UNDERSTANDING MENTAL ILLNESS

This may be of assistance as you journey through my blog…

DEPRESSION

Problems and misfortunes are a part of life. Everyone experiences unhappiness, and many people may become depressed temporarily when things don’t go as they would like. Experiences of failure commonly result in temporary feelings of worthlessness and self-blame, while personal losses cause feelings of sadness, disappointment and emptiness. Such feelings are normal, and they usually pass after a short time. This is not the case with depressive illness.

What are the signs of depressive illness?

STIGMA: Definition

stigma (stig′mə)…

1) something that detracts from the character or reputation of a person, group, etc.; mark of disgrace or reproach…

2) a mark, sign, etc. indicating that something is not considered normal or standard…

LIVING WITH A MENTAL ILLNESS IS TRYING ENOUGH, YET WE MUST ALSO CONTEND WITH MENTAL ILLNESS STIGMA.

Many people living with mental illness say the stigma they face is often worse than the illness itself.

Can Low Birth Weight Raise Autism Risk?

TUESDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) — After studying data on more than 3,700 pairs of identical twins, researchers from Northwestern University found that low birth weight was associated with more than triple the risk for autism spectrum disorder among twins in which autism only affected one of the children.

“That only one twin is affected by ASD [autism spectrum disorder] in some identical twin pairs suggests that environmental factors may play a role either independently or in interaction with autism risk genes,” study author Molly Losh, director of Northwestern’s Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Laboratory, said in a university news release.

“Our study of discordant twins — twin pairs in which only one twin was affected by ASD — found birth weight to be a very strong predictor of autism spectrum disorder,” she added.

The study, which was released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Psychological Medicine, used data from the Swedish Twin Registry’s Child and Adolescent Twin Study.

In analyzing twins in which one baby was more than 14 ounces, or at least 15 percent heavier at birth than the other, the researchers found the risk for autism rose 13 percent for every 3.5 ounce drop in birth weight.

The study results suggested that birth weight could play a role in the complex causes of autism by interacting with a child’s underlying genetic predisposition, or likelihood, of developing the condition, the researchers said.

Losh added that because autism is a developmental disorder involving early brain development, prenatal and perinatal environmental factors, such as birth weight, may be especially important.

The researchers noted, however, their findings may not apply to children who are not part of a multiple-birth pregnancy.

While the study found an association between birth weight and autism risk, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

http://www.healthgrades.com/health-news/ArticleDetail.aspx?id=660976

Many People Continue to Smoke After Being Diagnosed With Cancer

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) — A new analysis has found that a substantial number of lung and colorectal cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study provides valuable information on which cancer patients might need help to quit smoking.

When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, the main focus is to treat the disease. But stopping smoking after a cancer diagnosis is also important because continuing to smoke can negatively affect patients’ responses to treatments, their subsequent cancer risk, and, potentially, their survival. Elyse R. Park, PhD, MPH, of the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, led a team that looked to see how many patients quit smoking around the time of a cancer diagnosis, and which smokers were most likely to quit.

Medication helps some with mild depression

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Thurs. January 26, 2012 – People with mild depression may benefit from taking antidepressants, suggests a new analysis of past studies that compared symptoms in people on the drugs to those given drug-free placebo pills.

Some earlier reports had suggested that antidepressants generally only improve mood in people with severe depression.

But that might be because those studies weren’t precise enough to pick up on smaller changes in symptoms that can still make a difference for people with milder forms of the disease, researchers said.

“I think there’s a valid concern… that if someone has not-that-severe depression that hasn’t lasted that long, maybe it will get better itself or with therapy,” said Dr. David Hellerstein, from the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, who worked on the study.

Still, he said the question of whether or not to prescribe medication shouldn’t necessarily come down to how severe the depression is, but how long symptoms have lasted.

1 in 5 U.S. Adults Suffers Mental Illness

THURSDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) — Nearly 46 million American adults have had a mental illness in the past year, a new government report shows.

Almost 30 percent of those aged 18 to 25 experienced a mental illness, twice as many as those aged 50 and older at just over 14 percent. And more women than men suffered a mental illness in the last year (23 percent vs. nearly 17 percent), according to the report released Thursday from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

“We all know people who have had a depression or an anxiety disorder, maybe something more serious like a bipolar disorder, but this is a pretty big number,” said Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA’s Office of Applied Studies.

