Journal of psychiatric practice
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This column reviews the evolution of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) mental health advocacy in relation to modern mental health advocacy efforts. In addition to developments in organized psychiatry (e.g., American Psychiatric Association's LGBT caucus), grassroots LGBT community initiatives are playing an important role (e.g., Trevor Project providing crisis intervention/suicide prevention services to LGBT youth, face-to-face mental health services in LGBT community centers). ⋯ However, positive developments in LGBT mental health advocacy have been fostered by the proposed minority stress model (i.e., that elevated risk of mental illness in LGBT individuals is a consequence of a hostile stressful environment). A particularly encouraging initiative is the It Gets Better Project, in which thousands of videos, some by prominent individuals, have been posted online to send a message of hope to LGBT youth facing harassment and low self-esteem.
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Mass shootings, such as the 2012 Newtown massacre, have repeatedly led to political discourse about limiting access to guns for individuals with serious mental illness. Although the political climate after such tragic events poses a considerable challenge to mental health advocates who wish to minimize unsympathetic portrayals of those with mental illness, such media attention may be a rare opportunity to focus attention on risks of victimization of those with serious mental illness and barriers to obtaining psychiatric care. Current federal gun control laws may discourage individuals from seeking psychiatric treatment and describe individuals with mental illness using anachronistic, imprecise, and gratuitously stigmatizing language. This article lays out potential talking points that may be useful after future gun violence.
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Research needs are many in the current health care environment. In this article, we describe a novel method developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Evidence-based Practice Center Program for prioritizing areas for future research. Using a recent- ly published systematic review as a foundation, investigators worked with a diverse group of 10 stakeholders to identify and prioritize research needs. ⋯ Other priorities for consideration include examining the economic and organizational sus- tainability of successful integration models, identifying dissemination methods for various settings, examining the business case for integration as well as methods of payment, assessing the cost-effectiveness of integration, and identifying key components of successful strategies. The importance of sustainability and economic justification for integrated care strategies was a recurring theme in discussions with the stake- holders. The ability to sustain integrated care in everyday practice remains to be proved and will depend in part on the level of incentives and sup- port provided through payment system reform, as well as the ability of practices to provide care efficiently.
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The primary objective of this study was to assess patient and treatment variables that have an impact on inpatient antipsychotic treatment continuation and 30-day hospital readmission rates in patients with bipolar disorder treated with aripiprazole or quetiapine. ⋯ No difference was observed in inpatient antipsychotic treatment continuation and 30-day hospital readmission rates in patients treated with either aripiprazole or quetiapine.
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An examination of top-cited articles is a tool that can be used to identify and monitor outstanding scientific research. The goal of this study was to identify and analyze the characteristics of the 100 top-cited articles published in international journals dedicated to psychiatry. The Science Citation Index Expanded provided by the Thomson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information Web of Knowledge was searched in December, 2011, and 128 journals were identified in the subject category "Psychiatry." Each journal was searched on the Web of Science under "Publication Name" and the results were sorted by category "Times Cited." The 100 top-cited articles were recorded, and the list was analyzed with regard to journals, number of citations, authors, year, institution, and country of origin. ⋯ The articles appeared in 24 journals, with more than half published in the Archives of General Psychiatry (56), followed by the American Journal of Psychiatry (6), and Psychological Medicine (6). Articles that dealt with the development, application, or validity of measurements led the list of top-cited psychiatric publications (43) and had a significantly higher number of citations compared with the rest of the articles. The time and language of publication, field of study, country of origin, and journal in which the paper appeared are possible determinants of the likelihood of citation and impact.