The treatment of adolescent depression has stirred much controversy in recent years. Many have raised doubts about the efficacy of both antidepressants and psychotherapy, and whether medications increase the risk of treatment-emergent suicidality is a divisive issue.

Dr. Turner and his colleagues published a paper entitled “Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy.” It caused quite a stir in the field. Here, he explains his findings.

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We know that headaches are common in the general population, but they are particularly common among patients with psychiatric problems. According to one review, (Pompili M et al., J Headache Pain 2009; 10(4):283-290) patients with depression have a 46% lifetime prevalence of migraine, while bipolar patients have a 51% prevalence. Patients with migraines have triple the risk of developing depression than patients without migraines.

While tremor is traditionally thought of as a neurological issue, the symptom pops up often in psychiatric practice, and some basic knowledge of its diagnosis and treatment comes in handy.

It has long been thought that one’s genetic makeup combines with stressors to cause depression, but for many years there was little data to support this hypothesis.

Drug samples are a staple of pharmaceutical marketing. The drug industry argues, quite logically, that samples are useful to treat patients who lack the funds to purchase medications. Yet some reformers have called for drug samples to be banned, an idea that has received a decidedly mixed reception.

Trichotillomania (TTM) is an impulse control disorder in which patients feel that they can relieve tension by pulling out hair from different parts of their bodies. While sharing some features with obsessive compulsive disorder, DSM-IV-TR does not officially classify it as a type of OCD.

Dr. Price, for most of your career, you’ve worked closely with psychiatrists in treating patients with neuropsychiatric disease. I thought we might start by discussing how psychiatrists might bring more neurological thinking into their evaluations. When should psychiatrists start thinking neurologically?

After reading these articles, you should be able to…