Harm Reduction

Harm reduction is an evidence-based, standard-of-care approach that aims to reduce the harm that patients experience while using substances. It recognizes that the use of substances is an inherent component of substance use disorder and that some ways of using illicit substances are less harmful to patient medical, social, and psychological health than others.

Physician Health Programs in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders in Physicians

In 1974, the American Medical Association (AMA) acknowledged physician impairment from alcoholism and drug dependence occurs, and recognized alcoholism and addiction as illnesses. Physician illness and impairment exist on a continuum with illness typically predating impairment, often by many years. This is a critically important distinction. Illness is the existence of a disease. Impairment is a functional classification and implies the inability of the person affected by disease to perform spec

Position Statement on Psychotherapy as an Essential Skill of Psychiatrists

Position Statement on Psychotherapy as an Essential Skill of Psychiatrists

Position Statement on the Endorsement of the Patient-Physician Covenant

Position Statement on the Endorsement of the Patient-Physician Covenant

Assessment and Treatment of Gender Dysphoria and Gender Variant Patients

Regardless of their area of specialization, adult psychiatrists are likely to encounter patients who are transgender; however, medical school curricula and psychiatric residency training devote little attention to caring for these patients. The primary aim of the present article is to assist adult psychiatrists who do not specialize in transgender clinical care in the delivery of respectful, clinically competent and culturally attuned care to gender variant patients including those who id

Position Statement on Recognition and Management of Addictive Disorders and Other Mental Illnesses Multimorbid with HIV

Position Statement on Recognition and Management of Addictive Disorders and Other Mental Illnesses Multimorbid with HIV

Resolution Opposing Any Restriction on the Number of International Medical Graduates (IMG) Entering Graduate Medical Training

Resolution Opposing Any Restriction on the Number of International Medical Graduates (IMG) Entering Graduate Medical Training

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.

Position Statement on Treatment of Substance Use Disorders in the Criminal Justice System

Position Statement on Treatment of Substance Use Disorders in the Criminal Justice System

Alternatives to managed care

Although knowledge is increasing regarding specific pathways and specific brain areas involved in mental disease states, at present the use of brain imaging to study psychiatric disorders is still considered a research tool. Continued study of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders using a variety of brain imaging methods, as well as refinements in imaging techniques, may result in evidence supporting the utility of these tools for clinical work in the future. Imaging research cannot yet be

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

How Psychiatrists Can Talk to Patients and Families About Race and Racism

This document supports the APA’s goal of addressing structural racism in clinical practice by linking existing literature on the impact of race on patients’ lives with race as experienced in the clinical encounter. It provides psychiatrists with the necessary tools to speak with patients about race in a sensitive and professional manner using clinical vignettes. Incorporating these tools should increase understanding of how race and racism impact patients’ lives, decrease bias and enhance the th