Involuntary Emotional Expression Disorder, or IEED, is a condition in which a person experiences uncontrollable episodes of emotional expression. That is, they have episodes of crying, laughter, or anger that are not in line with their present mood. The condition is also known as labile affect, pseudobulbar affect, emotional lability, and pathological laughing and crying. It can have a severe impact on the lives of both patients and caregivers, as symptoms may leave sufferers feeling guilty, awkward, embarrassed and reluctant to take part in social interaction. IEED is seen most often following brain injury or in people with dementia, motor neuron disease, and multiple sclerosis. It can appear at any stage of the associated diseases. Its prevalence was estimated in 2007 by Walter Bradley, MD, of ...

Experts have challenged two basic assumptions behind food choices and the causes of obesity. Drs. Jeff Brunstrom and Peter Rogers of the University of Bristol, UK, investigated the theory that we eat larger amounts of tasty foods, and that these foods tend to be energy-dense. They explain that highly palatable food is more widely available than ever before. This is one aspect of the so-called "obesogenic environment," thought to contribute to rising levels of obesity. But they ask: does this necessarily lead to the selection of larger meals? To answer the question, they carried out a study to measure ideal portion sizes of several popular and well-liked foods. Crucially, they also measured "expected satiation," that is, to what degree each food would satisfy diners. In the experiment, ...

According to the National Institute of Health, drinking -- the drug of choice among youth -- plays a major role in death from injuries, and injuries are the leading cause of death for kids under 21. Alcohol also significantly increases the likelihood of risky sexual behavior, including unprotected sex, multiple partners, and physical and sexual assault (NIAA, 2007). How do we set limits on our teenagers so that the limits are actually protective and not just a reaction to anger? It’s easy to take teens’ provocative behavior personally and ...

Ever wanted to go beyond the doors of a psychiatric hospital? To have a key to the locked units? To witness the day-to-day at a legendary institution mired in mystery and folklore? Weekends at Bellevue, a medical memoir by psychiatrist Julie Holland, gives readers this very opportunity, taking them inside the infamous New York City hospital. As the doctor in charge of Bellevue’s psychiatric emergency room (known as CPEP), Dr. Holland had a front row seat to the “madness” and mayhem from 1996 to 2005. Her job was to decide who was admitted — whether voluntarily or involuntarily — and who was released, which didn’t necessarily bring relief to everyone, especially those who came to Bellevue for a night’s sleep. Bellevue has a long, ...

When I was a new therapist, I thought the hardest thing for couples to talk about would be their sex life. Not so. As long as neither one is cheating, talking about sex is a walk in the park for many couples. It’s when I bring up the “m” word, money, that things get really, really tense. However mature and enlightened we may feel we are, the subject of money often is still related to the individuals' self-esteem issues and power in the relationship. If a couple has avoided dealing with their attitudes toward money and how it will be earned and spent, it becomes a danger zone in the relationship. The more apart they feel in their values about money, the ...

Researchers have found that older people who take aspirin or certain other drugs to prevent blood clots are at risk of "microbleeds" in the brain. Elderly people often experience damage to the small vessels in the brain, as shown on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cerebral microbleeds can indicate that this type of damage has taken place. Microbleeds in lobar brain sites demonstrates a type of small vessel disease known as cerebral amyloid angiopathy, in which the buildup of amyloid--a protein linked to Alzheimer's disease--causes degeneration of smooth muscle cells and increases the chance of blood vessel ruptures and hemorrhages. Taking certain anticlotting drugs may lead to bleeding-prone brain vessels. So Dr. Meike Vernooij and colleagues at Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, investigated the link. They ...

Travis was 15. He’d always been a good kid – no trouble, unlike his brothers. His parents saw him as the perfect child. That’s why it was jolting and perplexing to his parents that this semester he started breaking rules, getting into trouble, and seeming downright provocative. Travis was recently caught drunk after being at friends’ houses and engaging in risky and dangerous activities. He recently remarked to his father, “I can’t wait to get my dirt bike. Then I’ll be able to go anywhere I want and go scary-wild!” Travis’ dad was shocked by this comment and angry that Travis seemed to be purposely and intentionally rebelling. What should his ...

