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July 2011  
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Thank You!
Thank you to everyone who voted on the name of our newsletter. We are proud to unveil the newly-named Psychiatry@Yale!
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Discovery May Pave Way to Quitting Smoking Without Gaining Weight
A) Mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in POMC cells: POMC cells, which are important for decreasing food intake, can be identified in the hypothalamus of mice expressing GFP under control of the POMC promoter. B) Laser capture of POMC cells shows they express the beta 4-type nicotine receptors: POMC cells identified by GFP expression can be isolated by laser capture. When RNA from these cells is amplified, expression of the beta 4 subunit of the nicotine receptor can be identified.
| | A team led by Yale School of Medicine has discovered how nicotine suppresses appetite - findings that suggest that it might be possible to develop a drug that would help smokers, and non-smokers, stay thin. Dr. Marina Picciotto, Professor of Psychiatry, is senior author of the paper recently published in Science. Read More / Listen to Dr. Picciotto's NPR interview
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Yale Researchers Discover Many Genetic Keys Needed to Unlock Autism
 A multi-site study led by Dr. Matthew State, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale and the Department's Deputy Chair for Research, suggests that hundreds of small genetic variations are associated with autism spectrum disorders. The study was published in the June 9 issue of the journal Neuron. Read more / Video |
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Study Provides First Potential Treatment for Menopause-Related Cognition Deficits
 A study by Yale and University of Pennsylvania researchers including C. Neill Epperson, Brian Pittman, Donald Quinlan, and Thomas Brown, published in the journal Menopause, found that a drug typically given to children and adults with ADHD improved attention and concentration in menopausal women, providing the first potential treatment for menopause-related cognition deficits. Read more |
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Dr. Sidney J. Blatt to Retire After Nearly Five Decades
 In a career spanning more than 50 years Dr. Sidney J. Blatt, who will retire from the faculty of the Yale Department of Psychiatry this month, has distinguished himself as an analytic clinician, an empirical researcher, a personality theorist, and a beloved teacher and mentor. Dr. Blatt first came to Yale in 1960 as an assistant professor in the Psychology Department and joined the Psychiatry Department in 1963. Read more |
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Department Chairman Announces Leadership Appointments, Increasing Diversity on Executive Committee
 The Yale School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry is proud to announce new leadership appointments. The appointments, effective July 1, 2011, increase diversity on the Department's Executive Committee, most notably by boosting the number of female members to five out of the total of ten. Read more
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In Memoriam: Michael H. Sheard, MD
The Department of Psychiatry of the Yale School of Medicine mourns the passing of Michael Henry Sheard, MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and a member of the faculty since 1966, who died June 15. Dr. Sheard was an internationally recognized investigator in brain chemistry related to aggression and a pioneer in clinical studies of human aggression. Read more |
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VIDEO: Advancing the Field of Psychiatry
 Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital is at the forefront in patient care, in research and in the training of new mental health professionals. See the facility from the unique perspective of Sherwin Newland, MD, a former surgeon who recovered from an episode of depression. Watch the video |
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Residents Visit Rural Work-Therapy Facility
 Spring Lake Ranch Therapeutic Community in Cuttingsville, Vermont is a licensed residential treatment facility which offers a unique locale for people with mental illness, substance abuse issues, or dual diagnosis to work towards wellness. In May, the ranch was the destination for a handful of Yale Psychiatry Residents to participate in this dynamic model of work-centered therapy firsthand. Read more |
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CitySeed & CMHC Present: The Hill Farmers' Market
 The Cityseed Hill farmers' Market is open to the public every Friday starting July 1st through Oct 28th, 2011. Read more
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Alumni Spotlight
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Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, Former Yale Psychiatry Faculty, Publishes Memoir
 From the New York Times review of Witness to an Extreme Century: "The personal costs of being a professional 'witness' are made evident in an anecdote Lifton recounts from early in his career. In 1962, after months of intense and often anguished interviews with Hiroshima survivors, he returned to the United States to take up a post at the Yale department of psychiatry. At the annual Christmas party, an occasion when students felt licensed to mock their instructors, he found himself parodied as 'Dr. Hiroshima' for his tendency to turn every conversation to the bombing and its legacy. "I was a bit like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner,' he confesses, 'a compulsive witness to horror who insisted that any stranger he met hear out his tale.' In the years that followed, as his memoir makes clear, Lifton struggled against being inwardly poisoned by his own special knowledge." Read the New York Times review
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Resident Grand Rounds Series
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Resident Grand Rounds is a series of lectures organized by residents in the Department of Psychiatry. Faculty are invited to join us for these important, and timely sessions.
