What State Fits Your Mood? Take the Quiz and Tell Us!
Apparently, states have different mental health issues. West Virginia is the most neurotic, and Wisconsin is the most extroverted (it's all that cheese filling their heads). Clink took the test and she belongs in Connecticut. I, apparently, should live in Massachusetts where perhaps I could get World Series seats? Go Red Sox! Those folks in Utah are laid back. What state works best for you?
See Time Magazine's America's Mood Map, click on "Take the Test" and let us know where you belong. -----
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Source: Shrink Rap - October 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
Meds or Therapy?
It's this funny thing, people talk about the rise in the use of medications like it's a bad thing (and perhaps it is) and the decline of psychotherapy by psychiatrists as also being a bad thing (and perhaps it is). It's almost like a see-saw, and there is thought by some that using medicine is a quick-fix, a way of avoiding looking at the more difficult issues that we as humans face in the natural course of human suffering. It's funny -- as started by saying -- because it seems like the combination of medications together with psychotherapy work best.
Let me address the quick fix thing. First off, most p...
Source: Shrink Rap - October 21, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
Antidepressants: So What's New?
There's some new stuff coming down the pipeline with antidepressants.
~A new antidepressant was approved by the FDA at the end of September. Brintellix, generic: vortioxetine -- could you think of worse names for a medication? From PsychCentral:
The most common side effects reported by participants taking
Brintellix in clinical trials included nausea, constipation and
vomiting. Overall, 5 to 8 percent of the patients who received
Brintellix 5 to 20 mg/day in short-term trials discontinued treatment
due to an adverse reaction, the most common being nausea, compared with 4
percent of placebo-treated...
Source: Shrink Rap - October 20, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
Why Don't I Hate Walter White?
I'm back from vacation and Shrink Rap resumes, even in the face of the continuing federal shutdown.
Note that over on Clinical Psychiatry News, ClinkShrink wrote about "Trauma Informed Care" and how it has traumatized her, and I have an article on "Antipsychotic medications and The Psychiatrist's Dilemma."
So, I surfed over to Psycritic to read about all that is right with Breaking Bad in A Psychiatrist's Favorite Breaking Bad Moments. Like Psycritic, I too am a Breaking Bad addict -- come to it late, then caught up in real time. Maybe it's that we made popcorn during the episodes for a while, but the ri...
Source: Shrink Rap - October 13, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
Should Psychiatrists See Patients?
Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on a
new model of psychiatric care: the psychiatrist serves as a consultant
to the primary care doctors and the psychotherapist. The psychiatrist
hears about the patient, but if my read is right, the psychiatrist has a
large caseload and never actually sees the patients.
In Getting Mental-Health Care at the Doctor's Office: Providers Take Integrated Approach, With Patient Numbers Set to Jump Under New Law and Psychiatrists in Short Supply,
Melinda Beck writes:
As the consulting psychiatrist for four primary-care practices, Dr.
Ratzliff confers weekly wit...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 24, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
The Hired Gun
I know I'm going to get nudged to talk about this article so I'll beat Dinah to the punch. Today's New York Times has a story entitled "Witness for the Prosecution" about a neuropsychologist who frequently is retained to testify on behalf of the state in criminal trials. The expert witness gets criticized for slanting his opinion in favor of the prosecution by ignoring previous history or making certain presumptions about the defendant's previous education or experience. You can read the article yourself, I won't repeat it here.
The article quotes questions from the doctor's cross-examination about the assumptions he base...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: ClinkShrink Source Type: blogs
Guns, Again (--another broken record shrink rapper)
Apparently, if the shooter is dead, I can talk about it (a little). I don't know any facts except what I've seen in the paper, and I've interviewed absolutely no one, so I'm not going to say much, but I am going to use what I've read to write a post on the on-going issue of the role of mental illness and gun control.
Per today's New York Times:
But several senators, like Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of
Connecticut, who has pushed for tougher gun laws since last year’s
elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., see mental health policy
as a way forward.
“Mental health
is really ...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 19, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
Speaking Ill of the Dead
I'm moving this discussion to its own post since it has little to do with mandatory employee health screening and I think it deserves its own section.
Jesse put up a link to a PBS news interview with Drs. E. Fuller Torrey and Elspeth Ritchie regarding Aaron Alexis, the alleged Navy yard shooter. This has spurred discussion about what, if anything, psychiatrists should be saying in the media about specific individuals with rumored mental illness.
