Mental Health Update

No one knows right now if Jennifer is mentally ill; the kind of psychotic break I know people with bipolar disorder can suffer when in the throes of a florid manic episode might apply here. Or perhaps she's just childish and selfish, completely unaware of the shitstorm she set off. As more than one Duluth resident said on the local news here in the Atlanta area; "She could have called someone, even one of the bridesmaids..."

I really think my baby is just fine. While this whole situation has raised my (already admittedly high) anxiety level to an intrusive point, the anxiety stems from my somewhat-wretched ability to stand the fuck up for myself and a tendency to shy away from confrontation.

Oh, and you know what else it said about this medicine? Get this: "effective for patients who have failed to respond to antidepressants or mood stabilizers."

The more I asked myself how to change our ways and learn to manage life, the more I began to open up and discuss these issues with others. The more I talked, the more other people opened up to me and I realized I am not alone. I am appalled at how many people work their fingers to the bone and are still just scraping by. It is terrible the amount of latch key children in society today, yet, what is a parent to do? Even when there are two parents at home and working, you still can’t get ahead, I can’t imagine trying to manage this while being single.

Not for parenting. Manic dperessives often relate their mood swings to the swinging of a pendulum, back and forth. But really, bipolar disorder is less a pendulum (although I guess it is when you aren't in treatment of some sort) and more like a teeter totter. At least in my experience. On the one side you have events that contribute to depression and related emotional downs. On the other, you have events that contribute to mania and related upswings. A lot of our time is spent trying to balance the beam. Some people use medication, some people try to moderate lifestyle, some of it is natural but ultimately the goal is to get the beam into equilibrium and alternately keep from flying off or crashing to the ground.

I am also keenly aware that there is a high probability that my son will suffer from depression in his life. High because of my own bipolar disorder. I think back to my time in high school and I resolve to be more of a parent than my own parents were, to be involved, and to not let my son suffer in silence. But I think about the day I went looking for my father's gun and I know the real reason I will never keep a gun in the house.

Doctors are easily persuaded to prescribe antidepressants — often unnecessarily — when patients mention having seen them in television advertisements, researchers reported Tuesday.

In an unusual experiment in which actresses posed as patients, doctors were five times more likely to write them prescriptions after the patients inquired about a specific antidepressant, Paxil. The actresses pretended to have a mild form of depression, a condition that does not require antidepressants.

"Prions enter brain cells and there convert the normal cell protein PrPC to the prion form of the protein, called PrPSC. When normal cell proteins transform into prions, amino acids that are folded tightly into alpha helical structures relax into looser beta sheets. More and more PrPC molecules transform into PrPSC molecules, until eventually prions completely clog the infected brain cells. The cells misfire, work poorly, or don't work at all. In mad cow disease, for example, with their brain cells running amuck, the mad cows wobble and stagger and appear fearful--their "madness" is craziness, not anger. Sheep and goats with the disease scrapie, which is like mad cow disease, become so uncomfortable and itchy that they frantically rub up against anything they can, finally scraping off--hence, the name of the disease--most of their wool and hair (2)."

I'm sure some of you (guys, probably) are thinking, "Thanks a lot, Title IX," but steroids are being viewed not only as a solution to quickly improve athletic performance; some girls are using them "to get the toned, sculpted look of models and movie stars." What happened to a simple eating disorder, you ask? Apparently, in many cases, the steriod-abusing females "are the same girls who have eating disorders." This makes some sense, in an unstable sort of way, as on the surface taking shots or pills appears less self-abusive than inducing vomiting...

Everyone knows entrepreneurs are a little crazy, and a new book claims it's both genetic and very American. In The Hypomanic Edge : The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America, author John D. Gartner claims that the personality traits that define entrepreneurial overachievers, like exceptional energy reserves, gut-instinct decision making, and an affinity for taking risks, are symptoms of hypomania, a psychiatric cousin of bipolar disorder. Gartner suggests the U.S. leads in churning out entrepreneurs because this is a...

Consequently, Dr. Stuart C. Yudofsky of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas estimated that another 15 to 30 percent of people have a close relationship with someone -- perhaps a co-worker, partner or family member -- who has antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, or some other personality disorder.

People with the histrionic type of personality disorder, a common condition, are impulsive and quickly form intense but shallow relationships. People with borderline personality disorder are typically unstable, exhibit wild mood swings, and have self-destructive behavior. Other personality disorders include narcissistic, paranoid, schizotypal, and addictive types.

...a warning reflecting the increased risk of side-effects such as suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts and hostility (predominantly aggression, oppositional behaviour and anger) in children and adolescents treated with antidepressants should be included in the product information of citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, mianserine, milnacipran, mirtazapine, paroxetine, reboxetine, sertraline and venlafaxine containing medicinal products to warn physicians, patients and parents regarding this signal.

All antidepressants have the potential to cause weight gain and yet most people seem unaware that weight gain is one of the most common side effects associated with Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, Wellbutrin, Zyprexa and many other behavioral drugs until it is too late. Ironically, this common side effect causes an increase in depression as it can seriously impact self-esteem.

