Dopamine is the new serotonin: everyone is talking about it. Depending on what authority you read, dopamine is central to schizophrenia, ADHD, depression, sexuality, and cognition.

Anticholinergic-speak is endemic in psychiatry. Since it’s unlikely to go away, we invite you to buff up your knowledge of acetylcholine (ACh) and to review the many ways in which it makes an appearance in clinical practice.

Dr. Barondes, you were a researcher at the NIH during the period when the earliest research on neurotransmitters and antidepressants was conducted. What happened while you were there?

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

Julius Axelrod, who won the Nobel Prize for his work in neuroscience, spent much of his career as a lab tech. Born in 1912 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he got most of his education at the tuition-free City College of New York, which he described as a “proletarian Harvard.”

There are now four medications that are approved by the FDA for the treatment of alcohol dependence, so it is high time we take a fresh look at what our options are.

Motivational interviewing (MI) has taken the world of addiction therapy by storm. The essence of MI is that the therapist maintains an empathic, supportive stance with patients while gently prodding them to focus on discrepancies between how they would like their life to be and how it actually is.

Suboxone (buprenorphine/naloxone) was approved by the FDA on October 8, 2002 for the treatment of opioid addiction. Until the approval of Suboxone, we had two options for treating opioid addiction— naltrexone and methadone.

I have found Suboxone to be a tremendous breakthrough in the treatment of individuals addicted to opiates.

Dr. Chappel, you’ve been involved in addiction medicine for many years. What are some of the major advances that you’ve seen over that time?