American Psychiatric Association Research Articles

“V.M. Bekhterev Review of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology” — History of the First Psychiatric Journal in Russia

The article presents the historical facts oт the creation of the first psychiatric journal in Russia (1896). The organizer of the journal and its first editor-in-chief was V.M. Bekhterev. After his death in 1927, the journal was named after him. It had been published until its closure in 1930. For various reasons, some of which are discussed in the article, the journal has not been published for six decades. The organizational difficulties of registering printed materials that existed at that time are also described. Nevertheless, they were overcome, and in 1990 the USSR State Press Committee issued the Order «On the resumption of publication of the journal...». The journal received a Registration Certificate and was assigned to almost the highest group of central journals. All financing was assigned to the Leningrad branch of the publishing house «Medicine», and the journal was printed in the fabulous in modern reality figure of 20,000 copies per month.After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, this Order ceased to be valid, and the whole thing had to be started all over again. Nevertheless, the first issue of the journal was published in 1991. Its release has been expected not only in Russia, but also abroad. The first issue included a welcoming speech by the President of the World Psychiatric Association, Jorge Alberto Costa e Silva, which attracted even more attention towards the journal. In 1992, the American Psychiatric Association published an English-language digest of the journal in the United States. For some time the journal was also published in Paris (1998-2000) and in Moscow (2004-2011). Currently, the journal is published by its founder, the V.M. Bekhterev National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Neurology in St. Petersburg and is one of the most renowned journals in the field of psychiatry and medical psychology in Russia.

Use of En-Bloc Multiple Monitored Electroconvulsive Therapy in Benzodiazepine Refractory Malignant Catatonia.

We report a case of an adolescent female experiencing benzodiazepine and single-stimulation electroconvulsive (ECT)-refractory malignant catatonia, who improved with the use multiple monitored ECT (mmECT). Per the 2001 American Psychiatric Association guidelines, mmECT should be considered only in cases of intractable seizures or neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Since 2001, neuroleptic malignant syndrome and malignant catatonia have been described as occurring along the same spectrum of illness. Therefore, given the life-threatening nature of her condition, as well as the brief seizure duration she experienced from single-stimulation ECT, the patient was treated with en-bloc and 2-stimulation mmECT. The patient demonstrated a significant improvement in response to this treatment, with her Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale score decreasing by 89%. At 2-year follow-up in an outpatient neurodevelopmental catatonia clinic, the patient has been able to return to school in her previous advanced placement classes and has not required maintenance ECT.

Prevalence and Management of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD): Literature Review

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is a severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) characterized by significant mood disturbances and functional impairment. It affects approximately 3-8% of menstruating women and has been recognized as a distinct clinical entity by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM-5. Recent studies have emphasized the global prevalence of PMDD and its substantial impact on daily functioning, relationships, and overall mental health. Understanding its prevalence of PMDD helps in recognizing the scale of the problem and the need for targeted interventions. This literature review provides an overview of the current understanding of PMDD, including its pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment options. As a result, it was observed that there exist a high prevalence of Premenstrual syndrome and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder among Indian females of reproductive age group that consequently affects the quality of life adversely.

Competing Models of Personality Disorder: Relations With Psychosocial Functioning.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), includes 10 categorical personality disorders (PD) in Section II (Section II PD) and a dimensional alternative model of PD (AMPD) in Section III. We compared the two models in explaining concurrent psychosocial functioning levels in psychiatric outpatients and community residents screened as at risk for PD pathology (N = 600). The AMPD's fully dimensional form showed stronger associations with psychosocial difficulties and explained more of their variance compared with the categorical Section II PD. AMPD Criterion A (personality functioning impairment) and Criterion B (pathological traits) incrementally predicted psychosocial functioning about equally with some unique predictions. Finally, AMPD's six categorical PD diagnoses did not show stronger associations with psychosocial functioning than the corresponding Section II PD diagnoses. Findings directly comparing the two models remain important and timely for informing future conceptualizations of PD in the diagnostic system.

Teens with classmates with MI more likely to be diagnosed

Teens who have one or more classmates with a mental disorder are more likely to be diagnosed with one themselves later in life than those who do not have any classmates with a mental disorder, according to a report in JAMA Psychiatry. The risk of a mental illness diagnosis was greatest in the first year following the diagnosis of a classmate, according to an APA (American Psychiatric Association) Psychiatric News Alert.