It is generally accepted these days that new nerve cells are continually being formed in the adult brain. One suggestion is that these new neurons could be important for memory and learning. The number of new cells formed is governed by a number of factors such as stress, depression, physical activity and antidepressants.

In the major depression visits, in 80 of 149 visits (54 percent) antidepressants were prescribed. Rates of antidepressant prescribing were 53 percent in the brand-specific group, 76 percent in the general request group, and 31 percent in the group making no request. Paroxetine (Paxil) was prescribed in 3 percent of cases, except for the 27 percent of cases where Paxil was requested by name.

The second isolated amino acid in aspartame’s chemical structure is phenylalanine, fifty per cent of aspartame’s 3-D structure. Too much phenylalanine causes seizures, elevated blood plasma, is dangerous for pregnancy (causing retardation), PMS caused by phenylalanine’s blockage of serotonin, insomnia, severe mood swings, and even schizophrenia.

Early this month in Billings, Mont., a federal judge, Richard Cebull, blocked the Bush administration's plans to resume imports of Canadian cattle and beef. Those imports ended in late May 2003 after mad cow disease was discovered in a Canadian cow. Since then, Canada has discovered three more cases of the disease. The United States Department of Agriculture argues that there is a "very low" or "minimal" risk in reopening the border to live cattle under 30 months of age and to certain cuts of beef. But that argument is based on a hope and a wish.

The study itself looks pretty solid to me. It's the secondary spin that's insidious. Third parties are trying to give the public a false sense of security about the obesity crisis. Being overweight is good for you, the flacks insist. Well, not exactly... (Being overweight is probably healthier than yo-yo dieting, eating disorders, or extreme bariatric surgery, but this study doesn't bear on those important issues.)

The physical and emotional strains of the whole process are can contribute to depression, eating disorders, and general ill health.

“If you have been treated for mood, anxiety, or other psychological disorders, including panic attacks, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, etc. be prepared for a regression with many symptoms resurfacing after about a month in your host country…. This regression is due to the extra stress of living and working abroad.”

One child with a learning disability and/or an attention deficit disorder can keep a classroom in constant uproar if nothing is done to counteract his trouble with attention, organization, time, and social acceptance. In these areas, the youngster does not have the ability to control and change his own behavior. Teachers have to deal with these problems by adjusting his environment. Careful classroom management can prevent the LD/ADD student from becoming a strongly disruptive influence.

My experience with Wellbutrin was freaking awful. The doctor prescribed it to me to help me quit smoking and it turned me into an absolute jerk. I had fights with my wife (and we NEVER fight) and had several anxiety attacks, like you mentioned.

Oh ya! Wellbutrin is definately the worst anti-depressant I have tried! I was like a psycho person on that stuff. Honestly, I think almost all of the anti-depressants out there suck. They help at first, but then (in my experience) just make you worse in the long run. The best medicine I think it to just try to learn how to control your subconscious. Of course this is much easier said than done. Clonazepam is a good one for just straight anxiety though.

Usually I come online and look up random issues, and today I decided to look up eating disorders. I’ve thought ‘there has got to be more out there than just anorexia and bulimia … something strange and I’m going to find it.” So that is what I did. Now before you people go yelling at me, no, I’m not making fun of those with eating disorders. Here is what I found :

PICA: Pica is an eating disorder typically defined as the persistent eating of non-nutritive substances for a period of at least one month. Individuals with pica have been reported to ingest a wide variety of non-food substances, such as: clay, dirt, sand, stones, pebbles, hair, feces, lead, laundry starch, vinyl gloves, plastic, pencil erasers, ice, fingernails, paper, paint chips, coal, chalk, wood, plaster, light bulbs, needles, string, and burnt matches.

Researcher Dr. Sarah Russell has written a book called A lifelong journey: Staying well with manic depression and bipolar disorder, which gives a positive take on mental illness thanks to her own experiences and those of the many people she has interviewed.

It could be said that this book began in 1979 when Sarah was diagnosed with manic depression (“The word bipolar disorder wasn’t around when I was diagnosed,” she says.).

The combination of individual psychotherapy and medications is known to help. Antidepressants especially SSRIs have been tried with some success. Other medications have been helpful to address the associated symptoms. Anxiety and agitation can be treated with benzodiazepines. The latter should be restricted to short-term use because of their addiction potential. Insomnia can be treated by a small dose of Trazodone.

A new emergence of depression in a patient with a history of schizophrenia might be a harbinger of the emergence of a new episode psychosis, generally within a week or two. An appropriate treatment response for a new episode of depression in such a patient, therefore, is increased surveillance (especially with regard to psychotic or disinhibited behaviour), ensuring adherence with antipsychotic medication regimens, interventions to reduce stress, and the bolstering of nonspecific psychosocial supports (Siris, 2005).

