Mental illness is a condition that affects a person’s thinking, feeling, and behavior. The mainstream medical community recognizes more than 200 classified types of mental illness. These conditions can alter your ability to relate to other people, work, and attend school, and can prevent you from living a normal life. Different types of mental illness offer different…
How do you think the most rational people in the world operate their minds? How do they make better decisions? They do it by “chunking” away a massive, but finite amount of fundamental, unchanging knowledge that can be used in evaluating the infinite number of unique scenarios that show up in the real world. That is how consistently rational and effective thinking…
What is a mental disorder? This is a question the American Psychiatric Association (2012) has been contemplating as it prepares the DSM-5, the soon-to-be-published revision of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM-5 development website proposes the following new definition of mental disorder (APA, 2012): A behavioral or psychological…
Fact: Mental health problems are actually very common. In 2014, about: One in five American adults experienced a mental health issue One in 10 young people experienced a period of major depression One in 25 Americans lived with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in…
When people think of dementia, it’s common to think of it as a mental illness due to the effects the condition has on the brain. However, there are distinctions that should be made between dementia and mental illness in order to properly diagnose the individual. While dementia does affect mental health, it is not a mental illness, but a disorder of the brain…
It might completely transform your identity, the way you think of yourself,says Annemarie Jutel, author of Putting a Name to It: Diagnosis in Contemporary Society. A proper diagnosis, she says, doesn t change the way the disease feels or manifests. A person will still demonstrate social awkwardness, an affinity for flapping arms, and a hyperfocus on certain…
Deciding if a child has ADHD is a several-step process. This page gives you an overview of how ADHD is diagnosed. There is no single test to diagnose ADHD, and many other problems, like sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, and certain types of learning disabilities, can have similar symptoms. If you are concerned about whether a child might have ADHD, the first…
In our tireless fight against stigma, prejudice, and discrimination in order to help people understand that mental illness is no different than a physical disease, where do we draw the line? If we can’t discriminate against someone with a mental illness for a job — like an accountant or soldier — what are the jobs that require a different yardstick? Does being…
By Thomas Insel on Pulses of blue and yellow light precisely turn neurons on-and-off using genetically-targeted probes that take advantage of light-sensitive genes borrowed from primitive life-forms. Artist’s rendering. Source: Karl Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D., Stanford University It has become an NIMH mantra to describe mental disorders as brain disorders. What…
As Congress delivers on the promise of delivering relief from the collapsing Affordable Care Act (ACA), we must be forward thinking and avoid re-purposing yesterday’s failed policies to solve today’s problems. In particular, we must include better strategies to advance mental health and addiction treatment. While promising mental health and addiction insurance…
There are significant benefits of early intervention and treatment for adults with mental illness, so it’s important to pay attention when you perceive sudden behavioral and mood changes in someone you love. Some of the signs listed below could be the result of recent trauma or substance abuse, but they may also indicate a mental disorder. Either way, it’s important…
In honor of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, this blog post will focus on getting rid of the stigma surrounding mental health. Mental Health Awareness Month was started in 1949 and continues to share resources to help people and heal emotional and psychological wounds. Those who are affected by mental illness continue to be treated differently by society…
The House approved changes in Section 298 to create a public statewide behavioral health managed care organization to manage covered state Medicaid services to about 350, people in Michigan who use the Medicaid behavioral health system. Currently, Medicaid moderate and severe behavioral health services are managed by 10 public regional prepaid inpatient health…
No, this isn’t a disorder for those of us who have woken up feeling “dead tired.” Rather, Cotard’s Syndrome or Walking Corpse Syndrome as it s colloquially known, is a belief held by a person that she is actually dead, or simply doesn’t exist. It has been linked to depression as well as to those who are chronically deprived of sleep or suffer drug psychosis…
The following are descriptions of the most common categories of mental illness in the United States. Anxiety Disorders Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive fear or anxiety that is difficult to control and negatively and substantially impacts daily functioning. Fear refers to the emotional response to a real or perceived threat while anxiety is the…
Facebook and OkCupid, a popular dating site, have also conducted experiments in which the companies manipulated content presented to their own members to study the impact on their behavior. Now a handful of research and nonprofit groups are analyzing social media postings with the aim of detecting and predicting patterns in mental health conditions. The experience…
If there s one thing singer-songwriter Demi Lovato knows how to do, it s express her emotions on stage, detailing her trials and triumphs with mental illness through her lyrics. But in her downtime, she s also a vocal advocate for mental health awareness and acceptance, speaking publicly about her experience with bipolar disorder and addiction. I want to use…
The majority of people who apply for disability for a mental illness or emotional condition are granted benefits. About a quarter of applicants for Social Security disability list mental illnesses or disorders as their primary impairment. Depression (including bi-polar disorder) and anxiety disorders make up the majority of these claims. In addition, applicants…
The pain and emotional discomfort that people experience when they have mental health problems are real. Fortunately, there s a good chance that an individual will improve by getting appropriate treatment. The following success stories reflect what can happen when young people with mental health problems choose to seek help. Dealing With Panic Carmen was 14 when…
People often ask what the term invisible disability means. To define invisible disability in simple terms is a physical, mental or neurological condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities that is invisible to the onlooker. Unfortunately the very fact that these symptoms are invisible, can lead to misunderstandings, false perceptions and…
Academic Session: 2016-17 School: School of Psychology Credits: 10 Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10) Typically Offered: Semester 2 Available to Visiting Students: Yes Available to Erasmus Students: Yes Short Description The course will examine and evaluate different approaches to understanding and treating common psychological disorders. Timetable 10 hours over…
People can experience different types of mental health problems. These problems can affect your thinking, mood, and behavior. People with anxiety disorders respond to certain objects or situations with fear and dread. Anxiety disorders can include obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorders, and phobias. Behavioral disorders involve a pattern of disruptive…
The result was that when, late in the night, he locked himself in his room his brain was full of odd fancies; he was on the high road to mental disturbance.And I also am feeling some unpleasant consequences of too much mental disturbance,said Mr.When they coughed, they coughed like people accustomed to be forgotten on doorsteps and in draughty passages, waiting…
Over the last 2 years we have posted close to 100 puzzles, teasers, riddles, and every kind of form of mental exercise (including lengthy interviews with top neuroscientists!).Which ones have proven most stimulating (of the puzzles and teasers, not the interviews)? Well, we could answer that question in a variety of ways, but I’d suggest this metric: by averaging…
