Accentuate the Positive: Strengths-Based Therapy for Adolescents.

Purpose: The field of psychiatry has conventionally employed a medical model in which mental health disorders are diagnosed and treated. However, the evidence is amassing that using a strengths-based approach that promotes wellness by engaging the patient's assets and interests may work in synergy with the medical model to promote recovery. This harmonizes with the patient-centered care model that has been promoted by the Institute of Medicine.

The re-emergence of hallucinogenic research.

Due to the intractability, at times, in the treatment of PTSD, clinicians and researchers continue to explore different options for treatment. This article discusses the renewed interest in hallucinogens for such treatment.

Vive La France: Three Delusional Disorders Originally Reported in the French Medical Literature.

Delusions as a feature of psychosis have long captured the fascination of both psychiatry and the public at large. The French first described three famous delusions: the Cotard delusion, folie à deux, and Capgras delusion. In this article, we examine a case illustrating each delusion and the hallmark features of each as well as a brief discussion about the current understanding of these disorders.

Biological Perspectives: Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis.

Purpose: This article explores the recently recognized anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, which may produce psychiatric symptoms.

Conclusions: Historically, some patients presenting for psychiatric care may have actually been suffering from anti-NMDA encephalitis; thus, awareness of this disorder may facilitate appropriate treatment.

Treatment Implications: Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment promote better outcomes.

Biological perspectives: pain: it's not all in your head.

Neuroanatomy correlates with the psychological changes of pain. Neuroplastic transformation appears in the reduction of gray matter volume, or shrinkage in the top-down cortical areas vital for working memory, problem solving, sequencing and discrimination of different information and cognitive modulation of pain via the descending pain modulatory tracts and control over other cortical areas involved in the emotional perception of pain. These latter areas become more active,thereby intensifying the susceptibility to negative affect associated with pain (Geha & Apkarian, 2006).