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A woman teleconferences. Source: Anna Shvets/Pexels The field of psychiatry — much like our society as a whole — is at a turning point. We are beginning to harness the power of the Internet, social media, and digital technologies to improve the ways we diagnose, treat, and connect with our patients. My area of research is focused on how to better leverage our digital footprint, whether through Facebook/social media activity, or Google search history, to develop new tools to deliver the best care possible, especially for youth with schizophrenia . Colleagues at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Zucker Hillside Hospital are also investigating other emerging areas to help develop digital biomarkers — or clues to mental illness. New digital health solutions, like augmented reality, for example, are being developed to help treat negative symptoms for those with schizophrenia, increase socialization, reduce unemployment and improve the overall quality of … [Read more...] about How Technology Is Personalizing and Progressing Psychiatry

The use of PTSD as a foundation for the insanity defense is rare. Yet, there is a high prevalence of debilitating trauma and posttraumatic stress symptoms among criminal offenders, both men and women. In criminal responsibility (CR) evaluations the severity of the symptoms may influence findings. How then is the assessment of trauma histories and posttraumatic reactions evaluated in legal contexts? It is not. Courts have been more concerned with malingering as it relates to this diagnosis. The A.L.I.’s (American Law Institute) formulation for CR provides that a defendant will not be held criminally responsible if at the time of the behavior in question "as a result of a mental disease or defect, s/he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his/her conduct or to conform his/her conduct to the requirements of the law. If the crime occurred during a dissociative flashback (a symptom of PTSD), it seems an argument for impairment in the … [Read more...] about Forensic Examinations and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder