| Dr. Post graduated from Yale University in 1964, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1968, and interned at the Einstein School of Medicine in 1969. Psychiatry residency was completed at the Massachusetts General Hospital, NIMH, and George Washington University. He was Chief, Biological Psychiatry Branch for most of his 37 years at the NIMH. He focused on better understanding and treating patients with refractory unipolar and bipolar illness with anticonvulsants, and recently, repeated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS). His group has won major research awards from the Society of Biological Psychiatry, APA, ACNP, Anna Monika Foundation, NARSAD, and NDMDA. He is on multiple editorial boards and has published more than 900 manuscripts. He organized the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network (1995-2002), now continuing as the Bipolar Collaborative Network. He is a member of the APA Committee on Prevention of Childhood Mental Illness. |
| | 1) Have physicians recognize the multiple mechanisms for illness progression, several of
which involve decreases in brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF),
2) Be aware that mood stabilizers and atypical antipsychotics—the treatment of choice for
bipolar illness—either increase BDNF and neurogenesis directly or prevent stress from
lowering them,
3) Realize that 1. and 2. together add further strong neurobiological rationales to the already
cogent need for early treatment and long-term prophylaxis of bipolar episodes based on the
existing clinical evidence. |