Ramaswamy Viswanathan, M.D., Dr.Med.Sc., takes office as APA president

Ramaswamy Viswanathan, M.D., Dr.Med.Sc., a longtime advocate for mental health, a medical educator and clinician‐researcher, began his term as president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) at the conclusion of the organization's 2024 Annual Meeting in New York City. Viswanathan currently serves as interim chair of psychiatry at the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University, where he also directs the Consultation‐Liaison Psychiatry Service and its Fellowship Program. He is board‐certified in psychiatry, internal medicine, consultation‐liaison psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. One of his research priorities for 2024–25 is to focus on lifestyle interventions for positive mental and physical health through a holistic approach to wellness including exercise, nutrition, sleep, social connectedness, stress reduction and avoidance of risky behaviors. They will be promoted in conjunction with other treatment modalities such as psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy and neural stimulation.

Concept of Stigma in American Psychiatry

This essay presents a rhetorical analysis of how the concept of stigma has functioned in American psychiatric discourse by tracing the concept across nearly two centuries of publications issued by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Specifically, I analyze how the concept of stigma circulates in discourses that seek to (re)establish psychiatry as a moral and scientific enterprise by managing discontinuities that potentially threaten this desired professional status. These discourses perpetually reconstitute psychiatry’s institutional identity through processes of emplacement, or recurrent spatiotemporal figurations that generate a sense of the present as placed in time. My analysis identifies three spatiotemporal figurations, or chronotopes, that persistently cluster around the concept of stigma as it circulates in psychiatric discourse: emergence, approach, and elevation. These chronotopes establish and maintain psychiatry’s professional identity by recursively (re)orienting the present against stigma, and toward an imminent future characterized by the fulfillment of psychiatry’s scientific and humanitarian mission.

APA says methadone should be more widely prescribed an OTP

It's news, and it's worth restating, even though many have said it: he National Institute on Drug Abuse Director, Nora D. Volkow, M.D., said that even primary care physicians should be able to prescribe methadone for opioid use disorder (OUD). She made this remarkable statement in response to ADAW's question during a press briefing at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting last week in New York City.

APA theme for annual meeting and current journal: Addiction

Last week's annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) featured much more than the usual addiction‐focused programming, which has been growing year by year. It was, under the direction of outgoing president Petros Levounis, M.D., himself an addiction psychiatrist, based on addiction. So is the current issue of the APA's flagship journal, the American Journal of Psychiatry, which featured three major articles on addiction. Two were presented last week; one, a commentary by Keith Humphreys, Ph.D., and colleagues, focused on the barriers to Medicaid reimbursement for treatment, mainly erected by a few states (ADAW will cover that in depth next week).

Arizona legislator Amish Shah, M.D., M.P.H., receives APA's Javits Award for Public Service

Amish Shah, M.D., M.P.H., an emergency medicine physician and former member of the Arizona House of Representatives, was awarded the 2024 APA Jacob K. Javits Public Service Award for his dedication to improving access to quality care, and his advocacy for mental health reform. The Javits Award is the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) highest honor for contributions to the field of mental health by a federal or state public official. “Not only in hospitals, but also in the Arizona House of Representatives, Dr. Shah has left his mark as a distinctly skilled and dedicated voice for mental health,” said APA President Petros Levounis, M.D., M.A., in a statement. “His tireless efforts include working across the aisle to pass legislation like ‘Jake's Law,’ promoting important mental health interventions such as the Collaborative Care Model and advocating for youth to more easily access mental health care services.” APA established the award in 1986 in honor of Sen. Jacob K. Javits, who represented New York state in the U.S. Senate from 1957 to 1981.

In Case You Haven't Heard…

Rapid induction with naltrexone, and children who lost parents to drug overdoses, are two important studies that were released last week in the midst of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) annual meeting. Both studies were funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and will be covered in next week's issue. Meanwhile, reflecting at the APA's addiction‐themed conference covered in this issue, ADAW was reminded of another APA conference years ago, in which we were in the audience surrounded by psychiatrists who were listening, somewhat distractedly, to a presentation about addiction. “Why do we have to hear this addiction stuff,” we overheard one audience member say to another. So for those who think progress isn't taking place, it is. Kudos to outgoing APA president Petros Levounis, M.D., for his work on this and also to American Journal of Psychiatry editor Kathleen Brady for the current addiction‐themed issue. There are probably some psychiatrists who still wonder why they need to know about addiction. If they were at last week's conference, though, they don't have any more questions.

