Category: Treatment

Specific phobias

Overview

Specific phobias are an overwhelming and unreasonable fear of objects or situations that pose little real danger but provoke anxiety and avoidance. Unlike the brief anxiety you may feel when giving a speech or taking a test, specific phobias are long lasting, cause intense physical and psychological reactions, and can affect your ability to function normally at work, at school or in social settings.

Specific phobias are among the most common anxiety disorders, and not all phobias need treatment. But if a specific phobia affects your daily life, several therapies are available that can help you work through and overcome your fears — often permanently.

Symptoms

A specific phobia involves an intense, persistent fear of a specific object or situation that’s out of proportion to the actual risk. There are many types of phobias, and it’s not unusual to experience a specific phobia about more than one object or situation. Specific phobias can also occur along with other types of anxiety disorders.

Common categories of specific phobias are a fear of:

  • Situations, such as airplanes, enclosed spaces or going to school
  • Nature, such as thunderstorms or heights
  • Animals or insects, such as dogs or spiders
  • Blood, injection or injury, such as needles, accidents or medical procedures
  • Others, such as choking, vomiting, loud noises or clowns

Each specific phobia is referred to by its own term. Examples of more common terms include acrophobia for the fear of heights and claustrophobia for the fear of confined spaces.

No matter what specific phobia you have, it’s likely to produce these types of reactions:

  • An immediate feeling of intense fear, anxiety and panic when exposed to or even thinking about the source of your fear
  • Awareness that your fears are unreasonable or exaggerated but feeling powerless to control them
  • Worsening anxiety as the situation or object gets closer to you in time or physical proximity
  • Doing everything possible to avoid the object or situation or enduring it with intense anxiety or fear
  • Difficulty functioning normally because of your fear
  • Physical reactions and sensations, including sweating, rapid heartbeat, tight chest or difficulty breathing
  • Feeling nauseated, dizzy or fainting around blood or injuries
  • In children, possibly tantrums, clinging, crying, or refusing to leave a parent’s side or approach their fear  read more

 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

What Is ADHD?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a brain disorder that affects how you pay attention, sit still, and control your behavior. It happens in children and teens and can continue into adulthood.

ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder in children. Boys are more likely to have it than girls. It’s usually spotted during the early school years, when a child begins to have problems paying attention.

ADHD can’t be prevented or cured. But spotting it early, plus having a good treatment and education plan, can help a child or adult with ADHD manage their symptoms.

ADHD Symptoms

Symptoms in children

Symptoms are grouped into three types:

Inattentive. A child with ADHD:

  • Is easily distracted
  • Doesn’t follow directions or finish tasks
  • Doesn’t seem to be listening
  • Doesn’t pay attention and makes careless mistakes
  • Forgets about daily activities
  • Has problems organizing daily tasks
  • Doesn’t like to do things that require sitting still
  • Often loses things
  • Tends to daydream
Hyperactive-impulsive. A child with ADHD:

  • Often squirms, fidgets, or bounces when sitting
  • Doesn’t stay seated
  • Has trouble playing quietly
  • Is always moving, such as running or climbing on things. (In teens and adults, this is more often described as restlessness.)
  • Talks excessively
  • Is always “on the go,” as if “driven by a motor”
  • Has trouble waiting for their turn
  • Blurts out answers
  • Interrupts others

Combined. This involves signs of both other types.  read more

Yoe Mase – PTSD (Music Video)

 

Lyrics
Post-traumatic stress disorder
When she loves to goodbye
And my heart was for sale
And I’ll never know why
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Will tear you down when you fly
And my heart was for sale
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
I feel cold when you’re gone
But the warmth smothered me
We can start another fire, baby
On a boat floating in the sea
Something twistin’, something twistin’ in my heart babe
And now I scream a battle cry
And your heart was for sale
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
And you love a goodbye
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Yosef Mase

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Overview

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

Most people who go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or even years, and interfere with your day-to-day functioning, you may have PTSD.

Getting effective treatment after PTSD symptoms develop can be critical to reduce symptoms and improve function.

