hgh dhea metformin

Calendar

January 2011
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  

Pages

Archives

Recent Posts

Blogroll





Archive for January, 2011

 

By Dr Carolyn Bernstein
Last updated at 10:00 AM on 10th May 2010

An Egyptian medical scroll dated 1500 to 3000BC is the first known mention of a migraine, and throughout the centuries they have been one of the least understood but most common diseases.

Yet despite its longevity, the single biggest misunderstanding is that a migraine is just a severe headache. It is, in fact, a complex neurological disease that affects the central nervous system and is accompanied by a range of physical and emotional symptoms.

I had my first migraine when I was a medical student in my early 20s. At first I thought I was just having bad headaches and it didn’t occur to me to talk to my doctor. The pain would always resolve, although sometimes I had to sleep it off.

But as I began to study neurology, I realised I was having migraines. I was shocked at the absence of solid medical data and horrified by the lack of sympathy. I learned what many migraineurs already knew: people who don’t get migraines – including many doctors – have a hard time believing how debilitating they are. Indeed, countless patients tell me their friends or employers have ordered them to ‘just deal with it’.

I’d already decided to specialise in neurology. But it was my own experience, and the realisation that we in the medical world still had so much to learn, that led me to investigate this fascinating disorder.

Migraines are caused by abnormal brain biochemistry and are not, as some believe, self-induced. They are not the consequence of psychiatric problems, nor a sign of hypochondria, nor the fault of the sufferer. They are a chronic, neurological illness that is present from birth and is in most cases inherited from one or both parents.

Read in Full:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1275419/Migraines–headaches-born–best-cure-cup-coffee-two.html?ito=feeds-newsxml



 

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on May 10, 2010 

A new report suggests engagement in video games can help children and adults find relief from acute and chronic pain.

Researchers report virtual reality is proving to be effective in reducing anxiety and acute pain caused by painful medical procedures and could be useful for treating chronic pain.

According to a presentation at an annual scientific meeting, when children and adults with acute and chronic pain become immersed in video game action, they receive some analgesic benefit.

“Virtual reality produces a modulating effect that is endogenous, so the analgesic influence is not simply a result of distraction but may also impact how the brain responds to painful stimuli,” said Jeffrey I. Gold, Ph.D.

“The focus is drawn to the game not the pain or the medical procedure, while the virtual reality experience engages visual and other senses.”

While moderating a symposium entitled “Virtual Reality and Pain Management,” Dr. Gold noted that the exact mechanistic/neurobiological basis responsible for the VR analgesic effect of video games is unknown, but a likely explanation is the immersive, attention-grabbing, multi-sensory and gaming nature of VR.

These aspects of VR may produce an endogenous modulatory effect, which involves a network of higher cortical (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex) and subcortical (e.g., the amygdala, hypothalamus) regions known to be associated with attention, distraction and emotion.

Read in Full:  http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/05/10/video-games-help-relieve-pain/13660.html



 



Why Wait?


Highest Quality Marriages — Those Who Married At Ages 22 – 25

Not too long ago I had a conversation with a group of recent college graduates (both men and women).  To a person, they all agreed that they would not be getting married anytime soon, and several of them were willing to put a number on it — “definitely not until after 30.”

I walked away wondering — Why wait?


Men have long been known for their stiff-arming approach to marriage.  But did you know that single women are the fastest growing demographic in the U.S.?  The median age at first marriage for women has gone from 21 in 1970 to 27 presently.  Furthermore, the marriage rate for women under 35 has declined nearly 50% since 1970 — from 75.5 marriages per 1000 unmarried women to 39.5.


A couple months ago I had a conversation with a young man named Eric. He is a former student who is now 27.  When Eric was in college, he dated a woman (Andrea) whom he described as “the love of my life.”  As Eric put it: “Andrea and I got along great.  We had chemistry.  We could talk for hours.  Or we could just hang out, perfectly comfortable simply being together, saying almost nothing.  We never seemed to be at a loss for things that we enjoyed doing together.  And it stayed this way for over 3 years.”


What could be better?  Eric had found the love of his life.  They had chemistry.  They were able to communicate.  They enjoyed each other’s company.  The relationship had shown staying power (thriving for over 3 years).


But a problem emerged shortly after graduation.  Andrea wanted more.  She was interested in “a future” together.  And the more she wanted to talk about their future, the more Eric pulled away.  Within a year, they had split up.


