(Great Neck, N.Y. - March 24, 2009) — Behavioral Healthcare Journal, in collaboration with NARSAD, has produced several in-depth interviews with leading experts on depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and autism.
The research experts were featured earlier this month at our sixth annual Palm Beach Mental Health symposium, which attracted nearly 700 consumers, family members and healthcare professionals. Click links below to read or listen to podcasts of these interviews:
New Treatment Strategies of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder -- A talk with Dr. Helen Blair Simpson
What do Albert Einstein, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Michelangelo, David Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Howie Mandel and Cameron Diaz all have in common? Aside from sharing celebrity status, they’ve each experienced various types of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Some in the form of perfectionism, some with germ phobias, others with neatness compulsions and, in the case of David Beckham, symmetry compulsion in which everything must be in pairs and match. If he sees three cans of soda in the fridge, he’ll toss one out; if there are five books on his coffee table, one must go. About 2 percent of the population has a form of OCD; it’s not the prevalent anxiety disorder, but experts say it is the most severe.
At NARSAD’s sixth annual Palm Beach Mental Health Symposium, held March 7, 2009, Helen Blair Simpson, M.D., associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, gave a presentation on “New Treatment Strategies for OCD.”
- To listen to an audio interview, click here..
- To read a complete transcript of the interview.
The Changing Face of Autism: Fred Volkmar, M.D., on Recent Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism
We’ve come a long way from the days when autism was thought to be the possible result of bad parenting, or that it only affected highly intelligent families. Today, science is closer than ever to unraveling the complex interplay of genetic, biological, environmental and other factors that underlie autism and the broader, related family of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). And with this new understanding has come new hope that effective early diagnosis, combined with intervention and treatment starting as early as infancy, may enable us to blunt some of autism’s worst, lasting effects.
But how exactly do you treat or provide therapy to a child as young as a year old? Can an autistic child lead a more-or-less normal life if they’re treated aggressively and early enough in life? And what accounts for what, on the surface at least, appears to be an alarming increase in cases of autism and ASD, with numbers today tenfold what they were 10 years ago? Are we simply more attuned to the condition and its related variants, and therefore doing a better job identifying it than ever before? Or is this truly an epidemic? And what of the rumors that vaccines may play a role in autism? Can we finally rule that out as a possible cause?
BHC Journal interviewed Fred Volkmar, M.D., one of the nation’s leading autism researchers, on these questions and more. Dr. Volkmar is the director of the Yale University Child Study Center and Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology at Yale University. He’s also the editor of the book Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. He recently presented a talk entitled “The Changing Face of Autism: Insights from Research to Improve Diagnosis and Outcome” at NARSAD’s Sixth Annual Palm Beach Symposium, held March 7, 2009. The talk highlighted the momentum created in the field of autism research over the past decade, and explored what those findings have revealed about the biological and psychological problems related to the disorder.
- To listen to an audio interview, click here.
- To read a complete transcript of the interview.
Treatment of Schizophrenia: Current Limitations and Future Promises with Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D.
Throughout recorded history, schizophrenia, a condition that affects about one in 100 Americans, has been recognized as a disabling chronic brain disorder. People with schizophrenia may hear voices not audible to others, or believe other people are planning to harm them by reading their thoughts and controlling their minds. This terrifying experience can cause severe withdrawal, and it can lead people with schizophrenia to talk without making sense or to sit silently for hours. They may appear on the surface to be perfectly normal until they express what’s truly on their minds. These burdens can prevent them from properly caring for themselves or from working. The first generation of antipsychotic medications alleviated symptoms of schizophrenia, but often resulted in uncontrollable and distressing motor disturbances. Second-generation atypical antipsychotic drugs cause fewer problems neurologically, but can lead to other substantial side effects.
Recently, BHC Journal interviewed world-renowned schizophrenia expert Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D., chairman of psychiatry at Columbia University, director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and principal investigator of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness Research Program (CATIE), the largest, longest and most comprehensive study of its kind. On March 7, Dr. Lieberman spoke at the Sixth Annual Palm Beach Mental Health Research Symposium, sponsored by NARSAD, the world’s leading charity dedicated to mental health research.
In this interview, Dr. Lieberman reviews highlights of his symposium presentation, "Treating Schizophrenia: Current Research and Future Directions."
- To listen to an audio interview, click here.
- To read a complete transcript of the interview.
Deep Brain Stimulation: Experimental Treatment for Severe Depression Achieves Impressive Results, Raises Intriguing Questions: A discussion with Helen Mayberg, M.D.
The patient is brought into the operating room and seated in a comfortable reclining The patient is brought into the operating room and seated in a comfortable reclining chair. After surgeons attach a frame apparatus to the head and apply local anesthetic, they drill two holes in the skull. Guided by an MRI scan, they maneuver a tiny electrode deep into a region of the brain known as area 25. With the patient still conscious and alert, they turn on the juice. And suddenly, for many patients, a dark cloud they’ve lived under for years is instantly lifted. They feel more connected to the people around them. It’s as if a heavy weight’s been removed, and they suddenly feel more engaged in and aware of their surroundings than they’ve felt in years.
That’s been the experience for many patients who’ve undergone a novel, new, experimental treatment for severe depression. Called deep brain stimulation (DBS), the technique is an adaptation of a procedure originally developed for treating Parkinson’s disease. Once it’s been inserted, the electrode remains implanted in the brain, with wires hidden under the skin connecting it to a small battery implanted in the patient’s chest. From then on, a tiny current is continuously delivered deep into the brain. So far, an impressive 60 percent of patients have experienced relief from their symptoms after undergoing the procedure, with some now entering their sixth year.
Aside from holding out hope for patients for whom standard-line therapies have failed, what DBS and, more importantly, the research into it has revealed about the mechanics of depression is also profoundly shifting many of our existing conceptions of the disorder. The research is prompting some to ask whether our current treatment paradigms adequately fit into this new understanding. Among those asking such questions is Helen S. Mayberg, M.D., the lead researcher of a NARSAD-funded DBS study. Dr. Mayberg is professor of psychiatry and neurology at Emory University in Atlanta, and a member of NARSAD’s Scientific Council. Previously, she held the first Sandra Rotman Chair in Neuropsychiatry at the University of Toronto, where she initiated her trials of deep brain stimulation.
Dr. Mayberg’s pioneering research over the years has been supported by NARSAD Young Investigator, Independent Investigator and Distinguished Investigator grants, and she was awarded NARSAD’s 2007 Falcone Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Affective Disorders Research. She was a featured presenter at NARSAD’s Sixth Annual Palm Beach Mental Health Symposium, held March 7, 2009, at which she gave a talk entitled “Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment Resistant Depression: An Update.” BHC Journal recently interviewed Dr. Mayberg about her groundbreaking research into deep brain stimulation as a treatment for severe, treatment-resistant depression, and about some of the deeper implications of her work and what it has revealed about the neurophysiologic loci of depression.
- To listen to an audio interview, click here.
- To read a complete transcript of the interview.
