by Nassir Ghaemi | Jun 14, 2023 | Education
Anxiety is the “fever” of psychiatry. Fever is a completely nonspecific symptom, which happens in many illnesses, and frequently without any illness. Fever “disorders” are meaningless. Similarly, anxiety is a nonspecific symptom, which is quite common, sometimes...
by Nassir Ghaemi | Jun 14, 2023 | Education
The basic principle of treating bipolar illness is simple: Maximize mood stabilizers; avoid antidepressants. The corollary is: Antipsychotics are not mood stabilizers. So treatment means taking true mood stabilizers, defined as drugs which have been proven to prevent...
by Nassir Ghaemi | Jun 14, 2023 | Education
“Depression” is not a diagnosis. It is a syndrome, a collection of signs and symptoms, like fever. It can happen in different diseases, and it can happen without any disease – just like fever. The biggest mistake made today is to treat “depression” with...
by Nassir Ghaemi | Apr 18, 2023 | Blog posts
Doctor: I’m giving you Cymbalta (duloxetine). Patient: I got manic and suicidal on SSRIs. Is it an SSRI? Doctor: Don’t worry. It’s a SNRI. Patient: Oh. This 19 year old male had experienced worsened suicidality twice previously with fluoxetine and sertraline. He knew...
by Nassir Ghaemi | Jan 30, 2023 | Curbside Consults
Q. I saw a patient this week for an initial evaluation who has a historical diagnosis of bipolar disorder (likely type II). She was initially diagnosed while in graduate school at age 28, and experienced what was deemed to be a hypomanic episode, in the midst of her...
