Mental Health

Home Health and Safety Folie à deux (shared psychotic disorder): causes, symptoms, consequences, diagnosis and treatment

Psychosis: Will catching early warning signs help? - Harvard Health Light therapy can help improve seasonal affective disorder (SAD). But many people don’t realize that it can also be effective for major depression, and depression that occurs during or after pregnancy (known as perinatal depression). \n   \n ","content":" \n \n Bright light therapy can help ease SAD, major depression, and perinatal depression. \n \n \n \n \n The transition from fall to winter means grayer skies, shorter days, and for some people, the return of seasonal affective disorder. With the a...

The severity of psychotic symptoms in patients with bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) correlated inversely with response to lithium therapy, according to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry . Other findings suggested that the antigen presentation pathway and inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-4 (IL-4), and interferon gamma (IFNγ) may play a biological role in lithium treatment response in BPAD. BPAD and schizophrenia can be difficult to distinguish clinically during episodes of acute illness because of overlapping psychotic symptoms. In addition, these two disorders have a 68% shared genetic variation — the highest among all pairs of psychiatric disorders. However, while lithium is not effective in schizophrenia and may result in lithium-induced neurotoxic effects in patients with the disorder, ≥70% of patients with BPAD respond to lithium. These observations prompted the current study. Bernhard T. Baune, PhD, MD, MPH, disci...

Older age bipolar disorder (OABD) is not an uncommon condition among the aging population. Available evidence indicates that individuals with OABD have less family psychiatric history but more medical comorbidities than individuals with early onset bipolar disorder (EOBD). Additionally, individuals with OABD have worse clinical outcomes and higher rates of health care service utilization than age-matched controls. When assessing individuals with OABD, underlying medical conditions, adverse effects prescribed medications, and/or drugs of abuse need to be ruled out as possible etiologies for OABD. In this article, we describe the evidence-based treatments among individuals with OABD. Nonpharmacological Treatments Current evidence regarding the efficacy of specific psychotherapies among individuals with OABD is limited. 1 However, available data indicates that medication adherence skills training (MAST-BD) improves adherence to medications, ability to manage medications, symptoms of depr...

Home Health and Safety Folie à deux (shared psychotic disorder): causes, symptoms, consequences, diagnosis and treatment

Anxiety and depression are two common mental health diagnoses made in pediatric patients. The median age of onset for anxiety disorder is six years old and typically persists throughout the lifetime of those diagnosed. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive worrying, insomnia, irritability, fatigue, and decreased concentration. Other anxiety disorders include social anxiety disorder and separation anxiety disorder. The median age of onset for social anxiety disorder is 12 years old and is characterized by fear of embarrassment or scrutiny from peers. Separation anxiety disorder has an earlier onset at the age of eight years old and is characterized by extreme worry or anxiety when separated from someone with whom they have a firm attachment. Depression is usually diagnosed later in childhood, with a median age of onset of 13 years old [1,2]. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by low self-esteem, guilt, hopelessness, i...