2026 NEI Fall Congress Agenda

Overview: Major depressive disorder (MDD) often remains inadequately treated with conventional antidepressants, leaving patients with persistent symptoms, functional impairment, and a heightened risk of relapse. In this presentation, Drs. Andrew J. Cutler and Kristian Dambrino will examine how glutamatergic therapies expand treatment beyond traditional monoaminergic approaches by targeting mechanisms involved in synaptic plasticity and neurocircuit function. They will compare available and emerging treatments, including ketamine, esketamine, and dextromethorphan-bupropion, and discuss practical strategies for patient selection, initiation, switching, sequencing, and monitoring. The presentation will also explore how treatment decisions can address functional outcomes such as cognition, anhedonia, sleep, anxiety, and work and social functioning.

Overview: This session examines anosognosia as a common, neurobiologically-based barrier to treatment in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, distinguishing it from simple denial or nonadherence. Faculty will explore its multidimensional nature, proposed neural underpinnings, and relationship to prolonged untreated illness, relapse, functional decline, homelessness, victimization, and criminal justice involvement. The session will also address the legal and ethical challenges that arise when anosognosia impairs decision-making capacity, including tensions between autonomy, compulsory treatment, and protection from the consequences of untreated psychosis. Finally, learners will review current and emerging strategies to improve insight, cognition, treatment engagement, and long-term outcomes, including psychosocial approaches, sustained pharmacological treatment, long-acting injectables, and novel pro-cognitive mechanisms.

Overview: Long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) are often reserved for later stages of serious mental illness, despite evidence that early relapse prevention may help preserve functioning and reduce downstream clinical and psychosocial burden. In this presentation, Dr. Christoph U. Correll will examine why “time is brain” in early-course psychosis, including how duration of untreated psychosis, recurrent relapse, and oral antipsychotic nonadherence can shape long-term outcomes. He will discuss strategies for introducing LAIs early through shared decision-making, addressing patient and family concerns, comparing available LAI formulations using practical clinical considerations, and building team-based workflows to support initiation, monitoring, missed-dose management, and sustained engagement.

Overview: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is common, impairing, and often difficult to distinguish from depression, rumination, everyday stress, or overlapping psychiatric presentations. In this presentation, Dr. Jeffrey R. Strawn will examine how neurobiology, diagnostic clarity, and treatment evidence can improve recognition and management of GAD. He will discuss practical strategies for differentiating GAD from related conditions, optimizing first-line treatment, addressing partial or treatment-resistant response, and evaluating emerging therapeutic approaches with an evidence-based lens.

Overview: Depression is a syndrome with diverse underlying causes, and distinguishing major depressive disorder from bipolar spectrum disorders remains a critical clinical challenge. In this presentation, Jonathan Meyer, MD, reviews practical strategies for recognizing depressive mixed states, identifying diagnostic clues, and avoiding the consequences of misdiagnosis. Participants will examine evidence-based pharmacologic approaches across the mood disorder spectrum and learn how psychoeducation, collaborative care, and thoughtful long-term management can improve diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes.

Overview: Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a potentially irreversible movement disorder that can be easy to miss, yet profoundly affects patients’ physical functioning, emotional well-being, social relationships, work life, and caregiver support needs. In this presentation, Dr. Hara E. Oyedeji will examine the hidden burden of TD and the importance of early recognition among patients exposed to dopamine receptor blocking agents. She will discuss risk factors, common clinical presentations, practical use of assessment tools such as AIMS, strategies for telehealth and in-person monitoring, and the role of interdisciplinary collaboration in improving detection, documentation, and patient-centered care.

Overview: Accurate use of the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) is essential for identifying and monitoring tardive dyskinesia (TD), particularly when abnormal movements are subtle or appear only during activation maneuvers. In this presentation, Dr. Hara E. Oyedeji and Dr. Leslie Citrome will demonstrate practical AIMS administration and scoring strategies to support earlier recognition of TD. They will review AIMS as the standard observer-rated assessment tool, clarify how to score activated movements, discuss interpretation of severity and patient impact, and emphasize collaboration across the healthcare team to improve detection, documentation, and follow-up care.

Overview: Tardive dyskinesia (TD) remains a clinically significant and often persistent movement disorder associated with long-term exposure to dopamine receptor blocking agents. In this presentation, Dr. Leslie Citrome will examine the neurobiological rationale for TD treatment and the evidence supporting current therapeutic strategies, with a focus on VMAT2 inhibitors. He will compare the efficacy, safety, tolerability, dosing, titration, and drug-interaction considerations for FDA-approved treatments such as valbenazine and deutetrabenazine. The presentation will also address practical real-world management, including differentiating TD from drug-induced parkinsonism, using AIMS for measurement-based care, minimizing inappropriate anticholinergic use, and applying patient-centered strategies to reduce functional burden while maintaining psychiatric stability.