Eric lamented to me: “I have dated a lot of women since then, some more seriously, most less so.  But I haven’t found anyone quite like Andrea.  I think I blew it.  I think I missed out on a wonderful woman.  I let her get away.”


I wish I could say that Eric’s situation is unique — that very few people begin to think after breaking up that they’ve blown it, that they’ve passed on a person who would have made a great life companion.  But unfortunately, I can’t — I’ve heard it dozens of times — men and women who realize (almost always too late) that they let a really good partner get away.


I suspect that nearly all of us are familiar with the studies reporting that age at marriage and marital success are inversely related — in other words, the earlier you marry, the less likely you are to experience marital success.


In light of such studies, it is only logical to wait.  And we are led to believe that the longer you wait, the better.


But did you know that this is only true up to about age 22?  If you marry prior to 21 or 22 years old, then the probability of marital success goes down drastically.  BUT after age 22, this is no longer true.


In fact, recent evidence has suggested that the highest quality marriages are found among those who married at ages 22 – 25.


Furthermore, recent evidence has revealed that couples who wait until after 30 to marry run the risk of ending up with poorer quality marriages.  As many of us probably realize (at least those of us who are over 30), as people get older, they tend to get “set in their ways” — and this is one characteristic that is notoriously detrimental to the type of mutual give-and-take that is so essential to close, loving, caring, and giving relationships.


Obviously, this does not mean that all marriages that occur after the age of 30 are doomed to mediocrity, but it does suggest that such marriages may require a modicum of extra time, energy, effort, attention, AND give-and-take if they are going to be successful.


But I am still left with my query: Why wait?


If a person has the desire and the intention of marrying AND this person has found someone who would make a wonderful traveling companion along the journey called life, then why not seize the opportunity and make it official?  Why not marry this person?


Why wait?


Source:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-bytes/201004/why-wait


Science Secret for Happy Marriages: Be More Attractive Than Your Spouse


by Daniel R. Hawes


Correlations are what makes the blogosphere go round, so maybe I should start off this post by cutting straight to the chase: The prettier a wife in comparison to her husband the happier the marriage.


The source for (the underlying statistical truth behind) this correlation is a recent article in the Journal of Family Psychology, which analyzes self- and other-reported ratings on Marital Satisfaction, Marital Interaction Behavior and Physical Attractiveness for 82 newlywed couples (i.e. couples married for less than 3 months).


Taking the sample into account, one might consider revising the above statement to read: The prettier the wife in comparison to her husband the higher the marital satisfaction score for a fairly homogeneous group of couples at the very early stages of their marriage.


That being said, it might also be worthwhile noting that the study only looked at physical attractiveness in respect to the marriage partners faces, and possibly I should be a little more careful about stating correlation as causal dependency, so maybe I’d better say that the degree to which the female partners face is prettier than the male partners face is correlated with marital happiness scores for a fairly homogenous group of couples at the beginning of their marriage.


Another look at the data and a reminder that “people who do well at mathematics usually play an instrument, doesn’t imply that people who play an instrument usually do well in mathematics”, forces me to admit that in reality it is not so much that marriages are happier when the female has a prettier face than her husband, but that males in this data set are unhappier when they are married to women less attractive than themselves. Hence, I should say: In the sample of examined marriages, the degree to which men have more attractive faces than their wives correlates with reduced marital satisfaction scores.


However, it is not so much the degree to which men and women are unequally attractive, that is driving the correlation in this dataset, but simply the fact that the man has a more attractive face than the woman. It’s the direction (not the magnitude) of the difference that counts!
So I might conclude that there are husbands out there, who look better than their better (but not better-looking) halves, and these guys are also miserable…or at least they score lower on a six-item marital happiness scale, which makes me wonder: What does a 4 for one person on a marital happiness score really mean in comparison to a 5 on that same scale for a different person?


Read in Full:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolved-primate/201005/science-secret-happy-marriages-be-more-attractive-your-spouse


Why NOT To Marry Your Second-Choice Man


You don’t love the man you’re with but fear you won’t do any better?
by Regina Barreca, Ph.D.

You don’t love the man you’re with but don’t think you’ll do any better?


Leave him. Do yourself and the poor guy a favor.


If you stay with a man because you’re afraid to be alone, you’ll end up ruining two lives. The woman who makes such a choice is hedging her bets, and basing her choice on fear, not love.


