News

Pitt Psychiatry investigators recently published articles in Lancet Psychiatry, JAMA Internal Medicine, Molecular Psychiatry, and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry that describe advances in clinical care in the diagnosis of bipolar/psychotic disorders, guidelines for deprescribing benzodiazepine, the promise of infant MRI studies, and assessment for risk for suicidal behavior.

Transdiagnostic Prediction of Serious Mental Disorders: Opportunities and Considerations

In Lancet Psychiatry, Danella Hafeman, MD, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), reviews current, critical considerations in the diagnosis of bipolar disorders and psychotic disorders, focusing on transdiagnostic vs. diagnosis-specific risk models.

Hafeman D. 
Lancet Psychiatry, January 01, 2026, Volume 13, Issue 1, Pages 2-3.

Implementing Benzodiazepine Deprescribing in the Primary Care Clinic

Tae Woo Park, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry) co-authored an article in JAMA Internal Medicine contextualizing benzodiazepine deprescribing guidelines for primary care physicians, focusing on populations at high risk for benzodiazepine-related adverse events. 

Shuey B, Anderson TS, Park TW. 
JAMA Internal Medicine. 2026;186(1):120–121. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.6084 

The Promise of Infant MRI in Psychiatry: Toward a Framework for Neural Network Measures in Early Emotional and Behavioral Risk Identification and New Intervention Targets

Layla Banihashemi, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering); Yicheng Zhang, PhD (former Pitt Psychiatry postdoctoral fellow); Alison Hipwell, PhD, PsyD (Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology); and Mary Phillips, MD, MD (Cantab) (Pittsburgh Foundation-Emmerling Endowed Chair in Psychotic Disorders and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Bioengineering, and Clinical and Translational Science), recently published a review paper in Molecular Psychiatry regarding infant magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies. The authors describe the promise of infant MRI studies in the identification of key neural network structural and functional correlates of current (and predictors of future) negative emotionality, positive emotionality, and emotion regulation. 

Banihashemi L, Zhang Y, Hipwell AE, Phillips ML.
Molecular Psychiatry 31, 444–455 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03197-5  

A Prospective Examination of the Predictive Validity of Three Transdiagnostic Assessments of Risk for Suicidal Behavior: Psychache, the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, and Reasons for Living

Investigators led by David Brent, MD (Endowed Chair in Suicide Studies and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Clinical and Translational Science, Epidemiology, and Pediatrics), and including Neal Ryan, MD (Joaquim Puig-Antich Professor in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), assessed the predictive validity of three transdiagnostic suicidal risk assessments—Psychache, the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, and Reasons for Living—regarding future suicide attempts in youth. In the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the scientists reported that each of the three constructs was a strong predictor of future suicide attempts.

Paul BT, Greeno C, Ryan ND, Tsui F, Gibbons RD, Porta G, Joiner T, Brent D.
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2025, ISSN 0890-8567, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2025.11.010.