Therapy-with-med-management - Articles

Turning Nightmares Into Dreams

August 3, 2021

Barry Krakow, MD

Dr. Krakow is a board-certified sleep medicine specialist practicing in Savannah, GA following a 30-year research career that helped spearhead the movement to address sleep disorders in psychiatric patients. Dr. Krakow has disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

When patients have more than one nightmare a week, it’s probably affecting their mental health. Barry Krakow has developed a simple behavioral therapy that reduces nightmares, and in this interview he explains how to apply it during brief and long visits.

Psychotherapy and Medication in Recurrent Depression

June 29, 2021

Giovanni Fava, MD

Giovanni Fava, MD

Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics and author of over 500 scientific papers. His book, Discontinuing Antidepressant Medications, is due from Oxford University Press in 2021. Dr. Fava has disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Antidepressants treat depression, but patients need something more to prevent future episodes. Giovanni Fava describes an evidence-based method that blends medication with psychotherapy in two phases: sequential treatment for prevention of depression.

EXPERT Q&A

Side Effects of Psychotherapy

November 12, 2020

Michael Linden, MD, PhD

Michael Linden, MD, PhD
Professor of psychiatry and director of psychosomatic research at the Charité University Medicine Berlin, Germany. Dr. Linden has dual training as a psychologist and psychiatrist and is licensed as a cognitive behavior therapist. He has helped develop new branches of CBT, and his research has brought recognition to the potential side effects of psychotherapy. Dr. Linden has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Psychotherapy can work as well as medication, but can it also have side effects? Michael Linden believes it can. He launched some of the key studies that brought light to this under-appreciated phenomenon, and in this interview he shows us how to recognize and avoid them.

Brief Therapy During the Medication Visit

November 12, 2020

Donna Sudak, MD

Donna Sudak, MD

Professor and Vice Chair for Education and Drexel University College of Medicine. She is the author of four books on psychotherapy, including Combining CBT and Medication: An Evidence-Based Approach (Wiley, 2011). Dr. Sudak has disclosed that she has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Every minute counts in the 90833 “brief therapy with medication” visit, and Donna Sudak shows us how to customize CBT with pharmacotherapy for depression, bipolar, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia.

Take a Breather: A Mindful Tactic for Borderline Dysphoria

June 10, 2020

Greg Sazima, MD.

Greg Sazima, MD. Senior Behavioral Faculty, Stanford/O’Connor Family Medicine Residency Program, San Jose, CA. Dr. Sazima has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Dysphoric states cause intense anxiety and an urgent need to get relief. They can drive patients to self-harm, substance abuse, and suicide. Greg Sazima describes a breathing technique that helps patients pass safely through these crises.

EXPERT Q&A

A Pragmatic Approach to Borderline Personality Disorder

June 10, 2020

Lois Choi-Kain, MEd, MD

Lois Choi-Kain, MEd, MD
Director of the Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute at McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA. Co-editor of Applications of Good Psychiatric Management for Borderline Personality Disorders: A Practical Guide (APA, 2019) with the late John Gunderson, MD (1942–2019). Dr. Choi-Kain has disclosed that she has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

You don’t need to be a psychoanalyst or DBT specialist to help patients with borderline personality disorder. Lois Choi-Kain developed a psychotherapeutic approach that can be woven into just about any psychiatric treatment, from the medication visit to the hospital wards.

When Further Medication Trials Seem Futile

June 10, 2020

Joseph Goldberg, MD

Joseph Goldberg, MD

Dr. Goldberg is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and maintains a private practice focused on mood disorders. He has published three psychiatric textbooks and is completing a fourth on psychopharmacology. Dr. Goldberg has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Joe Goldberg believes we do a disservice by shuffling patients through medication trials that have little chance of working. He shares techniques to engage patients, motivate change, combat demoralization, as well as his top pharmacologic strategies for highly resistant depression.

The COMBINE Study: A Core Paper in the Treatment of AUD

November 22, 2019

Brian Frankel, MD

Brian Frankel, MD Dr. Frankel has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

This research update summarizes the results of the landmark COMBINE study which evaluated the effectiveness of stand-alone and combined pharmacological and behavioral interventions for treating alcohol use disorder.

Using Mental Health Apps

October 3, 2019

John Torous, MD, MBI

John Torous, MD, MBI

Director of the digital psychiatry division, Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA Dr. Torous has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Prescription apps have arrived, but Dr. Torous reminds us that the key ingredient in a mental health app is something we’ve been using all along: the therapeutic relationship.

Treating Alcohol Use Disorder

October 2, 2019

Albert J. Arias, MD, MS

Albert J. Arias, MD, MS
Associate Professor, Psychiatry Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Associate Division Chair, Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Arias has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

We have five main medications to offer patients with alcohol use disorder: acamprosate, disulfiram, gabapentin, naltrexone (PO or IM), and topiramate. The combination of naltrexone and gabapentin may work better than either of these two medications alone.