“This is only the second year where we have done this as a separate report and the findings were not significantly different from last year,” Delany noted, so there are not enough data to see a trend.

The reasons why so many people are suffering from these problems cannot be easily summed up, he said.

The recent economic downturn may be a factor for some, he said. “But these conditions are multifactorial — there are genetic issues, there are biological issues, there are social issues and also personal issuers,” Delany explained.

Health Tip: Limit Drug-Food Interactions

(HealthDay News) — Sometimes the foods you eat and the meds you take don’t mix.

The American Academy of Family Physicians says foods can negatively affect the way prescription or over-the-counter drugs work. The academy offers this advice on avoiding these so-called drug-food interactions:

• Always read the label on your medications; ask questions of the pharmacist if you don’t understand something or aren’t sure.
• Follow all label instructions and warnings on both prescription and over-the-counter medications.
• Take any medication with a full glass of water, unless your doctor has advised differently.
• Don’t stir a medication with food or break open a capsule, unless your doctor has told you to do so.
• Don’t take any medication at the same time as you take vitamins.
• Don’t mix a medication in a hot drink, and never take a medication with alcohol.

http://www.healthgrades.com/health-news/ArticleDetail.aspx?id=660463

Why Do Smells Make Some People Sick?

ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2012) — Do you get a headache from the perfume of the lady next to you at the table? Do cleaning solutions at work make your nose itch? If you have symptoms prompted by everyday smells, it does not necessarily mean you are allergic but rather that you suffer from chemical intolerance. According to Linus Andersson at Umeå University, this hypersensitivity can be the result of an inability to get used to smells.

Normally your smell perceptions diminish rapidly, as when you enter a friend’s apartment. Even though you clearly notice smells just inside the door, you don’t think about them for long. For people with chemical intolerance, on the other hand, smells seem always to be present. Psychology researcher Linus Andersson has exposed both intolerant and non-intolerant individuals to smells and compared their reactions.

“The hypersensitive individuals felt that the smell was getting stronger even though its concentration had not changed. Their brain activity images also differed from those in the other group,” he says.

Could ‘Magic’ Mushrooms Ease Depression?

TUESDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) — Psychedelic mushrooms may point to new ways to treat depression, suggest two small brain imaging studies that seem to show how psilocybin — the active ingredient in such mushrooms — affects the brain.

One study included 30 healthy people who had psilocybin inserted into their blood while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners measured changes in their brain activity. The scans revealed that psilocybin caused decreased activity in what the researchers described as the brain’s “hub” regions — areas especially well-connected with other areas.

That study was published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The second study included 10 healthy volunteers and found that psilocybin boosted their recall of personal memories and their emotional well-being for up to two weeks. The researchers said this suggests that psilocybin might prove useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy. That study will be published online Thursday in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

A study published last year found that people with anxiety who received a single psilocybin treatment had lower depression scores six months later.

David Nutt, who’s with the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, was the senior author of both of the new studies.

Health Tip: Better Manage Stress

(HealthDay News) –Jan 12, 2012 — Learning how to control stress can help you feel better and improve your health.

The Cleveland Clinic suggests ways to help manage stress:

• Become aware of the earliest signs of stress and how you respond.
• Learn and practice a relaxation technique that becomes “your” way of “de-stressing.” Practice the technique as soon as you feel stress.
• Imagine yourself in a stressful situation so you can practice dealing with stress.
• Apply your stress management techniques to real-life situations.

Working During Treatment For Depression Can Increase Work Productivity

(Medical News Today) – Jan. 13, 2012 – -A new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has found that employees with depression who receive treatment while still working are significantly more likely to be highly productive than those who do not. This is the first study of its kind to look into a possible correlation between treatment and productivity.

The study is particularly significant at a time when the Canadian economy continues to face uncertainty. Mental illness costs the Canadian economy an estimated $51 billion annually, with a third of that attributed to productivity losses.

Published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, the study examined data from a large-scale community survey of employed and recently employed people in Alberta.

