Although heroin-then known as diacetylmorphine-was first derived from morphine in England in 1874, it was the Bayer company in Germany that saw its commercial value as a cough remedy and pain reliever.

Roll up your sleeves; this is a no-nonsense article, in which we will lay out for you all the neuroimaging modalities currently available, with a little explanation on how each works, and a tidbit or two on how it can (or can't) be used in psychiatry.

If you haven't had patients asking you to order them a PET scan to diagnose Alzheimer's disease yet, brace yourself. It's only a matter of time.

Five of the last six covers of the American Journal of Psychiatry have been chock-full of brains.

Dr. Dougherty, it looks like you've now literally "written the book" on neuroimaging in psychiatry (Essentials of Neuroimaging for Clinical Practice, Dougherty, Rauch, and Rosenbaum, eds., Wash D.C.: APPI, 2004). Congratulations! How did you get interested in this field, originally?

In 1977, Raymond Damadian and a team of graduate students put together the first whole-body MRI scanner, which they dubbed the "Indomitable." Damadian volunteered himself as the first guinea pig.

The very first issue of The Carlat Report (TCR 1:1) featured an article on St. John’s Wort for the treatment of depression. While this may be the most famous of the “natural” antidepressants, we are hearing more and more about others, including those surveyed in this article.

Any of you who choose to do an informal survey of your patients will be surprised how many are taking a non-prescribed sleeping aid. Often this is an antihistamine, but patients are increasingly turning to natural alternatives.

My readers would be in interested in knowing a little bit about your background and how you came to be interested in natural medications for psychiatry.

Dr. Patrick Mullen is a psychiatrist in private practice and a Clinical Instructor at the Department of Psychiatry at University of South Carolina School of Medicine. He recently met a patient who points out some of the potential hazards of natural medications.