The "spectrum? in this disorder is Autistic Disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder. This issue specifically addresses acute management of the extreme behaviors that accompany this disorder spectrum: extreme behaviors, complete lack of communication, inability to learn or express language, etc, and covers in-hospital or residential therapies as well as in-home family involvement. Medical treatment for this disorder is the main focus of discussion in topics such as: Emotional Regulation: Concepts and Practice in ASD; Specialized Inpatient Treatment of ASD; Residential Treatment of Severe Behavioral Disturbance in ASD; Treatment of ASD in General Child Psychiatry Units; Behavioral Approaches to Acute Problems; Communication Strategies for Behavioral Challenges in ASD, along with topics covering Psychiatric Assessment of Acute Presentations in ASD; Sensory Regulation and its Relationship to Acute Problems in ASD; Family Dysfunction, Assessment and Treatment in the context of Severe Behavioral Disturbance in ASD; and Self Injurious Behavior in ASD.

Psychiatry and psychology have constructed a mental health system that does no justice to the problems it claims to understand and creates multiple problems for its users. Yet the myth of biologically-based mental illness defines our present. This book rethinks madness and distress reclaiming them as human, not medical, experiences.

It is widely recognized that neuropsychiatric disturbances contribute substantially to disability among persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). This issue of Psychiatric Clinics addresses the most common and the most clinically challenging neuropsychiatric sequelae of TBI. The overarching aim of this publication is to provide clinicians with information about the clinical characteristics, diagnostic assessment, neurobiology and treatment of these conditions that will be useful in their work with individuals and families affected by TBI. Topics include: Posttraumatic Encephalopathy; Cognitive Disorders after TBI; Emotional and Behavioral Dyscontrol after TBI; Mood Disorders following TBI; Apathy following TBI; Psychotic Disorders following TBI; Sleep and Fatigue following TBI; TBI and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Neuropsychiatry of Persistent Post-concussive Symptoms; Psychiatric Disorders following Pediatric TBI.

This volume concentrates on teaching group dynamics with an experiential, process focus. The procedure for instruction seeks to provide an integration of cognitive and affective components in learning how to tune into, and effectively use, group dynamics. Instructors and supervisors are provided with specific techniques for helping students understand manifestations of resistance, countertransference issues, assuming a process orientation, and dealing with both individual and group-as-a-whole concerns. Immensely practical and classroom tested.

Chapter 1 provides an overview and a discussion of ethical principles in group work. Chapter 2 focuses on how to structure the class, including a systematic method for monitoring group sessions, providing feedback to students, and addressing specific ethical concerns such as confidentiality and involuntary group membership. Chapter 3 develops the importance, and a process for, helping students to stay present-centered, keeping the group in a here-and-now focus, and how to recognize process. Chapter 4 presents the barriers to self-awareness and group process. Chapter 5 addresses how developing trust and cohesion in groups leads to therapeutic work on significant issues for group members. Chapter 6 describes the link between what is taking place in the present-centered group session and the past. Chapter 7 focuses on the roles that group members assume and the impact these roles may have on the progress and functioning of the group. Chapter 8 deals with teaching students to recognize and deal with overt and covert conflict in the group. Chapter 9 provides an introduction to the use of expressive techniques in groups. Chapter 10 presents specific exercises that are useful in teaching concepts, ranging from get-acquainted exercises to more complex ones for uncovering the self.

Because of the complex range of factors to be considered in pscyhosis -genetic, neurologic, biologic, environmental, family, culture - this issue of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics presents aspects that have the greatest relevance and impact in diagnosing and treating child and adolescent patients. Among some of the topics covered: Schizophrenia, Affective disorders and Psychosis, Comorbid diseases, Neurocognition, Genetics, Neuroimaging findings, and Treatment approaches of Psychopharmacology, Psychotherapy, and Community Rehabilitation. Jean Frazier, an expert in child and adolescent neuropsychiatry and in child psychopharmacology, leads this issue along with Yael Dvir, whose research and clinical interests include childhood psychosis and the associations between childhood psychosis and Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

Kiesler's "Beyond the Disease Model of Mental Disorder" goes beyond recent volumes which argue that psychotropic medications are being overused and abused in contemporary mental health settings. Elliott Valenstein, for example, an emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan, recently argues that people should be highly suspicious of the claim that all mental illness is primarily a biochemical disorder. In his 1998 book, "Blaming the Brain: The Truth about Drugs and Mental Health," Valenstein does not argue that drugs never work or that patients should discontinue taking medication. Valenstein's central point, instead, is that drugs do not attack the real cause of a disorder, since biochemical theories are an unproven hypothesis and probably a false one.

