Iron Deficiency and Mental Disorders

New diagnosis are made every year in psychiatry. Psychiatrists like Joseph Franzetti, MD, are constantly seeing updates in behavior in both adults and children. It is an ever changing world, and people and patients are constantly being diagnosed with new classifications. It is an exciting field because of the human behavior and the capacity to be seen in different lights.

Many people are found to have an iron deficiency anemia. Children and adolescents found with this disorder are at increased risk for psychiatric disorders. The disorders include, depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and autism. This is new research and still ongoing. Because iron plays a key role in brain development, it can affect children more than adults if there is a deficiency. 

Caffeine Withdrawals Causing Mental Disorders

With many people consuming coffee every day, it is easy to become addicted to caffeine. It is now considered a disorder when someone goes through withdrawals of caffeine. According to American Psychiatric Association's new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, caffeine withdrawal is diagnosed as a mental disorder. As Joseph Franzetti, MD knows, new diagnosis are always being put out every year.

To be officially diagnosed, three out of the following five symptoms must be present within a day of quitting using caffeine: depressed mood, flulike symptoms, fatigue or drowsiness, difficulty concentrating, and headache. And having these symptoms must cause significant distress and affect your ability to function. It is interesting to see what other diagnoses are made every year on every day things that we consume.

Pinpointing OCD in Mice

OCD, which consists of obsessions and repetitive behavior, is a popular condition among many people throughout the world. Psychiatrists such as Joseph Franzetti, MD, see patients with this disorder often. Recently, researchers at Columbia University have been able to pinpoint the specific parts of the brain in a mouse that can be stimulated to enact OCD.

OCD affects about two percent of the world population. With repeated stimulation of a specific part of the brain in a mouse, researchers found that this produces progressive repeated behavior. By using this method to target the OCD behaviors, researchers hope to be able to come up with ways to prevent the characteristics of OCD.

The Most Important Book in Psychiatry

The most important and intriguing book in the psychiatry community has arrived on time this year again. American Psychiatric Association has published its “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”, yearly edition. This book is consulted not only by psychiatrists such as Joseph Franzetti, MD, but also by insurance companies, drug companies and many waiting patients and parents. This isn’t viewed by just America, but the entire world looks forward to its release. It has become the standard in the psychiatry world for telling what is a mental illness, and what is not a mental illness. This also defines who gets treated, and who pays for treatment. No other branches of the medical community have any books that have such power over people’s lives and is so vastly looked forward to every year.