Hawaii Study Shows Increasing Psychiatric Emergency Room Visits Among Elderly

A study of emergency room visits by elderly patients in Hawaii shows an increase in geriatric psychiatric visits with longer stays, a trend that suggests a coming mental health crisis for an aging population and a need for services for this population.

The research was scheduled for presentation Monday, May 16, at the 164th American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, which is in Honolulu May 14-18.  Researchers from The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu showed psychiatric emergency room visits by elderly patients increasing by 30 percent from 2008 to 2009.

Details of this study, along with five other new research studies, will be presented at a media briefing from the APA Annual Meeting. Members of the media can attend in Room 307 of the Hawaii Convention Center at 8 am Hawaii time, Monday, May 16, or participate online at 11 AM PDT/2 pm EDT by registering at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/341505819.

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders. Visit the APA at www.psych.org and www.HealthyMinds.org.

Study Looks at Connection between Economic Stress, Suicide

If the United States follows the pattern that occurred after the economic crisis in Japan, public health officials should watch for a significant increase in suicides, particularly among Baby Boomers, concluded a study scheduled for presentation at the American Psychiatric Association's Annual Meeting.

The new research was scheduled for presentation Sunday, May 15, at the 164th American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, which is in Honolulu May 14-18.

Researchers looked at suicide rates in Japan during the late 1990s when that country experienced an economic downturn similar to recent trends in the United States and Europe. The study examined suicides in Japan by age, gender, and year in relation to a series of economic variables. If the U.S. rates of increased suicide approximate those in Japan, the country would experience a yearly increase of deaths due to suicide estimated at 14,610 per year, the study concluded.

Details of this study, along with five other new research studies, will be presented at a press briefing from the APA Annual Meeting. Members of the media can attend in Room 307 of the Hawaii Convention Center at 8 am Hawaii time, Monday, May 16, or participate online at 11 AM PDT/2 pm EDT by registering at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/341505819.

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders. Visit the APA at http://www.psych.org/ and http://www.healthyminds.org/.

Case Studies: Synthetic Cannabis Linked to Extended Psychosis

Case studies indicate the recreational use of synthetic cannabis may in some cases lead to psychosis that can last for days or months in some cases, according to a study at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in Hawaii.

Researchers at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego followed ten patients hospitalized for psychosis apparently induced by the use of synthetic cannabis, commonly known as “Spice,” “K2,” “Blaze,” and “Red X Dawn.” These are plant material coated with varying combinations of synthetic cannabinoids, which act on the body in a similar way to chemicals found in cannabis. The compounds have not been approved by the FDA for human consumption and little is known about their safety.

The ten patients studied ranged in age from 21 to 25 years old and after use of “Spice” experienced ongoing psychotic symptoms, including auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoid delusions, odd or flat affect, thought blocking, disorganized speech, thoughts of suicide, insomnia, slowed reaction times, agitation and anxiety. Psychotic symptoms generally resolved between five and eight days after admission, but in some cases continued three months or longer.

The research was scheduled for presentation at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at the American Psychiatric Association 164th Annual Meeting, which runs May 14-18 at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu.

Electronic Patient Records used to help Identify Biological Causality

Research demonstrating the use of data mining of electronic patient records to study co-morbidity, family predisposition, and finding biological causes for medical conditions otherwise hidden to the eye will be presented at the APA Annual Meeting in Honolulu.

The APA’s 164th Annual Meeting, the world’s largest psychiatric meeting, will run Saturday, May 14 to Wednesday, May 18, 2010 at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu.

The study looked at 10 years of records from Mental Health Centre Sct. Hans, a regional psychiatric hospital in Denmark, on 3,290 patients’ records involving 674 different diagnoses. Of the assigned diagnoses 24% were mental and behavioral disorders. Researchers identified about 270 co-morbidities as unexpected with no know relation. These unexpected co-morbidities were further analyzed to examine whether the co-morbidity could be explained by shared genes, gene-complex, or biological pathways.

For one of these, researchers discovered a previously unrecognized shared biology underlying the two clinical conditions which can be interpreted as a shared genetic predisposition to side effects or to an autoimmune condition.
The new research posters (#NR02-60) were scheduled for presentation Saturday, May 14, at the Hawaii Convention Center.

