Violence and mental illness.

Violence attracts attention in the news media, in the entertainment business, in world politics, and in countless other settings. Violence in the context of mental illness can be especially sensationalized, which only deepens the stigma that already permeates our patients' lives. Are violence and mental illness synonymous, connected, or just coincidental phenomena? This article reviews the literature available to address this fundamental question and to investigate other vital topics, including etiology, comorbidity, risk factor management, and treatment.

The art of psychotherapy: selecting patients for psychodynamic psychotherapy.

A preliminary challenge in learning the art of psychotherapy is mastering how to choose appropriate patients. This skill goes far beyond performing a symptom inventory and matching up those results to a diagnosis. A psychodynamic evaluation explores various innate characteristics that predict a patient's ability to participate fully in and benefit greatly from this mode of therapy.