Impact of videoconferencing applications on mental health

Under the circumstances of the current COVID-19 pandemic, videoconferencing applications (apps) have come into the mainstream across the world. Owing to their easy availability and cost-effectiveness, they are used in personal as well as professional lives to communicate. They have been very helpful for students and professionals to ensure that their routine work did not halt when various countries imposed lockdown rules restricting travel, social gatherings and other measures that resulted in reduced in-person meetings. However, they have their own set of disadvantages, aptly called 'Zoom gloom/fatigue', named after a popular videoconferencing platform. Users are also noted to have anxiety while using these apps. Therefore, immediate attention is warranted to ensure cautious usage and to reduce the distress associated with videoconferencing apps while maintaining the obvious advantages that these methods have rapidly spread all over the world

Pharmacogenetic testing in psychiatry: Perspective on clinical utility

Pharmacogenetic studies the influence of inherited characteristics on medication. While different from pharmacogenomics, which is a study of the entire genome in relation to medication effect, their distinction remains inconsistent, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Although the potential of pharmacogenomics in psychiatry is apparent and its clinical utility is suboptimal, the uptake of recommendations and guidelines is minimal and research into PGx is not diverse. This article offers an overview of pharmacogenetics (PGx) in psychiatry, explores the difficulties, and provides recommendations on improving its applicability and clinical utility

Psychiatric training across the world during COVID

The current Pandemic has affected millions of people across the world, it has affected not only the community but also all also health care workers in many aspects. One such aspect is medical education. Psychiatry trainees across the world also facing a lot of difficulties in aspects related to training, patient care, academic aspects. Considering the huge mental gap, and a limited number of psychiatrists available across the world, it's going to have an immense impact in the short term and also long term implications. There is very limited research done this regard and immediate attention is required to address such an important issue