 

Symptoms

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may start within one month of a traumatic event, but sometimes symptoms may not appear until years after the event. These symptoms cause significant problems in social or work situations and in relationships. They can also interfere with your ability to go about your normal daily tasks.

PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. Symptoms can vary over time or vary from person to person.

Intrusive memories

Symptoms of intrusive memories may include:

  • Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event
  • Reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again (flashbacks)
  • Upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event
  • Severe emotional distress or physical reactions to something that reminds you of the traumatic event

Avoidance

Symptoms of avoidance may include:

  • Trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event
  • Avoiding places, activities or people that remind you of the traumatic event

Negative changes in thinking and mood

Symptoms of negative changes in thinking and mood may include:

  • Negative thoughts about yourself, other people or the world
  • Hopelessness about the future
  • Memory problems, including not remembering important aspects of the traumatic event
  • Difficulty maintaining close relationships
  • Feeling detached from family and friends
  • Lack of interest in activities you once enjoyed
  • Difficulty experiencing positive emotions
  • Feeling emotionally numb

Changes in physical and emotional reactions

Symptoms of changes in physical and emotional reactions (also called arousal symptoms) may include:

  • Being easily startled or frightened
  • Always being on guard for danger
  • Self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much or driving too fast
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Trouble concentrating
  • Irritability, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior
  • Overwhelming guilt or shame

For children 6 years old and younger, signs and symptoms may also include:

  • Re-enacting the traumatic event or aspects of the traumatic event through play
  • Frightening dreams that may or may not include aspects of the traumatic event  read more

Eating Disorders

Overview

There is a commonly held misconception that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. Eating disorders are actually serious and often fatal illnesses that are associated with severe disturbances in people’s eating behaviors and related thoughts and emotions. Preoccupation with food, body weight, and shape may also signal an eating disorder. Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.

Signs and Symptoms

Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is a condition where people avoid food, severely restrict food, or eat very small quantities of only certain foods. They also may weigh themselves repeatedly. Even when dangerously underweight, they may see themselves as overweight.

There are two subtypes of anorexia nervosa: a restrictive subtype and a binge-purge subtype.

Restrictive: People with the restrictive subtype of anorexia nervosa severely limit the amount and type of food they consume.

Binge-Purge: People with the binge-purge subtype of anorexia nervosa also greatly restrict the amount and type of food they consume. In addition, they may have binge-eating and purging episodes—eating large amounts of food in a short time followed by vomiting or using laxatives or diuretics to get rid of what was consumed.

Anorexia nervosa can be fatal. It has an extremely high death (mortality) rate compared with other mental disorders. People with anorexia are at risk of dying from medical complications associated with starvation. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people diagnosed with anorexia nervosa.

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs immediate help, call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Symptoms include:

  • Extremely restricted eating
  • Extreme thinness (emaciation)
  • A relentless pursuit of thinness and unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy weight
  • Intense fear of gaining weight
  • Distorted body image, a self-esteem that is heavily influenced by perceptions of body weight and shape, or a denial of the seriousness of low body weight

Other symptoms may develop over time, including:

  • Thinning of the bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis)
  • Mild anemia and muscle wasting and weakness
  • Brittle hair and nails
  • Dry and yellowish skin
  • Growth of fine hair all over the body (lanugo)
  • Severe constipation
  • Low blood pressure
  • Slowed breathing and pulse
  • Damage to the structure and function of the heart
  • Brain damage
  • Multiorgan failure
  • Drop in internal body temperature, causing a person to feel cold all the time
  • Lethargy, sluggishness, or feeling tired all the time
  • Infertility

Bulimia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is a condition where people have recurrent and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food and feeling a lack of control over these episodes. This binge-eating is followed by behavior that compensates for the overeating such as forced vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or diuretics, fasting, excessive exercise, or a combination of these behaviors. People with bulimia nervosa may be slightly underweight, normal weight, or over overweight.

