The article reports on the magnitude of the public health effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to develop a collaborative strategy to address post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). Topics include the persistent neurological and/or psychiatric effects of the disease called long-haul COVID-19 or PASC, the multifactorial consequences of PASC, and the post-intensive care syndrome (PICS).
In the article, the author discusses the marginalization of serious mental health and substance use. Topics include the ethical frameworks serving as guide to COVID-19 vaccine allocation and prioritization in the U.S. including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the exclusion of patients with serious mental illness (SMI) and substance use disorders (SUD) in the frameworks.
The article discusses the growing issue of methamphetamine abuse in the U.S. as of May 2021 and its complex medical challenges to health care providers and tough consequences for patients, families and the legal and health care systems. Topics include opioid abuse, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data on the resurgence of methamphetamine abuse, and a brief history of methamphetamine including its use as treatment of obesity and depression in the 1950s and 1960s.
Despite heterogeneity in symptoms, there is growing realization that common neurobiological processes may contribute to OCD vulnerability and its persistence.
The “tip of the spear metaphor reflects consultation-liaison’s place as the most forward clinical psychiatry service in the wider medical world that can lead improvements in patient care.
Patient nonadherence to long-term antipsychotic therapy presents clinicians with unique unmet needs but also opportunities for promoting the realistic benefits of consistent treatment.
Cancer can lead to suffering in many forms: physical, emotional, spiritual, and existential. It limits patients’ ability to plan for the future, and too often, their lives. How can we help patients cope with their suffering and existential distress in the face of such challenges? Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP) may have something to offer. MCP is a brief, structured, manualized intervention that organizes and distills existential concepts so that they are more accessible and relevant to patients’ lives. Born out of research demonstrating that meaning can serve as a buffer against the depression and hopelessness that many patients with metastatic disease report, Breitbart and colleagues developed MCP to help enhance patients’ sense of meaning and purpose in the face of advanced cancer.1–7
Some health care workers have been particulary vulnerable to the stress of uncertainty and loss of control engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrated by 3 cases presented here.
Policy initiatives can improve both physical and mental health care quality and outcomes for those with serious mental illnesses.
One was a civil rights activist. Another, a book illustrator on the side. A third practiced medicine for over 70 years. All served as mentors. No one loss is less profound. Their families and psychiatry mourn them.
Guidance for mental health care practitioners to better explain the complexities of the current crisis to their patients.
Many serious challenges will face us once the curve has been flattened, and we work as a nation toward recovery in the war against COVID-19.
Psychiatrists must have a basic understanding of the pathophysiology of coronaviruses in order to be able to accurately explain and discuss those issues with their patients, especially as mental health ramifications are expected.
This article describes common misconceptions about treatment of psychiatric illness during pregnancy and advocates for a logical and thoughtful approach to designing a treatment plan.
Psychiatrists are uniquely situated to help both their patients and the greater community understand the potential impact of the virus and help patients, families, and society deal with this latest threat.
Ultimately, the decision about involuntary treatment is about risk, not predictable outcomes. In many cases, however, these decisions are much more difficult and, until our crystal balls arrive, our best efforts may still fall short.
With their early age of onset, high prevalence, chronicity, and pervasive impact on multiple domains of functioning, the burden of mood disorders exceeds that of virtually all medical conditions in the US and globally in terms of disability, cost, and suffering.
A number of factors affect treatment adherence, including the therapeutic alliance, perceived perceived lack of control, risk of dependence on medications, stigma associated with medication use, and more.
The article explores the upside and the downside of the religious and spiritual responses to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic Topics covered include the findings of a survey on the adverse psychological effects of the pandemic and the role of religious faith is addressing these effects, how religion can be a major stress for some people, and the positive effect of spirituality/religion on mental health and coping
