July 2012  

The inaugural meeting of the running group, organized as part of the Yale Psychiatry Wellness Initiative.
Photo: Kirsten Wilkins

Department launches wellness initiative

The Yale Psychiatry Wellness Initiative aims to improve physical and mental health and foster a sense of community within the department by connecting individuals who share common interests. More than thirty faculty, residents, and staff have volunteered to coordinate groups focused around activities including basketball, cycling, mindfulness, rock climbing, running, softball, swimming, yoga, gardening, juggling, music appreciation, parenting, and photography. Read more 

Yale scientists have been awarded funding to establish a translational interdisciplinary research center to develop gender-sensitive treatments that aid women in quitting smoking. The new center will be led by Sherry McKee, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry, as principal investigator, along with Carolyn M. Mazure, PhD, professor of psychiatry, as scientific director. Marina Picciotto, PhD, Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and Kelly Cosgrove, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, will lead pivotal studies within the center. Read more 

Michael Hoge, PhD, professor of psychiatry and the department's director of clinical training in psychology, served on an Institute of Medicine committee tasked with identifying workforce development strategies to meet the mental health and substance abuse treatment needs of Americans over 65. The resulting report, released July 10th, asserts that this population is likely to receive inadequate care due to a lack of essential competencies within the workforce. Hoge has been invited to present the findings and recommendations at a Congressional briefing in mid-September. Read more / View the report 

A study published in Neuropsychopharmacology suggests that cannabinoid agonists may disrupt cortical processes responsible for context updating and the automatic orientation of attention, while leaving processing speed and earlier sensory event-related potential components intact. Deepak Cyril D'Souza, MBBS, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Yale, is lead author. View the study 

New research published in Neuropsychopharmacology suggests that chronic exposure to exogenous cannabinoids can alter the ability to generate neural oscillations, which may have implications for understanding the short- and long-term psychopharmacological effects of cannabis. Patrick Skosnik, PhD, associate research scientist in psychiatry at Yale, is lead author. View the study 

A Yale study suggests women sentenced to drug court represent a heavily trauma-exposed population. The study, published in Psychiatry Research, provides a close look at an understudied and growing population of women with complex psychosocial, financial, legal, and health-related needs. Carolyn Sartor, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, is lead author. View the study 

A team of Yale researchers will address the issue of parental depression by creating a novel web-based community and smartphone application. Currently being called Momba, the application will utilize features modeled after some of the most successful social networking tools. The project's principal investigator is Megan Smith, DrPH, assistant professor of psychiatry and in the Child Study Center. Read more 

The Institute for Molecular Neuroscience, a new U.S. Army-funded research program to accelerate the discovery and development of new medications to treat alcohol and substance abuse in the context of post-traumatic stress and combat injury, has announced its first round of pilot grants. Ismene Petrakis, MD, professor of psychiatry and chief of psychiatry at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, has been awarded funding. Read more 

Marina Picciotto, PhD, Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and professor of neurobiology and of pharmacology is profiled in the June 2012 issue of Medicine@Yale. Read how her research sheds light on nicotine's effects on the brain, and how she got "hooked" on research early in her career. Read more 

Studies suggest that a novel class of drugs that directly target the glutamatergic neurotransmitter system may produce rapid and robust antidepressant effects. Gerard Sanacora, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Yale Depression Research Program, discusses the clinical studies that demonstrate the antidepressant effect of ketamine and other glutamatergic drugs, reviews the risks associated with some of these medications, and highlights the unanswered questions regarding the treatments. Read more 

Andres Barkil-Oteo, MD, MSc, an alum of Yale's psychiatry residency who will soon join the faculty as an assistant professor, responds to "Psychiatry's Identity Crisis" in The Lancet. Read more 

Lt. Col. (Dr.) Paul Morrissey returns to Yale to give a talk on Friday, August 10th at 10:15 am in the CMHC auditorium. Steven Southwick, MD, the inaugural Glenn H. Greenberg Professor of Psychiatry, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Resilience, has generously shared an excerpt from his new book Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges in which Morrissey is presented as a case study of resilience and post-traumatic growth. Read more 

The Flying Pig Review is the new online literary magazine of the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health. It focuses on "issues of health in the community and personal journeys through life." The first issue, to be published this Fall, will feature fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and visual artwork by contributors from New Haven and around the world. Read more 

Books by Yale Psychiatry Faculty

Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges

by Steven Southwick, MD, Glenn H. Greenberg Professor of Psychiatry, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Resilience; and Dennis Charney, MD, Yale Psychiatry alum and Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine
This book provides a roadmap for overcoming the adversities we all face at some point in our lives. Read more 

Alumni Spotlight 

Former fellow installed as president of the National Medical Association

Rahn K. Bailey, MD, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Meharry Medical College, will be installed as president of the National Medical Association (NMA) during the NMA 2012 Annual Convention and Scientific Assembly. Dr. Bailey completed a fellowship in forensic psychiatry at Yale. Read more 

Cognitive Group Therapy for Addictions -- written by a team of experts including cognitive therapy originator Aaron T. Beck, MD, a 1946 Yale School of Medicine graduate -- describes how to implement proven cognitive and behavioral addiction treatment strategies in a group format. It provides a flexible framework for conducting ongoing therapy groups that are open to clients with any addictive behavior problem, at any stage of recovery. Read more 

Sancilio and Company, Inc. recently announced the addition of Dennis Langer, MD, JD, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Langer was chief resident in psychiatry at Yale. He is currently a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University and serves on several other boards. Read more 

Alumni, please submit your news and updates to psychiatry@yale.edu.

In Memoriam

Dr. Patricia Hirt Rosenberger passed away on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Dr. Rosenberger was a Clinical Psychologist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System - West Haven campus and assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. Read more 

Dr. Richard A. Isay  

Dr. Richard A. Isay, a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and gay-rights advocate who won a pitched battle to persuade his own profession to stop treating homosexuality as a disease, died at age 77. He completed his residency in psychiatry at Yale and trained at the Western New England Psychoanalytic Institute. Read more 

Photo Album: Around the Department

1 - The Yale Psychiatry Residency class of 2012 with the department chair, and the program's director and associate directors. 

2 - Fellows from the Psychology Pre-Doctoral Internship Program at their June 2012  graduation.  

3 - Staff from the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit of the Connecticut Mental Health Center participate in a Habitat for Humanity build. Photo submitted by Mark Gancsos

4, 5, 6 - Residents, their families, and their faculty advisors enjoy the annual pizza party hosted by John Krystal and Bonnie Becker.