It’s All in the Family: Involving Family in Effective Psychiatric Treatment
Confidentiality is a frequent issue in clinical practice; should or shouldn’t a clinician involve significant others, especially family, in an identified patient’s psychiatric care? And, assuming the...
View ArticleThe Paris Terrorist Attacks: Understanding the Psychology of Ideological Mass...
Effective Psychiatric Treatment welcomes Dr. Michael Welner, Chairman of The Forensic Panel and one of America’s most accomplished forensic psychiatrists. Dr. Welner has consulted on numerous mass...
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Should I Take an Antidepressant for My Depression?
One of the first questions new patients ask is whether or not they need to take medication for their depression? What a loaded question! And an important one. Before prescribing anything—be it...
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Helping Your Psychiatrist Help You: Seven Steps to Prepare for the Initial...
Engaging with a new doctor can be nerve-wracking, especially when you’re ill and fearing for the worst. Imagine entering a strange office with faces glued to computer screens behind glass windows; on...
View ArticleWhat’s in Your Medicine Chest? Opiate Medications: The Goods, Bads, and the...
Opiate medications are among the oldest and most commonly prescribed drugs in the medical pharmacopeia. They are also among the most rapidly addicting and most lethal. Whereas untreated acetaminophen...
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Get Those Endorphins Going and Laugh Your Way Through the Holidays
I don’t know who coined the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine,” but I first connected the idea of laughter and health when I was little. My mother, a voracious reader of whodunits like Perry Mason...
View ArticleCoping with Bipolar Disorder During the Holidays: The Importance of Staying...
For people living with Bipolar Disorder, holiday times can present a real challenge. It’s all too easy to slip into a false sense of security and disregard the routines that contributed to successful...
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Why Psychiatrists Should Make House Calls
Seeing psychiatric patients outside the office can generate controversy over boundary issues. But over time I have concluded that as long as the encounter is clearly in the best interests of the...
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Timing is Everything: Conjoint Sessions with Couples in Crisis
Couples and family therapy is among the most rewarding work the psychiatrist performs. It is also among the most challenging given that both interpersonal and intrapsychic factors are in play, and the...
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Placebo: Far More than a Sugar Pill
The word “placebo,” often denigrated by psychopharmacology skeptics as “the sugar pill” is a very misunderstood concept in psychiatry. In order to gain approval for prescription in the United States,...
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