Inasmuch as Kiesler's volume is concerned exclusively with scientific explanations of mental disorders, it does not review at all the evidence for psychotropic medications or for other treatments of mental disorders. Kiesler does highlight a message similar to that of Valenstein, who rejects the hypothesis that mental illness is primarily a biochemical disorder. After a comprehensive review of the relevant scientific evidence, Kiesler concludes that henceforth the study of mental disorders must be guided by multicausal theories and research that systematically include an array of biological, psychological, and sociocultural causal factors. Kiesler adds that, in order for this to be accomplished, the mental health field and the public at large must first abandon the invalid monocausal biomedical (disease) model of mental disorder.

Emphasizing diagnosis, causality, and holistic treatment, this is the only book offering a full discussion of Avoidant Personality Disorder for therapists and sufferers. Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD) is an extremely widespread, devastating disorder that generally goes unrecognized or misrepresented by what little scientific literature there is on the topic. Therapists are left mystified about how to diagnose and treat it, and patients and other sufferers are at a loss as to what is wrong and how to go about correcting it. The Essential Guide to Overcoming Avoidant Personality Disorder is the only book available to guide both patients and those trying to help them. This thorough and much-needed volume explores the development of AvPD and presents a holistic view of its causes from the psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, and interpersonal perspectives. It offers an extensive section on diagnostic criteria that will be useful to sufferers and therapists, and it discusses the various therapies for AvPD. Finally, and perhaps most critically, the book provides a section intended as a guide for psychiatrists—and a self-help guide for sufferers—including a day-by-day, one-step-at-a-time, monthly guide on how to overcome AvPD.

This is the first-ever application to group therapy of the popular, replicable, time-limited, evidence-based approach initially developed to treat individual depression. Denise Wilfley adapted it in the course of researching the management of eating disorders; her collaborators include a national authority on group work plus an originator of Interpersonal Psychotherapy. Their step-by-step identification of the goals, tasks, and techniques attendant on running normalizing, cost-effective groups makes a real contribution to the clinical repertoire.

The goal for this volume is to provide an up-to-date review of the discriminative stimulus properties of major psychoactive drug classes with an emphasis on how this paradigm enhances our understanding of these drugs and how these findings translate from animals to humans. The drug discrimination paradigm applies to both drugs of abuse and drugs for treating mental illnesses, and research from these studies has provided immense translational value for learning about the mechanisms responsible for drug effects in humans.

Patients in psychiatry, or their parents, experiment with alternative methods and practices; psychiatrists, in search of scientifically-based discussion and evidence of use for daily practice, find that information in this issue of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics. Readers will find clinically focused information in the major categories of Selected Treatments, Selected Disorders, and Perspectives on Clinical Complementary and Alternative Therapies. Pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments are discussed for ADHD, Mood disorders, Autism, Learning and Cognitive disorders, and Neurologic disturbances, such as sleep, traumatic brain injury, headache, etc. EEG and Neurofeedback, Meditation and Movement Therapies, Music Therapy, Massage, Acupuncture, and other body-based therapies are presented. Evidence for minerals, vitamins, and herbs is discussed, and Ethical and Legal issues for the Psychiatrist are presented. Guest Editors Deborah Simkin and Charles Popper, with decades of experience in working with complementary therapies, lead this issue.

Emerging approaches to treating addictions and minimizing relapse are spotlighted in this idea-packed volume, as alternatives or adjuncts to standard psychological and pharmacological therapies. Its biopsychosocial perspective delves into the causes and processes of chemical dependence, and the clinical characteristics it shares with other addictions (e.g., food, sex, gambling, online activities), to identify client needs that substance abuse may fulfill. Accordingly, the diverse modalities featured here address substance addiction on multiple levels, offering clients physical or mental stimulation and/or emotional relief as well as affording different degrees of autonomy. Methods can be mixed and matched to reinforce treatment goals, and clinicians can tailor treatment to individual issues and interests to assure clients nuanced and meaningful care. Included in the coverage: * Use of herbal medicine to treat drug addiction. * EMDR therapy and the treatment of substance abuse and addiction. * Evaluating the change processes in drug users' interventions. * Web-based interventions for substance abuse. * Physical exercise and treatment of addiction. * Mindfulness to reduce the anxiety during the abstinence * Neurofeedback to deal with craving and anxiety symptoms Psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and addiction counselors and educators will find Innovations in the Treatment of Substance Addiction a valuable sourcebook for understanding addiction-and intervention-in its wider context.