Overview: Thoughtful deprescribing will take on greater visibility as psychiatric care increasingly emphasizes long-term medication stewardship, individualized risk–benefit assessment, and patient-centered treatment decisions. Here, Drs. Jeffrey Strawn and Stephen Stahl will explore how clinicians can determine when to continue, taper, switch, or discontinue psychotropic medications while minimizing withdrawal and relapse risk. They will translate the science of neuroadaptation, receptor pharmacology, and pharmacokinetics into practical strategies for shared decision-making, cross-titration, monitoring, and course correction.

Overview: Reproductive hormonal transitions can trigger or worsen mood symptoms across the life cycle. Dr. Jennifer Payne will define reproductive depression and explain how hormonal fluctuations affect susceptible women. She will distinguish PMS, PMDD, and premenstrual exacerbation while reviewing postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, and perimenopausal mood symptoms. The presentation will examine lifestyle interventions, serotonergic medications, hormonal strategies, and newer treatments such as zuranolone. Practical guidance will emphasize identifying underlying mood disorders and tailoring treatment to symptom timing, reproductive stage, medical risk, and patient needs.

Overview: Although available treatments can reduce core ADHD symptoms, many patients continue to experience executive dysfunction, emotional dysregulation, and associated functional impairment. In this presentation, Drs. Jeffrey Strawn and Andrew Cutler will connect these residual symptoms to their neurobiological underpinnings and evaluate the strengths and limitations of current treatment approaches. They will provide practical strategies for reassessing partial response, optimizing treatment, and individualizing care using established and newly available therapeutic options.

Overview: The rapid expansion of telehealth has improved access to ADHD care while creating new clinical, ethical, and regulatory challenges surrounding controlled-substance prescribing. In this presentation, Drs. David Goodman and Andrew Cutler will examine the Done.com case and its implications for clinician responsibility, patient safety, and professional practice. They will provide practical guidance for conducting rigorous ADHD evaluations, maintaining appropriate documentation and monitoring, recognizing misuse or diversion, and integrating telehealth and in-person care without compromising clinical judgment.

Overview: Agitation associated with Alzheimer’s disease can increase patient distress, caregiver burden, safety risks, and the likelihood of institutionalization. In this presentation, Dr. Leslie Citrome will explain how to distinguish agitation from common mimics, apply structured assessment tools, and sequence nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions based on contributing factors and clinical risk. He will also provide practical strategies for engaging caregivers and coordinating multidisciplinary, home-centered care.

Overview: Suicide risk is complex, dynamic, and, in many cases, clinically modifiable, often emerging across psychiatric diagnoses rather than from a single disorder, stressor, or event. In this presentation, Dr. Christine Moutier will review cross-diagnostic strategies for suicide prevention in clinical care, with an emphasis on prevention-oriented risk assessment, modifiable drivers, protective factors, and individualized risk formulation. She will also explore practical approaches to screening, safety and crisis response planning, lethal means counseling, and follow-up after a crisis. Finally, she’ll review clinical updates in evidence-based pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment strategies for reducing suicide risk.

Overview: ADHD in older adults is often underrecognized and can be difficult to distinguish from mild cognitive impairment, dementia, depression, medication effects, and other causes of cognitive decline. In this presentation, Dr. David W. Goodman will examine how lifelong symptom patterns, collateral history, neuropsychological testing, neuroimaging, and biomarkers can help clarify the diagnosis. He will discuss practical strategies for differentiating ADHD from MCI and dementia, recognizing when these conditions coexist, and prioritizing treatment to improve cognition, daily functioning, and quality of life.

Overview: Psychedelic therapeutics have generated substantial interest in psychiatry, but translating promising findings into clinical practice requires careful evaluation of study design, treatment durability, safety, and regulatory status. In this presentation, Dr. Roger McIntyre will critically examine the evidence for psilocybin in depression, treatment-resistant depression, and substance use disorders, as well as MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. The program will also explore emerging research on LSD, DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT while addressing the effects of expectancy, functional unblinding, comparator selection, and psychological support on trial outcomes. Practical guidance will focus on patient selection, medication interactions, clinical monitoring, ethical considerations, and treatment delivery models. Participants will learn to distinguish therapeutic promise from established evidence and assess whether psychedelic treatments are ready for responsible clinical implementation.

Overview: In this presentation. Dr. Jonathan Meyer will discuss those agents that have outlived their usefulness, and the reasons why, while emphasizing new insights for those two irreplaceable medications, clozapine and lithium.