APA poll: U.S. adults anxious over election, current events

Many adults in this country are feeling increasingly anxious, particularly more so than they did the previous year — from 43% this year compared to 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022, according to the results of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA's) 2024 mental health poll.

Coming Up…

The annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association will be held May 4‐8 in New York City. For more information, go to https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/meetings/annual‐meeting

Pharmacogenomic Clinical Support Tools for the Treatment of Depression.

In this review, the authors update the 2018 position statement of the American Psychiatric Association Council of Research Workgroup on Biomarkers and Novel Treatments on pharmacogenomic (PGx) tools for treatment selection in depression. The literature was reviewed for new clinical trials and meta-analyses, published from 2017 to 2022, of studies using PGx tools for treatment selection in depression. The blinding and control conditions, as well as primary and secondary outcomes and post hoc analyses, were summarized. Eleven new clinical trials and five meta-analyses were identified; all studies had primary outcome measures related to speed or efficacy of treatment response. Three trials (27%) demonstrated efficacy on the primary outcome measure with statistical significance; the three studies used different PGx tools; one study was open-label and the other two were small single-blind trials. Five trials (45%) did not detect efficacy with statistical significance on either primary or secondary outcome measures. Only one trial (9%) used adverse events as a primary outcome measure. All studies had significant limitations; for example, none adopted a fully blinded study design, only two studies attempted to blind the treating clinician, and none incorporated measures to estimate the effectiveness of the blinds or the influence of lack of blinding on the study results. The addition of these new data do not alter the recommendations of the 2018 report, or the advice of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, that the evidence does not support the use of currently available combinatorial PGx tools for treatment selection in major depressive disorder. Priority efforts for future studies and the development and testing of effective tools include fully blinded study designs, inclusion of promising genetic variants not currently included in any commercially available tests, and investigation of other uses of pharmacogenomics, such as estimating the likelihood of rare adverse drug effects, rather than increasing the speed or magnitude of drug response.

APA conference theme: Addiction

The theme of this year's annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) is “Confronting Addiction from Prevention to Recovery.” This is appropriate considering the crisis facing America and the fact that outgoing president Petros Levounis, M.D., is an addiction psychiatrist. ADAW will of course be at the meeting, which is in New York City and starts May 4. Among the sessions are (links will take you to the APA meeting website with presenters and descriptions of presentations).

Coming Up…

The American Psychiatric Association is holding its Annual Meeting May 4–8 in New York. The meeting will be held in‐person and virtually. (Registration for the virtual meeting opens in February.) Visit https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/meetings/annual‐meeting/registration for more information.

Coming Up…

The annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association will be held May 4‐8 in New York City. For more information, go to https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/meetings/annual‐meeting

Cognitive disorders in Parkinson's disease

Movement disorders undoubtedly form the core of the Parkinson's disease (PD) clinical picture. However, several other clinical manifestations can significantly complicate the course of the disease. These are the so-called non-motor symptoms, which include emotional, cognitive, autonomic, and sensory disorders, as well as psychotic [1, 2, 3]. According to DSM-IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), dementia in PD can be presented as a progressive memory impairment syndrome in the absence of aphasia, apraxia, or agnosia. Keywords: Parkinson's disease; cognitive disorders; dementia; Alzheimer's disease; levodopa; acetylcholinesterase inhibitors

Coming Up…

The American Psychiatric Association is holding its Annual Meeting May 4–8 in New York. The meeting will be held in‐person and virtually. (Registration for the virtual meeting opens in February.) Visit https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/meetings/annual‐meeting/registration for more information.

APA poll: Americans' thoughts shift about social media harms

Americans in 2024 are somewhat split on the mental health benefits of social media according to the American Psychiatric Association's (APA's) new Healthy Minds Monthly poll, which was fielded by Morning Consult on behalf of the APA. The public annual opinion poll was released on April 2.