This is a case involving an armed bank robbery, albeit with an unloaded semiautomatic gun. Defendant Gorsuch has a history of being admitted to mental hospitals with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

Choosing between the available SSRIs for management of obsessive compulsive disorder is difficult, as their effects are very similar. In the absence of comparator data, the selection of the drug depends upon personal preference. Occasionally the possibility of a drug interaction influences the choice. Sertraline and citalopram are relatively weak inhibitors of the hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes which metabolize many psychotropic and other medications, and may be preferred if drug interactions are likely to be a problem. Fluoxetine and paroxetine...

Shock therapy, a controversial practice conjuring frightening images of behavior control, still has a place in schizophrenia treatment, a newly updated research review shows.

Although the data confirmed that antipsychotic drugs are still the first choice for schizophrenia treatment, they also showed that electroconvulsive, or shock, therapy clearly works, and combining both treatments can accelerate benefits to some patients, the review finds.

“ The most significant finding is that ECT combined with antipsychotics is more effective than antipsychotics alone in producing rapid clinical improvement in people with schizophrenia,” Tharyan said. Rapid improvement of symptoms is potentially lifesaving, for instance, when a person with schizophrenia is suicidal.

The American Psychiatric Association supports use of ECT only to treat severe, disabling mental disorders. However, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the United Kingdom does not recommend general use of ECT for schizophrenia, although it may be indicated for catatonia.

At University, sharing a flat with this great guy with a manic depression problem. He'd get amazingly excited over things like RISC co-processors (I once saw him bore a girl at a disco enthusing over 486 micro co-processors) and Finnish heavy metal bands - but on the flipside, you'd go into the kitchen the Sunday morning after the night before and find his blood on the bread knife, since he'd been cutting himself. He got off the alcohol, got on the lithium and AFAIK is living a great life in Chicago. Lucky swine.

Studies show links between supressed anger and alcoholism, eating disorders and depression (the last two of which are suffered by women at much higher rates). I find that when I'm not depressed, I'm pissed off more often. I also find that being pissed off kinda feels good. So if I am frequently threatening to punch people in the face, don't worry. It's when I stop doing that that you should be concerned.

When psychological and emotional disturbances can be traced to faulty brain chemistry and corrected with a pill, the idea that sitting and talking can treat a problem such as clinical depression might seem outdated.

I’m working on a playlist for my party next Friday. Things are going okay with it, a lot of obstacles in my way of having the party, but it’ll go on! I started taking Depakote for bipolar disorder, and it might be working. Might because it could be a placebo, I don’t know. I’m in a clinical research study. I get my blood tested every week, and they just upped my dosage today to 1500mg! I got $5 Burger King coupons, a $10 Target gift card, a shirt, and more medicine.

Since 1998, Jayne and Abdelfatah "Ed" Elebiari owned a condominium at the Auburn Woods I complex. Seven years before their condo purchase, Ed was in a serious car accident and suffered brain damage that required three surgeries. He is hydrocephalic, has a seizure disorder, severe headaches, and suffers from depression.

His psychiatrist also diagnosed him as having bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Ed's doctor considers him to be permanently disabled and incapable of working.

Ed's wife Jayne also suffered from depression. Her condition was diagnosed as "major depression, recurrent" with depression episodes lasting from nine months to a year.

I also began to experiment with meditation to help with my anxiety issues, initially trying to do TM for 5 minutes a day then just sitting listening to Pink Floyd. After dropping out of grad school and in another depression, I read the book Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and this book opened that crack of liberation and awareness a little bit more. I was looking for reviews of that book and found one at What Is Enlightenment? magazine and decided to also read an article written by Ken Wilber. Again, I felt lit up inside and started reading more...

A lot of eating disorders seemingly start with the implementation of a ritual into the eating pattern of a sufferer. They may start eating things in a certain order, or having only a certain number of items on a plate. This is, of course, simply an example of control over what they are eating. Many sufferers state that their ED started through attempting to exert some degree of control.

According to researchers at Columbia University in New York, in their report, Lyme disease: a neuropsychiatric illness, they state that “A broad range of psychiatric reactions have been associated with Lyme disease including paranoia, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, major depression, anorexia nervosa, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Depressive states among patients with late Lyme disease are fairly common,...

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and collaborating institutions found altered nerve cell function in olfactory receptor neurons – those that transmit smell – in patients with bipolar disorder. Because these cells share many characteristics with nerve cells in the brain, making these smell cells useful models for studying the neural effects of brain disorders that affect thoughts and emotions. See Olfactory receptor cells may provide clues to psychiatric...

I have a slight phobia (and by slight phobia, I mean occasionally paralyzing fear) of drowning and heights. So, get me in an inflatable raft over deep and clear (and by clear, I mean able to see how high I am from the bottom of the lake) and my heart jumps with anxiety at having my lungs flooded with water while I plunge (if slowly) to my death. But with a swimming noodle and a life vest blown up like Sponge Bob Squarepants balloon at my nephew’s birthday party, I felt comfortable enough to gaze down from the great height of the ocean’s...