Women who marry men they don’t love come to resent their mates, and heap upon them their own feelings of inadequacy, self-punishment and rage.


Resentment will, in some cases, turn not only into contempt, but into hatred.


“On Women Who Hate Their Husbands,” a paper originally read at the New Orleans Psychoanalytic Society, dealt with the phenomena of women who married in order to “play it safe.”


Discussing patients who married “second-choice husbands,” Dr. David Freedman argues that in each case the woman’s “choice of mate had been based on the specific defect of her own ego system implied by inability to see herself as a person of sufficient potential significance and ability to hold a man she really admired.” In effect, the women in question believed that they were not worthy of fully desirable husbands, and so chose mildly undesirable men instead.


“She had chosen someone who combined the contradictory, but for her safe, qualities of substantial but not outstanding ability in his own professional sphere, and a passive, dependent, and placatory orientation to the significant female in his life.” But this proved to make such women dreadfully unhappy because “Rather than satisfying, the relationship proved inevitably to be fraught with anxiety and frustration.”


I knew one woman who, having resigned herself to marring a “second-choice husband,” then made a career out of belittling any sign of happiness between two other people. “Those love-birds are headed for a fall,” she cluck over any new couple, palpably longing for disaster. She couldn’t stand the idea that anyone might actually have a relationship based on passion, fun, or even simply the promise of an equal match between the partners.


When her own daughter wanted to marry an interesting, handsome and devoted man, this woman was torn. She wanted her daughter to be happy, of course. But, on some level, she was also tormented by seeing her own compromised and diluted life pale in comparison to the promise held by daughter’s union.


If this was playing it safe, I thought to myself, I can’t abide the payoff.


To marry a man simply because he seems a “safe bet” is cheating: it cheats the woman out of actually working through towards a real understanding of herself and what she needs, and it cheats a man out of being the real love-object for a woman who believes he is the best man she could find.


Source:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/snow-white-doesnt-live-here-anymore/201004/why-not-marry-your-second-choice-man


Narcissism’s First Cousin


The Name of Narcissism’s First Cousin…..


by John R. Buri, Ph.D.


Without a doubt, dating (or worse yet, marrying) a narcissist is bad news.  Both you and the relationship are going to experience the devastating consequences of such a decision.


But narcissism has a first cousin.  This relative of narcissism also takes its toll on loving relationships (as well as on those people who are in them).  The effects of this relative are not as forceful and blunt as those of narcissism, but in the long run, they can be just as devastating.


The name of narcissism’s first cousin — selfishness.


Lots of relationship experts have made it clear.  The most successful long-term love partnerships happen when both people have a desire to put their partner’s needs, desires, and interests above their own.


But what happens if one partner has this desire, but the other partner is mired in a mind-set of self-interest?


Case in point.  Marie and Paul had been married for a little over 8 years when I first met them.  At the heart of their failing marriage was the fact that Marie could not count on Paul for consistent help around the house.  Paul would occasionally take out the garbage or mow the lawn, but his participation in their life together seldom went beyond this.  And when Marie did sometimes ask Paul for help with other things around the house, he would typically do them, but never without attitude of indignation.


To make things worse, Paul repeatedly came home late from work without letting Marie know that he would be late, or he would go out with friends without talking with Marie.


At the heart of successful long-term love relationships is WE-ness [see Commitment Is Essential To Love, But What Is Commitment?].


Needless to say, Paul’s sense of ME-ness was much stronger than his sense of WE-ness.


Paul had grown up an only child, and his parents divorced when he was nine.  He spent much of his teen years by himself with little need to let anyone know his whereabouts.  He came and went pretty much as he pleased.  Furthermore, being very busy with school activities, Paul was rarely expected to do anything around the house to help support his mother.


When we think of selfishness, we often think of laziness, but Paul was anything but lazy.  Throughout his growing up years, he had been very self-disciplined and responsible.  But his hard work and responsibility had nearly always been exercised in the pursuit of his own self-interests.  He had never been asked to think something like: “If I decide to do this, how will that decision affect US?”  As a result, WE-ness was simply not anywhere on Paul’s cognitive radar screen.


Marie tried cajoling, pleading, prodding, and nagging.  As you might suspect, none of these did anything to develop a sense of WE-ness within Paul’s cranial cavity.  In fact, they only served to make things worse.


Bottom line.


