Little help for a project

[Psychobabbling]

I need to turn in a topic idea/title for a scholarly project/lit review I have to do to graduate next year. Probably 20 pages ish. I'm a little stuck on topics and could use a little help from you all.

Some ideas:
Bipolar disorder and substance use
MDD and substance
something with buprenorphine?

I'm open to other suggestions/ideas. I was originally interested in eating disorders, but since no one in the department works with this group, I'm not able to do so since I wouldn't have a supervisor.

Thanks in advance!

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[Ceke2002]

Ooh what about...

Should MDD with Psychotic FX be considered a subset of MDD or a distinct syndrome in its own right.

Asynchronous Devlelopment: Should giftedness be redefined.

Treatment of co-morbid personality disorders and Axis 1 diagnoses with complications of substance abuse.

The prevalence of LSD use as a coping mechanism amongst Schizophrenic patients.

 

[heyjack70]

Do you have the option to do a grand rounds presentation? I only ask because it's probably a lot less writing. Comparison/contrast Suboxone vs Methadone vs other opioid treatment options is the obvious one.

 

[shan564]

I'd like to see a review of buprenorphine or methadone vs. Vivitrol for long-term maintenance of remission from opiate use disorder. I looked for that topic once, and there were review articles on oral naltrexone, but none about Vivitrol.

 

[HarryMTieboutMD]

Extending the substance induced depression topic, I'd be interested in post acute withdrawal phenomena. There is not that much literature, and it is a huge problem

 

[Psychobabbling]

Interesting ideas. I am going to look at some of these when I get back home today.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Ooh what about...

Should MDD with Psychotic FX be considered a subset of MDD or a distinct syndrome in its own right.

Asynchronous Devlelopment: Should giftedness be redefined.

Treatment of co-morbid personality disorders and Axis 1 diagnoses with complications of substance abuse.

The prevalence of LSD use as a coping mechanism amongst Schizophrenic patients.

I like Ceke’s ideas. These are all very interesting and the answers would add to the field.

The first one is the most doable and I believe Dr. Schatzberg has been thinking about this. I see it coming down to a question of convention. Most of it is about the differential response and the need to use antipsychotics with psychotic depression. The question is, would a separate diagnosis really help doctors recognize this, or is the subset sufficient with appropriate education.

The second one would need some sociological science to truly tackle. I’m not saying don’t do it, but you may want an anthropologist and a sociologist to help. It would probably leave your faculty somewhat speechless as far as feedback.

The third one will be most complicated by maintaining validity of three different diagnoses. ‘This substance abusing Axis I disordered patient has a personality disorder and this one doesn’t because I did a SCID and I say so.’ One the other hand, “this Substance abusing Personality disordered subject has Major depression and the other one does not because I did a SCID and I say so…” You can see the problem.

The last one is interesting, but I can just imagine the peer review process asking how you defined schizophrenia, LSD use and the existence of both instead of one or the other.

Not trying to shoot down the ideas, just trying to give a heads up on where I see the pitfalls.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Maybe the differential response exists more in textbooks than in reality. Maybe the title should be “How much does psychotic depression really need antipsychotics to be successfully treated? A review of the most recent evidence.”

 

[Ceke2002]

I like Ceke’s ideas. These are all very interesting and the answers would add to the field.

The first one is the most doable and I believe Dr. Schatzberg has been thinking about this. I see it coming down to a question of convention. Most of it is about the differential response and the need to use antipsychotics with psychotic depression. The question is, would a separate diagnosis really help doctors recognize this, or is the subset sufficient with appropriate education.

The second one would need some sociological science to truly tackle. I’m not saying don’t do it, but you may want an anthropologist and a sociologist to help. It would probably leave your faculty somewhat speechless as far as feedback.

The third one will be most complicated by maintaining validity of three different diagnoses. ‘This substance abusing Axis I disordered patient has a personality disorder and this one doesn’t because I did a SCID and I say so.’ One the other hand, “this Substance abusing Personality disordered subject has Major depression and the other one does not because I did a SCID and I say so…” You can see the problem.

The last one is interesting, but I can just imagine the peer review process asking how you defined schizophrenia, LSD use and the existence of both instead of one or the other.

Not trying to shoot down the ideas, just trying to give a heads up on where I see the pitfalls.

Hey, fire at will. I have no idea what's doable and what's not when it comes to this sort of stuff, these were all just straight off the top of my head, so it's all good, no worries.

 

[Psychobabbling]

I just wanted to say thanks for the posts. I ended up going a different route, but it definitely helped. Thank you!