After reading these articles, you should be able to…

It’s important to understand what bias is not. Bias is not fraud, as it does not involve intentional prejudice. Bias is also not random error, which creates deviation in results strictly by chance, and can be mitigated with a large enough study sample. Put simply, bias has to do with the unintentional skewing of results due to human failings such as poor trial design or unconscious wishes for desirable outcomes.

As a physician, you’re expected to practice evidence-based medicine. But how can anyone keep up with the latest research?

After a psychiatric drug is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a marketing juggernaut often follows, trying to convince us that the newly approved drug offers substantial benefits for treating a mental disorder. But how does the FDA determine whether to approve a drug? What follows is a breakdown of the process.

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Bruce Cuthbert, PhD, the head of the NIMH’s new Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) program, explains how this new way of funding and conducting research in psychiatry is revolutionizing the field.

Concerns about the safety of psychiatric medications during pregnancy are common among psychiatrists and patients alike. In many cases, one must weigh the risks of a medication to mother or child against the risks inherent in untreated mental illness. Recent research, however, lends support to the growing data about the safety of antidepressant medications in pregnancy.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

Considering the increased efforts to legalize marijuana in many states, greater public awareness of marijuana and its potential medicinal uses, and new research on cannabis and its constituents, it is essential that psychiatrists understand some of its proposed benefits—and fundamental risks.

President of the California Society of Addiction Medicine Itai Danovitch offers an overview of what psychiatrists should know about medical marijuana.