My 20-year-old daughter tells me she thinks the reason so many young relationships fail is because of the “chick flicks.” You know: Those movies where the focus is entirely on the heady romance between a man and a woman for whom each other is the entire universe. She – and he – swoons over the other. Any blip in their relationship consumes their time and attention. He proves his love by doing anything to win her back. She proves her love by giving him another chance. Both are crazy in love. A wise teacher of mine once said that the crazier in love a couple is, the more inappropriate the partners. He said that to love someone who makes you crazy is temporary insanity! ...

I do not have any brothers or sisters. Yes, I am an only child. So what? It is okay with me that I don’t have brothers or sisters, so why is it often not okay with the rest of the world? Why do people often think they know everything there is to know about me simply because I do not have siblings? I don’t profess to know anything about anyone else because they are the oldest child, middle child, or youngest child of their family. Why should anyone profess to know anything about me based on one thing? Only children get a bad rap. We’re supposedly coddled, tantrum-prone, attention-hogging, and always have to have our own way. Hearing someone ...

Sometimes people are confused about the differences between clinical depression and manic depression. And it's no wonder -- they both have the word "depression" in their names. That's one of the reason's manic depression's clinical name changed to "bipolar disorder" many years ago, to more clearly distinguish it from regular depression. The difference is really quite simple, though. Manic depression -- or bipolar disorder -- includes clinical depression as a part of its diagnosis. You can't have bipolar disorder without also having had an episode of clinical depression. That's why the two disorders shared similar names for many years, because they both include the component of clinical depression. Such a depressive episode is characterized by the common signs and symptoms of depression: Feeling sad and unhappy for an ...

The impact of violence against women is too often masked by silence. Its continuation depends on silence. Distance keeps us safe and unless one personally experiences violence or knows someone who has, many of us remain ignorant and complacent. Violence is difficult to study because its manifestations are ambiguous and inconsistent, and the multiple dimensions that converge to create unique causes and consequences make comparisons and replication impossible. There are a number of books written on the issue, primarily from a feminist perspective, but in “Women and Violence,” Barrie Levy concisely and comprehensively provides the big picture as well as the personal picture of violence; its consequences to victims as well as to society. The book explains violence, its forms, its consequences, its controversies, the ...

Depression, like other mental illnesses, is rarely seen as a good thing. While many can articulate positive things about having a mental illness (or knowing someone who does), the illness itself is almost never looked upon as providing an advantage. In The Depression Advantage, Tom Wootton attempts to do just that—to show that depression, despite the challenges and distress it can bring, can also be helpful. Drawing on personal experience with bipolar disorder, the lives of the saints, and feedback received through workshops he has led, Wootton suggests a new paradigm for understanding and coping with mood disorders. The book is directed primarily at mental health consumers, while professionals may become frustrated with the easygoing style and lack of conclusive evidence ...

Bobbe Tyler, author, nonfiction writer and retired communications coordinator for Lucasfilm Ltd, has written a book of the type, and in the style, that has kept her alive all these years. Her book, Searching for Soul – A Survivor’s Guide is an intricate, exquisite and deeply moving account looking backward and examining all the slings and arrows of her life. It is positive, healing, upbeat and uplifting—but with a deep, melancholic twist—for a life lived well, but sometimes not well enough, due to the outrageous fortunes of mental illness, alcoholism, two divorces, financial and emotional despair and not being in charge of her life at the time. She pokes and probes into the essence and meaning of her main relationships, scrutinizing her ...

Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are higher among military personnel who had mental or physical health problems before combat, a recent study has found. Cynthia LeardMann and colleagues at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego wanted to see whether there are predisposing factors for PTSD. Most previous studies have used retrospective figures, so the team examined volunteers before military deployment. They write on the website of the British Medical Journal that, "It has not been temporally established if those with poor mental or physical health status are more vulnerable to developing PTSD." But they do refer to one study suggesting that prior trauma and prior psychological adjustment were significant predictors of PTSD. Another study suggests that young adults, aged 20 to 23 years, with ...

When we walk into the doctor’s office, for many of us, the scenario looks like this: We list off our symptoms, the doctor asks a few questions, writes out a prescription and we go on our way. From her work in primary care settings, Risa Weisberg, Ph.D, assistant professor (research) and co-director of the Brown University Program for Anxiety Research at Alpert Medical School, has seen “firsthand how a great many patients accept a prescription from their provider without asking many questions about it, or often, without even knowing for what symptoms/disorder it is being prescribed.” Such a scenario can stall or sabotage your treatment. Confused, you’re likely left with tons of questions, unaware of what you’re taking and how it’s supposed to help. You ...