Two interesting takes on depressive tendencies and the creative process: the first from Peter D. Kramer, author of 'Listening to Prozac', whose essay 'There's Nothing Deep About Depression' in today's New York Times makes the case that people who think art and depression go hand in hand are dead wrong.

Dead as in metaphorically, not dead as in Vincent van Gogh rotting in his suicidal grave.

In truth, anyone who thinks a tormented soul is the Romantic essential to creative genius has probably never been depressed nor created anything much. Because anyone who has ever been depressed knows how debilitating hopelessness is; and anyone who has ever created anything worth sharing knows that to create is to hope.

Two cows in northeast Japan's Miyagi Prefecture have been tentatively tested positive for mad cow disease earlier this month, Kyodo News reported Tuesday.

Still, 7 percent of athletes in general, and 25 percent of those from lean sports were identified as being at risk for eating disorders, based on their responses to questions about dieting, fear of weight gain and preoccupation with weight. The same was true of nearly 13 percent of nonathletes.

"In the past, there really was not a good way to definitively diagnose attention deficit disorder," Routh said.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a mood disorder that affects one in every 70 people. The cycle of mood shifts that distinguish the disease -- from manic highs to depressive lows -- differs with every sufferer. Without treatment, the condition worsens over time.

My body entombs me.

The body is the source of the drive for gratification. Its appetites never cease. It is insatiable and cannot sustain itself. It requires maintenance through sport and exercise. It requires fuel. Under consumerism the old hostility towards its appetites has been modified. Still the object of discipline, we impose the aesthetic sensibilities of culture upon it, extracting compliance with the aid of cosmetics and depilatories, personal hygiene products stock the shelves with their anxiety-suppressing fragrances, from mouthwash to panty liners, unsightly hair removers, shaving the armpits.

There are just some days when life really seems pointless to me. Be it low-grade depression or not, I suppose it’s just that I am like that. And I have been like this since I was 12. You know life always seems perfect before the first real traumatic incident hits. I was so afraid. Afraid when my great-grandmother passed away. Afraid when our family dog died. Suddenly life seemed so fragile and old age such a demon. I became so terrified of it because I did not want the same to happen to my grandparents, parents and my uncle. If it...

. . . A Tired Girl may suffer from migraines or depression or chronic fatigue syndrome (now called CFIDS) or fibromyalgia or bipolar disorder or the persistent, mixed-headache syndrome called chronic daily headache (CDH), which is Kamen's diagnosis. It's quite possible she has more than one of these conditions; scientists are now inclined to believe that these ailments (along with epilepsy and other seizure disorders) are related at the neurological level, and people who suffer from one are exceptionally likely to have the others.

Normally, you would expect that should a bipolar person go off of his medication, the bipolar symptoms would come up. Bipolar Disorder is an illness that you have to continue to treat, even when you are feeling well.

Subjects with lower benzodiazepine doses and no previous withdrawal attempts were more successful at benzodiazepine discontinuation. Cluster B personality/borderline personality disorder was associated with an inability to stop benzodiazepine use and with "dropping out" of treatment. Alcohol use-related disorders or other psychiatric diagnoses were not associated with outcome.

Further studies on predictors of successful benzodiazepine discontinuation in different populations are required. Patients manifesting cluster B personality/borderline personality disorder and benzodiazepine dependence may need concomitant treatment for their personality disorders to benefit from benzodiazepine discontinuation treatment.

- DON’T assume that you’ll be able to party the way you did in first and second year. Your marks begin to dictate the extent of your social life, not your friends.

- DO try to uphold some semblance of extracurricular activities. Getting bogged down in nothing but your schoolwork is the perfect recipe for anxiety and depression.

- DON’T skip classes. Unlike first and second year where you’re just an ID number in a 350-seat lecture, your Profs will know, even if they don’t appear to notice. I’ve had English Profs make cutting remarks to me in the halls and even penalize me on my papers for skipping their classes once too often. It doesn’t matter of you think they’re lousy and your time would be better spent researching on your own. Suck it up and GO TO CLASS.

Having been where you are five months ago, pregnancy anxiety is still fairly fresh in my mind! I went completely unmedicated this time and my emotions ran the gamut re my ability to deal with the pain. Not to sound "way out," but pregnancy and childbirth really are the ultimate surrender and reminder that we are not in charge! (Tough for a type A like me!)

“some promising studies that have shown ways to reduce anxiety not by trying to get you to forget, say, a bad experience, but by using techniques that can cause you to transform or “reappraise” the experience”.

This documentary film will be the testimony of a personal and subjective adventure. It will also show the dangers and risks involved in Shamanism: (1) losing yourself in the light or the darkness of your recently awakened emotions or (2) misinterpreting the feelings or visions. This could lead to schizophrenia in the event these journeys not be guided by competent Shamans or compliant with an unyielding discipline and strict diet.