If you want a smooth-sailing long-term love voyage, make sure both partners have an expressed desire to put their partner’s needs, desires, and interests above their own.


If one person has this desire, but their partner does not, then you can plan on setting sail with an anchor overboard.  The drag on the relationship will produce anything but smooth sailing.


And if neither partner has the desire to put their partner’s needs, desire, and interests above their own, then prepare yourself for a shipwreck.


Source:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-bytes/201003/narcissisms-first-cousin


Women, Criticism, And Relationship Success


Why All The Criticism?

Many of us have people in our lives with whom we feel the bond described by the word kenzoku. They may be family members, a mother, a brother, a daughter, a cousin. Or a friend from grammar school with whom we haven’t talked in decades. Time and distance do nothing to diminish the bond we have with these kinds of friends.


The question then arises: why do we have the kind of chemistry encapsulated by the word kenzoku with only a few people we know and not scores of others? The closer we look for the answer the more elusive it becomes. It may not in fact be possible to know, but the characteristics that define a kenzoku relationship most certainly are.


 

WHAT DRAWS PEOPLE TOGETHER AS FRIENDS?


  1. 1.  Common interests. This probably ties us closer to our friends than many would like to admit. When our interests diverge and we can find nothing to enjoy jointly, time spent together tends to rapidly diminish. Not that we can’t still care deeply about friends with whom we no longer share common interests, but it’s probably uncommon for such friends to interact on a regular basis.
  2. 2.  History. Nothing ties people together, even people with little in common, than having gone through the same difficult experience. As the sole glue to keep friendships whole in the long run, however, it often dries, cracks, and ultimately fails.
  3. 3.  Common values. Though not necessarily enough to create a friendship, if values are too divergent, it’s difficult for a friendship to thrive.
  4. 4.  Equality. If one friend needs the support of the other on a consistent basis such that the person depended upon receives no benefit other than the opportunity to support and encourage, while the relationship may be significant and valuable, it can’t be said to define a true friendship.

WHAT MAKES A FRIEND WORTHY OF THE NAME?


  1. 1.  A commitment to your happiness. A true friend is consistently willing to put your happiness before your friendship. It’s said that “good advice grates on the ear,” but a true friend won’t refrain from telling you something you don’t want to hear, something that may even risk fracturing the friendship, if hearing it lies in your best interest. A true friend will not lack the mercy to correct you when you’re wrong. A true friend will confront you with your drinking problem as quickly as inform you about a malignant-looking skin lesion on your back that you can’t see yourself.
  2. 2.  Not asking you to place the friendship before your principles. A true friend won’t ask you to compromise your principles in the name of your friendship or anything else. Ever.
  3. 3.  A good influence. A true friend inspires you to live up to your best potential, not to indulge your basest drives.

Of course, we may have friends who fit all these criteria and still don’t quite feel kenzoku. There still seems to be an extra factor, an attraction similar to that which draws people together romantically, that cements friends together irrevocably, often immediately, for no reason either person can identify. But when you find these people, these kenzoku, they’re like priceless gems. They’re like finding home.


HOW TO ATTRACT TRUE FRIENDS


This one is easy, at least on paper: become a true friend yourself. One of my favorite quotations comes from Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Be the friend you want to have. We all tend to attract people into our lives whose character mirrors our own. You don’t have to make yourself into what you think others would find attractive. No matter what your areas of interest, others share them somewhere. Simply make yourself a big target. Join social clubs organized around activities you enjoy. Leverage the Internet to find people of like mind. Take action.


As I thought about it, there are four people in my life I consider kenzoku. How many do you?


If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to explore Dr. Lickerman’s home page, Happiness in this World.


Source:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201002/what-makes-true-friend


Adolescent Dating: What makes a good relationship.


How teenagers can tell if a dating relationship is good?
by Carl Pickhardt Ph.D.

Significant dating most commonly begins in late adolescence, ages 15 – 18, during the high school years. By “significant” I mean when young people want to experience a continuing relationship that involves more interest and caring than the casual socializing or friendship they have known before. They want to pair up, at least for a while, to experience what a more serious involvement is like.


At this juncture, it can be helpful if parents can provide some guidelines for evaluating the “goodness” of a relationship. To what degree is it constructed and conducted so that it works well and not badly for the young people involved? What should they expect in a relationship, and what should they not want? Remember, in most cases, this relationship education is not addressed in the academic classes that they take in school. It is taught by life experience. I believe parents have a role in helping their son or daughter know how to evaluate this experience.


