Description: There is a LOT of talk, research and theorizing these days about stress and anxiety including discussion of the possibility that there is an epidemic of anxiety among high school, college and university students and emerging adults in general. Early, over-simplistic blame has been laid on smartphone and social media use among adolescents and… Read more »
Posts Categorized: mental illness
Is (or When is) City Living Good For You?
Description: Is city living good for you? When lecturing on mental health and illness I usually refer to research suggesting that rates of a number of mental disorders are higher in urban centers but that causal nature of that observation is problematic as cities are where most mental health treatment centers are located and most… Read more »
When You Think Of Anxiety or Depression Does Anger Come to Mind?
Description: Someone you know become quite angry rather unexpectedly (in an out of character manner). What is are the first and second thoughts that come to mind for you? The first thought would likely be that you are missing some piece of situational data that would help you to see why they are so angry… Read more »
Self-Harm: Symptom or Treatable Issue?
Description: What do you know about self-harm? I do not mean, do you engage in self-harm but, rather, what have you heard of it? Over a relatively short number of years (20 tops) there has been a marked increase in the rates of self-harm (cutting etc.) among young people and particularly among teenaged and young… Read more »
Just How ARE ACE’s Related to Mental Illnesses?
Description: You have likely heard about the data that is piling up regarding the relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences and beyond childhood incidences of mental and physical illness (if not there are a couple of links in the Reference section below that will provide you with an overview of that work). An obvious question to… Read more »
Stress, Anxiety, and Depression: The Links and 10 Simple Words
Description: Stress is related to depression somehow, right? But just how ARE they related? And How does anxiety play into this? Think about what you might know about how these things are related and not just correlationally (as in, more stressed people get depressed than do non-stressed people) but at the neurological level. Once you… Read more »
They Must Be Crazy! Mental Illness and Gun Violence: Think Again
Description: It is frankly quite alarming how many times the opportunity to have this sort of conversation arises these days. Someone goes on a shooting rampage and we and the media try and figure out why. As a psychologist, I am most concerned that it is too easy for people to say some version of… Read more »
A Brain Reset Treatment for Depression?
Description: Perhaps you have heard about the use of ECT (electroconvulsive shock therapy) to treat “treatment resistant depression. It involved(s) the induction of a grand mal seizure (random firing of all neurons in the brain) through the application of electrical stimulation of the brain. Why does it work (when it does)? It seems to “rest”… Read more »
Seeking the Causes of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder with Epigenesis
Description: What causes schizophrenia? If you said something like “a chemical imbalance in the brain” you are not alone and that fits with what else you likely know which is that there are a wide array of drugs available that are used as parts of efforts to address that “imbalance.” However, you know those drugs… Read more »
New Work: New Issues in Mental Health
Description: As the article linked below states at its outset, today (April 28) is World Day for Safety and Health at Work. It is certainly the case that we have seen a general push to de-stigmatize issues of mental health so that it can and will be talked about and addressed in all settings (family,… Read more »
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