Archive for April, 2006

Listed by most recent articles first.

• Alzheimer’s Care and Planning for Families
  Alzheimer's disease is a chronic, progressive illness and is the most common cause of dementia in older individuals. It is characterized by progressive intellectual deterioration together with declining activities of daily living. Most people with ...
• Beating Feelings of Shyness
  A simple intervention proved to be very powerful for altering the extent to which shy women were able to face their most feared shyness-arousing situation -- being alone with a handsome man-- and act as ...
• Do People Inherit Schizophrenia?
  One possible cause of schizophrenia may be heredity, or genetics. Researchers believe that some people may inherit a tendency to schizophrenia. In fact, the disorder tends to run in families, but only among blood relatives. People ...
• Frequently Asked Questions about Schizophrenia
  What is schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is a mental illness, but is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a "brain disease." It is officially classified by researchers as a mental disorder, not a medical disease, because there is no ...
• Circadian Rhythms and Bipolar Disorder
  The nervous systems of people with bipolar disorders frequently make specific types of regulatory errors. Many of them involve the body's internal clock, which controls the phenomena known as circadian rhythms. These are the regular ...
• Medical and Surgical Treatment for Parkinson Disease
  Levodopa is converted to dopamine in the brain. It is effective in managing the initial symptoms of Parkinson disease, however over time the effectiveness is reduced and this results in motor fluctuations. Motor fluctuations are ...
• Diagnosis and Treatment for Newly Diagnosed Parkinson Disease
  If your doctor thinks you may have Parkinson disease, this information sheet will help you talk with him or her about how Parkinson disease is diagnosed and how it will progress. Neurologists from the American Academy ...
• Screening and Treatment for Depression, Dementia and Psychosis in Parkinson Disease
  Depression, dementia, and psychosis are common in people with Parkinson disease. These conditions can affect how people with Parkinson disease cope and also have an effect on the quality of life for both patients and ...
• Teens and Drugs: What a Parent Can Do to Help
  (Although I’ll talk about this important issue in terms of a boy’s behavior, it could just as easily be about a girl.) It’s an all too familiar story. A young teen who was once loveable, ...
• Two Stories of PTSD
  Maria was only 15 when she was attacked by a group of men on the way home from school. They took turns screaming abuse at her and then they each raped her. Finally, they tried ...
• Who is Typically Diagnosed with PTSD?
  There is no "typical" demographic profile for a person with PTSD. While military doctors first identified PTSD as "shell shock" or "battle fatigue," today it is recognized as a disorder that affects people of all ...
• Differential Diagnosis of PTSD Symptoms
  While the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may seem similar to those of other disorders, there are differences. For example, PTSD symptoms may seem similar to those of anxiety disorders, such as acute stress ...
• What Causes PTSD?
  Explanations of PTSD focus primarily on the way that the mind is affected by traumatic experiences. Theorists speculate upon facing overwhelming trauma, the mind is unable to process information and feelings in a normal way. ...
• Treatment of PTSD
  There are two primary types of treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- psychotherapy and medications. Psychotherapy for PTSD Most people who experience post-traumatic stress disorder undergo some type of psychotherapy (most commonly either cognitive-behavioral therapy ...
• Myths and Facts about PTSD
  Myth: PTSD is only seen in people with "weak characters" who are unable to cope with difficult situations in the same way that most of us do. Fact: PTSD is a human response to markedly abnormal ...
• Frequently Asked Questions about PTSD
  Is the cause of PTSD simply a traumatic event? Although PTSD begins after a traumatic event, other factors also play an important role. The severity, type, and circumstances of the traumatic event may determine whether or ...
• Symptoms and Diagnosis of PTSD
  There are three main kinds of symptoms that clinicians look for when diagnosing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These include re-experiencing symptoms, avoidant symptoms and symptoms of increased arousal. Re-experiencing symptoms include ways in which the person ...
• Associated Conditions of PTSD
  Persons with PTSD often have other disorders as well, which makes it difficult for clinicians to diagnose the PTSD. In particular, major depression and substance abuse are common in people with PTSD. There may also ...
• PTSD: A Roller Coaster Life
  From the time I was a young child until I was 17 years of age, my father and his brother raped me and in other was sexually abused me. I did tell my parents about ...
• Stress And Diet: You Aren’t What You Eat
  "You are what you eat." How many times have you heard this statement? In a world where the food police virtually have an open book to hassle everybody about their eating habits, they hammer this message ...
• How To Help A Stressed Or Depressed Loved One
  I receive many emails from concerned relatives, partners and friends who are trying to help a loved one suffering the torment of a stressful or depressive episode. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that people who ...
• Is There Hope for the Mentally Ill?
  In my previous two articles, I mentioned how to be physically ill is seen as normal. Someone could have an illness, and recover from it, and no one really cares, as long ...
• Mentally Ill All Around and Not a Person to Tell
  In the past article, I discussed how there are those people around who have at least some degree of mental illness and very few people are aware of that person or any person even ...
• Hiding Behind a Secret: The Stigma of the Mentally Ill
  Many people are often physically ill and seek medical attention if they feel it is necessary, without hesitation. Doctors prescribe medications for everything from a common cold to yeast infections, and while the illness ...
• Undifferentiated Schizophrenia
  The undifferentiated subtype is diagnosed when people have symptoms of schizophrenia that are not sufficiently formed or specific enough to permit classification of the illness into one of the other subtypes. The symptoms of any ...