Parents can begin by describing three components of a serious relationship: Attraction, Enjoyment, and Respect. Attraction is how the relationship gets started. Typically it is based on appearance and personality that motivates wanting to spend some time together. Enjoyment is what keeps the relationship going. Typically it is based on companionship and commonality that allow them to share experience together. Respect is how the relationship is conducted in a sensitive manner. Typically it is based on keeping treatment of each other within limits that feel comfortable and safe for them both.


Parents can declare: no matter how much attraction and enjoyment there is, if how young people treat each other lacks respect for one or both of them, then what they have is not a good relationship. For sure, parents need to tell their son or daughter that any kind of violence (action with intent to harm), be it verbal, emotional, physical or sexual, is not okay. The only good relationship is a safe relationship. Period.


As I describe in my book about adolescence, “The Connected Father,” parents can suggest four basic treatment questions to which their son or daughter needs to ask and answer “yes” to affirm that the significant dating relationship is good, or at least good enough.


First: “Do I like how I treat myself in the relationship?” For example, “Do I give my needs and wants as much importance as the other person’s in the relationship?”


Second: “Do I like how I treat the other person in the relationship?” For example, “Do I accept the right of the other person to view things differently from me?”


Third: “Do I like how the other person treats me in the relationship?” For example, “Does the other person accept my disagreement without criticizing me or pushing to change my mind?”


Fourth: “Do I like how the other person treats himself or herself in the relationship?” For example, “Does the other person manage frustration or disappointment calmly without becoming angry or upset?”


If the young person cannot answer “yes” to all four questions, then there is some work to do on the relationship. For many young people, the path to learning how to have a good relationship runs through the hard experience of having one or more bad relationships. In the words of one high school junior: “I never want to go though another relationship like that!”


If a serious relationship becomes emotionally intensified by first love, then there are more specific questions parents can suggest for the young person to consider because love relationships are the most intimately complex and challenging of all. These are questions relevant not just for late adolescents, but for couples of any age.


— The Expression question: “Do you both feel free to speak up about what matters?”
— The Attention question: “Do you both feel listened to when expressing a concern?”
— The Respect question: “Do you both observe comfort and safety limits that each other sets?”
— The Conflict question: “Do you both manage disagreement so neither of you feels threatened or gets emotionally or physically injured?”
— The Commitment question: “Do you both keep promises and agreements that have been made?”
— The Honesty question: “Do you both trust each other to tell the truth?”
— The Independence question: “Do you both support each other having separate time apart?”
— The Anger question: “Do you both express and respond to an offense or violation so you can talk it out and work it out, not act it out?”
— The Equity question: “Do you both evenly share so neither one does most of the giving or getting?”
— The Communication question: “Do you both keep each other adequately informed?”


It takes a lot of work to create a love relationship in which both parties can answer “yes” to all these questions. As parents, it is NOT your job to manage their relationships. It is your job, however, to provide your son or daughter with the important questions to ask.


What you want is for your teenager to learn from significant dating or in-love experience what it means and what it takes to have a good relationship so that he or she is more likely, if so choosing, to make a well working committed partnership later on.


There’s no point talking about a good serious dating relationship without talking about the potential for sexual involvement. Self-report surveys like the 2005 report by the National Center for Health Statistics indicate around 50% of students having had sexual intercourse by the end of high school.


What this suggests is that a lot of students do have sex, and about the same number don’t. So if a young person elects not to have sex, they have a lot of good company. Generally, parents want to play for delay – not saying “not ever” but “not yet.” For safety, having sex is like using alcohol or other drugs: the later you wait to start, the more mature (and wiser) your decision-making is likely to be.


From what I have seen, the three most common causes for serious dating relationships becoming sexually active are for the sake of “love”, altered judgment from alcohol or other drug use, and for a rite of adult passage – hooking up to act grown up.


Of course, if your son or daughter is “in-love” the possibility of becoming sexually active increases. The relationship becomes more affectionate, affection becomes more sexually arousing, sexual arousal intensifies emotion, emotion overrules judgment, and the immediacy of pleasure is more compelling than being careful about outcomes.


