Welcome to the newest addition to Psychiatric News. "From the Experts" is a collaboration between Psychiatric News and the book publishing division of American Psychiatric Publishing (APP). Its purpose is to highlight important and timely clinical issues in psychiatric practice. We have turned to APP authors—renowned experts in their respective areas—to provide the content for this new column.
Regardless of where we practice (private or group practices, clinics, organizations, or academia), psychiatrists find it challenging to keep up to date on the latest advances in the profession, as well as on mental health issues that are being highlighted online, in newspapers, or in broadcast media. Thus, these columns will provide diagnostic and treatment information in addition to answering such questions as, What can psychiatrists do to help children facing demeaning and hateful bullying by other children? How can we respond to soldiers returning from combat so as to reduce the likelihood of suicide? APP authors have written on these topics and many more.
APA is a unique specialty society in that it has the largest publishing enterprise among all medical specialties. In addition to the American Journal of Psychiatry, a high-impact scholarly journal; Psychiatric Services, which addresses important clinical and administrative issues, particularly in public psychiatry; and our bimonthly newspaper, Psychiatric News, APA publishes approximately 35 books each year and has more than 800 titles in its inventory.
The major focus of APP's book division is to publish books that are informative and helpful to clinical psychiatrists. In addition, APP publishes books on topics that are important for the field and that psychiatrists, regardless of their type of work, should be aware of: genetics, cultural and gender issues, ethics, and so on. However, psychiatrists tend to purchase only those books that are most relevant to their practice setting or work. Psychiatric News and APP books have developed the "From the Experts" column to help inform our colleagues of many more important topics beyond those of the books they have purchased. Our authors are the best and brightest in the field of psychiatry. We want you to hear from these experts, even if you never buy their books. The "From the Experts" columns should give you a glimpse of their knowledge and opinions. You also will find a photograph of the authors so you will be able to recognize them at the next APA annual meeting or Institute on Psychiatric Services.
I invite you to look for "Meet the Experts" in the next issue of
Psychiatric News. If you have comments or questions for the authors, please e-mail me at
rehales{at}ucdavis.edu, and I will read and pass along your message.
I hope you enjoy the columns.
