americanization of Mental Illness," Ethan Watters discusses how America's "symptom repertoire" for mental illness has circled the globe and altered the expression of symptoms and their treatment. He . . .
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, DSM-V, family | Comments (1)

News: Princeton students discover lives behind diagnosis
When a class of Princeton students took the bus to New York City for a week-long student project, Sophie Jin's goal was to learn more about the lives of people with serious mental illness. A junior in the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs, she and her classmates expected to see the workings of stigma. But after meeting and talking with consumers, psychiatrists, members of the helping profession, they discovered the rich, complex lives often dismissed categorically simply...
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, stigma | Comments (0)

Did You Know: Syphillis accounted for about 20 percent of the admissions to mental hospitals 100 years ago.
Read more about this is in the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Illness....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, hospitals | Comments (0)

News: Stimulus money prompts schizophrenia research
A new study to assess how early treatment of schizophrenia affects the illness will be launched by NIMH with the help of stimulus money, according to a press release distributed yesterday. . .
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, recovery, research, schizophrenia | Comments (0)

News: DSM-V controversy boiling
Revision of the APA's diagnostic bible, the DSM-V has been underway for nearly a decade. Complaints about the process. . .
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, DSM-V, psychiatry, research | Comments (0)

Consider This: Should the term schizophrenia be changed?
. . .take a poll
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, DSM-V, psychiatry, schizophrenia | Comments (2)

News: June in the journals

Did You Know: When there is a dual diagnosis, mood disorders are most likely to be associated with substance use disorders.
Read more about dual disorders from AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)....
Full Story | Topics: bipolar disorder, depression, diagnosis, drug use | Comments (0)

Consider This: APA: May is Borderline Personality Disorder month
. . .John Gunderson, M.D., lecture
Full Story | Topics: bipolar disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, diagnosis, PTSD, therapies | Comments (0)

News: DSM-V changes under discussion
After years of study, and in preparation of a 2012 publicaton date, discussions are underway about conceptual changes in the next edition of the DSM-V. These include separating measures of functioning and disability from symptoms, which is consistent with World Health Organization classifications. Clinical Psychiatry News describes the process....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, DSM-V, psychiatry, research | Comments (0)

News: Brain scans for PTSD
If the results of preliminary studies hold up, brain imaging could be used to diagnose PTSD the way a chest x-ray shows TB. That's the hope based on research conducted on 42 soldiers returning from Afghanistan or Iraq who showed two patterns distinctly different from subjects who were not suffering from PTSD. The research was presented last week in Italy at the meetings of the World Psychiatric Association....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, PTSD, research | Comments (1)

News: Schizophrenia's symptoms
Is schizophrenia a systemic disease? Dr. Brian Kirkpatrick poses this question in an article published in Advance Access Schizophrenia Bulletin. The answer, Kirkpatrick says, has implications for clinical care as well as future research....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, schizophrenia, therapies | Comments (0)

News: Underreporting PTSD unfounded
A report from the Veteran's Administration Office of Inspector General concluded that therapists at a Texas facility did not stop diagnosing PTSD after an email from a staff psychologist suggesting cost and time saving modifications. The report was requested by a congressional committee after the psychologist's email was made public. Diagnosis has a direct impact on eligibility for benefits, and PTSD has a higher compensation than adjustment disorder. The investigation also confirmed that aftercare groups which had been meeting...
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, military, PTSD, Veterans Affairs | Comments (0)

News: DSM-V will have reviews, disclosure
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) responded to recent criticism of the revision process of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual by outlining its work: planning sessions starting in 1999, a website posting updates, outreach to lay groups, financial disclosures, and the opportunity to comment on the release of a draft in 2010. The DSM-V is scheduled for release in 2012 and will then be used by clinicians establishing criteria for describing disorders as well as for insurance reimbursement....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, DSM-V, psychiatry | Comments (0)

News: DSM-V controversies
Preparation of the fifth edition of Diasgnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) is underway along with a controversy about the process. Reports in major newspapers point to charges that deliberations are taking place behind closed doors despite earlier promises of transparency. The DSM V is scheduled for 2012 and has become a common language for psychiatrists as well as insurance companies....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, DSM-V, psychiatry | Comments (0)

Did You Know: People with a psychiatric diagnosis accounted for 7.6 million hospital admissions in 2005.
Read the report from Healthcare for Uninsured....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, hospitals | Comments (0)

