After Dr. Hofmann first discovered its effects in 1943, LSD quickly became recognized for its possible therapeutic effects. LSD also played a significant role in the discovery of the serotonin neurotransmitter system.
Currently they’re conducting research with LSD. Some scientists seem to think it is a good alternative for treating patients. Some beg to differ.
As of Monday, June 18, gaming disorder is officially recognized as a mental health condition by the World Health Organization. It’s called gaming disorder, and it’s characterized by “a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior,”, or an addiction to gaming. Folks who suffer from the disorder are said to have “impaired control over gaming,” which is to say an inability to control the frequency, intensity, duration, and context of their habits. WHO also notes that those who prioritize video games over “other life interests and daily activities” and continue to escalate the amount that they play “despite the occurrence of negative consequences” are also showing symptoms of the newly classified disorder.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is created by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), has yet to recognize gaming as an official condition. However, the guide does include internet gaming disorder as a potential problem to continue monitoring for future inclusion.
India has a severe shortage of psychiatrists and as a result, mental illness in rural areas remain undiagnosed or does not get the proper treatment. Indian researchers have developed a virtual tool to help address this problem. It has been found that it can be used by non-psychiatrists and is as effective as a diagnosis by specialists. The expert system is called clinical decision support system (CDSS) for diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders was developed at the Department of Psychiatry of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
The tool covers 18 common mental disorders-delirium, dementia, mania, depression, dysthymia, psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias, reaction to severe stress and adjustment disorder, somatoform disorder, dissociative disorder, neurasthenia, sexual dysfunctions, alcohol dependence, substance dependence and mental retardation.
Mental health care is mostly unavailable or inaccessible in most parts of India. About 90 percent patients in need of psychiatric treatment do not get it due to lack of psychiatrists. That gap is filled by creating a virtual psychiatrist. The expert system can assist a non-medical person to interview a patient with mental disorders leading to an automated diagnosis. The ICT technology is very simple to use, just a computer, broadband internet, Skype and a telephone line. Telepsychiatry holds the potential to solve the massive and intertwined problems of underdiagnosing and undertreating persons with mental illness and the lack of trained workforce at the grassroots level.
Dr Jeffrey Lieberman from Columbia University says” the new technologic innovation that is emerging and which does seem likely to impact psychiatry and mental health care in a time that is commensurate with the other specialties of medicine, is the technology that informs how we use Internet-based smartphone mobile app devices. The rudimentary ways in which this has already begun to permeate medicine and mental health care include electronic health records and telemedicine, which is ideally suited to psychiatry in terms of being able to provide consultation at a distance.“The initial idea is to have smartphone-based applications that can perform several functions. One is a monitoring function: having apps that can passively monitor the activities or biologic signals of an individual—whether it is movement, heart rate, respiratory rate, or level of activity—and have an ongoing record that can be catalogued, observed, and interpreted by clinicians. A second function is as a means of communication. Doctors already have begun to employ FaceTime, Skype, and texting to maintain contact with patients remotely in a variety of situations. Another area would be to develop apps that could provide some kind of actual therapeutic assistance, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and supportive types of techniques or protocols when needed. All of these have great potential and can expand the reach of healthcare providers, psychiatrists, and mental health care clinicians, and provide help to a larger proportion of people when they need it.”
Ongoing Information & Trends: A Weblog 
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