At the 2008 APA annual meeting, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will present a research track of sessions on the latest advances in clinical, genetic, and neuro-psychiatric research covering a range of psychiatric disorders. These sessions will allow attendees to tap into cutting-edge scientific findings that will have significant impact on the understanding and treatment of mental illness.
The NIMH-sponsored track will include symposia and workshops on violence in the mentally ill, posttraumatic stress disorder, devices that permit measurement of deep brain stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation, child and adolescent psychopharmacology, and neurodevelopment.
A prominent feature in this year's track will be several symposia on genetic research in psychiatric disorders.
Steven Zalcman, M.D., chief of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Branch at NIMH, and colleagues will present genetics research into the mechanisms and treatment of mood disorders, schizophrenia, and other disorders. “We are beginning to understand mental disorders and brain disorders in a fundamental way,” Thomas Insel, M.D., the director of NIMH, said in an interview.“ Neuroscience and genetics are undergoing a revolution. We will discuss how neuroscience and genomics provide a new set of tools for the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders.”
One symposium will discuss how epigenetics, the study of variations in the expression of certain genes, has been linked in neurological and psychiatric disorders. Other sessions will describe how genetic differences can influence patients' response, in terms of efficacy and adverse reactions, to the same drug.
In another symposium, Benedetto Vitiello, M.D., chief of the Child and Adolescent Treatment and Preventive Intervention Research Branch at NIMH, and colleagues will present updates on four specific safety concerns in pediatric psychopharmacology. The presentations will discuss practical approaches to managing risks, particularly regarding antidepressants, stimulants, and anti-psychotics.
In addition, workshops will cover such topics as depression treatment in the primary care setting, examining mental health issues after recent devastating hurricanes, and the impact of recent NIMH-funded clinical trials on real-world patient care.
Insel stressed that NIMH scientists plan to bring the most recent and relevant breakthroughs in genomic and neuroscience research to psychiatrists at the meeting. “It is an extraordinary time in psychiatry,” he emphasized.
The list of sessions to be included in the NIMH track had not been finalized by press time. It will be published in a future issue ofPsychiatric News. ▪