I've gotten on a soapbox about this a number of times before and I don't want to be repetitive, so if you feel inclined you can search the blog for the labels "shooter psychology...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 18, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: ClinkShrink Source Type: blogs
Staple a Kid's Head and Eat a Few Knives?
~ There's an article on mental health stigma in The New York Times by Pauline Chen, worth the read: Caring for a Mind in Crisis.
~Since I like to gripe about electronic records and privacy, I'll add this to my list of you-don't-want-to-believe privacy issues: On Campus, A Faculty Uprising Over Personal Data.
Penn State administrators quietly introduced the plan, called “Take Care of Your Health,” this summer in the deadest part of the academic calendar. But that didn’t prevent some conscientious objectors from organizing a protest online and on their campuses,
culminating last week in an emotionall...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 15, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
What are You Afraid to Ask About Psychiatry?
On Thursday, ClinkShrink and I will be speaking at the Johns Hopkins University's Fall Odyssey Program. It's a lecture series, and we'll be speaking at the kick-off reception for a program called Mini-Med School. We were asked and, flattered, we said "Yes!" I didn't ask what they'd like us to speak about, and I started hearing details from people after the brochure came out. Our talk is titled, "Everything you always wanted to know about psychiatry but were afraid to ask." One hour. Two speakers. Please leave lots of time for questions. Okay, so I'm tasked with c...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 9, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
Can I Be Your Doctor If....?
Last week, ClinkShrink wrote an article about a heinous criminal who committed suicide while in prison. She titled her post: Your Patient Died. Who Cares?
Such a post begs the question of whether all people deserve equal medical care, equal physician devotion, and equal medical resources. I think we all have our own beliefs about such things. Some of us can minister to the physical and mental disorders of those who've done awful things, some of us can not. I guess you could go further and say what's an awful thing? Can you treat Hitler? His bodyguard died a few days ago, having made it ...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 8, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
Your Patient Died. Who Cares?
I thought I'd share what I saw on my Twitter feed as soon as I got up this morning. I immediately felt a blog post coming on, particularly after reading the Twitter comments as they rolled in. I felt a bit sick, knowing what some of my colleagues in Ohio must be going through right now. This post is for you.
When it comes to patient suicide, correctional psychiatry is probably one of the higher risk subspecialties within psychiatry. The average prisoner has three risk factors for suicide before he even steps into the facility: he's male, young, and has an active substance abuse problem. There's even a ...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 4, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: ClinkShrink Source Type: blogs
Deeds, not Diagnosis.
Here on Shrink Rap, we've talked at length about the implications of having a psychiatric diagnosis on one's future occupational endeavors. For example:
We've talked about whether you can have bipolar disorder and be a doctor.
We've talked about the fact that a psychiatric diagnosis prevents you from being a pilot.
We've talk about psychiatric disorders and being in a powerful political office.
We've noted that the New York Times recently ran an article on psychiatric diagnoses and how it affects one's ability to be admitted to the Bar Association.
We've discussed mental illness and gun legislation.
Wha...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 2, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
When Patients Don't Pay
Before we start, some housekeeping issues:
First, I want to say that I was misled. I was told that gazpacho freezes well, and following such advice, I can say with impunity that fresh gazpacho is far better than defrosted gazpacho.
Second, I want to say that when I deactived my personal Facebook account, I lost access to the ShrinkRapBook Facebook account where I post new Shrink Rap articles and other links to Shrinky Things of Interest. Instead, please follow us on Twitter: ShrinkRapDinah, ShrinkRapRoy, and ClinkShrink. I'm slowly transferring my social media addiction.
Third, ClinkShrink ...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 1, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
For the Rest of Your Life -- Or Perhaps Not
Over on 1 boring old man (who actually is not all that boring), Mickey is writing about a post of Thomas Insel's blog yesterday -- Insel writes about how some patients do better without long-term anti-psychotic treatment. Dr. Insel is the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
So perhaps you've heard that people with certain mental disorders need to stay on their medications forever. Certainly, some do -- they stop their medicines and each time they try that experiment they end up sick --- in the hospital, in jail, on the street, or simply festering in the basement. But so...
Source: Shrink Rap - August 29, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
