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Clinical Update

Four Controversial Diagnoses in Psychiatry: Are They Valid?

March 8, 2023

Chris Aiken, MD and Tony Thrasher, DO, DFAPA

Chris Aiken, MD. Editor-in-Chief of TCPR. Practicing psychiatrist. Winston-Salem, NC.

Tony Thrasher, DO, DFAPA. Immediate past president, American Association for Emergency Psychiatry (AAEP). Medical Director of Crisis Services, Milwaukee County Behavioral Health. Milwaukee, WI. Clinical Associate Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin. Milwaukee, WI.

Dr. Aiken and Dr. Thrasher have no financial relationships with companies related to this material.

From Google to TikTok, patients are diagnosing themselves with disorders that didn’t make it in the DSM. We take an open look at the validity of sensory processing disorder, slow cognitive speed, “ring of fire” ADHD, and complex PTSD.

How to Diagnose Bipolar Disorder

November 29, 2022

Chris Aiken, MD

Learn about six mood disorders in DSM, how to diagnose hypomania and some screening tools that can help you with that in practice.

How to Diagnose Bipolar Disorder

November 5, 2021

Gordon Parker, MD, PhD, DSc.

Gordon Parker, MD, PhD, DSc. Scientia Professor of psychiatry at the University of New South Wales. In 2002 he founded the Black Dog Institute, a clinical research center for mood disorders. Dr. Parker’s research has focused on the phenomenology and diagnosis of depression and bipolar disorder. Dr. Parker has disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Gordon Parker takes on the DSM and offers up a practical approach to diagnosing bipolar disorder. Included is a new self-rated scale that Dr. Parker developed to separate normal good moods from hypomania.

Overdiagnosis in Psychiatry

September 10, 2021

Joel Paris, MD

Joel Paris, MD

Professor emeritus at McGill University, and senior psychiatrist and research associate at Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital. Dr. Paris is the former editor of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry and the author of 25 books including Overdiagnosis in Psychiatry, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press; 2020). Dr. Paris has disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Joel Paris explains why adult ADHD, depression, bipolar II, PTSD, and borderline personality are overdiagnosed in psychiatry at the expense of schizophrenia.

Desert Island Diagnoses

September 10, 2021

Chris Aiken, MD. Editor-in-Chief, The Carlat Psychiatry Report. Dr. Aiken has disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

In 1974, Drs. Donald Goodwin and Samuel Guze put forth a radical idea. They wanted to pare down the unwieldy list of psychiatric diagnoses to only the most valid

From Infantile Autism to Autism Spectrum Disorder

January 1, 2017

Glen Elliott, MD, PhD

Glen Elliott, MD, PhD Editor-in-chief, The Carlat Child Psychiatry Report Dr. Elliott has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Changes in diagnostic criteria not only affect the clinical and public perception of a disorder, but also its perceived prevalence. Such is the case with autism. The evolution of the autism diagnosis since it was introduced into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) in 1980 inarguably has altered its reported prevalence.

Evolution of the Autism Diagnosis

January 1, 2017

Fred Volkmar, MD

Fred Volkmar, MD Professor of psychology at the Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT Dr. Volkmar has disclosed that he is an editor for Springer Publishing. Dr. Elliott has reviewed this article and found no evidence of bias in this educational activity.

Clinicians used to say, “Oh, autism is very clear. It’s the one true disorder in child psychiatry.” Now we realize that there’s a spectrum, which makes some sense, especially from a broad evolutionary perspective: If these changes were totally maladaptive, they presumably would have been lost over time; instead, they’ve persisted. That suggests that, for some people, some other combinations of these genes must be somewhat or even quite adaptive.

Take The CME Post-Test for Autism in Children and Adolescents, CCPR, January/February 2017

January 1, 2017

The post-test for this issue is available for one year after the publication date to subscribers only. By successfully completing the test you will be awarded a certificate for 2 CME credits.

Treating Complicated Grief: Grief-Focused Psychotherapy Is More Effective Than Citalopram

September 28, 2016

Bret A. Moore, PsyD, ABPP

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Treating Complicated Grief: Grief-Focused Psychotherapy Is More Effective Than Citalopram

September 1, 2016

Bret A. Moore, Psy.D, ABPP

Bret A. Moore, Psy.D, ABPP Board-Certified Clinical Psychologist, San Antonio, TX Dr. Moore has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

While there is some overlap with major depression, complicated grief has core symptoms of yearning and sorrow and great difficulty accepting the reality of death. It’s one of the more controversial proposed DSM disorders, with critics seeing it as medicalizing a normal human experience.