2. Mental health dollars mostly go toward prescription drugs and outpatient treatment. That s what you can see in this graph from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which shows the breakdown of mental health spending in 1986 and 2005. It shows a big shift away from inpatient treatments. The shift away from inpatient spending traces back to the 1960s, when states began…
McLean Hospital Guest Blogger I am pleased to introduce you to Deconstructing Stigma: A Change in Thought Can Change a Life. This public awareness campaign was developed by McLean Hospital in an effort to spark conversation not only about behavioral and mental health but also about the stigma that surrounds it. While we always had great aspirations for this project…
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , commonly abbreviated as the DSM, is a book published by the American Psychiatric Association providing standardized criteria to the diagnosis of mental health conditions. The DSM is used widely by mental health practitioners in the United States to aid in diagnosing clients. For many decades, there was…
How childhood epilepsy syndromes are diagnosed, details of some specific syndromes and sources of further support. What is a syndrome? A syndrome is a group of signs or symptoms that happen together and help to identify a unique medical condition. What is a ‘childhood epilepsy syndrome’? If your child is diagnosed with an epilepsy syndrome, it means that their…
RELATED: What You Need to Know About Suicide and Depression While many celebs try to keep their personal health issues out of the press, Demi is using her platform to raise awareness and help others in need. “I remember sitting with my manager and my family and talking to them about whether or not to speak out about the issues that I was dealing with, ” she says…
Have you ever heard of any cases of mental illnesses associated with pain of the neck and back. Also, suddenly not paying attention to anything and the person has the feeling of numbness in their hands and feet and they have slurred speech and you have to get their attention for them to respond to you, then in a few moments they always come back to being normal…
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. H. L. Mencken The nature/nurture debate on the causes of mental disorder generates no end of silly controversy by proponents on both sides. The biological reductionists act like the secret of psychiatric disorders is written in the genetic code. They are mindless - dismissing the…
Psychiatric disorders are widely perceived to be distinct, but new research indicates patients show similar gray-matter loss, which suggests that conditions like schizophrenia and depression have more in common than previously thought. In a meta-analysis of 193 peer-reviewed papers, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine analyzed whole-brain images…
Source: Pixabay, CC0 Public Domain True or false?: Humans are social animals. That s true in general, but a surprising number of people prefer one or more forms of reclusiveness: the voluntary seclusion from people. In my article, The Recluse Option, I made the case for a minimal social existence and then wrote, Making Reclusiveness Work. Today s installment…
Take away all the other labels of Donald Trump - such as racist, bigot, fear monger, elitist or fascist - which are in and of themselves hard to fathom as characteristics of a U.S. presidential candidate, and there is something even more disturbing about Mr. Trump that every American voter should be concerned about: Mr. Trump appears to be suffering from Narcissistic…
Mental Health America periodically publishes research papers and reports to further important work in the field of mental health policy and advocacy. The Working Group on Mental Health Promotion to Advance the Conditions for Learning in Schools and Early Care and Education was convened by the National Collaborative on Education and Health in 2016, and hosted…
There are hundreds of extremely worthy films that have been made over the years that deal with the issue of mental illness, but these ones are fantastic and (in most cases) very educational. They deal with issues across a broad spectrum of mental illnesses, disorders, and clinical psychoses. Films are listed in chronological order, with the conditions they deal…
(See Figure ) . Dyspepsia was defined as one or more of the symptoms (reflux episodes, heartburn, retrosternal pain, nausea, vomiting, early satiety, uncomfortable feeling of fullness after meals, abdominal distension), and one or more of the pain modalities (burning sensation, aching, pain, tenderness, sinking feeling, butterflies , cramp, twinge, stitch, colic…
In the Wind River Range of Wyoming and the Eagle Cap Wilderness of Oregon, every outfitter I have seen along a trail, was riding (or leading) a horse, and towing a mule, two or three. This was an exception. The crusty, mountain man attired, outfitter was a friendly sort as he proudly rode his lead mule by us. He towed a few mules followed by his clients who looked…
Source: Gregg Henriques Although the scientific method is often touted as the sin qua non of science, it is not. Indeed, if science were solely a method, then it would not be all that valuable, a point that is sometimes lost on empiricists enamored with the scientific method. Thus, it is crucial to keep in mind that the scientific method is not an end unto itself…
I am a survivor of severe psychiatric abuse. There was a year or so in the early 1980’s when I was in and out of psychiatric hospitals at least four times. During my visits to the hospital I was in the midst of a spiritual awakening that I was struggling to contain that was triggered and complicated by extreme psychological abuse at the hands of my father, who…
There are nine specific diagnostic criteria (symptoms) for borderline personality disorder defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (referred to as DSM-IV-TR, or just DSM-IV) published in 2 by the American Psychiatric Association.In order to be diagnosed with borderline disorder, you must have five of…
“Mania isconstant anxiety, constant irritability, having everything be raw, being brittle, crying but feeling nothing, and really . . . just you never know” (Anon). Though it refers to a something that Western society generally characterizes as a mental illness, this statement is more applicable to madness than a medical condition. It is no small wonder that…
Conversion disorder formerly called hysteria, a type of in which a wide variety of sensory, motor, or psychic disturbances may occur. It is traditionally classified as one of the and is not dependent upon any known organic or structural pathology. The former term, , is derived from the Greek hystera , meaning “uterus, ” and reflects the ancient notion that hysteria…
Credit: Dreamstime. Impassioned fights The proposed revisions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) have spurred debate over what illnesses to include in the essential psychiatric handbook. Everything from gender identity disorder to childhood mood swings has come under fire, and it s not the first time. The history of psychiatry…
Chronic illness can strain your view of yourself, your relationships, your place in society, and your plans for the future. Psychotherapy (also known as counseling or just therapy ) is a valuable resource when you are struggling with these challenges. This publication provides general information about some of the different ways that therapy can be helpful…
I don’t get out enough. That’s why I missed a wretched little piece by a Boston University sociologist named Liah Greenfeld on “The Maddening of America” when it first appeared in July 2013. But an on-line republishing service called “Project Syndicate” has just ” is up many-fold, but that’s not because more people are seriously depressed. It’s because of two…
A mental health diagnosis involves many steps, beginning with an evaluation by a doctor or other mental health professional if symptoms of mental illness are present. The evaluation will begin with questions about your symptoms and medical history. A physical exam may be performed. Although there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose mental illness…
Clinical features of major depressive disorder (MDD) may help identify specific subgroups of depressed patients based on associations with genetic risk for major psychiatric disorders, reports a study in Biological Psychiatry. Led by Brenda Penninx, PhD, of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the study found that patients with an early…
