"I think that anxiety is the fever of psychiatry, not a disease, it's not a diagnosis, it's not an illness. It's just a symptom, usually of other illnesses or condition." - Nassir Ghaemi

New research on light therapy in bipolar disorder from the 2023 International Bipolar Conference.

What is generalized anxiety disorder? Is it an anxious temperament or is it a symptom of another mental illness such as depression? Or is it a valid disorder on its own caused by a buildup of sexual tension?  

Updates from the 2023 International Bipolar Conference: Avoid valproate (Depakote) in women of childbearing age; who to blame when patients are noncompliant; and functioning trumps symptom reduction.

Is it autism or psychosis or both? Autistic traits and psychotic symptoms can look a lot alike. How common is psychosis in autism? And how can we differentiate co-occurring autistic traits from psychotic symptoms? Dr. Kristin Cadenhead gives us an approach for sorting through the history and addressing these problems separately.

Zuranolone (Zurzuvae) is newly approved for postpartum depression, but does it work in regular depression? And why did they put so many “Zs” in the name?

Lurasidone (Latuda) has gone generic. Find out where this antipsychotic fits in bipolar disorder with updates from the 2023 International Bipolar Conference.

Do you see patients who have no motivation to do anything? Michael Posternak has a novel strategy for working with this depressive symptom during the medication visit in this special tribute to the late psychiatrist.

Almost 90% of older adults have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, yet posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) continues to be overlooked in older patients. Clinicians should routinely assess for symptoms of PTSD, as a missed diagnosis can lead to poor health outcomes including increased suicide risk. In this episode, we will shed some light on assessing and treating PTSD in the older patient. 

Updates on lithium from the 2023 International Bipolar Conference.