Advice parents need to give their son or daughter is to manage this relationship with maturity by “consulting later before deciding now.” The sexual restraint questions to ask are these. “If I have sex with this person, what emotional and physical consequences might I face, and are they worth the risks that I am taking?”
True love means loving the other person enough to keep them free of sexual harm.


If, against their parents wishes, young people in love are determined to become sexually active, then they need to have the good sense to safely plan their sexual activity by using sexual protection. For sure, parents need to explain how having sex doesn’t mean you have love, how having love doesn’t mean you have to have sex, and how having had sex with someone once does not oblige you to have it again.


Sexual advice for young people who are seriously dating is to keep the relationship sober because most first sexual experiences are drug or alcohol affected. Just as parents tell the teenager not to drink or drug and drive, they need to extend that warning to dating. “Don’t drink or drug and date (either you or the other person) because substance use alters judgment, lowers inhibitions, increases impulse, and causes people to commit and allow behavior that they would not if they were substance-free.” Many emotionally and physically coerced sexual encounters at this age are abetted by substance use.


As for sex as a rite of passage into adulthood, hooking up to proving one is now manly or womanly; well, it doesn’t. It only proves that you are putting yourself or the other person at risk of a whole lot of dangerous outcomes.


Understand that your son or daughter is not obliged to have a serious dating or in-love relationship in high school. From what I have seen, probably not more than half of late adolescents have a serious dating relationship in high school, and less than that experience falling “in-love.”


What I have also seen, however, is that although many parents are reluctant to talk with their teenager about the management of sexual behavior, even fewer ever talk to their son or daughter about what constitutes a “good” relationship.


Read in Full:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/200905/adolescent-dating-what-makes-good-relationship


Teen Girls Talk More to Parents About Their Dating Habits Than Do Boys


ScienceDaily (May 6, 2010) — When it comes to talking to parents about most dating issues, teen girls tend to disclose more than boys, and both sexes generally prefer to talk to their mothers.


However, a new study found that girls and boys are equally close-mouthed about issues involving sex and what they do with their dates while unsupervised. And in this case, teens were no more eager to talk to their mothers than they were their fathers.


Results showed that the amount of information parents hear from their teenagers about dating depend on a variety of matters, including age, gender, and what aspect of dating the topic involves.


“Many parents become frustrated because they feel that the lack of communication with their teenage children is evidence of increasing distance or diminishing influence,” explained Christopher Daddis, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University at Marion.


“What we found is that adolescents are willing to talk to their parents about some issues, but those issues may change as they grow older and they feel more autonomous.”


The research appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of Adolescence. The study involved a survey of 222 adolescents in the 9th or 12th grade at a central Ohio high school. About half of them were boys and half were girls.


Students were asked to rate how willing they were to disclose specific information to their parents about 22 different issues relating to their romantic lives . Based on the results, Daddis separated dating issues into three categories.


The first category involved the identity of their boyfriend or girlfriend, and information about the boyfriend or girlfriend’s family, their personal character and the type of student they are. The second category involved more personal issues such as what the teen did with their partner without parental supervision and if they had sex. The third category involved the types of things they did to show their affection, such as holding hands, kissing and going steady.


Daddis found that adolescents were more willing to talk to their parents about their date’s identity and how they showed affection. Specifically, girls disclosed information more often than boys, and with both sexes the mother was their primary confidant. Also, results showed that younger and older adolescents were equally willing to talk to their parents about those two topics.


All adolescents disclosed little about what they did when unsupervised and whether they had sex. There was no distinction between sexes when it concerned issues involving sex and supervision, so neither girls or boys expressed eagerness to talk to their parents about it.


However, on most issues, younger adolescents showed a significantly higher level of communication than older adolescents. The study found that teens who reported a higher level of trust with their parents also disclosed more. Daddis was surprised that the connection between trust and disclosure was especially strong for girls, and particularly for issues related to sex and supervision.


“It is important for the parents to provide an environment where the child can feel comfortable and trusting. The presence of a trusting relationship between parent and teen creates an climate for healthy development of autonomy,” said Daddis.


In addition, the researchers found that teens were more likely to discuss issues that they thought could involve harm to others and that may have severe consequences.


“We found that adolescents were more willing to talk to their parents about an issue if they felt that it would render harm to themselves or have some consequences that may affect others.”


Daddis said parents should realize that it is natural for teens to seek more independence and to draw boundaries around what they reveal.


“Developing a trusting relationship is one of the most important things parents can do to maintain consistent communication,” he said.


