Articles related to Psychiatry

Leukodystrophies, deficiency-related metabolic diseases, genetic and acquired toxic/metabolic causes, and mitochondrial diseases were identified as the genetic and metabolic disorders of adulthood producing spinal cord signal changes. A number of adult metabolic and genetic illnesses that cause spinal cord atrophy without signal changes have also been discovered. The classification based on spinal MRI results is also offered, along with suggestions for the diagnostic process and alternative diagnoses.

It wasn’t carpal tunnel. It wasn’t just anxiety, and Ed wasn’t having a stroke. Even after a complete neurological assessment, it wasn’t “mild cognitive impairment.” For months, Ed’s life was plagued with psychiatric and movement disorders that puzzled his wife and his physicians. Read the narrative about how Ed was finally diagnosed, what happened next, and where he is now.

The American Journal of Psychiatry presents this review of the most compelling articles that were covered in 2022: The Molecular and Cellular Alterations That Underpin Psychiatric Illnesses Shared and Distinct Neurobiological Mechanisms of PTSD Cognitive Deficits in Long-Term Cannabis Users Longitudinal Outcomes of Duration of Untreated Psychosis Accelerating TMS in the Treatment of Depression Infant Brain Development, Fragile X Syndrome, and Autism Spectrum Disorder Combining Computational Modeling and Postmortem Human Brain Studies to Uncover Synaptic Variability Contributions to Cortical Gamma Oscillation From the AJP Residents’ Journal: Identity and Stigma

A poll conducted in 2021 shed light on the terrible state of many nurses’ mental health, and this story may be a reflection of those thoughts. When more than 9,500 critical care nurses were polled last October, more than half of them admitted to being “not emotionally well,” a trend that was most pronounced among younger nurses between the ages of 25 and 34 (Michael Odell was 27 years old at the time of his death).

High functioning depression is an oversimplified label for someone who effectively hides their persistent depression and seems to be managing their life well. The proper diagnosis is probably dysthymia. Dysthymia is difficult to detect until it intensifies into a major depressive episode. Asking questions about mood, sleep, medication and duration of depressive symptoms can help the clinician achieve a proper diagnosis.

The presence of vitamin D in the brain and its link to improved cognitive performance in aged subjects was originally discovered by a Tufts University study. Higher vitamin D concentrations were linked to a 25% to 33% decreased risk of dementia or mild cognitive impairment in four different brain areas. Authors did note, however, that the observational nature of the study and the lack of a diverse subject population were two of its drawbacks, and there may be further explanations for the results.