Treatment Online

Finding More Effective Mental Illness Diagnoses and Treatments
> 2/7/2007 11:09:35 AM

For over five decades Dr. Robert Cancro has been one of the leading minds in the field of psychiatry. A former chair of NYU's Department of Psychiatry, Director of Milhauser Laboratory, as well as Director of the Nathan Kline Institute, Dr. Cancro has been a personal friend and mentor of mine since I first entered NYU/Bellevue Hospital Residency Program in 1979.

He has personally impacted the training of more of today's psychiatrists than any single person alive. The field of Psychiatry owes Dr. Cancro a deep debt of gratitude for raising the standard of the science of psychiatry and the humanity of modern psychiatric treatment.

His extensive research into every aspect of psychiatric illness has made him one of the driving forces in the area of mental health research, and it is to this end that he founded NYU's Mental Health Prevention Center -- "a unique, multidisciplinary research institute that seeks to identify the factors that contribute to mental illness, understand why certain individuals are predisposed to mental illness, and prevent the development of mental illness at its earliest stages."

We had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Cancro and discuss a broad range of topics in psychiatry and mental health. In this vlog clip, he discusses the recent developments in the study of identifying markers of depression and mental illness so that we might better diagnose and better treat those afflicted in the future. This research is pulling together many fields of medicine and is utilizing the most high-tech advancements in neurodiagnostics available. The Mental Illness Prevention Center, with Dr. Cancro's leadership, is one of the groups spearheading the effort that will eventually change the way we approach mental illness.

It is our great honor to present his thoughts in this area:

Comments
I always thought bipolar was extreme lows and highs. After watching a program on bipolar (yes it was Oprah) I thought that maybe for the last 15 years i have been misdiagnosed. With medicad it is hard to get good health care. After what we in our house call an episiode I find myself feeling hopeless with this. I was diagnosed with major depression years ago and anxiety. I have to take three different types of meds. I rarely sleep without taking medicne and even then it is hard. I have anxiety attacks. Periods of depression,anger, and times when i am just not myself. even with medicine i have atleast 3 episodes a year of either a major depression, or some time of breakdown where i am so upset i can not calm down. i am so tired of playing the medicine game. I do know that I have to be on some type of medicine. I do know that I can not handle any type of stress. It is very hard for me to maintain a routine but i find that helps. I don;t drink or do drugs. I used to get so upset that i would hit my head against the walls. this was when i was not medicated or was going off and on medicines. I have even had to take medicine when pregenant (when i have found to not have any depression problems at all and over all a good mood) I seem to fit all of the symptons of bipolar except the mania. I do go through periods where i will do goofy things like put makeup on my son when he sleeps or talk excessively or get overly sensitive about issues. It is just so hard sometimes. I fear my children will have the same problems as my oldest has had what i now believe to be an anxiety attack. My children don't like thinkgs most kids like like disneyland, rides, holloween, my daughter is terrified to have a birthday party , but she is only three. I really wish I had a could doctor i could built a relationship with. the clinic i have gone to has a huge employee turn around rate. YOu can not get counseling well you can see one once a month but that is not counseling. I know I have a problem and can not seem to get the right help.

Posted by: MECHELL 10/5/2007 11:52:19 AM