Leo Sher, M.D. A healthy lifestyle is very important. Making just a few changes in your lifestyle can help you live longer. As people were making New Year’s resolutions, the American Medical Association (AMA) proposed recommendations to ensure a healthy lifestyle in 2017 (1). At the end of December 2016, the AMA made seven recommendations […]
Simrat Kaur Sarai, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Suicide is one of the 10 leading causes of death, within all groups 10-64 years of age (1). Despite consistent declines from 1986-1999, the United States experienced a 24% increase in suicide rates between 1999-2014, rising to 10-13 per 100,000 people; such fatalities included males and females for […]
Priyanga Jayakumar, M.D., Rajashekar Reddy Yeruva, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Following zika epidemics in 2015, this virus infection became an issue of preventing transmission and eradication. A global threat, it induces serious congenital abnormalities and neurological diseases (1). Since this viral is sexually transmitted, there are behavioral means to prevent zika transmission. Male-to-female sexually transmitted […]
Amy K. Grochala, B.A., Jess G. Fiedorowicz, M.D., Ph.D. Anger is a ubiquitous human emotion that arises when a person feels that they have purposefully been wronged or their efforts to obtain some goals have been thwarted. It can be as mild as irritability or as extreme as rage, and can be kept inward or […]
Hema Madhuri Mekala, M.D., Simrat Kaur Sarai, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Introduction Suicide is the most common psychiatric emergency (1). Annually, 650,000 people in the United States receive treatment after attempting suicide (1). It is the seventh leading cause of death in this country. About 37,000 individuals commit suicide every year in the U.S. and […]
Simrat Kaur Sarai, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Over nine million Americans consume narcotics regularly; about two million of them evidence substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers (1,2). There were about 259 million prescriptions for opioid medications written during 2012, a four-fold increase since 1999 (3). Although the number of prescription opioids sold […]
Jacob M. Appel, M.D., J.D. The recent release of would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley Jr. serves as a reminder that while for much of the country, the three decades starting in 1980 were the ‘Reagan Era,’ forensic psychiatry remains trapped in a ‘Hinckley Era.’ Hinckley pled not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) and was acquitted on all charges. In the […]
Kendall Bache, M.D., Kanwarjeet Brar, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Catatonia has been a condition commonly associated with schizophrenia, but it exists in a number of other psychiatric disorders. Diagnostic criteria for catatonia involves at least three of these twelve findings: catalepsy, waxy flexibility, posturing, mutism, negativism, mannerism, stereotypy, grimacing, stupor, agitation, echolalia, and/or echopraxia. However, […]
Kavitha Srinivasan, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Alpha pyrrolidinopentiophenone (a-PVP) commonly known as “flakka” or “gravel” is fast emerging as a new and dangerous drug of abuse. Initially gaining prominence in Florida, it is now frequently abused throughout our country. It belongs to the class of synthetic cathinones, commonly marketed as bath salts, plant food, or […]
Manasa Enja, M.D., Suneela Cherlopalle, M.D., Melanie Lippmann, M.D., Steven Lippmann, M.D. Cocaine is a frequent drug of abuse and a common precipitant of health emergencies. Recently, cocaine has become an even more dangerous public health concern since being adulterated by the addition of levamisole. It is hard to detect levamisole when mixed with cocaine; the […]
