Joseph E. Comaty

 

PRESENT POSITIONS

Chief Psychologist
HIPAA Privacy Officer
Chief - Bureau of Applied Research and Program Evaluation
Division of Planning, Evaluation, and Information Technology
Louisiana Office of Mental Health
Department of Health and Hospitals
1885 Wooddale Blvd., Room 925
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Phone: 225-922-3243
Fax: 225-925-4790
Email: jcomaty@dhh.la.gov

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Louisiana State University
236 Audubon Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Email: jcomat1@lsu.edu

Adjunct Faculty
Post-Doctoral Master’s Degree Program in Clinical Psychopharmacology
CSPP/Alliant International University
One Beach St., Suite 100
San Francisco, CA 94133

EDUCATION

1999
Post-doctoral Masters of Science in Clinical Psychopharmacology
CSPP/Alliant International University
San Francisco, California

1992
Ph.D., Clinical Psychology
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
North Chicago, IL 60064

1976
M.S., Experimental Psychology
Villanova University
Villanova, PA 19085

1971
A.B., Psychology
Villanova University
Villanova, PA 19085

LICENSES & CERTIFICATIONS

Louisiana Certificate of Prescription #682MP (Medical Psychologist)

Current State CDS and Federal DEA licenses

Louisiana License to Practice Psychology #682

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My primary area of research is clinical psychopharmacology. In particular, I am interested in the study of the clinical treatment for the major psychiatric disorders of schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar disorder. I have experience conducting clinical trials of new medications for the treatment of psychiatric disorders and more recently, in collaboration with Dr. Claire Advokat of this department, have been conducting ‘naturalistic’ or ‘real world’ studies examining the effectiveness of the newer antipsychotic medications. The requirements for bringing a drug to market involve the use of controlled clinical trials that use very homogenous patient groups who do not have any other disorders than the one for which the drug is intended. When these drugs are approved and used more broadly in general psychiatric patient populations who have multiple disorders (such as mental illness and substance abuse), they appear to demonstrate less effectiveness than predicted by results from controlled clinical trials. Therefore, it is important to examine how effective these drugs are when being used for a broad range of psychiatric conditions and for individuals who may have more than one clinical disorder.

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

· Advokat, C.D., L.J. Bertman, J.E. Comaty. Clinical outcome to clozapine treatment in chronic psychiatric inpatients. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 23: 1-14, 1999.

· Vesce, J., J.E. Comaty, C. Advokat. Antiaggressive action of atypical antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 21, 353-355, 2001 (Letter).

· Comaty, J.E. and C. Advokat. Indications for the use of atypical antipsychotics in the elderly. Journal of Clinical Geropsychology, 7, 285-308, 2001.

· Comaty, J.E., Stasio, M., Advokat, C. Analysis of outcome variables of a token economy (TE) treatment program in a state psychiatric hospital. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 22: 233-253, 2001.

· Advokat, C., Dixon, D., Schneider, J., Comaty, J.E. Comparison of risperidone and olanzapine as used under ‘real-world’ conditions in a state psychiatric hospital, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 28: 487-495, 2004.

· Advokat, C.D. and Comaty, J.E. Pharmacoeconomics of second-generation antipsychotics, Contemporary Psychiatry, 3: 1-10, 2004.

CLINICAL INTERESTS

· Clinical Psychopharmacology

· Diagnostic Assessment / Mental Status Examination

· Use of Clinical Rating Scales

· Functional Analysis / Behavior Therapy

· Program Development / Program Evaluation

Courses Center

Document Center