Mental Disorders - Simple and Practical Mental Health

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Anxiety Disorders

Relaxation Practice: A Simple and Powerful Tool for Anxiety, Tension, and Insomnia

Gabapentin (Neurontin®) for anxiety disorders?

Does vortioxetine work for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

We need to learn more about difficult-to-treat panic disorder

Should we give high-dose SSRI for panic disorder?

Panic disorder: Switch or augment?

Would you ever use bupropion to treat panic disorder?

Do you prescribe beta blockers for panic disorder?

Which beta blocker and for how long?

How to evaluate outcome in panic disorder

Cannabis (marijuana) for PTSD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Funny but soooo true! Short video about a problem many people with ADHD have

How to screen all your patients for Adult ADHD

Why don’t we screen every patient for adult ADHD?

Tips for prescribing ADHD medications

Converting stimulants: Equivalent doses

A dozen tips to manage loss of appetite due to a stimulant (in adults)

Childhood ADHD: Persistence into adulthood

Tips for managing abuse potential of medications for ADHD

Does lisdexamfetamine really have lower abuse potential?

Do you prescribe bupropion for ADHD in adults?

Vitamin C if on a stimulant?

Tips for remembering to do things

Comorbid Bipolar Disorder and ADHD

How common is ADHD in persons with bipolar disorder?

How to treat ADHD in persons with bipolar disorder

BEST Books on Adult ADHD: for Clinicians

BEST Books on Adult ADHD: For Patients and/or Families

Book Review: ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life

Book review: Mindfulness Prescription for ADHD

Famous people who had a mental disorder

ADHD as a difference in cognition, not a disorder. Talk from TEDx (YouTube Video)

Four C’s for dealing with ADHD (YouTube Video)

Things that can masquerade as ADHD (YouTube Video)

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Bipolar and Related Disorders

Diagnosing Bipolar Disorder

How to EFFECTIVELY screen patients for possible bipolar disorder

Was the hypomania or mania “antidepressant-induced”?

How to know who will respond better to lithium

When NOT to use antidepressants in bipolar depression

Which antidepressants have greater or lesser risk in bipolar depression?

Difficult-to-treat bipolar depression

How to evaluate and treat a patient with rapid cycling bipolar disorder

Does gabapentin (Neurontin®) work for bipolar disorder?

Does oxcarbazepine work for bipolar disorder?

What medications should we prescribe for bipolar II disorder?

The Manic-Panic Connection: Comorbid Bipolar Disorder and Panic Disorder

Bipolar disorder with comorbid panic disorder: Treatment

How to get better outcomes in bipolar disorder? (Video interview with Gary Sachs, MD)

Pearls in treating bipolar depression: Interview with Joseph Goldberg, MD

BEST Books on Bipolar Disorder: For Patients and/or Families

An Unquiet Mind

Depressive Disorders

A Deeper Understanding of the DSM-5 Criteria for Major Depressive Disorder

Grief versus Major Depression

“Specifiers” for mood disorders

Cognitive dysfunction in major depressive disorder

Atypical features (in depressive episodes)

Anxious distress (in depressive episodes)

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Omega-3 fatty acids for depressive disorders?

S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) for depressive disorders: An overview

Bright light therapy: Instructions to patients

Bright light therapy: Devices

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)

How to treat Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD): Management (Part two)

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD): Management part three

We do have some options for the common problem of residual fatigue and somnolence

What percentage of patients with MDD responds to TMS?

Who is more likely to respond to TMS?

BEST Books on Depressive disorders: for patients and families

Terrific TED talk about Depression, Treatment, and Hope

Interview: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Feeding and Eating Disorders

Binge-Eating Disorder

New medication approved by FDA for Binge-Eating Disorder

Yale Food Addiction Scale

Instruction sheet for the Yale Food Addiction Scale

Should we prescribe medications for weight loss?

Melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) and weight gain

Medical Conditions (Non-psychiatric)

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Mental Health (coming soon)

Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

Tips on thyroid function testing

Neurocognitive Disorders

Neurocognitive disorders in DSM-5

Tips for interviewing patients with dementia

Neuroimaging in persons with dementia

Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA)

Key Points from the APA Practice Guideline on the Use of Antipsychotics to Treat Agitation or Psychosis in Patients with Dementia

Mild neurocognitive disorder

In older adults, avoid medications with anticholinergic activity

How exactly to evaluate anticholinergic burden

Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

SSRIs for OCD

Higher than usual doses of SSRIs for OCD?

Clomipramine versus SSRIs for OCD

When and how to check the clomipramine level?

OCD: Second-line medications

Antipsychotic “augmentation” for OCD

OCD: Prognosis

Excoriation (skin picking) disorder

How to treat excoriation (skin picking) disorder: Pharmacological treatment

How to treat excoriation (skin picking) disorder: Psychological treatment

Are we missing Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Pharmacological treatment

BEST books about OCD for patients and families

BEST books about Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Schizophrenia-Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders (coming soon)

Sleep-Wake disorders

How to screen for sleep apnea

How to know if your patient snores if s/he sleeps alone!

Sleep log: Ten important questions about the person’s sleep

The FIRST thing you should do if your patient has Restless Legs Syndrome

Which hypnotics to use or avoid in persons with sleep apnea

Epworth Sleepiness Scale (my brief summary and link to the scale itself)

STOP-Bang Questionnaire (my summary and link to the questionnaire)

Insomnia? Ask about medications

Tools for Better Sleep

Sleep Hygiene Worksheets

Non-addictive sleep medications

Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders

General

How to learn addiction psychiatry

What happened to polysubstance dependence?

False positive urine drug screen results: Principles and a table for reference

SAMHSA National Helpline (Treatment Referral Routing Service)

Alcohol

Alcohol, not marijuana, is the real gateway drug

How to screen for alcohol use disorder?

How much alcohol intake is “normal”?

What is a “standard” drink?

Three key statistics about alcohol use: Bad, worse, and worst news

Caffeine

Let’s wake up to how much caffeine our patients are taking

Cannabis

You may be missing cannabis withdrawal

Hypnotics

Non-addictive sleep medications

Will zolpidem be detected on a standard urine drug screen?

Opioids

News: July 7, 2016. Buprenorphine prescribing limit raised significantly

Loperamide abuse: Tips for mental health clinicians

Opioids in the urine drug screen

Tips for our opioid-dependent patients

Stimulants

Eight tips for reducing the risk of abuse/diversion of stimulants

Does lisdexamfetamine really have lower abuse potential?

Suicidality

The Three Step Ladder: A better, easier way to start to ask about suicidal ideation

Quick tips in suicide assessment: Interview with Jack Krasuski, MD

How NOT to talk about suicide

Types of suicidal behaviors

Suicidality: An interview with David Sheehan, MD (included medications for suicidality)

TED talk: The bridge between suicide and life

Suicide prevention

Suicide Hotline