Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc

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Services

• Psychiatry

Department / Division:
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences / Geriatric Psychiatry

Address:
DUMC 3400
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone:
(919) 681-6633

Office Telephone:
(919) 681-6633

Fax Telephone:
(919) 383-6962

• M.D., M.H.Sc., University of California at San Francisco, 1982

• Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, 1989-92, 1991-92

• Geropsychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, 1991-92

Clinical Interests:
Psychotherapy/medication management, general adult psychiatry, depression, anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders related to medical illness, patients with a strong religious background wanting therapy from that perspective

Research Interests:
My primary research is focused on studying depressive disorders in the medically ill hospitalized elderly.  I am studying the phenomenology and diagnosis of depression in this population, psychosocial and health predictors of outcome, and health service utilization.  I am currently funded from 1993-1998 by an NIMH Clinical Mental Health Academic Award to study this topic.

Another area of research interest is ethical issues in geriatrics.  In particular, I have been studying opinions on physician assisted-suicide held by elderly medical and psychiatric patients and their families.  This project has been going on for 12 months in the GET clinic; we have enrolled over 100 patients and their families into the study.  I recently debated the topic of whether or not to legalize physician-assisted suicide in North Carolina at the annual NC Health and Law Forum in Greenville, NC.

A final area of interest is that of religion, health and aging.  We have established a Center for the Study of Religion/Spiratuality and Health within the Center for Aging devoted to research and dissemination of information on this topic.  I was recently selected by the National Institute on Aging and Fetzer Foundation to help co-chair a committee designed to bring together leaders from the disciplines of psychology, psychiatry, religion, sociology, gerontology, and medicine to come up with a consensus statement regarding the needed research in this area in this area and determine a list of topics for future funding by the NIA and Fetzer Foundation.

Representative Publications:
Koenig HG, Meador K, Cohen HJ, Blazer D: Depression in elderly men hospitalized with medical illness. Archives of Internal Medicine 148: 1929-1936, 1988. (1988)

Koenig HG, Cohen HJ, Kudler HS, Blazer DG, Dyke P: Religious affiliation and psychiatric disorder in Protestant baby boomers. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 45: 586-596, 1994. (1994)

Koenig HG, Cohen HJ, Blazer DG, Pieper C, Meador KG, Shelp F, Goli V, DiPasquale R" Religious coping and depression in elderly hospitalized medically ill men. American Journal of Psychiatry 149: 1693-1700.

Koenig HG, Cohen HJ, Kudler HS, Blazer DG, Krishnan KRR, Sibert TE: Profile of depression symptoms in younger and older medical inpatients with major depression. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 41: 1169-1176, 1993. (1993)

Koenig HG, Johnson S, Bellard J, Denker M, Fenlon R: Depression and anxiety disorder in older male inmates at a federal corrections facility. Hosptial and Community Psychiatry. In press.