Tag Archives: psychiatry

An Iron Curtain Has Descended Upon Psychopharmacology

Imagine if a chemist told you offhandedly that the Russians had different chemical elements than we did. Here in America, we use elements like lithium and silicon and bismuth. We have figured out lots of neat compounds we can make … Continue reading

Burdens

[Content note: Suicide. May be guilt-inducing for people who feel like burdens. All patient characteristics have been heavily obfuscated to protect confidentiality.] The DSM lists nine criteria for major depressive disorder, of which the seventh is “feelings of worthlessness or … Continue reading

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Psychotropic Base Rates: The Argument From Antibiotics

The obscure antiprotozoal drug suramin has the prettiest molecular structure I’ve ever seen. It also has some evidence as a potential treatment for autism based on a cell danger response model of the condition. I’m not going to get too … Continue reading

SSRIs: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

The claim that “SSRIs don’t work” or “SSRIs are mostly just placebo” is most commonly associated with Irving Kirsch, a man with the awesome job title of “Associate Director Of The Program For Placebo Studies at Harvard”. (fun fact: there’s … Continue reading

Things That Sometimes Help If You Have Depression

Some of my friends have depression and have asked me for some suggestions. These will be inferior to reading official suggestions, but you will probably not read official suggestions, and you may read this. Just so we’re clear, all opinions … Continue reading

Getting A Therapist

Several people have emailed me asking for advice finding a therapist, and I worry I haven’t been much help. One of the advantages of being a psychiatrist is not having to worry about finding a psychiatrist. I know a few … Continue reading

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Confounder Of The Day: How Sexy Your Parents Were

One of the more interesting mental health results is the differing prevalence of psychiatric disorders depending on the age of the patient’s parents. This month’s JAMA Psychiatry includes a study from Denmark that conducts one of of the largest and … Continue reading

Do You Believe Me, Doc?

[Content warning: psychiatrists having ethically complicated conversations with patients] I recently attended the Michigan Psychiatric Society conference. It was all downhill after I heard the name of the first poster presentation. The study – investigating the tendency of anti-Parkinsons medication … Continue reading

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Aretaeus On Bipolar Disorder

I remember reading The Americanization of Mental Illness four year ago when it was written and being generally impressed by its thesis. Every culture has “culture-bound syndromes” (I recently pointed out puppy pregnancy syndrome as an especially horrifying example) and … Continue reading

Marijuana: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

This month I work on my hospital’s Substance Abuse Team, which means we treat people who have been hospitalized for alcohol or drug-related problems and then gingerly suggest that maybe they should use drugs a little less. The two doctors … Continue reading