So I was surprised to see that the book reliably conveys that there is very good cause for concern. Studies correlate the rise in autism with the rise in mercury based vaccination and also other famously growing ailments among children, including ADD (attention deficit disorder), ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), and gross speech delay. One mother last night told me that her son at 7 spoke no better than a 2 year old.

An estimated 8 million adult Americans struggle with the inattention disorders like attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to researchers from Harvard Medical School. But, they say, only 20 percent realize it.

In fact, multitasking — a computing term that involves doing, or trying to do, more than one thing at once — has cemented itself into our daily lives and is intensely studied. Research has shown it to be consistently counterproductive, often foolish, unhealthy in the long run, and in the case of gabbing on the cell phone while driving, relatively dangerous. Yet it is also expected, encouraged and basically essential. This is such a topic of study that it has sprouted a number of terms, from "online compulsive disorder" to "data...

WE ARE WHAT WE THINK "We have so many options, reward centers that we never had before," says John Ratey, who teaches at Harvard and is a psychiatrist specializing in attention deficit disorder. "I think that’s why we’re seeing more of this. There are more demands on our attention and less training for us to stop and take it all in. We seem to be amazing ourselves to death."

Withdrawal symptoms are encountered with both the classical anti-depressants, i.e. the tricyclic antidepressants and monoamineoxidase inhibitors, the modern antidepressants, i.e. the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, and the new antidepressants such as venlafaxine and mirtazapine.

The idea that pot causes psychosis is a funny thing. There is an association between marijuana and schizophrenia maybe, but it probably is incorrect to say that pot "causes" psychosis.

Having said this, I remember seeing patients who were psychotic and diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and I can tell you that their pot use didn't help their psychosis, it seemed to exacerbate it.

Of course, I can clinically argue that people uncomfortable with symptoms of psychosis might be using pot to try to minimize the impact that their symptoms have on them. In other words, they are self medicating. People with schizophrenia sometimes use other tranquilizing drugs as well such as alcohol.

Eli Lilly & Co. won a court ruling that will prevent generic-drug makers from selling low-cost versions of its $4.4 billion-a-year Zyprexa schizophrenia drug before 2011.

A group of farmers on Monday filed a $7-billion class-action lawsuit against the federal government, alleging its failure to protect against mad cow disease led to a crisis in the cattle industry.

I know that I'm hiding from something when I can't stay awake for more than a few hours at a time. Was once my only defense against depression. Now, it seems to kick in whenever stress levels are high. It is as though my body knows things that I don't, and when it has had enough stress it just shuts down. Not surprisingly, I usually feel at least a little better when I awaken.

The problems that the Stevens Center members face in “normative” society are numerous. I think that the main issue that is going to cause problems is trouble communicating and expressing thoughts. As a result of their disabilities, the members are labeled as “unstable” by normal society. “Normative” society places these stereotypes on people that have disabilities, and thus the members of the Stevens Center are restricted from getting jobs that they are perfectly capable of, just because they are suffering from a mental disability. The Stevens Center provides a base for the members to grow from. They can use their interactions to remember what it was like to be a part of the “normal” community, and get closer to living “normal” lives.

Under certain conditions, incorrectly folded proteins can transmit diseases from one individual to another. This is the mechanism in diseases caused by prions, such as mad cow disease or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. In principle prions are normal proteins, but they have an abnormal three-dimensional structure. Prions bring about infections by prompting other normal protein molecules to assume the abnormal form. These lumps then aggregate into a chain, which starts a chain reaction that ultimately causes a fatal disease.

Remuda Ranch suggests approaching a loved one with an eating disorder in a gentle, non-judgmental way. Asking basic questions can open the door to dialogue. Don't assume your loved one will lie about their condition -- their behavior could be a cry for help. On the other hand, many people with eating disorders will deny that there's a problem. Don't get discouraged if they reject your offer to help: leave the door open and keep coming back until they are willing to accept help.

More people are worried about money than at any time since the Great Depression. Families are divorcing over money, they’re fighting over money; 51% of Americans just responded to a survey saying money is the most sensitive topic in the household.

Individuals with bipolar disorder have an average of 30% more of a vital class of signal-sending brain cells, according to new data. This discovery strengthens the hypothesis that the disorder has inescapable genetic and biologic origins, and may clarify why it runs in families.

Smell cell receptors within the nose are giving researchers vital clues to bipolar disorder that might someday improve treatment for the condition.

“A major issue in treating bipolar disorder – or psychiatric disorders in general – is that it is hard to predict which medication a patient will respond to. So, clinicians go through a series of trials and errors, and the patient suffers until the right medication is found,” lead author Dr. Chang-Gyu Hahn, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.

However, Bartleby’s subjects are able to perform almost all other social, psychological, and work-related duties as well or as poorly as the next person, though sometimes preferring not to; thus, the designation of Bartleby’s as an Axis II avoidant/anxiety disorder.

Ollendick, T. H , & March, J. S. (Eds.). (2004). Phobic and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: A clinician’s guide to effective psychosocial and pharmacological interventions. London: Oxford University Press.

