Mental Health

Thursday, November 16, 2023, 4:00pm - 5:30 PM Eastern Time During this webinar, Dr. Andrew Nierenberg of Massachusetts General Hospital will give an overview of the most up-to-date research and current data available on the long-term course of Bipolar Depression and its treatment. Dr. Nierenberg will share information about the latest treatment options, inspiring hope in audience members that recovery is possible. Register Now Our Expert Andrew A. Nierenberg, MD, Director of Dauten Family Center for Bipolar Treatment Innovation, Massachusetts General Hospital Dr. Andrew Nierenberg graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY. After completing his residency in psychiatry at New York University/Bellevue Hospital, he studied clinical epidemiology at Yale University as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. Dr. Nierenberg then joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School, first at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachu...

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Every stroke of swimmer Felipe Ribeiro in the pool at the Pan American Games reminded the Brazilian of the bipolar disorder he dealt with ahead of competing in Chile. The nails of the 25-year-old are painted black, except for his pink-colored ring fingers. Mental health and how athletes deal with it have become top of mind for athletes, coaches and sports executives alike, even more so since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when American superstar gymnast Simone Biles skipped several title defenses in an attempt to protect herself. A talking point at the athletes' village, Ribeiro's painted nails have invited some of his competitors and teammates to hear about his story. Only months ago, that included thoughts of self-harm, sleep deprivation and impulsiveness. Still, he won three gold medals at the largest multi-sport event on the continent, all in relays: 4 x 100 meters freestyle, 4 x 200 freestyle and mixed 4 x 100 freestyle. "I went through a tough time in ...

Susan Schofield wanted to share her children's treatment — but for viewers, the cure looked worse than the disease Bodhi Schofield is sitting slumped over in an office chair, staring straight ahead. His eyes are glazed over, and he's drooling out of the corner of his mouth. According to his mother, Susan, who is filming this for her YouTube channel, it's nearly 4:30AM, and he hasn't had his medication yet. "Do you need any medication? Yes or no?" she yells, filming. "Do you need medication? Tell me 'cause I don't know. You tell me. So you tell me: do you need medication? Yes or no? And if so, which medication do you need?" Bodhi is 11 years old in the video. He has been prescribed a rotating regimen of medications, including Thorazine, clozapine, Geodon, Depakote, Vyvanse, lithium, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Risperdal, and Lyrica throughout most of his young life, as described by Susan over various videos. Most, but not all, are antipsychotics. Somet...

DID and schizophrenia are different conditions with some overlapping symptoms. People with DID experience multiple identities or personalities, while people with schizophrenia do not Dissociative identity disorder (DID) differs from schizophrenia in that a person with DID sometimes has two or more identity states. This does not occur in schizophrenia. Dissociative disorders, in general, may cause issues with thoughts, identities, and memories and result in a disconnection from reality. A disconnection from reality also occurs in schizophrenia. However, schizophrenia causes disturbances in thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and beliefs, not different identities. Because the name "schizophrenia" stems from the Greek words for "splitting" ("schizo") and "mind" ("phren"), people may mistakenly believe it has a connection to DID, which mental health experts previously called "split personality disorder." Studies have found that both d...

In the summer of 2022, BalletMet dancer Rachael Parini began to experience symptoms of bipolar disorder , a mental health condition characterized by episodes of mania or hypomania and depression. Parini was diagnosed with bipolar 1, which is determined following a manic episode lasting a week or requiring hospitalization, along with a major depressive episode. (Bipolar 2, which is a less severe form of bipolar disorder, is diagnosed after at least one major depressive episode and a hypomanic episode, which are less extreme than manic episodes and do not include delusions or hallucinations.) The symptoms associated with a bipolar diagnosis can be frightening, damage relationships, affect work performance, and impact finances. After a year of treatment and understanding this disorder, Parini opened up to Pointe about her experience and her slow return to ballet. —Linnea Swarting In June of 2022, during BalletMet's summer layoff, my husband and I had just moved into a new home...

Joshua Dobbs knows he can't fumble twice in a close game. "If we just didn't turn over the ball twice that game outcome could have been a little bit different," Dobbs said of the Washington game in Week 1. But since then, Dobbs hasn't turned it over. And he has yet to throw an interception in three games, a big reason the Cardinals have been so competitive. (And before anyone writes me, no I don't believe in jinxes and yes, a defense as good as the 49ers could very well get an interception this Sunday. It will have nothing to do with this article.) "I just try to take care of the football," Dobbs said. "I try to go where my reads tell me. As you (media) have probably seen, it's not like we're out there playing scared. We're letting it rip. We're playing good football. I understand turnovers are part of the game, but my job as quarterback is to keep those as low as possible and n...

CONFERENCE REPORTER Adobestock "You may stand on either side of the fence when it comes to misdiagnosis in bipolar disorder: Is it underdiagnosed? Is it overdiagnosed?" Joseph F. Goldberg, MD, said to attendees of the 2023 Psychiatric Times World CME Conference. "The overarching message I hope to send to you today is that bipolar disorder is within the differential diagnosis of mood disorders, it's an important element in that differential diagnosis, and you don't want to miss it." Joseph F. Goldberg, MD One of the issues in making the differential diagnosis are the tools available to clinicians, he explained. "There's no biopsy, there's no definite test when we talk about accurate diagnoses," said Goldberg, clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "What we're really talking about is reliable diagnoses, where you and I can both agree that we see corresponds to an image we have ...

ronstik_AdobeStock This week, Psychiatric Times ® discussed a wide variety of psychiatric issues and industry updates, from deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant schizophrenia to a look at the potential trajectory of artificial intelligence in psychiatry and medicine. Here are some highlights from the week. How Can You Learn and Benefit From the Field of Emergency Psychiatry? sudok1/AdobeStock "In my time working in the world of emergency psychiatry, I have been very, very impressed by how it has evolved and expanded to really help with a great deal of patient care, outpatient, inpatient, and every single thing that kind of happens in between," shared Tony Thrasher, DO, DFAPA, at the 2023 Annual Psychiatric Times™ World CME Conference, who gave an overview of the initial approach to emergency psychiatry, including psychiatric ethics, skills needed, and legal considerations. "I always remind people, it is a great honor and a great stressor to be working ...

MartaKlos/AdobeStock SPECIAL REPORT: CLINICAL COMPLICATIONS OF COMORBIDITIES Eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa (AN), are underdiagnosed and often go undetected in populations with primary psychotic disorders. Most of the literature that examines eating disorders in populations with severe mental illness has focused on binge-eating disorders. This is likely caused by the increased appetite often seen in patients who are treated with antipsychotic medications. There are fewer investigations that consider the co-occurrence of schizophrenia and AN. This may be because of the difficulties in differentiating reduced food intake secondary to mood and psychotic symptoms from those that can be attributed to a primary eating disorder. This has potentially deleterious consequences given that AN has the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric diagnoses and is also one of the most difficult diagnoses to manage. 1 For these reasons, it is important that clinicians are able to both de...