Overview Scholars have long sought the cause and nature of sleep and sleep disorders, yet theories have far exceeded clear facts. Plato, for example, believed that sleep was caused by vapors arising from the stomach and condensing in the head,…
Overview Each of the syndromes described in this chapter involves a complex interaction of motor, behavioral, and systemic manifestations that are derived from mechanisms that are not fully clear. What is clear is that neurotransmitters, such as dopamine (DA), gamma-aminobutyric…
Overview While there has always been a close association between neurologic and psychiatric disorders, in the past decade, with the identification of a new class of autoimmune encephalitides that are associated with profound neuropsychiatric impairments, and the realization that psychiatric…
Overview Psychiatrists encounter patients with abnormal movements in various clinical settings. Recognizing and correctly labeling motor phenomena in each setting helps to create a differential diagnosis that serves as the basis for optimal treatment, since abnormal movements can be the…
The structure and function of the central nervous system (CNS) is altered by many neurologic disorders. Because the CNS controls affect, behavior, and cognition, neurologic disorders may lead to neuropsychiatric symptoms that resemble those found in primary psychiatric conditions. Therefore,…
Overview The structure and function of the central nervous system (CNS) is altered by many neurologic disorders. Because the CNS controls affect, behavior, and cognition, neurologic disorders can lead to neuropsychiatric symptoms that resemble those found in primary psychiatric conditions.…
Overview Of all human experience, pain is, as long as it lasts, the most absorbing; it is the only human experience that when it comes to an end, automatically confers a sense of relief and joy. Moreover, by its very…
Overview Eating disorders are serious psychiatric illnesses, with high rates of morbidity and mortality. They are most common in young women, but affect people of all ages, genders, races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses. Individuals with eating disorders can develop serious…
Overview The 2003 approval by the American Board of Medical Specialties of “Psychosomatic Medicine” as a certified subspecialty of psychiatry evokes the obvious question of what this name means. Despite high-minded ideas about its referring to clinical and scientific attention…
Overview Without a doubt, substance use disorders (SUDs) present one of the gravest difficulties currently facing the United States healthcare system. Over the past two decades, the number of patients treated for substance use-related problems in the United States has…