Sheppard Pratt Health System provides this update on mental health issues to support continuing education of medical and mental health professionals.  Mental health professionals face dual challenges during the coming decade. Neuroscientists continue to elucidate neurobiological processes that underlie each psychiatric disorder. These discoveries press psychiatrists to understand brain mechanisms of illness. Psychiatric disorders have proven to be brain disorders that are exquisitely sensitive to the emotional and communicational environments in which patients live. The emotional stressors, shifting relationships, and cultural diversity of our patients' lives press psychiatrists to become ever more facile in using dialogue and relationships therapeutically. 

A formal needs assessment of the mental health community, current issues in mental health and hospital staff needs assessment are the indicators for the content of the Wednesday Lecture Series programs.