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(PSYCHIATRIC TIMES) - Not long ago, I was consulted on the case of an 11-year-old boy with bipolar disorder who was not able to go to sleep before 1 am. The problem did not seem to stem from ongoing symptoms of bipolar disorder. I did not have the benefit of detailed information about the boy’s endogenous circadian rhythms, but I thought a phase-resetting intervention might be helpful. I recommended a 0.3-mg dose of melatonin to be taken daily at 3 pm. For most people, this would be the time… Continue

(PSYCHIATRIC TIMES) - After formulating and signing “Melancholia: A Declaration of Independence,” an international cadre of psychiatrists recently launched a campaign to have the upcoming DSM-V recognize melancholia as a distinct syndrome rather than as a specifier for the mood disorders of major depression and bipolar disorder.



Australian psychiatrist Gordon Parker, MD, PhD, sent a position paper, “Whither Melancholia? The Case for Its Classification as a Distinct Mood Disorder,”… Continue

(PSYCHIATRIC TIMES) - I don’t know how many psychiatrists paid much attention to the climate-change conference in Copenhagen last month, but I came away convinced they need our help. Here’s why. Given the scientific consensus that human behavior is the major cause of the planet’s undesired warming, who better to understand the roots, manifestations, repercussions, and treatment of that behavior?



But like much of our work, fostering change in this realm will not come easy. The… Continue

(PSYCHIATRIC TIMES) - For both depression and anxiety disorders in youths, there is increasing evidence of clinical benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).



Anxiety disorders



Both SSRIs and CBT individually have been shown to be effective in the treatment of children with anxiety disorders. A recent large randomized controlled trial examined the combined efficacy of these treatments in 488 children and adolescents (aged 7 to 17 years) who had anxiety disorder… Continue