Using Psychiatric Meds for Pain Where does it hurt? These are the “four little words” that Eli Lilly (in ubiquitous ads) is encouraging us to ask our depressed ...
Fibromyalgia: What Should We Make Of It? When a patient tells you that she has fibromyalgia, what should you, a psychiatrist, do? Should the diagnosis alter your treatment ...
Quiz: Working With Other Physicians When a patient in chronic pain has been referred to a psychiatrist by their PCP, the psychiatrist should consider which of the following?
Q&A on Medical Marijuana: Regulations Surrounding Its Use The use of cannabis as a viable medical treatment for people with cancer, eating disorders, chronic pain, and a number of other illnesses, remains an area of concern for everyone involved. Here, we ...
Psychopharmacology for Medically Ill Patients The prescription of psychotropic medications for patients with complex comorbid medical and psychiatric conditions is a cornerstone of psychosomatic medicine (PM) practice.
Psychiatry and Chronic Pain Although acute pain typically resolves on its own with little need for intervention, for some persons pain persists past the point where it is considered an adaptive reaction to injury.
A New Report on Pain in America: Like Déjà Vu All Over Again The title of this column comes from a quote often attributed to the great baseball player Yogi Berra. It is used to acknowledge that something that is supposed to be new is in fact very familiar. As I read the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) new report, Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research,1 I experienced a feeling of déjà vu.
Evaluation and Management of Low Back Pain Although several guidelines have been published on the diagnosis and treatment of acute LBP (most notably that issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 19941), there has been a dearth of similar guidelines based on the scientific literature for chronic LBP.