The study was co-authored by Danielle Randolph, who is an undergraduate at Ohio State.


Source:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100506121757.htm


Social Networking Sites Reveal Teens’ Sexual Intent


By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on May 3, 2010

Wonder if your child is sexually active or getting close? New research suggests a review of their social networking site activity may provide considerable insight.

In a new study, researchers discovered that display of sexual references on teens’ Facebook profiles is associated with their intention to have sex.


“Parents and physicians are often seeking clues for when it’s time to have ‘the talk’ about sex with a teenager,” said Megan A. Moreno from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.


“Our study suggests that if sexual content is noted on a teen’s social networking site profile, it’s definitely time for that talk.”


Dr. Moreno’s team previously found that 54 percent of MySpace profiles contained high-risk behavior information, with 24 percent referencing sexual behavior.


The researchers hypothesized that these displays may represent involvement in risk behaviors, consideration of risk behaviors or just adolescent grandstanding.


In the current study, researchers investigated what sexual displays on social networking sites represent in the offline world.


They identified publicly available Facebook profiles of college freshmen, 85 of whom completed a survey measuring sexual experiences, risky sexual behavior, and for those not yet sexually active, sexual intention.


Researchers found a strong association between display of sexual references on Facebook and self-reported intention to initiate sexual intercourse.


The authors concluded that social networking sites present innovative opportunities for clinicians, educators and parents to identify adolescents who may benefit from targeted education regarding safe sex practices prior to sexual initiation.


Source: American Academy of Pediatrics


http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/05/03/social-networking-sites-reveal-teens-sexual-intent/13428.html


Related News Articles


Neanderthink: Good Girls, Bad Girls


The vagaries of paternity have led men to sharply categorize women—even in a hookup culture—but women can get savvy about this male propensity.

By Nando Pelusi


They met at Starbucks, made flirty small talk, and exchanged numbers. On their first date a few days later, she invited him back to her place—appropriately enough, for coffee. He’d barely removed his jacket when she slammed the door and pounced. “Is this just about sex?” he thought, because he was putatively looking for a good time, but was in reality seeking a relationship. He was no longer the hunter, but the hunted.


After that tryst his interest dropped quickly and steeply. But why? An opportunity to have unencumbered sex is what men want—right? Well, yes and no.


It’s no moral failing to feel lust, and women throughout history have made strategic decisions to become physical quickly, and to couple with multiple males, especially when the men in question commanded either resources or good genes. That said, the blunt truth is that hooking up might be a mistake when a woman’s goal is finding a long-term relationship; men tend not to marry women they label promiscuous. But in fact there are many reasons a woman might opt to hook up, and not all are about immediate sexual gratification.


Under most circumstances, men are the wooers, and if their wooing is too easy they are prone to unwittingly discount a woman’s value. A man may not even realize he will ultimately penalize a woman for giving him the very thing he pressures her for. The fact that his judgment is unconscious makes it no less damning.


Some men are exceptions in that they’re able to overcome the biases with which nature has encumbered them. Some men truly aren’t judgmental. But the average guy will tend to dichotomize women quickly and unconsciously: She’s a whore if she sleeps with him too soon (or with too many people he knows).


A man’s judgments often reflect his assessment of himself as much as of the woman. A man with low self-esteem may be particularly biased against a woman who sleeps with him quickly, because he thinks other (better) men will have even easier access to her. The Groucho Marxist doctrine taps into this thinking: Any woman who would have me must be pretty desperate.


Male hypervigilance about a woman’s sexual choices arises from a basic genetic self-interest. It serves to monitor paternity, since a woman who sleeps around is not a reliable vehicle for any single man’s genes, according to evolutionary logic.


Why, then, do women persist in “sleeping around” or “putting out”? Like most fundamental human behaviors, there are trade-offs that would have made female promiscuity a viable strategy in many cases throughout human history.


A harsh and unpromising environment (say, few available resources and fewer good men) might warrant tenuous liaisons with several men rather than a single connection to an unreliable man. Anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy has argued that such environments—uncertain provisions for a woman and her progeny—encouraged women to have a mixed strategy: multiple males for now, while preserving the opportunity to “switch up” if and when a more stable mate appeared.


Such behavior may in part account for the fact that ovulation is largely concealed in human females, which allows women to misrepresent or “finesse” paternity so as to accrue resources from more than one male. Concealed ovulation also encourages men to remain emotionally and physically close to their partners, in part to assure paternity even if the circumstances of conception are opaque.


