Highlights From the Residents’ Journal: March 2020

The Enneagram is a personality theory describing nine strategies by which the psyche develops a worldview and relates to self and others. Each of the nine “types” has a basic fear, basic desire, and predictable behavior pattern in times of stress and security—all of which shape motivations underlying behavior. The Enneagram has been used by psychiatrists since the 1970s. The authors summarize the Enneagram theory, review the history and literature validating its use, and suggest areas for application in psychiatry, including diagnosis and psychotherapy. As the Enneagram becomes increasingly popular, clinicians will benefit from knowledge about the system.

Depression in pregnancy is common in the United States, but access to evidence-based perinatal mental health remains scarce. This article describes historical factors that have led to barriers in access to perinatal mental health. Searches of electronic literature database and standardized practice guidelines were conducted to identify eligible articles.

Aripiprazole is used off-label for psychosis in dementia, and according to certain studies, it has a lower risk of QTc prolongation. We present the case of an elderly female with newly diagnosed dementia and neuropsychiatric symptoms leading to a psychiatric admission and the cautious use of aripiprazole in managing these symptoms, given her cardiac comorbidities.