AJP Editors Highlight Favorites Published in 2017

At the end of every year, the editors of the American Journal of Psychiatry each highlight an article of the past 12 months that they find interesting or relevant on a personal level. As AJP Editor Robert Freedman, M.D., told Psychiatric News, these year-end picks give the editors an opportunity to showcase studies in their field of expertise that deserve a second look or reflect on topics outside of their editorial area.

“I am a general psychiatrist, but I picked a paper on childhood depression, whereas Dr. John Rush, who specializes in affective disorders, stayed close to form and picked an SSRI article,” Freedman said. 

Freedman’s 2017 selection was a review from John Walkup, M.D., that contrasted the data obtained from industry- versus NIMH-funded studies of antidepressants in children, while Rush selected a piece of original research that used U.S. poison control center data to compare morbidity and mortality indices of SSRIs with other medications used to treat depression.

The other 2017 picks included a worldwide meta-analysis of brain images from people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (chosen by Daniel Pine, M.D.); an epidemiological study of where and to whom early psychosis manifests in eastern England (chosen by Carol Tamminga, M.D.); a review of the available data on whether hypnotics can increase suicide risk (chosen by Susan Schultz, M.D.); a cleverly designed clinical trial that uncovered the mechanistic basis of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (chosen by David Lewis, M.D.); and a historical article on the evolution of psychiatric diagnosis that occurred at the end of the 19th century (chosen by Robert Michels, M.D.).

And as always, the 2017 Editors’ picks included a selection from the AJP Residents’ Journal. This year, Rachel Katz, M.D., highlighted an article from resident Corey Williams, M.D., on his perspective of being an African-American psychiatrist working in mostly urban centers.

AJP’s “2017 in Review” can be accessed here.