A little bit of advice to those newly starting their medical careers… (Published in the Australian Medical Association Newsletter May 2015.) I had no real interest in medicine when I first went into university. This ambivalence didn’t prepare me well
The Boring Patient
The Boring Patient Some articles provide their benefit by means of tangible changes to patient care. A few others yield an improvement in quality of life for the clinician as well. Then there are those that improve quality of life
Carbamazepine for Dementia – the forgotten, and superior, alternative to antipsychotics
Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) is a catch-all phrase referring to one of many behaviours that patients with dementia exhibit, leading to difficulties in maintaining their care. Agitation, wandering, and violence being amongst the most common, different
The RANZCP Psychotherapy Case – how to choose a case
For psychiatry registrars planning for their long term psychotherapy case – this is a short primer into the world of psychotherapy, as well as some advice regarding choosing your case. Beware the enthusiastic referrer! http://blog.psychscene.com/supercharge-your-psychotherapy-case-training/
Neuroimaging in Schizophrenia
(The following includes content originally published in mindcafe) The role of neuroimaging in schizophrenia detection and management is an exciting but problematic issue. On one hand is the promise of targeted psychopharmacology, reducing wasted trials of failed antipsychotics and missed
Psychotherapy at the APA
(This article is a review of psychotherapy-related workshops and lectures at the American Psychiatric Association’s May 2014 conference. It involves content originally published at mindcafe) The APA has a reputation for often being too biologically focused; however the psychotherapies were
Asylum seekers and mental health – a resolvable social problem
It is difficult to maintain a consistent attitude, as a nation, to the issue of asylum-seekers. The extremes of “White Australia” are long gone since its final dissolution in 1973, however there is an ongoing fear regarding our vulnerability as
What the Germanwings crash says about mental health.
I was flying back home whilst reading about the loss of Germanwings flight 4U 9525. The plane I took had on board about as many people who were lost. Speculation regarding terrorist implications had by then rapidly given way to
Why Doctors Commit Suicide
This image – of an overwhelmed emergency physician dealing with the loss of a patient – went viral on the Internet. Trying to explain why leads to important considerations regarding how society behaves – and how doctors behave.
Personality Disorders in Geriatric Inpatients – A Prevalence Study
How common are personality disorders in the elderly? I looked at a “captive” audience, the general medical inpatient, in order to try to estimate this. Community studies generally hover around the 10 to 15% mark, which I used to think