We have an abundance of medications to treat depression, but “treatment resistance” remains all too common. Accordingly, there has been a rise in the number of “augmentation” or “adjunctive” medications to address this population.
Devon Neale, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine, University of New Mexico
Dr. Neale has disclosed that she has no relevant relationships or financial interests in any commercial company pertaining to this educational activity.
With its goals of relieving suffering and improving patients’ quality of life, psychiatry plays a central role in palliative care. In fact, psychiatry was one of the 10 specialty boards involved in the creation of the new subspecialty of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM), approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties in 2006.
Benjamin R Tong, PhD
Professor of clinical psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies
Dr. Tong has disclosed that he has no relevant relationships or financial interests in any commercial company pertaining to this educational activity.
Psychotherapy provided near the end of a patient’s life focuses on existential themes. While the term “existential” conjures up questions like “why am I here?” and issues about meaninglessness, death, and our limited lifespan, existential therapy is about much more: an awareness of oneself, one’s freedom to make choices, and one’s capacity to remove obstacles to “authentic existence.”
William Breitbart, MD
Professor and chief of psychiatry service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Attending psychiatrist, Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, Pain & Palliative Care Service, New York, NY
Dr. Breitbart has disclosed that he receives income from books he has published. Dr. Balt has reviewed this article and has found no evidence of bias in this educational activity.
Dr. William Breitbart describes how psychiatric palliative care expands the focus beyond pain and physical symptom control to include psychiatric, psychosocial, existential, and spiritual aspects of the end of life.
Glen Spielmans, PhD
Associate professor of psychology, Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN
Glen Spielmans, PhD, has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies ertaining to this educational activity.
Although it remains one of our oldest and most effective drugs, lithium has become less popular for the treatment of bipolar disorder in the last two decades.
Glen Spielmans, PhD
Associate professor of psychology, Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN
Glen Spielmans, PhD, has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies ertaining to this educational activity.
You’re probably hearing a lot of talk about glutamate receptors as a new target for psychiatric therapeutics. As the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, glutamate is thought to play a role in many psychiatric conditions.
Rachel Loewy, PhD
Assistant adjunct professor, University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Loewy has disclosed that they have no relevant relationships or financial interests in any commercial company pertaining to this educational activity.Demian Rose, PhD, MD
Assistant clinical professor, University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Rose hase disclosed that they have no relevant relationships or financial interests in any commercial company pertaining to this educational activity.
At the crossroads of these experiences lies the concept of the psychosis prodrome and early intervention/prevention efforts. But without evidence of a florid psychotic episode, when should one intervene?
P Ken Gillman, MBBS
Director, Psychotropical (www.psychotropical.com), Bucasia, Queensland, Australia
Dr. Gillman has disclosed that he has no relevant relationships or financial interests in any commercial company pertaining to this educational activity.
Any psychiatrist who has practiced during the last decade has probably written more than a few prescriptions for an atypical antipsychotic. But do these drugs provide any clear advantages over their predecessors?