Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Psychiatry Residency Presenting at Conference

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Two scholarly research teams at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education have had their abstracts accepted for presentation at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Drs. Angelina Singh and Erica Schmidt, resident physicians in the four-year psychiatry residency, and Dr. Sanjay Chandragiri, program director of the psychiatry residency and a psychiatrist at The Wright Center for Community Health’s Scranton Practice, co-authored the scholarly paper, “Catatonia Presenting as Major Depressive Disorder with Psychotic Features: The Case for Increasing the Use of the Lorazepam Challenge.”

The team’s case report demonstrates the importance and challenges of recognizing and treating catatonia, such as schizophrenia, in severely depressed patients with psychotic features, including delusions, hallucinations and paranoia.

Drs. Bilal Khan and Nathan Hoff , resident physicians in the psychiatry residency, co-authored the paper, “Serotonin Syndrome in a 50-Year-Old Female,” with Bretty Aziz, a fourth-year medical student at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and Chandragiri.

The case report illustrates the potential for severe side effects that may result from interactions between multiple serotonergic agents in patients with serotonin syndrome.

The American Psychiatric Association was founded in 1844. It is the oldest medical association in the United States and the largest psychiatric association in the world with more than 37,400 physician members specializing in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses. The annual meeting in May, with the theme, “Social Determinants of Mental Health,” is the largest conference in the world for psychiatrists and mental health professionals.

For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health, call 570-343-2383 or go to TheWrightCenter.org.