Meeting Highlights on Psychiatric Clinical Challenges and Advancing the Science of Treatment: The 3rd Annual Chair Summit

Health care providers encounter many patients who have a typical, bread-and-butter symptom presentation and illness course, and for whom developing a treatment plan is relatively straightforward. However, some patients have cases that are challenging because 1) their illnesses are atypical, severe, or treatment-refractory in nature; 2) their conditions are less frequently encountered in the clinical setting; or 3) optimal treatment has not yet been well-studied and clearly defined. In the neurosciences, such challenges often seem to be the rule more than the exception. Continuing medical education (CME) can help clinicians address these challenges and promote clinical competence regarding innovations in neuroscience technologies. In August 2010, psychiatry and neurology health care providers participated in a comprehensive neuroscience CME conference—The 3rd Annual Chair Summit, The Master Class for Neuroscience Professional Development—that featured faculty chairpersons of psychiatry and neurology departments. This 4th article of 5 in a CME-certified companion series presents meeting highlights on managing the complexities of neuropsychiatric care and on scientific advances, especially technology-based innovations. Specifically, clinical topics focus on recognizing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that persists into adulthood; differential diagnosis of rage and aggression; treating borderline personality disorder; preventing suicide; and implementing care strategies for physician addiction. Rounding out this attention to difficult cases, technology highlights pertained to advanced diagnostic innovations in functional magnetic resonance imaging and to brain stimulation treatment strategies (ie, electroconvulsive therapy, deep brain stimulation, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, and vagus nerve stimulation). This article contains several patient cases and summary points connecting research to clinical practice.