Use of medication in treating childhood and adolescent depression: Information for patients and families

This revision of the original 2005 Parents Medical Guide to the treatment of depression in children and adolescents is a joint project of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. It has been updated to include important research that has added to our knowledge about effective treatments for child and adolescent depression. Its goal is to help parents and families make informed decisions about getting the best care for a child with dep

Integrated care of older adults with mental disorders

Elderly persons often have complex medical and psychiatric needs for which the input of different medical specialties and clinical disciplines is required. The involvement of multiple specialists gives patients access to greater expertise than any single clinician could provide; however, it presents significant challenges of coordination and integration of health care. We endorse the ideal of providing wellcoordinated interdiscipli-nary treatment to older Americans with psychiatric and medical p

Telepsychiatry and Related Technologies in Clinical Psychiatry

The goal of this resource document is to address the major areas of the use of the internet in communication with patients and the public in the practice of psychiatry. The rate of change of technological capabilities and their implementation is so rapid that the workgroup believes that it would be inappropriate to promulgate fixed rules for constantly changing situations. Rather, we seek to provide some questions to be considered when implementing any new communication technology with patients

The Management of Depression during Pregnancy: A Report from the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Objective—To address the maternal and neonatal risks of both depression and antidepressant exposure and develop algorithms for periconceptional and antenatal management. Method—Representatives from the American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a consulting developmental pediatrician collaborated to review English language articles on fetal and neonatal outcomes associated with depression and antidepressant treatment during childbearing. Ar

A Bill of Rights

Endorsement of Principles for the Provision of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Services: A Bill of Rights

Ethical and Practical Implications of Psychedelics in Psychiatry

This resource document focuses on several of the ethical and practical issues surrounding psychedelics in their current investigational stage, and also discusses issues for psychiatrists to consider if psychedelics one day become available for broad clinical use.

Telehealth Services in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV): Addressing Potential Risks to Safety and Security

Telehealth services are critical to ensuring that people who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) have access to needed mental health and substance use care. At the same time, accessing services from home when an abusive partner is present can pose safety, security, and privacy risks to survivors of IPV and other household members.

Risk-Based Gun Removal Laws

In 2014, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) published a “Resource Document on Access to Firearms by People with Mental Disorders,”1 which addressed the complex relationship between firearms, mental illness, suicide, and violence. The document highlighted the limitations of existing legislative strategies, such as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), in combating the problems of gun-related suicide and violence in the United States. It noted that registries like N

Psychiatric advance directives

Advance directives were developed in the context of end of life care and are generally associated with medical and surgical decision-making for permanently incapacitated patients. Within psychiatry, interest in advance directives has been expressed as a means of facilitating the treatment of individuals afflicted with serious mental illnesses (Appelbaum, 1979). These disorders are typified by recurrent episodes of severe, cognition-impairing symptomatology that often result in decisional i

Advocacy Teaching in Psychiatry Residency Training Programs

Advocacy, generically defined as the active support for a particular cause, policy, or issue, is applicable to medicine and psychiatry as physicians’ responsible use of “their expertise and influence to advance the health and well-being of individual patients, communities, and populations” (Frank, 2005). Advocacy can be undertaken from within an organization or as an outside stakeholder, and it can focus on a single theme (e.g., Barber, 2008) or more generally on issues that relate to patient ne

Seclusion or Restraint

This resource document is intended to support psychiatrists and other healthcare clinicians who may utilize seclusion or restraint.

Psychiatry and Military Service

This resource is in reference to active-duty, Reserve, and National Guard members of the military. It does not apply to veterans. For simplicity, the terms “in the military” or “military members” will be used to refer to active-duty, Reserve, and National Guard members.