Internet and Psychiatry

Said Shahtahmasebi, Ph.D.

Environmental changes including global warming over recent decades have stressed the reality that the earth’s resources are not infinite. Depleting resources has given additional importance to the idea of ‘sustainability’. To slow down global change world leaders have met and decided on targets and actions. We have seen sustainable housing, sustainable farming, and sustainable energy and so on. I guess the idea is that designing houses that run on renewable energy uses less power from the national grid thus leading to saving of resources.

This assumption will probably hold if our world was static, if the theory of evolution didn’t hold, if there were no social, environmental and economy processes, but then if that were the case we wouldn’t be discussing sustainability!

Leo Sher, M.D.

Suicidal behavior among war veterans may frequently be related to depression and/or PTSD (1-5). The risk of suicide attempts among the PTSD population is six times greater than in the general population (2) and even higher among treatment seeking war veterans with PTSD (3). Several years ago, I proposed that some or all individuals diagnosed with comorbid PTSD and MDD have a separate psychobiological condition that can be termed "posttraumatic mood disorder" (PTMD) (4,5). This idea was based on the fact that a significant number of studies suggested that patients suffering from comorbid PTSD and MDD differed clinically and biologically from individuals with PTSD alone or MDD alone.

“I am constantly amazed by man’s inhumanity to man”
Primo Levi (1919-1987)

War can be defined as a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations. About 30 armed conflicts are occurring now around the globe involving more than 25 countries (1). The majority of war-related violence is non-fatal and results in a variety of physical and mental health problems (2) (3) (4) (5) (6).

Masahito Fushimi, M.D., Ph.D.

Escalating sharply in 1998, the suicide rate in Japan increased steadily during the 1990s and has remained high ever since. Presently, Japan has one of the highest suicide rates among developed countries (1). To address this grave situation, the Japanese government announced its resolve to tackle the rise in suicides and launched a nationwide strategy for suicide prevention. Furthermore, the Japanese government enacted a suicide prevention law in 2006. Akita Prefecture is located within Japan's Tohoku region in the northern part of Honshu Island. Generally, the Tohoku region has a relatively higher suicide rate than other parts of the country.

Leo Sher, M.D.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychiatric disorder which is frequently comorbid with depression (1,2). A few years ago, I proposed the concept of post-traumatic mood disorder (3). I have suggested that some or all individuals diagnosed with comorbid PTSD and depression have a separate psychobiological condition that can be termed "post-traumatic mood disorder" (PTMD). The idea was based on the fact that a lot of studies suggested that patients suffering from comorbid PTSD and depression differed clinically and biologically from individuals with PTSD alone or depression alone.

Steven Lippmann, M.D.

There are pros and cons to everything. That applies to the internet and even to the internet and committing suicide. In October, 2009, it was reported by the Associated Press that last year a nurse from Minnesota gave step-by-step instructions over the internet on how to kill oneself to a man in England and a young woman in Canada (1).

The Englishman died by hanging himself, using the rope tying advice provided over the internet by that nurse in America. The same nurse is implicated in assisting the suicide of a Canadian teenager who drowned herself in an Ottawa river.