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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

(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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...