On Thursday at noon Dr. Peter Forster, our clinical director, will be giving a presentation to the UCSF Department of Psychiatry Mood Disorder Grand Rounds on the topic of “Bipolar Depression: An Update.” He will be reviewing the recent literature on new treatment options and will summarize some of the talk findings in a future blog post.
Behind the Scenes
A lot of what takes place that makes it possible for us to provide the best patient care is not visible. We spend lots of time reviewing records, participating in case conferences and informal consultation to make sure that nothing gets missed in our assessment and ongoing treatment. I spent the past weekend going over patient records for everyone in …
Brain Differences in Bipolar Disorder Type 1 Versus 2
A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in December 2014 looked at differences in the brains of people with Bipolar 1 versus Bipolar 2 disorders. It suggested that there might be quite significant differences in brain structure and function in bipolar one as opposed to bipolar 2 patients. The authors used 2 different techniques for imaging brains: one …
Welcome New Staff
I’m very pleased to welcome a new clinician to Gateway Psychiatric. Kate Melino is a psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner who is joining us as our new substance use expert. Kate received her Bachelor of Science (with honors) in nursing from the University of Toronto, and her Master of Science (Nurse Practitioner) from UCSF. Since graduating from UCSF she’s …
Anhedonia and Ketamine
Anhedonia, meaning the loss of the normal experience of pleasure in life, can be one of the most troubling symptoms of depression. And also one for which we have relatively few treatments. We know that a small group of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmentum (limbic system) which project to the prefrontal cortex, among other locations in the brain, are …
Meditation Tricks
Most of us in the Gateway Clinic have been encouraging our patients to take up meditation for years. We will explain how it works, and what the benefits are, we’ll suggest books on the topic, recommend guided meditation sources, follow up on those recommendations, and follow up, and follow up… And yet, this has been an exercise in frustration. Very rarely …
TMS Media – The Doctors
TMS Media – “The Doctors” December 3 I am excited to share with you that on December 3rd “The Doctors” featured a segment on TMS. Todd Hutton, MD, Medical Director, Southern California TMS Center, was invited to appear with a patient who is doing great 18 months post TMS treatment. I hope you can watch and that this contributes to further awareness …
Beta Catenin and Depression
Beta catenin is a molecule that may play a key role in preventing depression in those exposed to stress, at least if mice and humans share the same biology. Beta catenin is involved in a number of quite different functions in the cell. To give you an idea, it may be involved in the development of cancer (it is a …
New Staff
I am pleased to welcome a young woman, Hershe Gesmundo to this site. She is going to be working with me on a number of administrative projects related to this site, and to the companion site – MoodSurfing.com. Hershe had this to say about herself – Hershe Gesmundo is a development practitioner who specializes in the areas of project management, …
Anhedonia Treatment with Ketamine
The treatment of anhedonia and bipolar depression can be very difficult. An article published in Translational Psychiatry in October of 2014 highlights the role of glutametergic transmission in anhedonia and points to the potentially unique efficacy of ketamine in treating this stubborn problem. Anhedonia, the lack (an-) of pleasure (-hedonia), is one of the 2 main symptoms of a major …