Massachusetts General Hospital Academy

Although unipolar and bipolar depression share many common symptoms, they are fundamentally different illnesses with differing courses, prognoses and treatments. It is essential that clinicians accurately diagnose these disorders, as misdiagnosis can have significant adverse consequences. Bipolar patients who are misdiagnosed as having unipolar depression are frequently treated with antidepressant monotherapy, which may precipitate mania or lead to rapid mood cycling. Evidence also suggests that when appropriate treatment of bipolar disorder is delayed, the treatments may be less effective than if they were initiated early in the course of the illness. Bipolar patients who are misdiagnosed have been found to have decreased overall quality of life compared to patients with unipolar depression or correctly diagnosed bipolar disorder.

• 
  John A. Fromson, MD
  Director of Professional Development, Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatry Academy
  Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
  
  
• 
  Andrew A. Nierenberg, MD
  Director, Bipolar Clinic and Research Program, MGH
  Associate Director, Depression Clinical and Research Program, MGH
  Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Accreditation
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of McLean Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital Academy and Reed Medical Education. McLean Hospital is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education (CME) for physicians.

Credit Designation
McLean Hospital designates this continuing medical educational activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits(TM). Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Policy on Faculty and Provider Disclosure
It is the policy of McLean Hospital that faculty and providers disclose real or apparent conflicts of interest relating to the topics of this educational activity, and also disclose discussions of unlabeled/unapproved uses of drugs or devices during their presentation(s). McLean Hospital has established policies in place that will identify and resolve all conflicts of interest prior to this educational activity.

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Planners

The following planners of this activity have indicated that neither they nor their families have a significant financial interest or affiliation with the manufacturer of any commercial products or provider of commercial services:

Robert J. Birnbaum, MD, PhD: Planner

John A. Fromson, MD: Planner, reviewer

Anan Nathif, EdM: Planner

Tristan Gorrindo, MD: Planner

Hardware/Software Specifications: 

This internet-based CME activity is best experienced using Internet Explorer 8+, Mozilla Firefox 3+, Safari 4+. This Web site requires that JavaScript and session cookies be enabled. Certain activities may require additional software to view multimedia, presentation, or printable versions of the content. These activities will be marked as such and will provide links to the required software. That software may be: Adobe Flash, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Windows Media Player.

Optimal System Configuration:
Flash Player: Adobe Flash Player 10.1+
Browser: Firefox 3+, Internet Explorer 8.0+, Safari 4.0+, or Google Chrome 7.0+
Operating System: Windows XP+ or Mac OS X 10.4+
Internet Connection: 1 Mbps or higher

Minimum Requirements:
Windows PC:
500-MHz Pentium II; Windows XP or higher; 128 MB RAM; Video Card at least 64MB of video memory; Sound Card at least 16-bit; Macromedia Flash Player 10 or higher, audio playback with speakers for programs with video content; Firefox 1.1+, Internet Explorer 7.0+, Safari 1.0+, Google Chrome, or Opera
Macintosh:
Mac OS X 10.3 or higher with latest updates installed; 1.83MHz Intel Core Duo or faster; RAM: 128MB or more; Video Card: at least 64MB of video memory; Sound Card: at least 16-bit

Speakers

 

The following speakers and/or planners have reported receiving something of value from a company whose product may be germane to the content of their presentations:

John A. Fromson, MD
Neither Dr. Fromson nor any member of his family has relevant financial relationships with any commercial interests.

Andrew A. Nierenberg, MD

Consultant:

Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Basilea, BrainCells Inc., Brandeis University, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cephalon, Corcept, Eli Lilly & Co., Forest, Genaissance, GlaxoSmithKline, Innapharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, Merck, Novartis, PamLabs, PGx Health, Pfizer, Ridge Diagnostics, Roche, Sepracor, Schering-Plough, Shire, Somerset, Sunovion, Takeda, Targacept, Teva

Stockholder: 

Applicant Computing, Inc. (MindSite), Brain Cells, Inc., InfoMed (potential share of income)

Research Support: 

AHRQ, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cederroth, Cyberonics, Elan, Forest Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Lichtwer Pharma, Eli Lilly & Co., Mylin Foundation, Wyeth-Ayerst

Honoraria:

MGH Psychiatry Academy in the past 3 years (Prior to 3 years ago, honoraria from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cyberonics, Forest Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly & Co., Shire, Wyeth-Ayers) No speaker bureaus since 2003

Other Income: 

Legal case reviews for CRICO, MBL Publisher for past services as Editor-in-chief of CNS Spectrums, Slack Inc. for services as Associate Editor of Psychiatric Annals, Editorial Board, Mind Mood Memory, Belvior Publications

Patents and Copyrights:

Copyright joint ownership with MGH for Structured Clinical Interview for MADRS and Clinical Positive Affect Scale

Additional Honoraria: 

ADURS, American Society for Clinical Psychopharmacology and Zucker Hillside Hospital and Forest and Janssen, Biomedical Development, Boston Center for the Arts, University of Pisa, University of Wisconsin at Madison, University Texas Southwest at Dallas, Health New England and Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation and Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, Brandeis University, International Society for Bipolar Disorder, 2nd East Asian Bipolar Forum, Mid-Atlantic Permantente Research Institute, Up-to-Date

Last Updated: 10/26/12

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