Emily Stamell
Faculty peer reviewed
As a well-trained fourth year medical student, I inquire about smoking habits as part of almost all my patient encounters. Yet, I do not recall properly counseling a patient on smoking cessation aside from the one liner “You know you should quit, right?” During first and second year of medical school we are taught the stages of change model, which is just as obscure two years later as cell signaling pathways. I was recently…
Commentary by Brian Bronson, MD, Chief of Psychosomatic Medicine, VA New York Harbor, New York Campus
Summary: Symptoms of depression in the medical setting may not respond to usual pharmacologic antidepressant treatment for a number of reasons. These may include an incorrect psychiatric diagnosis; failure to consider underlying medical causes of the symptoms; or insufficient antidepressant medication trial due to poor patient adherence, insufficient dose or length of trial. There is no consensus as to the definition of ‘treatment refractory’ depression. However,…
Commentary by Brian Bronson, MD, Chief of Psychosomatic Medicine, VA New York Harbor, New York Campus
Summary: Symptoms of depression in the medical setting may not respond to usual pharmacologic antidepressant treatment for a number of reasons. These may include an incorrect psychiatric diagnosis; failure to consider underlying medical causes of the symptoms; or insufficient antidepressant medication trial due to poor patient adherence, insufficient dose or length of trial. There is no consensus as to the definition of ‘treatment refractory’ depression. However, when…
Commentary by Arthur Sinkman MD, NYU Department of Psychiatry
Three years ago the FDA began requiring that all selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) carry a black-box warning stating that their use in children and adolescents is associated with an increase in risk for suicidal thinking, feelings and behavior. Recently the FDA ordered that this warning be extended to include treatment for young adults aged 18 to 24.
The 2004 order had a dramatic impact on the treatment of depression in children. The use…
Case: A 74 year old male with a history of hyperthyroidism, now treated and euthyroid, and with longstanding slowly progressive Alzheimer’s, has now become increasingly agitated at home, pacing the floors and not sleeping. In light of side effects and the recent warning against the use of atypical antipsychotics and the side effects of the older medications, what kind of stepwise approach to medications would you recommend to use to treat his agitation?
Commentary By Brian Bronson, MD Clinical Assistant Professor…