Gaming, Internet Have Negative Impact on Teen Sleep

Gaming and Internet activity are more likely to have a negative impact on self-reported teen sleep duration than watching television, according to a study presented at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting.

The research was scheduled for presentation Saturday, May 14, at the 164th American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, which is in Honolulu May 14-18.

Researchers analyzed data about media usage and physical activity from the 2009 Youth Risk Behavioral Survey maintained by the Centers for Disease Control. The researchers found different types of media exposure have different impact on self-reported teen sleep patterns. Gaming and Internet usage negatively impacted reported sleep time, while television had no impact, and physical activity improved sleep time.

Details of this study, along with five other new research presentations, will be addressed at a press briefing from the APA Annual Meeting. Members of the media can attend in Room 307 of the Hawaii Convention Center at 8 am Hawaii time, Monday, May 16, or participate online at 11 AM PDT/2 pm EDT by registering at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/341505819.

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders. Visit the APA at http://www.psych.org/ and http://www.healthyminds.org/.

Placebo Treatment: Informed Consent not to be Informed

Research examining attitude about use of placebos found people very willing to accept the use of placebos for first line treatment of depression and for other medical conditions. The research will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 14.


Researchers led by Uri Nitzan, M.D., used a cross sectional survey to investigate whether subjects suffering from medical conditions in general and depression in particular would consent to receive placebo, and whether receiving placebo would negatively affect their autonomy or doctor patient relationship.

Study participants, 344 college, medical and law school students from Israel, were provided a thorough explanation about the placebo effect and its efficacy and limitations in the treatment of depression and then completed a self report questionnaire.

Seventy percent of study participants expressed consent to receive placebo as a first line treatment if they were they to suffer from depression in the future and 73 percent consented to receive placebo treatment for other medical conditions. Nearly 90 percent did not consider a physician administering a placebo deceitful, nor the act of prescribing it a deceit.

The researchers concluded that “despite the declared disapproval of placebo treatments by the medical establishment, the majority of our study population was willing to use placebo medication in general, and as first line treatment for depression in particular.” The authors invite physicians to rethink and discuss the legitimacy of administering placebos in clinical practice.

The study (NR01 44) will be part of the new research poster session scheduled for May 14, 10 to 11:30 a.m., in room Kamehameha Hall 3, Level 1 (adjacent to the exhibits) in the Hawaii Convention Center at the APA Annual Meeting in Honolulu.

The APA’s 16th Annual Meeting, the world’s largest psychiatric meeting, will run Saturday, May 14 to Wednesday, May 18, 2010 in Honolulu.

Traumatic Brain Injury in Student Athletes Among Topcs Address by Sports Psychiatrists at APA

By Claudia L. Reardon, MD

The International Society for Sport Psychiatry (ISSP) has a full line-up of events to satisfy those with dual interests in sport and psychiatry and the intersections between the two. These ISSP events are open to all Annual Meeting registrants:

Saturday, May 14, 2-5 p.m.: ISSP Scientific Session, South Pacific I/II, Mid-Pacific Conference Center, Hilton Hawaiian Village. Come to hear the latest and greatest in sport psychiatry. Topics to be presented include: concussion management in sport psychiatry (Eric Morse, MD), Ta Kwon Do combined with group therapy (David Conant-Norville, MD), and psychiatric medication use by athletes (Claudia Reardon, MD).

Sunday, May 15, 12-3 p.m.: ISSP Symposium on the hot topic of “Traumatic Brain Injury in the Athlete: Psychiatric Implications”, 319 A/B, Convention Center. The Symposium will be moderated by ISSP Board Member Toni Baum, MD. Speakers include David Baron, DO (concussion in sports and experience with the NFL), William Tsushima, PhD and Vincent Tsushima, PhD (father/son team of Hawaiian neuropsychologist speaking on the use of a computerized neuropsychological test battery for the evaluation of concussions in Hawaii high school athletes), Ira Glick, MD and Claudia Reardon, MD (the role of the sport psychiatrist in concussion management), and Brandon Cornejo, MD, PhD (an athlete-psychiatrist’s personal experience with traumatic head injury).

For more information on the ISSP, check out the group’s website at www.theissp.com or join their Facebook page.

Dr. Reardon is a Board Member, International Society for Sport Psychiatry and APA Member Expert in Sport Psychiatry.