Does marijuana affect cognitive function? There seems to be no shortage of opinions on this question, but no prospective, longitudinal study has ever been published. Until now, that is.

It seems that not a week goes by without another research paper drawing attention to the interface between immunology and psychiatry, or about biomarkers to predict response to psychotropic medications. A recent report from researchers at Emory University weighs in on both of these issues.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

An eating disorder is a terrible thing to live with. But diagnosis can be difficult, especially if you simply focus on diagnostic criteria.

Online resources for the treatment of eating disorders.

We all know that substance abuse and dependence are serious, difficult-to-treat conditions. But ideas about what exactly constitutes substance abuse and addictions are changing.

When is hospitalization necessary for a patient with an eating disorder? And what are the benefits of care in this setting? Dr. Schwartz discusses the finer points in this Expert Q&A.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, was approved by the FDA for treatment of major depression in October 2008. A newly published observational study evaluating the effectiveness of TMS treatment in more than 300 patients at 42 clinical settings across the United States has found that most patients responded well to this intervention, with few adverse effects (Carpenter LL et al, Dep Anx 2012;29(8):587–596).

A major thrust of much psychiatric research is to identify predictors of suicidality, in hopes of intervening earlier to prevent this devastating outcome. In a recent study, a Danish group made a surprising contribution to this endeavor by identifying Toxoplasma gondii infection as a possible precursor to suicidal behavior.

A new study, however, finds that DCS does not improve treatment responses in patients undergoing prolonged exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.