People who experienced a depressive episode were significantly less likely to be highly productive, the study showed. “We expected this, as past research has found that depression has adverse effects on comprehension, social participation, and day-to-day-functioning,” said Dr. Carolyn Dewa, head of CAMH’s Centre for Research on Employment and Workplace Health and lead author.

Low Vitamin D Levels Linked to Depression

ScienceDaily (Jan. 5, 2012) — Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to depression, according to UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists working with the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study. It is believed to be the largest such investigation ever undertaken.

Low levels of vitamin D already are associated with a cavalcade of health woes from cardiovascular diseases to neurological ailments. This new study — published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings — helps clarify a debate that erupted after smaller studies produced conflicting results about the relationship between vitamin D and depression. Major depressive disorder affects nearly one in 10 adults in the U.S.

“Our findings suggest that screening for vitamin D levels in depressed patients — and perhaps screening for depression in people with low vitamin D levels — might be useful,” said Dr. E. Sherwood Brown, professor of psychiatry and senior author of the study, done in conjunction with The Cooper Institute in Dallas. “But we don’t have enough information yet to recommend going out and taking supplements.”

Women With Celiac Disease Suffer from Depression, Disordered Eating

ScienceDaily — Women with celiac disease — an autoimmune disorder associated with a negative reaction to eating gluten — are more likely than the general population to report symptoms of depression and disordered eating, even when they adhere to a gluten-free diet, according to researchers at Penn State, Syracuse University and Drexel University.

People with celiac disease often suffer from abdominal pain, constipation, decreased appetite, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting in response to ingesting gluten. The disease affects somewhere between one in 105 to one in 1,750 people in the United States and is typically controlled by avoiding gluten-containing foods such as those made with wheat, barley and rye.

“It is easy to see how people who are not managing their disease well can frequently feel unwell and, therefore, be more stressed and have higher rates of depression,” said Josh Smyth, professor of biobehavioral health and medicine, Penn State, “But researchers had not carefully looked at whether people who are effectively managing celiac disease exhibit a greater risk for such difficulties.”

Meth Users Much More Likely to Try Suicide

FRIDAY, Dec. 30 (HealthDay News) — Drug users who inject themselves with methamphetamine are 80 percent more likely to attempt suicide than those abusing other drugs, new research reveals.

The magnified risk for meth users is probably rooted in a mixture of social, structural and neurobiological factors, say researchers from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

“Compared to other injection drug users, it is possible that methamphetamine users are more isolated and have poorer social support systems,” study author and Mailman postdoctoral fellow Brandon Marshall said in a Columbia news release.

Marshall and his colleagues report their findings in the December issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The team used material from interviews involving nearly 1,900 men and women that were conducted in the Vancouver area over seven years, from 2001 to 2008. The authors note that Vancouver’s downtown eastside district is well known as a center for illegal drug use.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 50,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 19 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Eating Disorders Can Last Well Beyond Teen Years

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28 (HealthDay News) — Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are typically thought to be diseases of young women and men. But researchers are finding that the personal demons that drive a young person to an eating disorder may linger into adulthood.

More and more middle-aged and older people are coming forward to receive treatment for eating problems that began in their youth and have been reignited by adult stress or personal crises.

“Some had actual eating disorders” when they were younger, and “others had aspects of an eating disorder but were never fully treated,” said Dr. Ed Tyson, an eating disorders specialist in Austin, Texas. “Then something happens later in life that stresses them to a point where the eating disorder becomes engaged.”

Health Tip: Burned Out at Work?

Check these possible warning signs

(HealthDay News) — December 28, 2011 – While some stress on the job can help you stay on top of things, too much stress can lead to burnout.

This can affect your job performance, not to mention your physical and mental health.

The Cleveland Clinic cites these warning signs of burnout at work:

• Needing to take off a lot of days.
• Having poor job efficiency and reduced productivity.
• Becoming bored.
• Feeling depressed.
• Developing a negative attitude.

