News: Psychiatry residency matches -- more but still short
Fourteen more graduates from American medical schools matched for a psychiatry residency this year than last, but the numbers still fell short of filling the spots. Last year, 656 students were placed, this year 670 for the 1,075 available spots. . .
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Consider This: A trial, and an ad, featuring Seroquel
. . .evidence vs. spin
Full Story | Topics: anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, legal, medication, pharmaceutical, psychiatry, schizophrenia, Seroquel | 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. . .
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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). . .
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Consider This: Drug companies disclose
. . .But is that enough?
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From Our Readers: First psychotic breaks -- conference topic
Peter Stastny,* MD, writes about an upcoming conference (Nov 23): "Alternative responses to first psychotic breaks: Rethinking psychiatric crisis." After several years, there is a renewed focus on treatment for first psychotic episodes. An emphasis on early intervention and prevention of psychosis, with the goal of shortening the "duration of untreated psychosis" has obscured the view on the actual services that are being offered to individuals in the midst of a first episode. Recently, the National Institute of Mental Health...
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News: Committee probes drug industry-education ties

News: HHS money to train doctors
Sec. Kathleen Sebelius announced Health and Human Services will grant $47.6 million to train more doctors. . .
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Did You Know: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most frequently taught evidence-based therapy during clinical training.
Read more about the lack of training clinicians in evidence-based therapies in "National Survey of Psychotherapy Training in Psychiatry, Psychology, and Social Work," by Myrna M. Weissman, et. al, in the Archives of General Psychiatry....
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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. . .
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Consider This: Should the term schizophrenia be changed?
. . .take a poll
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Consider This: 162nd APA kicks off in San Francisco
. . .Monday morning
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Did You Know: It takes 17 years for scientific knowledge to become incorporated into routine practice.
Download Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001), from the Institute of Medicine....
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News: Restore independence to medicine says IOM
A blue-ribbon panel of the Institute of Medicine released "Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice" a stunning rebuke of how industry has crept into research, clinical practice, continuing education, professional guidelines, and government agencies. The report calls for an end to practices that have undermined confidence in medicine, saying disclosure is also needed to identify payments and gifts to all foundations, nonprofit advocacy groups, and disease specific organizations. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr....
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Consider This: The doctor isn't in
. . .shortages in psychiatry
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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....
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News: Psychiatrists change meal policy
After a year of controversy, the American Psychiatric Association announced it will "phase out" the industry-sponsored events -- meals and banquets accompanying educational lectures or symposia -- that brought charges of conflicts-of-interest and federal investigations....
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Consider This: Highway to wellness
. . .includes mental health
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Did You Know: More than 95 % of the elderly receive their mental health services from primary care providers.
Findings from this study published in 1996 are repeated in a 2005 review of psychiatric epidemiology. Registration required to read more....
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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....
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News: Reform medicine, say authors
iStock photo Stories about conflicts-of-interest in psychiatry are percolating regularly, and MIWatch readers will not be surprised by Dr. Marcia Angell's review of three books taking aim at doctors, regulatory agencies, academic medical centers and drug companies. "So many reforms would be necessary to restore integrity to clinical research and medical practice," writes the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, "that they cannot be summarized briefly." Angell has written extensively about these issues....
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Update: Biederman accepts limits
The New York Times reports Harvard's child psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman has agreed to accept limits on funding linked to pharma....
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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....
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News: Reactions to Biederman, Goodwin, The Infinite Mind
Reactions to news about psychiatrists who failed to disclose their working relationships with drug companies appeared over the weekend. On the Media aired a segment discussing the relationship between producers of The Infinite Mind and Dr. Fred Goodwin. Producer Bill Lichtenstein replied to the show in an email. Lichtenstein spoke to The Injury Board which posted documents including a copy of Goodwin's contract. "Expert or Shill?" read the New York Times headline on Sunday's editorial page. In a very brief...
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News: Grassley widens probe
The name of another prominent psychiatrist has been added to the list of expert physicians identified by Sen. Chuck Grassley because of lucrative speaking fees from pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Frederick Goodwin, recognized expert on bipolar disorder, former head of the National Institute of Mental Health, and current host of the popular NPR radio show, The Infinite Mind, was the subject of a story in Slate in May. Goodwin has apparently received more than one million dollars from just one drug...
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News: Lilly agrees to disclose
Zyprexa maker Eli Lilly has agreed to public disclosure of fees it pays physicians who endorse or educate about their products. Lilly is the first pharmaceutical to announce it would disclose even if the Physicians Payments Sunshine Act (H.R. 5605) did not become law. According to a company statement: the public will have access to an Internet database listing its payments to physicians. Lilly will launch this registry as early as the second half of 2009. When first launched, its...
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Did You Know: 345,000 people with a mental illness are in prisons.
Read more from the American Prospect....
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News: Psychiatry and torture
As the current war on torture itself turned to torturing prisoners in Guantanamo, and during rendition, has the military asked psychiatrists to violate ethical boundaries and even international agreements? The 9.11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine discusses the tensions imposed by military service for psychiatrists, including certifying soldiers for redeployment....
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News: Psychiatry and torture
As the current war on torture itself turned to torturing prisoners in Guantanamo, and during rendition, has the military asked psychiatrists to violate ethical boundaries and even international agreements? The 9.11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine discusses the tensions imposed by military service for psychiatrists, including certifying soldiers for redeployment....
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Commentary: Recovery, Psychiatric Education, and the Future
by Hunter L. McQuistion, MD The potential for building personal recovery is stronger than it's ever been. This is a paradigmatic change which, according to noted psychiatrist Hunter L. McQuistion, requires including models of recovery in post-graduate training programs.
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