About.com Mental Health Resources

Shootings at Fort Hood; alleged gunman is mental health worker

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:53:33 +0000

Thirteen people were killed and several more wounded in a shooting in Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday.

The alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist at Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, has been taken into custody.

Hasan is a licensed psychiatrist and has treated soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder. Military officials say Hasan had recently received orders to deploy to Afghanistan.

For updates, see CNN.com.

Shootings at Fort Hood; alleged gunman is mental health worker originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 11:53:33.

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Trauma Therapy from the Client's Perspective

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 06:26:48 +0000

Bonnie Burton is a trauma survivor who writes about therapy from the inside. As a gifted writer, she conveys some essential truths about the process of therapy, and shatters some stereotypes along the way. Her experiences with good therapists and not-so-good therapists are essential reading for client and therapist alike.

Ms. Burton's own experience of therapy convinces her, for example, that trauma survivors don't always make the best trauma therapists. This is especially true if they never completed their own therapy. She has seen them react with fear and dissociation in response to traumatic material or negative emotions expressed in a session.

While we don't learn who her current therapist is, it is clear that they are working together toward healing. She writes with clarity and maturity; and without a chip on her shoulder. It is a privilege to publish an article from a guest author who is such an articulate therapy client. This article will help me be a better therapist.

Read Bonnie Burton's insightful article.

Trauma Therapy from the Client's Perspective originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 06:26:48.

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Resilience

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 06:33:45 +0000

Why do some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder after a trauma and others remain symptom free? We are still trying to understand resilience, one characteristic of good mental health.

Researchers studying survivors of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack have been surprised to find many of them to be free of PTSD symptoms. Resilience was less common among people who were actually in the buildings or in the immediate area, but the researchers report that even for "highly exposed individuals" the frequency of resilience never fell below one third.

Resilience originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 06:33:45.

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Sustained Release Schizophrenia Drug may be available Soon

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 06:26:03 +0000

AstraZeneca announced last week that they have submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA for a sustained release version of their antipsychotic medication Seroquel (quetiapine). The company reports the new medication has a "short titration period" - meaning that patients may receive a therapeutically effective dose of the medication as soon as the second day of treatment.

Drug companies come out with new versions of their medications just before the patent on the existing version expires, but Seroquel's patent does not expire until 2011. Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals filed an FDA request to produce a generic version of quetiapine last year and they were promptly sued by AstraZenica. Was this a factor in the early request for a sustained-release version? Read more...

Sustained Release Schizophrenia Drug may be available Soon originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Monday, July 24th, 2006 at 06:26:03.

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FDA issues an advisory on the Use of Triptans and Antidepressants

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 06:47:55 +0000

The U.S.Food and Drug Administration has issued a public health advisory about potential risks of taking certain migraine medications - triptans - together with certain antidepressants. The advisory states, "A life-threatening condition called serotonin syndrome may occur when triptans are used together with a SSRI or a SNRI."

Serotonin syndrome occurs when the body has too much of serotonin, a chemical found in the nervous system. Serotonin syndrome may be more likely to occur when starting or increasing the dose of a triptan, SSRI or SNRI. Symptoms of serotonin syndrome may include:

restlessness
hallucinations
loss of coordination
fast heart beat
rapid changes in blood pressure
increased body temperature
overactive reflexes
nausea
vomiting
diarrhea

FDA issues an advisory on the Use of Triptans and Antidepressants originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, July 21st, 2006 at 06:47:55.

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Make Better Decisions

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 06:01:02 +0000

Good decisions are made "with the head and the heart". We actually make better decisions when we use our conscious mind together with our unconscious mind. Researchers in Denmark studied decisions made by people when they were allowed to think about their choices and compared this to decisions made when they were distracted and not allowed to consciously think about their problems. People made better decisions when they had been distracted - when the decision was heavily influenced by their unconscious mind.

We seem to be better able to hold multiple options in our unconscious mind and process them "in the background." Our consious mind can only attend to one or two things at a time.

Follow these steps if you are faced with a major decision in your life.

Source: Source: Dijksterhuis, A. and Nordgren, L. "A Theory of Unconscious Thought". Perspectives on Psychological Science, June 2006.

Make Better Decisions originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 at 06:01:02.

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Depression Treatment can be Expensive

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 06:18:34 +0000

Unlike most develped countries, the United States does not have universal health care. A new study by NAMI (The National Alliance on Mental Illness) has found that the cost for treating depression is three times higher in U.S. citizens with limited access to treatment. The annual "out-of-pocket costs" for medication, psychotherapy and other treatment costs averaged $4,312 for those with restricted access versus $1,496 for those with good health insurance.

The irony is that those with limited access to treatment are often those with lower incomes. In effect lower income people pay more for their depression treatment. The study also found that:

People with depression are not being fully diagnosed
Only a small minority of people with depression are receiving dual therapy (prescription medication and talk therapy)
The shortage of mental health care professionals is impacting care
People with depression who live in states with no mental health parity law may have more limited access to treatment
Self-reported depression among minority groups may be on the rise

Together these findings suggest that changes are needed in health care coverage for Americans. At the very least mental disorders need to be covered at the same level as physical disorders in health insurance plans. The study is also a persuasive argument for universal health coverage. Read more...

Depression Treatment can be Expensive originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Monday, July 17th, 2006 at 06:18:34.

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A Nicotine-like Drug for Schizophrenia?

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 06:13:46 +0000

Numerous studies have found that people diagnosed with mental illnesses smoke more than people without such a diagnosis. Up to 80% of patients with schizophreia smoke cigarettes. It seems that nicotine actually treats some of their symptoms. Some have gone as far as to suggest that teen smoking may help prevent schzophrenia.

Researchers are studying a potential new drug that works on the same pathway as nicotine. The drug may improve these patients' ability to think clearly, a symptom poorly treated by existing medications. Will it also help them stop smoking?

Legislating Managed Care

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 06:59:41 +0000

Managed care continues to have a chilling effect on mental health treatment in the United States. Many therapists are required to complete lenghty paperwork after every few sessions of psychotherapy in order to request "authorization" for additional sessions. Companies claim to offer a benefit (such as 20 sessions per year) but aggressively manage these so that many ot the sessions are not authorized. The Pennsylvania Psychological Association has drafted legislation that will restrict this process in that state. Read more...

Legislating Managed Care originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 at 06:59:41.

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Autism - Brain areas Grow too Fast

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 06:00:38 +0000

Researchers at Univeraity of California Davis have found that the amygdala and the hippocampus are abnormally large in boys with autism. The amygdala, an area associates with processing emotions, appears to grow "too big too fast" while the hippocampus, an area involved im memory, was larger at all ages. Read more in this article from The Davis Enterprise

Autism - Brain areas Grow too Fast originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Monday, July 10th, 2006 at 06:00:38.

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