Committee Publications
(click on the article title to link to the publication)
Top 7 Screen Portrayals of Mental Health Issues in 2021
By Christopher Magoon, MD and David A. Sasso, MD, MPH, for the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
Psychiatric Times, December 26, 2021
“…depictions of the mental health care system and mental illness are often sensationalized, demonizing, or grossly inaccurate. These misfires can further stigmatize patients with psychiatric disorders, and it is therefore important to highlight accurate representations of psychiatric issues and treatment. As psychiatrists and members of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Committee on Arts and Humanities, we wanted to highlight some exemplary representations of mental health issues in film and television over the past year.”
What Ever Happened to Nostalgia (the Diagnosis)?
By Kenneth J. Weiss, MD and Anish Ranjan Dube, MD, MPH, for the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, September, 2021 - Volume 209 - Issue 9 - p 622-627
“We identify four major iterations of nostalgia: the medical condition of homesickness, the condition studied in wartime, the application to migration and social displacement, and as a remedy for existential anxiety. We conclude that nostalgia per se is neither pathological nor normative, but a consistent phenomenon in human existence that should not be overlooked in cultural assessment and psychotherapy.”
By David A. Sasso, MD, MPH, for the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
Psychiatric Times, August 3, 2020
“As we slowly and cautiously work toward a practice where space can be shared between therapist and patient, perhaps Freud’s “walking cure” can be enlightening.”
Assassins in London and Washington Force Changes in the Insanity Defense
By Kenneth Weiss, MD, for the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
Psychiatric Times, March 26, 2020
“On March 2, 1843, Daniel McNaughten went on trial for murder, leading to a ruling of not guilty by reason of insanity. The McNaughten Rule has influenced insanity defenses ever since.”
First Psychiatrist Accepts Nobel Prize in Medicine: December 1927
By Kenneth Weiss, MD, for the Committee on Arts and Humanities, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
Psychiatric Times, December 10, 2019
“In December 1927, Viennese psychiatrist Dr Julius Wagner-Jauregg received a Nobel Prize for his work on induced febrile illness to treat the psychosis and neurological consequences of syphilis (dementia paralytica). The first psychiatrist to win the Nobel Prize, Wagner-Jauregg began his investigations in 1887.”
Use of Psychodrama With Adolescents
By Donald C. Fidler, MD, FRCP-I, for the Committee on Arts and Humanities, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
Psychiatric Times, January 28, 2019
“By conducting psychodrama sessions, building emotional and understanding connections, I was able to more accurately evaluate my patients’ mood patterns, cognitions, attentions spans, recall, and their abilities to deal with challenges and adversity. My diagnoses were more accurate. I was able to more accurately target symptoms for indicated medications and/or indicated psychotherapies. My sense of contentment and effectiveness skyrocketed.”
By Kenneth Weiss, MD, for the Committee on Arts and Humanities, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
Psychiatric Times, November 28, 2018
“The interplay between supernatural and natural thinking can be seen across ancient cultures. Mental health practices continued to progress and regress throughout the centuries, eventually including the idea of dedicated institutions for the care of the mentally ill. Tensions among culture, religion, and science will continue to shape concepts about the treatment of individuals with mental illnesses. Studying psychiatry’s origins and evolution gives us perspective on our own beliefs and practices.”
A Trip Through the History of Psychiatry
By Kenneth Weiss, MD, for the Committee on Arts and Humanities, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
Psychiatric Times, November 7, 2017
“Psychiatry constantly reinvents itself, though it may not be always apparent. In our everyday world of scheduling evaluations, wrangling with insurers, documenting progress, and, of course, being compassionate healers, it’s easy to lose sight of the longer arc of psychiatry over the years. The Committee on Arts and Humanities at the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) has set out to fill a void in psychiatric education by publishing a series of videos on the history of the profession.”
The Arts and Humanities in Psychiatry…A Debut
By Allan Peterkin, MD, David A. Sasso, MD, MPH, and Anna Skorzewska, MD
Psychiatric Times, April 4, 2017
“Creativity should not be seen as “optional” in psychiatry. Rather, it helps us to approach clinical problems in new ways, allows us to pull together disparate ideas, and sustains us in the face of uncertainty.”