Educators to Present Challenging Cases

Want to sharpen your diagnostic and clinical skills while recapturing some of the excitement of your psychiatric training? Then head to the six clinical case conferences being given each weekday morning during APA's 2006 annual meeting in Toronto. A select group of the field's top educators will be presenting their most intriguing and challenging cases. The format includes actual case material to illustrate treatment dilemmas and solutions and welcomes the audience to interact with expert panelists with their questions and comments.

There will be two conferences on Monday, May 22. Susan Stabinsky, M.D., will chair “Honorable Discharge: Severe Brain Injury and Psychological Symptoms in a Female Veteran,” with a case in which attempts to treat a war injury resulting in traumatic brain injury are complicated by multiple psychiatric and other medical conditions. In a conference that both illustrates clinical application and teaches its use, “Sealed With a Kiss: Using the Sexual History in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy,” chaired by Jennifer Downey, M.D., reveals the dramatic results that can be obtained when this technique becomes an integral part of the diagnostic workup.

The session on Tuesday, May 23, broadens the scope of clinical topics into forensic psychiatry: “Rocking the Cradle: A Case of Postpartum Infanticide,” chaired by Nicole Wolfe, M.D. Discussion will move from the specifics of this tragic case to identifying symptom clusters in postpartum psychosis. Also, panelists from different jurisdictions will explore the variety of approaches to sentencing and treatment considerations.

This year's continuous clinical case conference will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, May 23 and 24, from 9 a.m. to noon. Titled “20 Therapies Later: Addressing Transference Resistance,” this two-day presentation will tackle one of the most difficult situations in psychotherapy: when an unwillingness to understand or explore thoughts and feelings except at the most realistic level stalemates treatment and puts pressure on the psychiatrist to cross boundaries. The session will be chaired by R. Rao Gogineni, M.D., with Robert Michels, M.D., and Richard Kluft, M.D., as panelists.

During the final two case conferences, topics from the 2005 annual meeting are back by popular demand. On Wednesday, May 24, Carl Greiner, M.D., will once again lead a discussion of clinical, legal, and ethical concerns in“ Crossing the Line: Determining Your Patient Is too Dangerous to Drive.” Topics include road rage and the younger impaired driver with severe and persistent mental illness.

On Thursday morning, May 25, Dimitri Markov, M.D., will chair the“ 2006 Consult-Liaison Casebook Challenge: Strategies and Limitations in Establishing Competency.” A new case will be discussed illustrating factors in clinical approaches to determining decisional capacity and involuntary treatment in the context of acute hospital care. ▪