Disasters! Looking beyond their acute impact to how they affect communities in the years that follow is the focus of discussion in this issue of Psychiatric Clinics. Reviews of cases of well known disasters such as 9/11, the 2004 South Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake of 2010, the 3/11/11 "triple disaster" in Northern Japan, and others are presented from the perspective of local experts who have been asked to take a long view of what they learned and may still be learning from their post-disaster experiences that mental health professionals faced with future disasters should know. World renown experts in disaster psychiatry and global psychiatry, Craig Katz and Anand Pandya, lead this publication.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics covers topics in three major categories in two volumes of this series: 1. Approaches to Specific Conditions; 2. Special Features in Working with Children; 3. Research Presented for the Clinician. Specific conditions covered are: Anxiety, Trauma, Depression, Eating Disorders, Incipient Borderline Personality Disorders, and the Medically Ill Youth. Special Features include the various therapies in Psychodynamic psychotherapy: Play Techniques, Use of Boardgames, Perspectives on Psychotropic Medications for Children, Parent Work, Family Therapy, and Dyadic Therapies. Research for Clinicians includes Neuroscience, Evidence Base, and Developmental Perspectives.

Leading researchers are specially invited to provide a complete understanding of a key topic within the multidisciplinary fields of physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology. In a form immediately useful to scientists, this periodical aims to filter, highlight and review the latest developments in these rapidly advancing fields.

Personality disorders, depression, mania, psychosis, behavioral problems, anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder, dementia, hyperactivity, insomnia, panic disorder, suicide, ? sleep disorder, all the purview of psychiatrity, can be the result of neurotoxicity from chemicals capable of damaging the brain or nervous system. The ambiguity of such outcomes is acknowledged, at the same time emphasizing the value in considering the effects of chemicals on the brain. In this issue of Psychiatric Clinics, some of the topics related to neurotoxicity outcomes are: Review of Cognitive Assessment in Neurotoxicology; Neurologic Manifestations of Chronic Methamphetamine Abuse; Emerging Toxic Neuropathies and Myopathies; Neurotoxic Emergencies; Antidepressant Overdose-induced Seizures; and Neurotoxic Pesticides and Neurologic Effects

Grey’s Anatomy meets One L in this psychiatrist’s charming and poignant memoir about his residency at Harvard. Adam Stern was a student at a state medical school before being selected to train as a psychiatry resident at one of the most prestigious programs in the country. His new and initially intimidating classmates were high achievers from the Ivy League and other elite universities around the nation. Faculty raved about the group as though the residency program had won the lottery, nicknaming them “The Golden Class,� but would Stern ever prove that he belonged? In his memoir, Stern pulls back the curtain on the intense and emotionally challenging lessons he and his fellow doctors learned while studying the human condition, and ultimately, the value of connection. The narrative focuses on these residents, their growth as doctors, and the life choices they make as they try to survive their grueling four-year residency. Rich with drama, insight, and emotion, Stern shares engrossing stories of life on the psychiatric wards, as well as the group’s experiences as they grapple with impostor syndrome and learn about love and loss. Most importantly, as they study how to help distressed patients in search of a better life, they discover the meaning of failure and the preciousness of success.  Stern’s growth as a doctor, and as a man, have readers rooting for him and his patients, and ultimately find their own hearts fuller for having taken this journey with him.

In keeping with the growing emphasis on psychiatry in the medical school curriculum, problem-based learning (PBL) offers students a unique patient-centred, multidisciplinary approach to study and the synthesis of knowledge. The new 2nd edition of Problem-Based Behavioral Science and Psychiatry integrates DSM-5 updates and diagnostic criteria, and is fully consistent with PBL models and methods. Building on the strengths of the popular and widely downloaded 1st edition, the 2nd edition is a clinically robust resource for both the medical and the behavioral science student. Over 40 contributors, many themselves graduates of PBL medical schools, apply problem-based learning methods to specific psychiatric disorders, general clinical issues, and bedrock physician skills such as the intake interview and treatment planning. The book's fictional case vignettes illustrated typical patient scenarios, providing real-world context for content areas, and accompanying case diagrams show the relationships between patient behaviour and underlying neurobiological structures. Each student-friendly section ends with helpful review questions. A sampling of the content areas covered: * Childhood development and brain development. * Major psychiatric illnesses, including personality, mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. * Stress, substance abuse, and violence. * Eating, sleep, and sexual disorders. * Coping skills and treatment compliance. * End-of-life care. * PLUS chapters on cultural sensitivity, ethical concerns, and the physician/patient relationship. This book is ideal for first and second year medical students wanting to learn about psychiatry in the exciting context of realistic cases. It also makes an excellent prep/review text for third- and fourth-year medical students preparing for the USMLE Step 1 and 2 exams, as well as being suited to graduate students in psychology or clinical social work. Problem-Based Behavioral Science and Psychiatry encourages lifelong learning and helps build the foundation for a lifelong career.