***This article is very true, as I am on disability and unfortunately all of these happened to me due to work.  Act on these signs, not waiting too long to take action,  otherwise it spells disaster.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_120189.html

Even Today, the Stigma of Mental Illness Won’t Fade

 

THURSDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) — People with a mental illness struggle with symptoms ranging from crushing depression and crippling anxiety to powerful delusions and hallucinations that force them to actively sort out the real from the imagined.

And if that weren’t enough, they also have to deal with the way the rest of the world perceives their inner struggle.

Stigma associated with mental illness remains widespread in U.S. society, despite some progress made in demystifying these medical conditions, said Michael J. Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

“It’s pervasive, but it’s nuanced, too,” Fitzpatrick said. “Most Americans understand that mental illnesses are treatable illnesses. I think people basically understand depression. Depression is talked about in the media and is considered a treatable disease. But when you reach psychosis and schizophrenia, there’s still a lot of misunderstanding and fear.”

Short-term disability again

Currently I’m off on short-term disability again, and going into my 9th week. It hasn’t been smoothe so far, as they want all of these forms from my psychiatrist and my caseworker only approves ahead for 3 weeks at a time. Each time I have had to get these “forms” from the pdoc completed it’s a whopping $75. This insurance company is being unreasonable, as they asked for another one just two weeks after the last one and I just bluntly said I couldn’t afford these. Guess what?  They said they would pay for the forms required this time.  Makes you wonder.  Also, my company missed two of my pay cheques so had to phone back and forth for those.  I am off work for depression which stemmed from major stress caused by my job (I’m a debt collector-credit cards), and it was just all getting to me. I have a long history of depression and was off 3 years ago for STD, but went back after 5 1/2 mos.

I, at this point, can’t see myself going back to that job that became so difficult to do each day.  Towards the end, tasks that normally came easy were now a huge chore, and performing in a job like collections you have to be on the ball with every call.  I was low-functioning taking only 9 calls when my expected goal was 23 per hour.   I know I can’t take pressure anymore and it looks like LTD will be my next course of action. Only problem is, I have heard horror stories about attempting to get LTD and being turned down for both that and CPP on the first try. The sad thing is, only you know that you are unable to work, what does depression look like? (we hide it so well), it doesn’t show up sometimes. It’s a feeling; a dreaded feeling and just doing some research it shows when interviews are done to qualify, you must be on your ‘best behaviour’ (pun) when it’s your turn to speak.

Frankly, I’m terrified by what this whole outcome will be. The city I live in has high unemployment so if I were to switch jobs, it would be hard-pressed at my age (55) or if I did, I think it would be difficult to start a new job at a new company.

I had some pretty crappy years in the 1990′s, in and out of hospitals for most of those years. Was on CPP for 8 years. Hopefully this will work in my favor for my depression illness.  Also, I am luckier than most having a psychiatrist and psychologist as back-up.

Deb           

Drug Overdoses Kill More Americans Than Car Accidents

TUESDAY, Dec. 20 (HealthDay News) — More Americans now die from drug overdoses than in car accidents, according to a new government report released Tuesday.

In 2008, poisoning deaths became the number one cause of accidental deaths in the United States and the leading cause of injury death in 30 states, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ninety percent of these poisonings were linked to drugs, with a surge in deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses reported.

“During the past three decades, the number of drug poisoning deaths has increased sixfold, from about 6,000 deaths in 1980 to over 36,500 in 2008,” said report author Margaret Warner, an injury epidemiologist at CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, who added that this trend is only expected to continue.

The authors of the report found a 90 percent increase in poisoning deaths since 1999, while deaths from car accidents have dropped 15 percent in the same period.

Health Tip: Manage Stress

(HealthDay News) — December 21, 2011 – No one has goes through daily life with no stress whatsoever. But too much stress can cause a host of emotional and physical problems, particularly on your heart and cardiovascular system.

The Cleveland Clinic says too much stress can:

• Increase your blood pressure.
• Lead to an abnormal heartbeat.
• Damage your arteries.
• Increase blood cholesterol.
• Weaken your immune system

Traumatic Experiences May Make You Tough

ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2011) — Your parents were right: Hard experiences may indeed make you tough. Psychological scientists have found that, while going through many experiences like assault, hurricanes, and bereavement can be psychologically damaging, small amounts of trauma may help people develop resilience.

