Clipmarks | dmegivern's 'mental.illness' clips

Pet Therapy for People with Mental Illness

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:30:48 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Man's best friend can communicate just as well as – and perhaps better – than people.

Deb Proc tells the story of introducing her golden retriever to an older woman at Alberta Hospital Edmonton who not only has mental-health issues but is blind and deaf, too.

Proc was just one of a dozen dog-owners sharing their stories today and marking the 10th anniversary of Edmonton’s Chimo Project, which uses animals to help treat mental conditions.

But founder Dennis Anderson says the reason today's Chimo Project party was so public is because the program is also appealing for more sustainable funding and more four-legged volunteers. “We need to make this an ongoing process to assist therapy,” he said.

Tags: mental.illness, pets, therapy

Seasonal Pattern in Bipolar Disorder May Help Treatment

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:01:48 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com

Approximately one fifth of people with bipolar disorder, mostly those with bipolar II, find their symptoms wax and wane with the seasons. Benito Mussolini was a prime example. In her biography of the Italian dictator Margarita Sarfati wrote: "He was quiet for months on end. But then came the troubled season (spring) when the sap rose and he was overcome by a swarm of powerful and dark instincts." Psychiatrist Dr Athanasios Koukopoulos, of Centro Lucio Bini, in Rome, Italy who has been studying Mussolini says: "This seasonal bipolar pattern with spring-summer highs which led him to believe in easy victories, and winter depressions masked by stomach pains is clearly documented from 1938 on." (1)

Tags: mental.illness, bipolar

More Connections Between Sleep and Mental Health

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:41:23 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Get enough sleep or your brain might become depressed.

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Sleep Loss Challenges Emotional Control

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

In the first neural investigation into what happens to the emotional brain without sleep, results from a brain imaging study suggest that while a good night’s rest can regulate your mood and help you cope with the next day’s emotional challenges, sleep deprivation does the opposite by excessively boosting the part of the brain most closely connected to depression, anxiety and other psychiatric disorders.

Clinical evidence has shown that some form of sleep disruption is present in almost all psychiatric disorders.

Walker and his team found that the amygdala, which is also a key to processing emotions, became hyperactive in response to negative visual stimuli - mutilated bodies, children with tumors and other gory images - in study participants who stayed awake for 35 hours straight. Conversely, brain scans of those who got a full night’s sleep in their own beds showed normal activity in the amygdala.

Tags: sleep, mental.illness, deprivation, depression, brain, research

Help-Seeking for College Students with Mental Illness

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:16:17 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Long ignored, the mental health of college students is finally getting attention.

Clip Source: www.ns.umich.edu

"We can't assume that reducing financial barriers is enough," Eisenberg said. The study found that one of the biggest predictors of whether a student sought help was socioeconomic background—students who reported growing up in poor families were almost twice as likely not to seek help. Poor students were also much more prone to symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders.

It's important to understand what motivates students to seek help or not for several reasons, Eisenberg said. Most mental disorders first occur before age 24, and those problems often have long-term implications into adulthood. Studying a university setting lends insight into what other factors besides affordability keep people from seeking help.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Studies show that the incidence of mental illness on college campuses is rising, and a new survey of 2,785 college students indicates that more than half of students with significant symptoms of anxiety or depression do not seek help.

Tags: college, mental.illness, treatment, psychology