"Translational Neuroimaging: Tools for CNS Drug Discovery, Development and Treatment" combines the experience of academic, clinical and industrial neuroimagers in a unique collaborative approach to provide an integrated perspective of the use of small animal and human brain imaging in developing and validating translational models and biomarkers for the study and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. "Translational Neuroimaging: Tools for CNS Drug Discovery, Development and Treatment" examines the translational role of neuroimaging in model development from preclinical animal models, to human experimental medicine, and finally to clinical studies. The focus of this book is to identify and provide common endpoints between species that can serve to inform both the clinic and the bench with the information needed to accelerate clinically-effective CNS drug discovery. This book covers methodical issues in human and animal neuroimaging translational research as well as detailed applied examples of the use of neuroimaging in neuropsychiatric disorders and the development of drugs for their treatment. Offering an accompanying website with illustrations and text available for further knowledge and presentations, "Translational Neuroimaging: Tools for CNS Drug Discovery, Development and Treatment" appeals to non-clinical and clinical neuroscientists working in and studying neuropsychiatric disorders and their treatment as well as providing the novice researcher or researcher outside of his/her expertise the opportunity to understand the background of translational research and the use of imaging in this field.
Provides a background to translational research and the use of brain imaging in neuropsychiatric disordersCritical discussion of the potential and limitations of neuroimaging as a translational tool for identifying and validating biomarkersIdentifies cross species neurosystems and common endpoints necessary to help accelerate CNS drug discovery and development for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disordersFeatures an accompanying website with additional images and text

Schizophrenia remains a poorly understood and yet a profoundly serious condition among all the major medical illnesses. A major shift in the past 5 years has been witnessed among psychiatrists with the belief now that diagnosis and intervention early may have a positive influence on the outcome of schizophrenia. This shift has led to searching for key diagnostic clusters to enhance early diagnosis as well as to concerted efforts to find biomarkers of disease and disease progression. To that end, this issue of the Psychiatric Clinics of North America is dedicated to these contemporary issues that promote 'early intervention' in schizophrenia. Distinguished academic clinicians and neuroscientists provide comprehensive overviews of the present state of knowledge on the epidemiology, early clinical characteristics, and diagnostic changes, proposed pathogenesis, neurobiology, and treatment requirements for this disorder. The optimism and excitement for real progress in schizophrenia research treatment is incorporated into this text. The current state of knowledge is substantial, academically credible, and scientifically based. Topics on the subject of early intervention in and diagnosis of schizophrenia include: The Nosology of Schizophrenia: Defining Illness Boundaries Based upon Symptoms; The Neurodevelopmental Hypothesis of Schizophrenia: a Critical Synthesis; Predicting Risk and the Emergence of Schizophrenia; Is Early Intervention for Psychosis Feasible and Effective?; Can Neuroimaging Be Used to Define Phenotypes and Course of Schizophrenia?; Reliable Biomarkers and Predictors of Schizophrenia and Its Treatment; From Study to Practice: Enhancing Clinical Trials Methods Toward 'Real World' Outcomes; Relapse Prevention in Schizophrenia; Antipsychotic Polypharmacy: Every Clinician's 'Dirty Little Secret'; Cognitive Remediation: Retraining the Brain in Schizophrenia; Peers and Peer-led Interventions; Homelessness; and The Emerging Role of Technology and Social Media in Caring for People with Schizophrenia. Each presentation in this publication includes an Overview, Implications for Practice, with Summarizations of Important Clinical and Learning Points.

Psychopharmacology is a dominant treatment in child and adolescent psychiatry with proven benefits to young patients. The authors present topics related to PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY ISSUES: Ethical issues, Treatment planning, Side effects, Neural correlates, and Pharmacogenomics. They address DRUGS FOR SPECIFIC DISEASES: Anxiety, Depression, Eating disorders, Sleep disorders, Psychosis and Schizophrenia, High-risk for bilpolar and schizophrenia, Bipolar, ADHD, and Autism. Each topic presents an Overview of the Disease or Issue, Empirical evidence for ethical issues, Treatment summaries that include dose ranges, side effects, contraindications, and how the drugs are used specifically for a disorder. Treatment in the presence of co-morbid conditions, Long-term evidence, and Conclusions and Future directions complete the presentations. Clinical vignettes are provided that exemplify the main points of the topic.