Although it remains one of our oldest and most effective drugs, lithium has become less popular for the treatment of bipolar disorder in the last two decades.

You’re probably hearing a lot of talk about glutamate receptors as a new target for psychiatric therapeutics. As the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, glutamate is thought to play a role in many psychiatric conditions.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

At the crossroads of these experiences lies the concept of the psychosis prodrome and early intervention/prevention efforts. But without evidence of a florid psychotic episode, when should one intervene?

Any psychiatrist who has practiced during the last decade has probably written more than a few prescriptions for an atypical antipsychotic. But do these drugs provide any clear advantages over their predecessors?

Are the benefits of atypical antipsychotics based in reality? Dr. Rosenheck explains the stark difference between the SGAs of pharmaceutical myth and what has been proven with actual science.

Atypical antipsychotics are widely prescribed for a number of psychiatric diagnoses, but their real-world effectiveness has rarely been evaluated in anything other than short-term trials. A recently published study finds that four commonly used antipsychotics (aripiprazole [Abilify], olanzapine [Zyprexa], quetiapine [Seroquel], and risperidone [Risperdal]), when used in patients over age 40 with schizophrenia or psychosis associated with other conditions, may not be effective—and cause frequent side effects.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

Today there are many scales to choose from. Psychiatrists familiar with these tools will be better able to interpret clinical trial results and to employ them in assessing patients’ clinical progress. Here we review the most commonly used depression rating scales, as well as some newer web-based tools.

You greet a new patient who complains of difficulty concentrating at work and is unable to “keep up” since making partner at a law firm or becoming an attending physician at a hospital. Is this an authentic case of a high-functioning person with undiagnosed adult ADHD, a subtle request for performance enhancement, or something altogether different?