Mysteries of the Mind

A Harvard psychiatrist answers your questions about anxiety, depression, psychoactive drugs and other mental health issues.

Psychiatry is perhaps the most human of the medical sciences: it gives us insight into how we think and feel, and why we do what we do. In recent years, aided by new technologies, psychiatrists have developed a growing understanding of how the mind works and how to treat it when it fails. Now the discipline is expanding to address the needs of previously neglected populations--a fact evident in the "steady increase in psychiatry's interest in the elderly," says Dr. Carl Salzman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. A leading authority on anxiety, depression, and the use of psychoactive drugs in elderly patients, Dr. Salzman has led pioneering research on those topics at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, where he was both director of psychopharmacology and director of education for many years. He is the author of over 300 articles and six books, including “Psychiatric Medications for Older Adults: The Concise Guide” and the seminal textbook “Clinical Geriatric Psychopharmacology.”

As part of our next installment of Health for Life, Dr. Salzman will answer your questions about psychiatry as it's practiced with adults of all ages. He can address a number of common disorders, as well as basic questions about the workings of the brain. A select number of questions and answers will appear online and in the Sept. 21 issue of NEWSWEEK. Please include the name of your hometown with your submissions.