It’s sort of like the normal version of attention deficit disorder. But it’s a condition induced by modern life, in which you’ve become so busy attending to so many inputs and outputs that you become increasingly distracted, irritable, impulsive, restless and, over the long term, underachieving. In other words, it costs you efficiency because you’re doing so much or trying to do so much, it’s as if you’re juggling one more ball than you possibly can.

This article describes the conundrum we're in now: Do antidepressants cause suicide or reduce the risk in depressed patients? These scientists say that more effective antidepressants have led to a reduction in suicide. Others say that the drop in suicide rates since 1988 has occurred because firearms are harder to obtain today. Another possibility is that these drugs are beneficial in adults but could actually cause suicidal thoughts in the developing brains of kids and teens. A related...

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Researchers say that antidepressants have reduced the suicide rate:

The patient experienced his body being taken over by her spirit and also heard the voice of the ghost commenting on his actions and commanding him to act. These are classic first rank symptoms, first listed by psychiatrist Kurt Schneider as being particularly distinctive of schizophrenia.

Western medical belief systems led us to a differential diagnosis of dissociative state or paranoid schizophrenia. However, we were conscious that the beliefs of at least four priests from three different religions cast doubt on the delusional nature of the phenomena.

Exorcism having failed, we prescribed trifluoperazine (4mg daily) producing apparent remission. Following return to remand prison, he was commenced on a depot neuroleptic, zuclopenthixol decanoate, remaing in remission 12 weeks later following hospital transfer.

The United States has covered up cases of mad cow disease in the past eight years, a former U.S. agriculture inspector said Tuesday at a House of Commons committee.

I had a great time at the 7th London International Conference on Eating Disorders last week. As usual, a wonderfully diverse and stimulating programme, very well organised by Rachel Bryant Waugh, Bryan Lask and their hardworking team of volunteers.

There was quite a bit of media coverage of the conference, particularly about Bryan Lask and colleagues' neuroimaging work. Bryan was on 'All in the Mind' on Radio 4 last week talking about this and other issues in eating disorders. The work was also mentioned in the Independent Newspaper.

Individuals with severe depression who do not respond to standard types of treatment may be helped with an experimental treatment called deep brain stimulation, Canadian investigators report.

While lithium treatment has proved to be a godsend for many of the 2 million Americans with bipolar disorder, it is not without its downside. People on the drug may develop hypothyroidism, tremors, cognitive impairment and excessive thirst, urination and gain weight.

The atypical antipsychotics fall into three drug classes based on their chemical structure. Because the increase in mortality was seen with atypical antipsychotic medications in all three chemical classes, the Agency has concluded that the effect is probably related to the common pharmacologic effects of all atypical antipsychotic medications, including those that have not been systematically studied in the dementia population. In addition to the drugs that were studied, the atypical antipsychotic medications include clozapine (Clozaril) and ziprasidone...

Anemic wives slowly kill their husbands choosing foods that are rich in a single mineral. Growing children are at risk for attention deficit disorder because of a shortage of the same mineral. By middle age, males will store twice as much of this mineral and experience twice the diabetes, cancer and heart disease as females. The mineral is iron. It is the mineral of health and disease. Iron must be controlled throughout life to maintain health and achieve longevity, says health writer Bill Sardi in his newly release e-book The Iron Time Bomb.

1) Breathing strongly influences mind, body and moods. By simply focusing your attention on your breathing, and without doing anything to change it, you move in the direction of relaxation. There are many worse places to have your attention—on your thoughts, for one, since thoughts are the source of much of our anxiety, guilt and unhappiness. Get in the habit of shifting your awareness to your breath whenever you find yourself dwelling on upsetting thoughts.

Well, last night I was reminded that this women, and so many others, speak such truth that I often take for granted. It's been a really, really long time since I've dealt with anxiety on a physical level, but yesterday was different. The kids were bouncing off the walls on day 6 of spring break, my allergies were going crazy, and needless to say by eight o'clock I had a migraine. After getting the kids to bed I collapsed in my own bed waiting for the pain to pass. Unfortunately, the pain and fear of pain set off a full-blown panic attack. I...

Results published last week in the British Medical Journal indicate that adults taking antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft (serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRI's) are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide as patients given placebos.

Thanks in part to Stephanie Herseth, Japan has now made it clear that it, too, would prefer to not import beef contaminated with mad cow disease.

Exactly what part of importing unsafe beef inspires confidence in foreign markets is unclear, as Byron Dorgan pointed out: “Somehow, you’re going to give Japan confidence by allowing Canadian cattle to come into this country on the heels of four examples of mad cow disease in Canada? I don’t think so.”

His illness is an obstacle. It is not an insurmountable obstacle. One of my friends just married a woman who suffers from manic depression. He was married to another woman who also suffered from manic depression for many years before that. The question for you is: do YOU want to surmount this obstacle? Life will always bring you difficulties and obstacles so that you can grow and learn and mature and evolve. I don't think it is fortuitous that he came into your life. Why did he come into your life, you think? Why him? Why did you fall in love with HIM and not someone else? I am sure you will find answers if you ask these questions. As we discussed the other day, a relationship is an interesting space where, first and foremost, we learn to know about... ourselves!

