Author Archive

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• Facts about Depression
  Depression represents a combination of a negative mood state and physical changes that persist every day for at least two weeks. Depressive symptoms usually develop over several weeks, although some sufferers may experience milder symptoms of ...
• Dysthymia: Chronic Depression
  Dysthymia (or dysthymic disorder) is considered a less severe but longer-lasting form of depression. Dysthymia usually begins at an earlier age than major depression with a more persistent impairment of daily function. This diagnosis is ...
• Treatment and Management of Eating Disorders
  Persons with eating disorders often have difficulty admitting that they have a serious problem, and in many cases, particularly with anorexia, family or friends must persuade the individual to seek treatment. In treating anorexia nervosa, the ...
• Symptoms of Alcoholism
  DSM-IV Criteria for Alcohol Dependence A maladaptive pattern of substance use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by three (or more) of the following, occurring at any time in the same 12-month period: ...
• Treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder
  ADHD can take quite a toll. It is tough for the individual who must cope with daily frustrations. It is rough on family members whose lives are regularly disrupted by outbursts, temper tantrums or other ...
• Bipolar Disorder Can Be Mistaken for ADHD
  When a child's day brings tantrums, panicked mania or dark spells, he or she could be suffering from something much deeper than an attention-deficit problem. It could be juvenile-onset bipolar disorder, also called ...
• Tips for Communicating with Your Doctor
  Doctors can be hard to talk to. They might use medical terms that confuse or intimidate you. Or they might rush through your appointment, leaving you with feelings of frustration and a list of unanswered ...
• Back to School Tips
  As summer vacations come to an end, students are readying themselves for the start of a new school year. As you prepare to send your child to school arm yourself with some helpful health and ...
• All About Depression
  Some people are misguided in thinking that depression is merely a state of mind that people can "snap out of" if they are willing. This is not true. Depression is a real illness, just like ...
• St. John’s Wort for Depression
  St. John's Wort is the common name for hypericum perforatum, an herbal remedy for the treatment of depression that has become increasingly popular over the past decade in the United States. It is widely used ...
• Medications While Pregnant
  The research on the use of psychiatric medications during pregnancy is limited. The risks are different depending on what medication is taken, and at what point during the pregnancy the medication is taken. Research has ...
• Medications for Seniors
  Persons over the age of 65 make up over 13 percent of the population of the United States, but they receive more than 30 percent of prescriptions filled. The elderly generally have more medical problems, ...
• Medications for Children and Adolescents
  In 1999, researchers published a ground-breaking scientific study call the MECA Study (Methodology for Epidemiology of Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents). It estimated that almost 21 percent of U.S. children ages 9 to 17 ...
• Antianxiety Medications
  Everyone experiences anxiety at one time or another - "butterflies in the stomach" before giving a speech or sweaty palms during a job interview are common symptoms. Other symptoms include irritability, uneasiness, jumpiness, feelings of ...
• Antidepressant Medications
  Major depression, the kind of depression that will most likely benefit from treatment with medications, is more than just "the blues." It is a condition that lasts 2 weeks or more, and interferes with a ...
• Medications for Mania and Manic Depression
  Bipolar disorder is characterized by cycling mood changes: severe highs (mania) and lows (depression). Episodes may be predominantly manic or depressive, with normal mood between episodes. Mood swings may follow each other very closely, within ...
• Antipsychotic Medications
  Medications for Schizophrenia and Psychotic Disorders A person who is psychotic is out of touch with reality. People with psychosis may hear "voices" or have strange and illogical ideas (for example, thinking that others can hear ...
• Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Medications
  You and your family can help your doctor find the right medications for you. The doctor needs to know your medical history, other medications being taken, and life plans such as hoping to have a ...
• Medications Give Relief from Symptoms
  Just as aspirin can reduce a fever without curing the infection that causes it, psychotherapeutic medications act by controlling symptoms. Psychotherapeutic medications do not cure mental illness, but in many cases, they can help a ...
• Introduction to Mental Health Medications
  Anyone can develop a mental health issue -- you, a family member, a friend, or a co-worker. Some mental disorders are mild; others are serious and longer-lasting, but all of them can be diagnosed and ...
• Medications Safety
  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) judges a drug to be safe enough to approve when the benefits of the medicine outweigh the known risks for the labeled use. Doctors, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists and ...
• Pharmacy Discount and Patient Assistance Programs
  Psych Central Drug Discount Card You can learn more about the Psych Central Drug Discount Card here and save up to 80% off your medication costs -- including prescription and over-the-counter medications. Psych Central's drug ...
• Find Lower Cost Medications
  There are a number of ways you can reduce the amount you pay for prescription drugs. These include switching to lower cost generics or different brands with the same or similar effectiveness, taking a shorter-acting ...
• Depression versus The Blues
  It can be difficult to differentiate depression from a normal episode of "the blues." Everyone experiences the blues because of troubling events such as the loss of a loved one, job difficulties, money problems, family ...
• All About Eating Disorders
  Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are both eating disorders. Anorexia involves people who intentionally starve themselves when they are already underweight. Individuals with anorexia have a body weight that is 15 percent or more below ...