Mental Health

Substance use can alter behaviors, moods, and personalities so severely for people with addiction that without specialized knowledge and experience, it’s difficult to determine underlying causes such as mental illness or trauma . I credit psychological intervention for pushing me into recovery from alcoholism . Addiction is a mental illness, but is it one that needs to be treated before anything else? Or should we be stopping people from hitting their addiction bottom and helping them recover from their comorbid conditions concurrently? What Is Addiction? Before we can discuss treatment, we need to understand what addiction is and how it is defined. The two major guidelines for diagnosing mental health conditions around the world are the DSM and the ICD. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is the standard diagnostic tool for mental health conditions in the United States and often used in North America. The ICD (International Classification of Disease...

Source: Free-Photos/Pixabay While there is no consensus on the exact definition of disability (especially psychological disability), there is greater recognition these days that, like physical disease, psychological conditions can cause functional impairment and dysfunction—some more so than others. In a paper, published in the November issue of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology , Edlund et al. conclude that among the 15 mental health conditions examined, mood disorders (e.g., depression) are associated with the greatest functional impairment and disability . 1 The Mental Health Surveillance Study Data for the present research came from the Mental Health Surveillance Study (MHSS). The MHSS is a sub-sample of 2008-2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey of non-institutionalized US civilians 12 years or older. MHSS, however, includes only individuals aged 18 and over. For the Mental Health Surveillance Study, researchers condu...

Source: Free-Photos/Pixabay While there is no consensus on the exact definition of disability (especially psychological disability), there is greater recognition these days that, like physical disease, psychological conditions can cause functional impairment and dysfunction—some more so than others. In a paper, published in the November issue of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology , Edlund et al. conclude that among the 15 mental health conditions examined, mood disorders (e.g., depression) are associated with the greatest functional impairment and disability . 1 The Mental Health Surveillance Study Data for the present research came from the Mental Health Surveillance Study (MHSS). The MHSS is a sub-sample of 2008-2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey of non-institutionalized US civilians 12 years or older. MHSS, however, includes only individuals aged 18 and over. For the Mental Health Surveillance Study, researchers condu...

PLATTSBURGH — Family to Family is a lifesaver for those with a loved one with a mental illness. The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Champlain Valley presents the 12-week program starting Wednesday, Feb. 6. “This is something we try to do on a semi-regular basis, but we need to have a certain number of people in order to make the class worthwhile,” said Theresa Bennett, a trained facilitator. “It’s for any loved one of a person with a major mental illness. That can be a friend. That can be a parent. It doesn’t need to be a caregiver.” KNOWLEDGE IS POWER The program is not for people who have a mental illness. “This is an educational opportunity for people who live with someone or have a loved one in their life and would like to learn more about what it feels like for the person to have a major mental illness,” she said. “It’s geared toward people who are loved ones because they’re the ones who need to have the most knowledge.” Family to Family offers many coping skills, ...

After developing a mental disorder, the risk of developing another mental disorder increases, a recent study found. For how long did that higher risk persist? A. 1 year B. 5 years C. 10 years D. 15 years Go to page 2 for the answer  >> More trivia: How Often Should You Screen for Tardive Dyskinesia? Prazosin May Hold Promise for the Treatment of Which Disorder? Trivia: Which Condition May Impact Antidepressant Effectiveness? http://bit.ly/2HzMCSk

Professor Hannes Lohi’s group has identified two novel anxiety related genomic regions in German Shepherd dogs. The region associated with fearfulness corresponds with the locus of human chromosome 18, which is associated with various psychiatric disorders, while the region associated with noise sensitivity includes several genes related to human and canine behaviour and mental disorders. Researchers in the Hannes Lohi research group focused on two forms of canine fearfulness: noise sensitivity and general fearfulness. The latter encompasses the fear of unfamiliar humans and new situations. Among Finnish dogs, noise sensitivity has been observed in as much as 40% of the population, while, according to estimates, one in four dogs suffers from fearfulness. Prior studies have suggested that canine fearfulness corresponds with human anxiety disorders, and could potentially serve as a disease model for human disorders. “Fear is an innate and vital reaction. However, when it becomes exces...

How Dick or Jane learn, behave or handle their emotions can point to mental disorders, with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and behavior disorders being the most common diagnosed, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. The 2013 study found that 1 in 6 U.S. children aged 2 to 8 years (17.4 percent) had a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder. It also shows that diagnoses of depression and anxiety are more common with increased age, and behavior problems are more common among children aged 6 to 11 years. Most sobering? In the same report, suicide was the second leading cause of death among adolescents aged 12 to 17. The encouraging news is that early diagnosis of mental health disorders and appropriate services can make a difference. In Catholic schools of the Denver Archdiocese, a team of six counselors from Catholic Charities’ St. Rap...

Researchers in the Hannes Lohi research group in the University of Helsinki focused on two forms of canine fearfulness: noise sensitivity and general fearfulness. The latter encompasses the fear of unfamiliar humans and new situations. Among Finnish dogs, noise sensitivity has been observed in as much as 40% of the population, while, according to estimates, one in four dogs suffers from fearfulness. Prior studies have suggested that canine fearfulness corresponds with human anxiety disorders, potentially could potentially serve as a disease model for human disorders. "Fear is an innate and vital reaction. However, when it becomes excessive and an overriding feature in a dog's life, it turns into a behavioural problem," says Riika Sarviaho, a doctoral student. Canine behavioural disorders include separation anxiety, generalised anxiety disorder and various phobias. Fear can be expressed as aggression, which may, at its worst, lead to attacks against other dogs or human...

January 23, 2019 This article originally appeared here. Share this content: The risks for schizophrenia spectrum disorders, personality and behavior disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder were increased in children following infection. A correlation was observed between infections requiring hospitalization and subsequent increased risk for mental disorders in children and adolescents, according to study data published in JAMA Psychiatry . Investigators abstracted population data from nationwide Danish registers. The study cohort comprised all individuals born in Denmark between January 1, 1995 and June 30, 2012 (n=1,098,930). As exposure data, researchers captured infection history from birth until study conclusion, including severe infections requiring hospitalization and less severe infections treated in primary care. The primary outcome measures were diagnosis of any mental disorder in a hospital setting and any filled psychotropic medication prescription. Cox proporti...

You might ask, “Since life is so much easier today, why are mental illnesses, such as anxiety disorder and depression, on the rise?” It’s true that our life is much easier today than it was 50 years ago. Yet, mental illness is on the rise, and drastically. A study by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found nearly 20 percent of the adult population suffer from some type of mental illness. This is up from 18.1 percent just a few years ago. Another recent study done by the National Institute of Mental Health found that, for the first time, youth are disproportionately affected by mental disorders. The study found that one in five youth are affected by at least one type of mental disorder. According to the research, the percentage of youth suffering from mental disorders is even higher than the most frequent major physical conditions in adolescence, including asthma or diabetes. Furthermore, a study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting May 2017 found that the ...