Can Instant Messaging Enhance Treatment Outcomes?

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Computers in Psychiatric Practice | Practice Tools and Tips | Research Updates | Smoking Cessation Agents

Subject: TECHNOLOGY Short Description: Can Instant Messaging Enhance Treatment Outcomes? Background: Whether you see your patients quarterly, monthly, or even weekly, you certainly are not with them as much as their cell phones are. Theoretically (at least, for some types of therapy), we could enhance treatment outcomes by texting patients ther

The Psychopharmacology of Anxiety Treatment in Children and Adolescents

Topics: Antipsychotics | Anxiety Disorder | Benzodiazepines | Child Psychiatry

Anxiety disorders are common in young people, affecting 4%–7% of children (Ipser JC et al, Cochrane Review 2010;Issue 6), and can cause a plethora of symptoms and impairments—from aggression and suicide to social withdrawal, school failure, and poor physical health. While OCD and PTSD have been addressed in previous issues (see CCPR, June 2011 and C

Effective Psychotherapies for Childhood Anxiety

Topics: Antipsychotics | Anxiety Disorder | Benzodiazepines | Child Psychiatry

Anxiety disorders are prevalent and heterogeneous. They include generalized anxiety—characterized by excessive worry; panic disorder—characterized by an exaggerated physical and emotional fear response; and the various phobias of social interaction (social phobia), of being separated from a caregiver (separation anxiety), of speaking (selective muti

Treating Anxiety in Children and Adolescents

Topics: Antipsychotics | Anxiety Disorder | Benzodiazepines | Child Psychiatry

Psychotherapy for Pediatric PTSD

Topics: Antidepressants | Anxiety Disorder | Free Articles | Psychotherapy | PTSD

Karina’s foster mom brought her to my office last year for irritability and “mood swings.” A soft-spoken fourteen year old, Karina (and her nine year old brother) had been with the family for three months, and her foster family reported that “little things” set her off into explosive anger. Sometimes she seemed tense or didn’t want to go out

Medications for PTSD

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Child Psychiatry | PTSD

Trauma-focused psychotherapies are the gold standard for treating PTSD in children and adolescents, as recommended in the 2010 AACAP practice parameters. Many studies support the use of psychotherapy in contrast to the lack of research for medications. First line treatment of PTSD should always consist of psychotherapy but medications are often used in

CBT Outperforms IPT in Social Phobia Trial

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Research Updates

Benzodiazepines: A Guide to Safe Prescribing

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Benzodiazepines

Most of us who prescribe benzodiazepines (BZs) have a love-hate relationship with them. On the one hand, they work quickly and effectively for anxiety and agitation, but on the other hand, we worry about sedative side effects and the fact that they can be difficult to taper because of withdrawal symptoms. We also fret about BZ dependency, tolerance, and

Update on Medications for PTSD

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Benzodiazepines | Free Articles | PTSD

While psychotherapy remains the gold standard for treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (see for example, Foa EB et al, Effective Treatments for PTSD: Practice Guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. New York: Guilford Press; 2008), medications are often used to alleviate the symptoms of the illness. Since we last v

Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy for OCD

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | OCD | Psychotherapy

Suggested Reading for OCD Patients, Families, and Therapists The OCD Workbook, 3rd edition. By Bruce Hyman and Cherry Pedrick. New Harbinger Publications (2010). Loving Someone with OCD: Help for You and Your Family. By Karen J. Landsman, Kathleen M. Rupertus, and Cherry Pedrick. New Harbinger Publications (2005). What to do when your Child has Obs

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Panic Disorder

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Psychotherapy

Novel Program Effective for Anxiety Disorders in Primary Care

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Psychotherapy

An Evidence-Based Approach to OCD

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Child Psychiatry | OCD

In her book, amen, amen, amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn’t Stop Praying (Among Other Things), Abby Sher describes the onset and course of obsessive compulsive disorder from a child’s perspective. From the time of her father’s death, she finds herself compelled to make the world safe by kissing things, saying things, and collecting things over an

Tourette’s Syndrome: A Brief Summary

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Child Psychiatry

Tourette’s syndrome is a disorder of both motor and vocal tics. If you see or hear both of these, you can make the diagnosis with confidence. The media tends to characterize Tourette’s by the presence of corprolalia, the disorder of sudden explosions of expletives, but this actually only occurs in about 10% of cases (Singer HS, Lancet Neurol 2005;4(

Tic Disorders and Comorbid Conditions

Topics: ADHD | Anxiety Disorder | Child Psychiatry | OCD

Treatment as Usual Effective for ADHD and Anxiety Disorders

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | Child Psychiatry

CBT Plus MAOI More Effective for Social Anxiety than Either Alone

Topics: Anxiety Disorder

Off-Label Treatments for Anxiety Disorders

Topics: Anxiety Disorder

Your patient has anxiety, and you’ve tried the usual medications. You’ve rotated through your favorite SSRIs and SNRIs but none have worked out, either due to efficacy problems or side effects. You’ve tried some of the benzodiazepines, but sedation and dependence have become problematic. You’ve even given buspirone a whirl, with the all-too-comm

Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, and OCD: Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Still the Best?

Topics: Anxiety Disorder | OCD | Psychotherapy

Most treatment guidelines recommend cognitive behavioral therapy as first-line psychotherapy for anxiety disorders. In some cases, such as PTSD and simple phobias, Cognitive Beahvioral Therapy (CBT) is thought to be more effective than medications. CBT has received more support from controlled trials than all other forms of psychotherapy combined. Yet C

Chamomile May Be Effective for GAD

Topics: Anxiety Disorder