Purpose of review Recent literature focused on prescription opioids has neglected sex differences in use. Here, we evaluated the recent literature (since 2015) examining sex differences in prescription opioid use. Recent findings Between 2015 and 2016, our review found only eight articles addressing sex differences in prescription opioid use mostly opioid misuse in North America among individuals with chronic pain. Risk factors included depression, pain, and polydrug use. In addition to that review, we had the opportunity to further address sex differences in, and risk factors for, prescription opioid use through a community engagement program, HealthStreet. Among the sample (n = 8525, M age = 43.7 years, 58.6% women), approximately half reported use of prescription opioids. Women were significantly more likely to report lifetime use (54.9 vs. 42.2%; P < 0.0001) and report cancer compared with men, yet, women with cancer had a significantly reduced risk of using opioids compared with men with cancer (odds ratio: 0.46; 95% confidence interval, 0.36–0.59). Summary Only a few recently published studies analyzed sex differences related to prescription opioid use. Findings from the literature and our data suggest women are more likely to use prescription opioids compared with men. There is limited information on sex differences in opioid use risk factors and outcomes and more research in this area is warranted.

This article provides a review of extant literature on Motivational Interviewing (MI) and its effect on medical/biopsychosocial treatment regimen adherence and general health outcomes in the geriatric population (>65 years). This is the first comprehensive literature review study exploring the effects of MI on older adults representative of typical age group seen in geriatrics clinics (i.e., >65 years, with many patients well into their 70s and 80s).The goal of the review is to provide readers with a focused, up-to-date outcome research review and to discuss the feasibility of clinical applications of MI within an interdisciplinary geriatric clinical settings and its adaptation for use with older individuals dealing with both mental health and general medical conditions. To be included in this review, studies had to be randomized controlled design, examine the effects of Motivational Interviewing, and include participants with an average age of 65 years or more. Though limited in number, 7 out of 9 studies reviewed showed a significant improvement in health outcomes as a result of Motivational Interviewing treatment. The two studies that showed no significant improvements included telephone-based MI counseling rather than face-to-face MI treatment. MI shows promise as an effective treatment in affecting health behavioral change for older adults, but further studies are needed to identify key necessary therapeutic features of the MI with this population.

In primary care, collecting information about patient health behaviors between appointments can be advantageous. Physicians and researchers who embrace phone-based technology may find valuable ways to monitor patient-reported outcome measures of health (PROM). However, the level of phone technology sophistication should be tailored to the phone use of the population of interest. Despite the growing use of telephones as a means to gather PROM, little is known about phone use among primary care patients. As part of an ongoing study, the authors recruited primary care patients (N = 9126) for a health behavior screening study by calling them on the primary contact number listed in their medical record. The current study evaluated the frequency with which individuals were reached on landlines, basic cell phones, and smartphones, and examined participant characteristics. The majority of participants (63%) used landlines as their primary contact. Of the 37% using cell phones on the recruitment call, most (71%) were using smartphones. Landline users were significantly older than cell phone users (61.4 vs. 46.2 years; P = .001). Cell phone use did not differ significantly between participants with a college education and those without (37% vs. 38%; P = .82); however, smartphone use did differ (61% vs. 77%; P = .01). The majority of participants sampled used landlines as their primary telephone contact. Researchers designing phone-based PROM studies for primary care may have the broadest intervention reach using interactive voice response telephone technology, as patients could report health outcomes from any type of phone, including landlines. (Population Health Management 2016;19:212-215).

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based psychotherapeutic approach to health behavior change and has great potential to improve medical regimen adherence among the older population. This article provides a concise summary of MI as it can be applied to geriatric patient populations. The goal is to provide readers with an overview of MI, its clinical applications within psychological and medical settings and its adaptation for use with older individuals dealing with both mental health and general medical conditions. The article also discusses how varied systemic and therapeutic contexts (e.g., biomedical vs. psychological) may affect the meaning and implementation of MI. Although published randomized controlled studies on the effects of MI in the older population are limited, the majority of such studies indicates that MI is effective in influencing change in health behaviors. As a proven, cost-efficient treatment, MI should be considered for clinical use in geriatric and primary care clinics providing care to older adults.

The recovery model of mental health has gained momentum in the last three decades as a guiding philosophy for the transformation of traditional mental health institutions into programmes that are more responsive to consumer needs and choices. Recovery has served as a framework for our ongoing efforts to transform a psychiatric institution into a model programme for similar organizations in the state of Georgia. We have taken several significant steps that include ongoing consultation with a state-appointed consultant, a partnership with an academic psychiatry department that espoused the recovery philosophy, transformation of medication-focused treatment teams into multidisciplinary recovery teams and proliferation of evidence-based rehabilitative interventions as a platform for medication management. The Medical College of Georgia Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior had created the Georgia Recovery-based Educational Approach to Treatment (Project). In the context of its partnership with state psychiatric hospital, the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior made its recovery-based training curriculum available to the state hospital's clinical and support staff. As evident in our own experience, recovery-based systems transformation is fraught with challenges, but it also offers clinicians and clinical administrators useful guidelines for successful implementation of recovery framework within state psychiatric institutions.

Author Contact Information: Mirsad Serdarevic, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology Psychology Program Coordinator International University of Sarajevo Tel.: 061-036-716 mirsad.serdarevic@gmail.com Abstract The purpose of this article is to illustrate limitations of Dr. Thomas S. Szasz's absolutist approach in critiquing psychiatry, psychotherapy, and the concept of mental illness most famously expressed in The Myth of Mental Illness (Szasz, 1961). This article illustrates that Szasz mistook scientific proof for absolute truth. First, a comparison of scientific proof to its superior relation, mathematical proof, illustrates its theoretical short-comings. Szasz relies, sometimes subtly, sometimes quite overtly, but always selectively on "real science" to present psychiatry and the mental health fields as imposters in the field of medicine or health, while neglecting to see or discuss limitations of "science" in general and medicine in particular. Secondly, a summary of evidence supporting psychotherapy's effectiveness will be presented, the discussion of which was either consciously or unconsciously omitted in Szasz's (1978; 1988) The Myth of Psychotherapy. Third, summary of Pennington's (2002) integration of both biological and psychological basis of psychopathology through cognitive neuroscientific theoretical framework is presented as it reasonably addresses Szasz's confusion about and critique of mental illness and the mind-body problem.

I sit alone In isolation Amputated from the daily existence In the distance I hear the sirens That horrible sound that echoes someone’s misfortune Someone’s resistance In the distance I hear roaring of the cars In the distance it all seems like a farce They say it is a routine procedure Simple matter of expanding the blood flow to your heart Your heart Heart I listened to when I was a child It was calm and firm It whispered to me Bum bum Bum bum In its safety I found comfort and dreams In its presence I grew Doctor tells me everything went fine Can’t wait to hear again the beat of that heart of mine