Faculty Bibliography

Dual diagnosis is used when two disorders occur simultaneously in one person. The two disorders can refer to two medical illnesses, a psychiatric illness and a medical or surgical illness, or two psychiatric illnesses. The cost of misdiagnosis of dual disorders is high

Suicidal behavior, like fever and headache, has a differential diagnosis. The physician, confronted with a patient who is suicidal, must identify the etiology of the self-destructive behavior and provide diagnostic-specific treatment. Suicide, in most instances, is a preventable cause of death

The relationship between suicide and creativity has long been a subject of considerable concern. The author presents evidence indicating that in fact depression, suicide, and creativity are related. Several hypotheses for the relationship are posited. It is suggested that the same changes in the serotonergic system that are associated with depression in general and with impulsive suicides and homicides in the extreme may also be responsible for an element of risk taking that characterizes creativity and innovation in a person psychodynamically predisposed to being creative

This chapter addresses the acute treatment of alcohol and cocaine. Because of the widespread use of both these drugs, health professionals must recognize the medical complications of alcohol and cocaine abuse and addiction. The biochemistry will be briefly reviewed as an avenue to understand the different treatment targets and modalities

De Clerambault's syndrome is said to usually occur in heterosexual women with little overt sexual experience. The authors present five cases of women with considerable sexual experience including, in some instances, homosexual activity and discuss their diagnosis of De Clerambault's syndrome in the context of what has been reported in the literature

Approaching individuals in the emergency situation presenting with medical illness and depression requires an understanding of psychologic, biologic, social, and existential factors that converge to create alterations in mood, thought, and behavior. Clinicians must understand how these same factors may be used in managing patient response to treatment of both the depression associated with an illness and the physical illness itself. Whenever a physical illness is present, it is imperative to ascertain the degree to which physical illness and concomitant treatment may be responsible for the psychiatric symptoms