Breakfast and coffee will be served.
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Friday, July 8, 2011; 10:15 am
Molecules and Neural Circuits That Influence Models of Obesity and Food Addiction
 Ralph DiLeone, PhD; Associate Professor of Psychiatry and of Neurobiology at Yale School of Medicine
CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St
Details / Download to Your Calendar
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Friday, July 15, 2011; 10:15 am
Death with Dignity?: Physician-Assisted Suicide, Psychiatry,
and the Right to Die
  Panel of individuals versed in psychiatry, forensics, ethics, and theology including Dr. Patrick Fox, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and Director of Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital; Dr. Mark Mercurio, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, Chair of the Yale-New Haven Hospital Ethics Committee and Director of the Yale Program for Biomedical Ethics; and Rev. Susan Asher, Director of YNHH Dept of Religious Ministries and co-chair of the Ethics Committee
Several states now allow physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. In these cases, desire for hastened death does not necessarily indicate clinical depression. Is it possible to separate suicidality from the wider spectrum of mental illness? Do psychiatrists have an ethical obligation to oppose every manner of suicide, no matter what the circumstances are?
CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St
Details / Download to Your Calendar
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Friday, July 22, 2011; 10:15 am
Meaning and Medication: Psychodynamic Approaches to the Treatment Resistant Patient
 David Mintz, MD; Director of Psychiatric Education at Austen Riggs Center, Massachusetts
This presentation by Dr. David Mintz, Director of Psychiatric Education at the Austen Riggs Center, will survey the emerging evidence base demonstrating that the potency of psychodynamic meanings attached to medications equals or exceeds that of the putatively active ingredients of those medications. Technical principles of psychodynamic psychopharmacology will be elaborated, providing participants with added tools for addressing treatment resistance. The presentation will also explore the ways that an exploration of the meaning of medications can deepen therapies and add to patients' self-understanding in important ways.
CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St
Details / Download to Your Calendar
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Friday, July 29, 2011; 10:15 am
Autism, Writing and Experiences Within the Mental Health Field
 Andrew Solomon; author, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
Andrew Solomon, lecturer and author of the award-winning book, Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, will be speaking about his new book on autism, his writing and experiences within the mental health field.
CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St
Details / Download to Your Calendar
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Upcoming Events
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Fridays, beginning July 1; 11:30am-3:30pm
The Hill Farmers' Market
CitySeed and Connecticut Mental Health Center present "The Hill Market" offering fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs from local vendors.
CMHC Parking Lot, 34 Park St
Details / Download to Your Calendar
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Opening Reception: Tuesday, July 12, 6:00 pm / Exhibit: July 12 - September 16, various hours
Exhibition: "Critical Condition: When Silence Speaks"
A visual art exhibition that imagines the body as a stage where embedded beliefs and social constructs collide and re-emerge as narratives about cultural anomalies in public health.
The Parachute Factory, Erector Square, Building One, 319 Peck St, New Haven, CT 06513
Details / Download to Your Calendar
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Biological Sciences Training Program Seminar in Psychiatry
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Monday, July 11, 2011; 3:45 pm
Reactivation of Developmental Plasticity in the Adult Brain by Antidepressant Drugs
Eero Castren, MD; Professor of Neuroscience at University of Helsinki, Finland
CMHC, Room W212
Details / Download to Your Calendar
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More upcoming Department events
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