Not all overweight people exposed to images of skinny models and the such develop eating disorders. Of course, it is a serious issue that merits attention, but the way it's addressed today eclipses the obesity problem. That is just as serious, if not more so due to the scope of the problem. (After all, America is the land of the obese. Reader's Digest showed food and drink portions in the US as far bigger than elsewhere around the world. "American food" brings to mind all that is sugary, greasy, fried, and fatty- burgers, barbeques, fries, pizzas, chips, pies, sodas, shakes. What about the increasing number of obese children too?) People need to examine and acknowledge the various factors behind eating disorders and stop automatically blaming models and celebrities.

Under recovery at www.amazon.com are the following topics: general (which includes the works of Janet Woititz, the founder of ACOA, Pia Mellody, Alcoholic Anonymous--Big Book 4th Edition, Charles Whitfield, Patrick Carnes, John and Linda Friel, etc.), Adult Children of Alcoholics, alcoholism, drug dependency, eating disorders, sexual, smoking, substance abuse, and twelve-step progams. Ths listmanias contributed by various readers are quite good as recources for starting or continuing a study...

I had a difficult week trying to overcome a minor depression. A few otherwise innocuous events occurred earlier in the week. If not for their clustering around a short timespan, I might not have felt as low as I did, but we never would know.

This disease goes by a number of names. My favourite, the one that sounds most harmless, is procrastination. . . . another name for the disease is cowardice, defeatism, "low self-esteem",or just plain debilitating fear. Fear of failure, certainly, but also to some extent fear of success, fear of knowing how much of your life you have squandered. It also masquerades as depression. Or is depression perhaps the root cause of the disease, or the result of the disease?

This is what worries me about myself. I have started to pull out the rock that I've been hiding under over the past winter and it hasn't been a pretty sight. I have become quite agitated, grumpy, impatient and have lost my self-control of feelings and hunger, especially. I have been feeling so terribly low that I'm beginning to wonder if I am in full-fledged depression.

My wife read a story in a baby magazine that we frequently receive that mentioned something about 1 in 8 men actually suffer from depression after a child is born into the family. 1 in 8!!! Could that be me? She continued to read off the symptoms (guessing around 10 were mentioned) and all but 2 described how I have been feeling to a "T!" Could this be my problem? I am actually clinically depressed!? I must say that the idea of having a mental condition is frightening as I have never had one before. Could this be my problem? I wish that I...

When we first started chatting, I was right smack in the middle of a nasty depression, brought on by a multitude of different factors. Finding someone that could not only understand and relate, but share some of the exact same feelings and problems, has been incredibly amazing. You've helped me to let things out that I've never even considered giving voice to. You made me realize that some of the things I do, no matter how "normal" they felt to me at the time, were anything but "normal". You've opened my eyes to a great deal of things about my life,...

The feminists hated Fatal Attraction because the movie paints Alex as a "disturbed" woman who is psychotic at the end and is probably one of the best cinematic depictions of Borderline Personality Disorder ever made, and yet Dan is "psychotic" too when he jeopardizes his marriage, his family, maybe even his career on a weekend indiscretion. Perhaps Dan is too narcissistic and suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

I mean this guy did not know me from Adam. Adam...Adams�get it? Sometimes I just kill me. Literally. Like that time in college with the pills, the rope, the roof and the tube from my car exhaust. Talk about overkill. Oh, did you know that when you take Depakote, your bipolar disorder calms down really a whole, whole lot, and you focus much better? (Ooh, is that a puppy outside the window?) Hold on a sec.

Anyway...goodnight. I'm going to sit here and listen to Van Morrison and just play around on the computer for a moment or two before going on to bed. I'm tired, but I feel good, though. I feel like I used to when I actually enjoyed being up late...before the insomnia, anxiety, and depression took over. It feels good, it really does.

“Spiritual affinity” develops over time with repeated contact. When these feelings begin to emerge, the brain produces endorphins. These are more like morphine and result in an increased sense of calm that reduces anxiety and helps to build attachment. Generally speaking, all “soul mate relationships” require at least some measure of each of these. The important thing to remember is that they come in stages, which is not to say that the physical attraction passes as one moves into a deeper connection. However, it changes....

I have the occasional bout of insomnia. It happens when something is bothering me, but I haven't quite figured out a plan to deal with the problem. It's a symptom of anxiety, and I'm glad that I can recognize it now. Once I figure out a plan, I can usually fall asleep. The last time I had temporary insomnia was during this past summer in Gloucester, when I was thinking about how different life would be when I moved out to Illinois.

The cause of this temporary bout of insomnia is the hanging cloud of a Game Theory exam a week from today, or more precisely 172.5 hours from now. I normally don't have test-anxiety, but I've slacked off a bit in the class, so I probably feel a little guilty inside. Since I might as well be productive, I climbed out of bed at 3am, read some of My Boys, and read some probability.