Symptoms include:

  • Chronically inflamed and sore throat
  • Swollen salivary glands in the neck and jaw area
  • Worn tooth enamel and increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth as a result of exposure to stomach acid
  • Acid reflux disorder and other gastrointestinal problems
  • Intestinal distress and irritation from laxative abuse
  • Severe dehydration from purging of fluids
  • Electrolyte imbalance (too low or too high levels of sodium, calcium, potassium, and other minerals) which can lead to stroke or heart attack  read more

Paranoid Personality Disorder

What is paranoid personality disorder (PPD)?

PPD is a long-term mental health condition. PPD causes you to be suspicious, distrusting, and hostile toward others. These thoughts and behaviors can cause problems with your relationships and daily activities.

What causes PPD?

The cause may not be known. Your risk is higher if you have a family history of PPD, delusions, or schizophrenia. You are also at risk if you were abused or neglected as a child.

What are the symptoms of PPD?

You may have PPD if at least 5 of the following are true:

  • You do not easily feel empathy (know how someone else feels). You often show no emotion when someone is upset. It is hard for you to have close relationships. You have trouble creating direction in your life. You do not have a sense of your own identity.
  • You think other people will harm, trick, or take advantage of you. You think your friends are not loyal or have let you down. You suspect your partner has been unfaithful. You search for proof that your friends or partner cannot be trusted.
  • You are nervous about talking to others. You are afraid they will use the information against you. You think certain people are trying to insult you, make you look bad, or threaten your reputation. You hear a person say one thing, but you think he or she means something else. You are defensive when others make comments. You argue, pick fights, or get angry.
  • You often hold grudges. You cannot forgive people you think tried to hurt you. You may see certain people as your enemies. You may try to take legal action against them.  read more

Personality Disorder vs Mental Illness

Personality disorders are a group of mental illnesses. They involve long-term patterns of thoughts and behaviors that are unhealthy and inflexible. The behaviors cause serious problems with relationships and work. People with personality disorders have trouble dealing with everyday stresses and problems. They often have stormy relationships with other people.

The cause of personality disorders is unknown. However, genes and childhood experiences may play a role.

The symptoms of each personality disorder are different. They can mild or severe. People with personality disorders may have trouble realizing that they have a problem. To them, their thoughts are normal, and they often blame others for their problems. They may try to get help because of their problems with relationships and work. Treatment usually includes talk therapy and sometimes medicine. read more

Mania

Mania

Mania is a condition in which you display an over-the-top level of activity or energy, mood or behavior. This elevation must be a change from your usual self and be noticeable by others. Symptoms include feelings of invincibility, lack of sleep, racing thoughts and ideas, rapid talking and having false beliefs or perceptions.
Abnormal manic behavior is behavior that stands out. It’s over-the-top behavior that other people can notice. The behavior could reflect an extreme level of happiness or irritation. For example, you could be extremely excited about an idea for a new healthy snack bar. You believe the snack could make you an instant millionaire but you’ve never cooked a single meal in your life, don’t know a thing about how to develop a business plan and have no money to start a business. read more

Everything You Need to Know About Bipolar Disorder

What is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition marked by extreme shifts in mood.

Key symptoms include:

  • episodes of mania, or an extremely elevated mood
  • episodes of depression, or a low mood

Older terms for bipolar disorder include manic depression and bipolar disease.

Bipolar disorder isn’t a rare condition. In fact, the National Institute of Mental HealthTrusted Source says that 2.8 percent of U.S. adults — or about 5 million people — have a bipolar disorder diagnosis.

read more

 

Mental Illness In America’s Jails And Prisons

Mental Illness In America’s Jails And

Prisons: Toward A Public Safety/Public

Health Model

The United States continues to have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, with 5 percent of the world population, but nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.  Inmates are spending more time behind bars as states adopt “truth in sentencing laws,” which requires inmates to serve 85 percent of their sentence behind bars.

In 2012, about 1 in every 35 adults in the United States, or 2.9 percent of adult residents, was on probation or parole or incarcerated in prison or jail, the same rate observed in 1997.  If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 out of every 20 persons will spend time behind bars during their lifetime; and many of those caught in the net that is cast to catch the criminal offender will be suffering with mental illness.

read more