Posts

Response of US psychiatric programs to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on trainees

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Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, trainees have experienced a variety of changes to trainee program policies and guidelines. Overall, poor communication and trainee dissatisfaction with departmental response correlated with concern of infection and anxiety/burnout. Insights garnered from this study could provide scaffolding for the best practices to reduce trainee physician anxiety/burnout for the […]

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Pharaohs, philosophers, and Freud—Tracing bias in modern correlates of hysteria.

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‘Hysteria’ is a historical term that encompasses several modern-day neuropsychiatric conditions. The chronicle of this illness is fraught with prejudice from the time of its inception through subsequent adaptations. Relics of cultural misconceptions have been carried forward into contemporary correlates of the illness. The consequences of these follies in present-day are best understood through a […]

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Do no harm in due process – a historical analysis of social determinates of institutionalization in the USA

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Involuntary hospitalization has been a fundamental function of psychiatric care for mentally ill persons in the USA for centuries. Procedural and judicial practices of inpatient psychiatric treatment and civil commitment in the USA have served as a by-product of socio-political pressures that demanded constant reform throughout history. The origin of modern commitment laws can best […]

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fMRI in the Courtroom: A (Very Brief) Overview

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On the evening of May 9, 1991, a postdoctoral fellow named Kenneth Kwong ran a new MRI sequence at Massachusetts General Hospital and, remarkably, “saw a bright blob coming out of the visual cortex” (1). This experiment—the first to use blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a human subject—led to a […]

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Effects of temporary psychiatric holds on length of stay and readmission risk among persons admitted for psychotic disorders

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The practice of involuntary psychiatric commitment is central to the acute treatment of persons with severe mental illness and others in psychiatric crisis. Deciding whether a patient should be admitted involuntarily requires weighing respect for autonomy against beneficence, considering the clinical needs of the patient, and navigating ambiguous legal standards. The relative dearth of information […]

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A Case of Biopharmaceutical-Induced Catatonia and the Implication of a Novel Mechanism

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Catatonia can be described structurally as a motor dysregulation syndrome with a concomitant behavioral component. However, despite its initial recognition nearly 150 years ago, the exact pathophysiological causes underlying this syndrome are still somewhat unknown and are potentially variable. This report reviews a case of a patient with multiple catatonic episodes precipitated by the use […]

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Risk of suicide after discharge from inpatient psychiatric care: a systematic review

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The findings of this review suggest that significant suicide predictors both common and unique to those established for suicide in the general population exist and can be utilised in a clinically meaningful way, despite the difficulties inherent in studying this population.KEY POINTSThe risk of suicide after psychiatric hospitalisation is high.Factors that predict suicide after psychiatric […]

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Pseudologia Fantastica: An Elaborate Tale of Combat-related PTSD

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Pseudologia fantastica (PF), also known as mythomania or pathologic lying, is a well-known yet controversial phenomenon in psychiatry. There is no firm conceptualization of PF, nor are there any widely accepted diagnostic criteria for PF. The condition may be related to low self-esteem, and it shows some overlap with narcissistic personality disorder and other Diagnostic […]

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Indications for Psychotherapy in Adults in Later Life

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Since its inception more than 100 years ago, theories and techniques of psychotherapy have experienced tremendous growth and diversification. There has been a gradual increase in our knowledge of aging as well as in our experience conducting psychotherapy with older adults. Although the core principles of psychotherapy are mostly similar to those pertaining to younger […]

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A Medical Student-Run Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic: One Institution’s Experience

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This report describes a student-run psychiatry clinic with a dual mission of education and service, and the challenges associated with these sometimes competing goals. This clinic serves a vital need within our community and may be an example of the role that student-run clinics can have in fostering interdisciplinary care, psychiatric recruitment, and training for […]

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