Anemic wives slowly kill their husbands choosing foods that are rich in a single mineral. Growing children are at risk for attention deficit disorder because of a shortage of the same mineral. By middle age, males will store twice as much of this mineral and experience twice the diabetes, cancer and heart disease as females. The mineral is iron. It is the mineral of health and disease. Iron must be controlled throughout life to maintain health and achieve longevity, says health writer Bill Sardi in his newly release e-book The Iron Time Bomb.

A very telling (to me) example was this 15 year old child who was placed on a series of antidepressants. The father was largely absent, the mother is rigid and uncompromising, and the kid has a chronic health problem with which she has never been taught to emotionally cope.

I would like to know where all these wonderful treatments are at and why I haven't been allowed to benefit from them? I've only been fighting this disease for nearly all my life and I've been going to doctors and taking meds for well over 10 years. I come to you and all I get is an intern and more meds. And now because I am too anxious to leave the house and was unable to make my last two appointments, my antidepressants are being withheld.

Effexor is actually the only antidepressant I've been able to take without severe side effects or emotional numbness. But nobody warns you of what happens if you stop taking them. I can't tell you how many times I've heard that antidepressants don't have withdrawal symptoms - from doctors, of course.

‘Antidepressants may do more than improve the mental health of people with both HIV and depression. New study findings suggest the treatment may also bolster patients’ compliance with their HIV medications.

In a study of HIV-positive people seen at Denver public health clinics, researchers found that among the patients with depression, those who were on antidepressants were more likely to be compliant with their antiretroviral HIV drugs.

People suffering from manic depression experience moments of productivity and happiness at times and utter depression at others.� Drugs such as EFFEXOR XR or Lithium are available for those suffering from this illness.� Although certain drugs provide much needed help, many refuse to take them.� The addictive highs as well as the seductive lows will vanish.� Many are not willing to give these periods up.� Others believe that drugs affecting...

I’ve been thinking a lot about Barbie dolls. In Berkeley they are an anathema, designed with unrealistic body proportions to give your daughter eating disorders. I suppose that may ring true, but when my generation was a child Barbies were all we had besides baby dolls (which I was too much of a tomboy to touch). My girlfriends today all remember their Barbies and how they interacted with them. Every girl’s story of her Barbies is elaborate and telling.

Look at the Spice Girls. Look at them, for just a second. Sure they have mediocre solo careers, or in the case of Scary and Posh, no careers, but they’re still freeloading off their earnings from the 5 years that the Spice Girls owned the fucking Earth. So much cash. Sure it was littered with cat fights, eating disorders, and press nightmare stories, and Geri (Ginger)’s awful fashion sense, but so much cash. Now they’re free. If I had an option between being a worldwide pop phenomenon and going to college for four years, I would definitely do the former. Then I could buy eight kajillion college degrees with my earnings.

Well that was about 3 weeks ago. Since then I have found out that I am not pg *whew* but my moods are HORRIBLE. I am crabby and anxious. I have days filled with depression and most of the time I can barely function. At least that is how I feel. I have been super tired and just *blah*. I thought it was my iron but no matter how much extra red meat I have there is no change. It has to be my decreased dose. :( I really wanted to be able to come off of this medication but I don't know how good that would be for me. Even my hubby says that this...

I have been wrestling with depression and anxiety for this whole pregnancy. In February I gave a lot of thought to getting a prescription for an SSRI because I was so bogged down. (A few years ago I took Paxil for a few months and it made a huge difference for me.) But the combination of side effects (nausea and sleeplessness, both of which were already plaguing me) and the fact that it takes a few weeks to kick in, together with worry about long-term effects on the baby, made me decide not to do it. I was thinking that my woes were situational, and that I would be happier once we were all together again.

The life I have had, the one I’m scared to return to is one of endless responsibility and unreachable expectations. My own expectations and John’s expectations. I think that is a big part of why I have numbed out with binging and TV. I have felt too overwhelmed and bombarded by a life I have not been able to manage. I think I have not been able to manage if for a variety of reasons: depression, anxiety, unrealistic expectations are the main ones that come to mind. Because I feel like I haven’t been able to succeed as expected to, I’ve been really hard on myself. I haven’t been giving myself positive affirmations/self talk. I haven’t been proud of myself, because there in my mind, if I’m not meeting mine/John’s expectations in full, there is no reason to.

There is a report of a study in the April, 2005 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry which found that Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy was just as effective in treating depression as antidepressants.

Not good news for the pharm industry. A new study basically says that talking may be all you need if your are depressed. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which has become increasingly popular, may work as well as antidepressants in the early phases of treating depression.

So, with sales of antidepressants in the billions, will this study put a crimp in the mega-money machine? Highly unlikely, I think. For one thing, seeing a therapist is expensive, and most insurance has horrendous coverage for mental illness. On the other hand, insurance will generally pay for antidepressants prescribed by a physician, so many people go with the cheaper and easier option.