Psychiatry Advances

Antoine Douaihy M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine. He is a recognized expert in motivational interviewing. Joining him is his intern in clinical Psychology, Cassie Boness MS. Vaccine hesitancy threatens nationally needed Covid herd immunity. Motivational interviewing is a  very useful approach for enlisting reluctant persons in self-change. Discussed here are the parameters and techniques of motivational interviewing as this applies to Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy. 

Sarah L. Pederson PhD is Associate Professor of Psychiatry. She is a national authority on alcohol use and its more serious social/psychological problems. Her research work is remarkable for its multi-causal personal assessments, racial and otherwise, e.g. measurements of impulsivity and other personal characteristics associated with drinking both in the laboratory and in vivo in the community. This Podcast also considers the effects of Covid-19, pre and now, upon drinking.

Marta Pecina MD PhD. is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Director of the Translational Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Lab of the Department of Psychiatry and the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. This Podcast focuses on the Neurobiological basis of placebo effects. Placebos have great power. We explain how both expectation and conditioning generate strong placebo effects relevant to research and their therapeutic use. Ethical issues about placebo use are furthermore addressed.

Dr. Lalith Kumar K. Solai is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Pitt. He is the Architect/Director of the WPH Center for Interventional Psychiatry. It provides newer treatment modalities in psychiatry, especially for depressed patients refractory to conventional treatments, thus advancing new knowledge about these interventional treatments. This Podcast discusses newer developments in ECT, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) , Ketamine and Ketamine Infusion, Direct Brain Stimulation (DBS).

Dr. Kristine Wilckens PhD is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and sleep researcher. She has a K01 Career Development Award from the NIH. It concerns Slow Wave Sleep and  Executive Network Function in older adults. This Podcast reviews the stages of sleep focusing upon slow wave sleep, the deepest most restorative sleep pattern and its effect upon cognition, in essence brain health. Sleep moderates the relationship between amyloid beta and memory recall.

Sansea Jacobson, MD, is an associate psychiatry professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and director, UPMC Graduate Medical Education WELL Committee. More than 1,700 residents and fellows are in training at UPMC. This podcast discusses physician wellbeing both prior to and during COVID-19, including support systems and individual challenges. Despite the difficulties, COVID-19 empowers doctors to do what they have been trained to do, thereby reinforcing positive identities.

Dr. Bruce Rollman is the UPMC Endowed Chair in General Internal Medicine and Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh. This Podcast describes his highly influential two decades of research in depression and cardiovascular care, including the “Hopeful Heart Trial”, his most recent NIH-funded study that examined the impact of a “blended” collaborative care strategy for treating both heart failure and co-morbid depression.

Roy Chengappa, MD, is professor of psychiatry and medical director/chief of Comprehensive Recovery Services at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. This service includes care for 5,000 to 10,000 serious, chronically mentally ill patients. Kimberly Clinebell, MD, is major clinician at the Pathways, a long-term structural residence and locked community setting. This podcast describes continuing treatment of these patients given the necessity of social distancing and isolation. This includes continuing clozapine and injection treatments.

Jack Rozel, MD, is associate professor of psychiatry and medical director at resolve Crisis Services. He is president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry. This podcast addresses the pandemic functioning of an established, multi-purpose, and community-based crisis center. Crises are not defined by the patient or family having a psychiatric disorder. The center has dealt with challenges associated with the pandemic. This podcast also addresses the role of national helplines during COVID-19. Follow Dr. Rozel on Twitter at @ViolenceWonks