Objective: Standardized patients are used in teaching medical students and evaluating their clinical skills during the psychiatric clerkship. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the addition of a Psychiatry Clinical Standardized Patient Examination (PCX) during the third-year clerkship improved students' performances on the…

Objective: The psychopharmacologist designation currently pervades and heavily influences the practice, perception, and teaching of clinical psychiatry. The authors hope to make a case and provide the raw material for informed discussion of this role during psychiatric residency training. Method: A definition for the psychopharmacologist is…

Work in progress is reported for a research project aiming to improve multiprofessional teamworking in operating theatres through iterative educational intervention. Experimental design is combined with collaborative inquiry. The hypothesis is: will planned, complex educational intervention focused upon improving communication in teamwork lead to…

This article describes the application of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to the treatment of rapid cycling bipolar disorder. Between 10% and 24% of bipolar patients experience a rapid cycling course, with 4 or more mood episodes occurring per year. Characterized by nonresponse to standard mood-stabilizing medications, rapid cyclers are…

Culturally sensitive information is crucial for providing appropriate care to any minority population. This article provides an overview of important issues to consider when working with transgender patients, including clarification of transgender terminology, diagnosis issues, identity development, and appropriate pronoun use. We also review…

Response to smoking cessation treatment programs sharply decreases when applied to smokers with psychiatric comorbidities. Consequently, the development of smoking cessation treatments that address the needs of psychiatric patients is greatly needed. The primary purpose of this article is to detail the process of development of an empirically…

Estimates of the prevalence of alcohol dependence among Americans approach 14% (Read, Kahler, & Stevenson, 2001). Alcohol dependence was once considered among the most recalcitrant of problem behaviors, with only 20% to 30% attaining sustained abstinence (Hunt Barnett & Branch 1971). Although current definitions of treatment success now consider…

Objectives: This study investigated the efficiency of a social work care coordination model for stroke patients. Care coordination addresses patient care and treatment resources across the health care system to reduce risk, improve clinical outcomes, and maximize efficiency. Method: A randomly assigned, pre-post experimental design measured…

It is well recognized that the incidence of atypical language lateralization is increased in patients with focal epilepsy. The hypothesis that shifts in language dominance are particularly likely when epileptic lesions are located in close vicinity to the so-called language-eloquent areas rather than in more remote brain regions such as the…

Emphasis is placed on the use of empirically supported therapies in clinical practice as a manifestation of the scientist-practitioner approach. The predominant model used to provide empirical support for interventions uses groups of patients in randomised clinical trials in university settings. This model has severe limitations for the clinician.…

While a majority of cognitive behavioural researchers and clinicians adhere to the classification system provided in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)," strong objections have been voiced among behaviourists who find the dichotomous allocation of patients into psychiatric diagnoses incompatible with the philosophy…

Anthroposophy has made the spiritual a living experience by producing numerous practical applications, such as veil painting, initially created by Liane Collot d'Herbois (1988). Its theoretical framework has been substantially simplified by the author and crucial meditative and contemplative steps have been added. European and American…

Hemiplegic patients suffer from difficulties in self-awareness, either due to specific neurological disturbances of body image or to psychological problems with their I images. Both types of difficulty have to do with the specular image as defined by Lacan (1966a) (i.e., the psychic structure that links the body with the "symbolic" and "imaginary"…

Contingency management (CM) interventions usually reinforce submission of drug-negative specimens, but they can also reinforce adherence with goal-related activities. This study compared the efficacy of the 2 approaches. Substance-abusing outpatients (N = 131) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 12-week treatments: standard treatment (ST), ST with CM…

The authors examined rapid response among 108 patients with binge eating disorder (BED) who were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 16-week treatments: fluoxetine, placebo, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) plus fluoxetine, or CBT plus placebo. Rapid response, defined as 65% or greater reduction in binge eating by the 4th treatment week, was determined…