Educational Computing

Useful Websites for Psychiatrists

Thomas Kramer, M.D.
Robert Kennedy, M.A.

t is easy to meander around the various

places on the World Wide Web (WWW)
reading information on any topic or idea. It
is becoming a central repository of what we
know, and it is growing at a phenomenal
rate. For better or for worse, this growth is,
for the most part, uncontrolled. Comparing
the WWW with a childs brain would be an
appropriate analogy. There are millions of
connections moving and processing information each day. Like a child, this stream of
information is not organized or structured
in a way that can be easily understood or
assimilated.
Much as a child sizes up a complex series of social events, learns some information, but does not fully grasp the volume of
data that transpires, this immature Web,
full of numerous transactions and interactions, does not allow us to synthesize or organize all this volume of information better.
To continue the analogy, when the child
moves into adolescence and begins to understand the subtleties of social behavior,
the Web will as it matures offer us a more
organized approach to our interactions with
this incredible network.
Currently, the Web is a toddler. Many
of us are both excited and frustrated with
our involvement with this new medium.
We are frustrated because finding anything
is a discovery process. A search can yield so
much goodand badinformation; it is
hard to differentiate the important from the
trivial, and it is a time-consuming task to
prioritize the data.
There are many websites, but few that
you visit and say This site is great, I want
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY

to come back and explore some more! The

reason for this may be that the Web is a remarkable democracy, in which all things are
given equal standingall the real estate
has an equally valuable location. Good and
bad, interesting and boring, mundane and
bizarre, these sites all have addresses on the
Web that are equally easy to visit. You may
come across simple websites put together
by an individual as a personal webpage,
which may show a picture of the person,
his/her educational background, research
interests, resume, other favorite websites, or
anything else of his/her choosing. There are
tribute sites devoted to strange things, such
as the Pez Prozac dispenser website.
There are elaborate, well-funded websites
for the medical profession such as Physicians Online.
A number of components contribute to
making a good website interesting, informative, or entertaining. Sites based on better, more powerful computers or connections have a faster speed of access, that is,
webpages that draw quickly and give you
information quickly. Too many complex
frames or graphics can make the WWW become the World Wide Wait as sites take
forever to download/draw on your screen.
Advertising is a fact of life on the Web, like
most other media, and advertising can subsidize some wonderful free sites for the
public, especially for physicians, but some
of the advertising can be intrusive and jarring. Obnoxious animated graphics can run
across the screen or tell you to spend money
or to buy a product. Too many websites
bombard you with every color ever created.
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Dr. Bobs Psychopharmacology Tips:

www.uhs.bsd.uchicago.edu/bhsiung/tips

A website should be easy to navigate and

not so complex that you cannot even find
the button to move onto the next page.
What follows is a highly subjective, arbitrary, and incomplete list of websites that
we would recommend for you, the practicing psychiatrist, which you might find interesting and useful.

This is probably the best resource in psychopharmacology anywherenot just on

the Web. Dr. Hsiung is a talented psychiatrist from Chicago who has pulled together
the reference for psychopharmacology tips.

The American Psychiatric Association:

www.psych.org

Clinical Pharmacology Online:

www.cponline.gsm.com

This site is a vast, well-planned, and frequently updated site that has a tremendous
amount of information for todays psychiatrist. Here you will find everything, from
the latest legislation that is important to
know about, to information about upcoming meetings, conferences, and symposia.
There is also a listing of the various national
district branches that have a site of their
own. There are too few, but the ones that
are listed contain information relevant to
your area. Not only are they excellent for
announcements to help keep you updated,
but also some have on-line journals or pertinent articles to read. This site is an important bookmark for your browser.

Regular readers of our recent column may

remember our enthusiasm about the software package called Clinical Pharmacology, put out by Gold Standard Multimedia. A somewhat watered-down free
version exists online, and a complete online
version is available for subscribers.

American Psychiatric Press, Inc (APPI):

www.appi.org

Medscape:
www.medscape.com

The site is devoted to this important publishing arm of the American Psychiatric Association. It offers information and abstracts
from their latest publicationsbooks and
journals. Customers can also order on-line
as well.

This site is a comprehensive information

and news service for physicians. It requires
registering (with your DEA number) to get
the most out of the service, but it gives you
free MEDLINE searches, full-text review articles, specialty-specific news, and probably
the best psychiatry section of any Internet
service to date.

Mental Health Infosource:

www.mhsource.com
This site comes from the group that
publishes the Psychiatric Times. This large
website offers interesting reading, news in
psychiatry, journal articles of interest, bookstore offerings, and much more.
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PDR Interactive:
www.medecinteractive.com
This site is the Physicians Desk Reference online, with various ease-of-use software improvements to get you to what you need to
know quickly. The site is a lot easier to use
(and a lot less heavy) than that big book on
your desk.

Physicians Online:
www.po.com
Another physician-only registered website
that offers free MEDLINE and other
searches. The site is not as good for psychiVOLUME 22 NUMBER 2 SUMMER 1998

KRAMER AND KENNEDY

atry as Medscape but does offer online discussions and a free e-mail address account
for members.
Doctors Guide to the Internet:
www.docguide.com
This site is not specific to psychiatry, but it
is a comprehensive medical website that offers a tremendous amount of information,
news, journals, and other relative information. There is a professional edition for physicians only, and you can personalize this
site to focus on your interests.
Computers for Psychiatrists:
www.computerpsych.com
This is our own Website, which was generated by popular demand. As we taught
computer literacy and other more advanced
courses to psychiatrists around the country,
many asked us to offer some kind of service
to enable our attendees to continue the educational process about computers and their
ever-increasing uses for psychiatrists. Come
visit us here.
Psych Central:
www.grohol.com
This website is Dr. John Grohols mental
health page. It is described as your person-

ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY

alized one-stop index for psychology, support, and mental health issues, resources,
and people on the Internet. Psych Central
offers countless links to other mental health
websites, support groups, and news and
chat groups.
Internet Mental Health:
www.mentalhealth.com
This site was put together by Phillip W.
Long, M.D., from Canada. The site offers
psychopharmacological information, diagnostic information, and more. The site is described as a free encyclopedia of mental
health information. It seems mostly aimed
at the general public, but is a good resource
as well for students, families of patients,
and support groups.
Dr. Kramer is Assistant Director for Training, Arkansas Mental Health Research and
Training Institute, Little Rock, AR; and Mr.
Kennedy is Director of Fellowship Training and
Director of Computing Services, Department of
Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
Bronx, NY. Dr. Kramers e-mail address is
tamkmd@aol.com. Mr. Kennedys e-mail address
is kennedy@aecom.yu.edu.

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