News: GAO scolds DoD on mental health assessments
In a report released this week, the Government Accounting Office notes delays in assessing the post-deployment mental health needs of soldiers.Although DOD concurred with the recommendation included in the 2007 report, as of June 2008, the department had not implemented the recommendation. As a result, DOD's quality assurance program cannot provide decision makers with reasonable assurance that service members complete PDHRA. Also see AirForce Times Report: DoD cannot ensure troops get checkups...
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, military, PTSD, Veterans Affairs | Comments (0)

News: Recognizing a dual diagnosis
National Public Radio reporter Farai Chideya explored difficulties people have recognizing co-occurring substance abuse and a psychiatric disorders, and then of finding appropriate treatment that does not ignore one component of this tricky but common condition. In a 10-minute interview, she spoke with a consumer, now in recovery, who has become a peer counselor in a Los Angeles program, and Dr. Robert Drake, a psychiatrist at Dartmouth Medical School....
Full Story | Topics: depression, diagnosis, drug use, PTSD, schizophrenia | Comments (0)

News: Schizophrenia, voices and recovery
Dr. Benjamin Gray, an English mental health professional, didn't truly appreciate what hearing voices meant until after his own hospitalization, one decade into his career. In the on-line Advance Access Schizophrenia Bulletin (subscription required) Gray describes how acceptance of the narrative behind voices plays a role in treating a person's core experiences rather than a diagnostic category....
Full Story | Topics: consumers, diagnosis, recovery, research, schizophrenia, therapies | Comments (0)

News: Elements of creativity
How much does creativity owe to psychopathology? Advance Access Schizophrenia Bulletin (subscription required) reports on an empirical study by Australian researchers who analyze this question for a sample of artists (n=100) using a battery of self-administered questionnaires....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, schizophrenia | Comments (0)

News: Ritalin prescriptions in United Kingdom
British differences in prescribing Ritalin for ADHD have been called "dramatic" and "extraordinary." In some districts, 14 percent of the children are receiving the drug for problems associated with attention deficit behaviors. It is unclear whether the highly variable prescribing rates stem from over use in some districts or under use in others, but the difference between the highest and the lowest districts is 23 fold....
Full Story | Topics: ADHD, children, diagnosis, medication | Comments (0)

News: Readers discuss parity
A provocative editorial in the New York Times elicited reader response by asking “tricky questions” about what mental health parity should cover and why. The author, Sarah Kershaw, went through a sequence of concerns and also mentioned they are absent in European countries which treat psychiatric conditions as medical problems....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis, insurance, parity, therapies | Comments (0)

News: Detecting childhood bipolar
Reading facial emotions may provide clues to brain circuitry and pediatric bipolar disorder, according to a new study appearing in the American Journal of Psychiatry (abstract online)....
Full Story | Topics: bipolar disorder, children, diagnosis, research | Comments (0)

News: Overlap challenges dichotomy
Pointing to growing evidence about genetics, metabolism, cognitive function and imaging, an article in the December issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin (subscription required) challenges the historic dichotomy between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This updates an article by the same author which MIWatch originally posted (May) from Advance Access Schizophrenia Bulletin. Related PET scans/ MRIs used diagnostically...
Full Story | Topics: bipolar disorder, diagnosis, schizophrenia | Comments (0)

News: Dusting off an old paradigm: social construction
An interesting discussion about the cultural significance of symptoms is taking place in the American Journal of Psychiatry (October issue). Responding to a study showing variable prevalence of ADHD, Dr. Olavo Amaral, Brazil, addresses the social construction of diagnostic categories....
Full Story | Topics: ADHD, diagnosis | Comments (0)

News: Co-occurring depression and anxiety
Reuters, June 14, 2007 The June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry (requires subscription) published a study (N=1,037) in New Zealand examining the association between anxiety disorders and depression. The high incidence of co-occurrence leads authors to suggest re-classifying how they are diagnosed, something which has implications for clinical care....
Full Story | Topics: anxiety disorders, depression, diagnosis | Comments (0)

News: Experts not rushing to diagnose Cho
Psychiatrists and other experts including a consultant to the FBI, have been cautious about arriving at a solid, post-mortem diagnosis of Cho Seung-Hui, according to an article in the New York Times....
Full Story | Topics: diagnosis | Comments (0)