PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY

The authors and editors take great pains to ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained. In articles and departments where patient information is used to illustrate a presenting condition or diagnostic or treatment strategy, the patient's name is never used. In cases where a patient description is deemed relevant, patients are always referred to anonymously (e.g., Ms. X, 35, first complained of depressive symptoms during college).

In the rare instance that a brain scan or other clinical image is used to illustrate an article, we obscure patient names that appear on these images. The authors and editors also ensure that the patient's identity is never revealed in tables or figures that accompany an article.