“Of course, everybody’s heard the aphorism, ‘Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger,’” says Mark D. Seery of the University at Buffalo. His paper on adversity and resilience appears in the December issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. But in psychology, he says, a lot of ideas that seem like common sense aren’t supported by scientific evidence.

Indeed, a lot of solid psychology research shows that having miserable life experiences is bad for you. Serious events, like the death of a child or parent, a natural disaster, being physically attacked, experiencing sexual abuse, or being forcibly separated from your family, can cause psychological problems. In fact, some research has suggested that the best way to go through life is having nothing ever happen to you. But not only is that unrealistic, it’s not necessarily healthy, Seery says.

Poor mental health harming productivity in the workplace

(Reuters) – Dec. 12, 2011 – One in five workers suffer from a mental illness such as depression or anxiety and these conditions increasingly affect productivity in the workplace as many struggle to cope, a report by the OECD said on Monday.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found people with mental illness are often off sick from work, and between 30 and 50 percent of all new disability benefit claims in OECD nations are now due to poor mental health.

Policymakers need to find new ways to tackle the social and economic problem of mental illness, the report said, as trigger factors, such as stress at work, are likely to increase.

“Increasing job insecurity and pressure in today’s workplaces could drive a rise in mental health problems in the years ahead,” it said.

“The share of workers exposed to work-related stress, or job strain, has increased in the past decade all across the OECD. And in the current economic climate, more and more people are worried about their job security.”

Psych Episode Near Childbirth May Presage Bipolar Disorder

FRIDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) — New mothers who experience a psychiatric disorder within 30 days after giving birth have an increased risk of developing bipolar disorder, according to a new study.

Researchers examined data from more than 120,000 Danish women born between 1950 and 1991 who had received first-time psychiatric care either as an outpatient or an inpatient for any type of psychiatric disorder other than bipolar disorder. Of those women, 2,870 had first-time psychiatric contact within a year of giving birth to their first child.

During follow-up, more than 3,000 of the 120,000 women were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Of those, 132 had first-time psychiatric contact within a year after giving birth.

Fifteen years later, bipolar disorder had been diagnosed in nearly 14 percent of women with initial contact within 30 days after giving birth compared with less than 5 percent of women who had initial contact one month to one year after giving birth, and 4 percent of those with initial contact one year or more after giving birth.

Twenty-two years later, bipolar disorder had been diagnosed in 19 percent of women who had initial contact within a month of giving birth, compared with 6.5 percent of those who had initial contact within a month to a year after childbirth, and 5.4 percent of those with initial contact one year or more after giving birth.

The study appears online in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

The Woman In The Red Winter Coat – A Christmas Story

This true story was written by my best friend Julie.  I love the way she wrote it because I’m sure many of us have wanted something so badly, couldn’t afford it, gone back to see if it was still there, but still couldn’t afford it.  Lucky for her, a family member gave her a wonderful Christmas gift so she could purchase her coat.  Feels so good when something like this happens – so happy, Julie, that you got that coat…….love, Deb

Once upon a time there was a girl who really liked the color red. Red apples, red crayons, red tulips, red socks. Red scarves, red mittens, red licorice, red boots. Red hearts, red umbrellas, red lego, red clocks. Eventually, one day, she grew to be a woman. And still she liked the color red. Red shoes, red nail polish, red lipstick, red money. Red roses, red rubies , red houses, red cars.

One December day she was walking through a department store in the mall and spotted a red winter coat. Now, she did not really need a new winter coat. She already had a thick winter coat that kept her very warm in the Canadian winters. But it was a camel-colored coat and still serviceable and though she received a lot of compliments on it, it was, if truth be told, a second-hand coat. That had not bothered her in the least until she had spotted the brand new red winter coat. She had always wanted a red winter coat. Quick as a flash she grabbed the coat off the rack and tried it on. There happened to be a full-length mirror nearby and best as she could tell she looked magnificent in this beautiful red coat. Leastways it made her feel magnificent. But it was too much money and simply not in the budget for this particular year or even in the forseeable future. Not when she already had a coat. With a sigh, a very loud sigh, she hung it back up on the rack and walked slowly away.