Psychiatry and Mental Health

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Dr. Brian McDonough sits down with Jeena Cho, co-author of The Anxious Lawyer: an 8-week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice through Mindfulness and Meditation, about how meditation can reduce anxiety, improve focus and clarity, and renrich your quality of life.

Host: Patrice L Basanta-Henry, MD, MHSc, FACOG

Reports indicate that there is a national upsurge in the number of women with opioid addiction. The problem is multigenerational, with consumption habits that begin as early as the mid-teenage years and extend well into the elderly population.

Additionally, opioid addiction disproportionately affects women, who are more likely to become dependent and overdose unintentionally on painkillers compared to men.

Host Dr. Patrice Basanta-Henry talks with Dr. Regan Theiler, Director of the Division of General OB/GYN at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center about treatment approaches for opioid-addicted pregnant women and women of childbearing age.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD

Guest: Rebecca Alexander

Born with a rare genetic mutation called Usher Syndrome type III, Rebecca Alexander has been simultaneously losing both her sight and hearing since she was a child, and was told that she would likely be completely blind and deaf by age 30. Then, at 18, a fall from a window left her athletic body completely shattered.

In Not Fade Away, Rebecca tells her extraordinary story, by turns harrowing, funny and inspiring. She meditates on what she’s lost—from the sound of a whisper to seeing a sky full of stars, and what she’s found in return—an exquisite sense of intimacy with those she is closest to, a love of silence, a profound gratitude for everything she still has, and a joy in simple pleasures that most of us forget to notice.

Not Fade Away is both a memoir of the senses and a unique look at the obstacles we all face—physical, psychological, and philosophical—exploring the extraordinary powers of memory, love, and perseverance. It is a gripping story, an offering of hope and motivation, and an exquisite reminder to live each day to its fullest.

[Read the Article]

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and identifying those at risk can be challenging. According to a new study, certain words in hospital discharge notes may be one way to identify patients who are at an increased risk of suicide.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital examined more than 450,000 patients’ discharge notes from 2005 to 2013. They analyzed these notes by using a sentiment analysis computer program which searches for positive or negative words. The researchers found that certain words like gloomy, unfortunate, and sad can predict a higher risk for suicide, as opposed to words like lovely, delightful or pleasant.

In general, there is an elevated risk for suicide after hospital discharge so this is a moment for increased intervention.

[Watch more videos of The JAMA Report]

Host: Patrice L Basanta-Henry, MD, MHSc, FACOG

According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, between 14% and 23% of women will struggle with some symptoms of depression during their pregnancy. This condition often goes unrecognized and untreated in part because of safety concerns in using medications or other therapeutic methods during pregnancy.

Host Dr. Patrice Basanta-Henry talks with Dr. Nzinga Harrison, a board-certified physician in addiction medicine and psychiatry and Chief Medical Officer for Anka Behavioral Health, Inc about the current recommendations for depression screenings in the pregnant patient.

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO

Mood tracking, a novel integration of technology with psychiatric care to track mental status changes over time, has the potential to fundamentally change how clinicians treat behavioral health disorders. Will smartphone apps become the vehicle for this technology to the wider masses?

Dr. Adam Kaplin, Principle Psychiatric Consultant to the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Centers of Excellence, is the founder and inventor of Mood 24/7, a mobile app that allows people to record their mood daily and share this data with their health care providers to provide better accuracy in reporting mood symptoms. He joins Dr. Jennifer Caudle to discuss the emergence of mood tracking portals such as Mood 24/7 and the ways they can transform mental health care.

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD

Today’s culture of stress is driving people to pharmaceuticals and other dangerous outlets as coping mechanisms. What strategies should people employ to mitigate stress and manage their time better?

Host Dr. Matt Birnholz sits down with Dr. Patricia Sulak, Endowed Professor at Texas A&M University to talk about the dangers of stress.

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD

Psychiatry gets a bad rep for being one of the more "technophobic" fields in clinical medicine. This negative association stems in part to the difficulty in tracking changes in mood, cognition, and certain behaviors over time. But there is a growing contingency of psychiatric clinicians who are bringing technology into this specialty to help propel standards in mental health care.

Dr. Adam Kaplin, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Principle Psyciatric Consultant to the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Centers of Excellence, joins Dr. Jennifer Caudle to discuss ways in which technological innovations can enhance psychiatric care and decrease stigma surrounding mental illness.

Host: John Russell, MD

After having a nationally televised panic attack, Dan Harris, co-anchor of “Nightline” and the weekend edition of “Good Morning America” on ABC News, knew he had to make some changes. Mr. Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had propelled him through the ranks of a hypercompetitive business, but had also led him to make decisions that provoked his on-air panic attack.

Eventually Harris stumbled upon an effective way to rein in that voice, something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless: meditation, a tool that research suggests can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain.

10% Happier, an autobiographical account of Harris's discovery of meditation, takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America’s spiritual scene, leaving takeaway for readers to make meaningful changes in their lives.

Host: Michael Krychman, MD

Dr. Michael Krychman welcomes Mary Jo Rapini, a psychotherapist specializing in intimacy, sex and relationships who maintains a private practice in Houston, TX. Ms. Rapini co-authored RE-COUPLING: A Couple’s 4-step Guide to Greater Intimacy and Better Sex.