Department of Psychiatry

Community Medical School launched its Spring 2017 series on Tuesday, March 7, with a lecture on “Happiness: Exploring the Science of Well-Being.” The talk by Andrew Rosenfeld, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, attracted more than 200 attendees.

Despite diagnoses for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) occurring in a reported 11 percent of U.S. school-aged kids, clinicians still don’t fully understand the underlying causes of this common condition. Now a brain marker may be on the horizon, thanks to a new approach that provides evidence of a relationship between brain structure and dimensional measures of ADHD symptoms.

The newest members of the Teaching Academy at The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont were inducted during a ceremony and dinner held January 5, 2017 that kicked off the Snow Season Education Retreat at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center.

Comments from David Rettew, M.D., UVM associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, were featured in a news story about the growing concerns over the safety of the scenic Queeche Gorge Bridge for local NBC affiliate WPTZ-TV Newschannel 5.

UVM College of Medicine faculty members Thomas Simpatico, M.D., professor of psychiatry and chief medical officer for the Department of Vermont Health Access; Sandra Steingard, M.D., clinical associate professor of psychiatry and chief medical officer at the Howard Center; and Jaskanwar Batra, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and medical director at the Department of Mental Health, are featured in an article about the disputes over force-medicating psychiatry patients for Seven Days.

UVM College of Medicine faculty members James Hudziak, M.D., professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and medicine and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth & Families, and Jon Porter, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family medicine and director of the UVM Center for Health & Wellbeing, are featured in an article about UVM’s Wellness Environment (WE) program on NBCNews.com.

Beth Robbins, Psy.D., UVM clinical associate professor of psychiatry and clinical director of the Seneca Mood and Anxiety Disorders Clinic at The UVM Medical Center, was interviewed live on WCAX-TV Channel 3’s morning news, discussing the topic of her March 1 Community Medical School presentation, “All Stressed Out: Symptoms, Physiology and Approaches for Relief.”

An editorial in the Salt Lake City, Utah Deseret News about sentences for juveniles features comments from David Fassler, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry and Burlington, Vt. child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Recruitment for the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States – the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study – launched September 13, 2016.

A front-page story in the Boston Globe highlights the brainchild of University of Vermont College of Medicine Professor James Hudziak, M.D. - UVM's Wellness Environment program, known as WE.

Climbing suicide rates over the past ten years have prompted three Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alerts – the most recent in February 2016 – urging health care organizations to step up screening and detection of those individuals most at risk.

David C. Rettew, M.D., is an associate professor and director of the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and a child psychiatrist and director of the Pediatric Psychiatry Clinic at the UVM Medical Center. He posted the following information about talking with children about mass shootings on the UVM Medical Center blog.

The University of Vermont’s medical and nursing curriculum will be delving into more progressive territory, courtesy of five new Frymoyer Scholars projects.

A study showing that drug users are strongly motivated by seeking out rewards but also exhibit the inability to adjust their behavior, co-authored by Hugh Garavan, Ph.D., UVM associate professor of psychiatry, is mentioned. Read more from Health Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center Newsroom, Health Canal.

University of Vermont Clinical Professor of Psychiatry David Fassler, M.D., commented on findings from a meta-analysis of clinical reports on the link between antidepressants and risk of suicidality in children and adolescents, which appeared in the British Medical Journal. Read the article here.

Comments from UVM Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology John Hughes, M.D., on effective strategies for individuals trying to quit smoking are featured in a study discussing the cost of smoking in each state, which is covered in a WalletHub article.

An article about a case in which a teenage girl was involved in a murder features comments on decision-making and problem-solving development in adolescents from UVM Clinical Professor of Psychiatry David Fassler, M.D., who also helped prepare an amicus brief for the Supreme Court in the case. Read the article in Houston Press.

Media coverage of a study on the impact of musical training on kids' ability to focus attention, control emotions, and diminish anxiety by James Hudziak, M.D., UVM professor of psychiatry and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth and Families, and colleagues Matthew Albaugh, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate, and graduate student research assistant Eileen Crehan, continues to receive media coverage. Most recently, the study was mentioned in an article, titled “10 Signs Your Child Has a High IQ,” from The Advertiser, which originally appeared in The Sun.

For a full list of media placements dating back to December 2014, click here.

UVM Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics David Rettew, M.D., discusses new research looking beyond the association between cannabis and schizophrenia in a blog post authored for the ABCs of Child Psychiatry blog on Psychology Today. Read the blog post here.