After finding a potential long-term mate, a woman might decide that a virginal reputation could raise her viability. As Oscar Levant noted about Doris Day, “I knew her before she was a virgin.” Granted, ancestral females had limited opportunities to reinvent themselves. Hence the need to be coy, even while engaging in promiscuous behavior.


In the contemporary world, promiscuity takes the form not just of surreptitious couplings with multiple partners; rather, it consists of sexual liaisons with no commitments desired or discussed. “Virtually everyone wants a traditional romantic relationship at some point. However, that’s not necessarily a comfortable decision if reproducing and settling down aren’t an immediate need,” says Justin Garcia of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Anthropology and Health at Binghamton University in New York.


Even in a hookup, Garcia has found, people are still frequently looking for a relationship—in fact, about half the time. And men and women do so equally. Garcia observes that courting—say, dinner and a movie—may be dying in the high-tech instant-gratification world we live in. Instead, “hookups have become a new technique employed to garner a more traditional romantic partner.”


In the modern cosmopolitan setting, the period between menarche and reproduction has grown to upward of 20 years, and the average American woman now has her first child at age 25. Such a span of reproductive freedom gives rise to novel mating strategies, including hookups, booty calls, and one-night stands.


The problem is that even as men may look to hookups as potential long-term relationships, their psychological makeup pushes them to unconsciously discount their partner as a prospect. So hookups become especially tricky for women to navigate, despite the fact that they’re increasingly socially acceptable.


Metropolitan surroundings provide vast opportunities to hook up. But our emotional reactions to these options have not evolved much.


Being judgmental about promiscuity is an emotional pitfall evolution has handed men. Sidestepping it might be easier when men know what they’re up against. Men certainly don’t have to derive morals from biology, but they are well served by consciously knowing their biases, so they can decide more rationally.


Read in Full:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200810/neanderthink-good-girls-bad-girls




 

WINCHESTER, Mass., May 5 /PRNewswire/ — John M. Williams, a Winchester artist who specializes in fine art collage, has been featured in a new book about artists with autism entitled Drawing Autism. The new book celebrates the artistry and self-expression found in the drawings, paintings and collages created by individuals diagnosed with autism.

Drawing Autism is written by Jim Mullin, a behavior analyst and educator, with an intro by Temple Grandin, a world-renowned autistic adult. Published in December 2009 by Mark Batty Publishers in New York City, the book features an array of work from autistic artists. Their creations, coupled with artist interviews, comprise a fascinating and compelling book that illustrates how autism manifests differently in every diagnosis.

Drawing Autism features three of John’s collages – Lincoln, General Sherman and Pharaoh. John specializes in portrait collages of great historical figures with a special interest in Civil War art. He creates intriguing collages by piecing together small cut pieces of paper to create a likeness of his subject that reveals the person’s character as well as their historical significance.

John’s work was recently featured at a celebration of Lincoln‘s 150th visit to Exeter, New Hampshire entitled In Exeter: A Sesquicentennial Celebration. His work has also been shown in multiple galleries and exhibits throughout New England including the Gallery at Southside in Danvers, Concord Art Association, Marblehead Festival of the Arts, Salem Arts Festival, Lynn Arts, and at the Asperger’s Association of New England annual exhibit entitled Seeing with a Different Eye.

John is a member artist of ArcWorks, a program that showcases the work of artists with disabilities through the Northeast Arc. He is also a member of the Concord Art Association and the Civil War Roundtable of Greater Boston. John holds a BFA from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and currently lives in Winchester, Massachusetts. John’s work is available as originals and in giclee prints. More information about John M. Williamswww.johnmwilliamsfineart.com. For more information about Drawing Autism, visit the book’s Facebook page. is available at

SOURCE John Williams Fine Art

Back to top RELATED LINKS
http://www.johnmwilliamsfineart.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/local-artist-featured-in-new-book-about-artists-with-autism-92876099.html



 Dubrovnik, Croatia

HEADLINES

“Autistic Gray man, 22, killed by his father”:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/autistic-man-22-killed-by-his-father_2010-04-28.html

“Disabled man beaten to death”:

“House fire death was preventable”:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/house-fire-death-was-preventable-92845214.html

“At risk autistic man disappears”:

http://www.ksbw.com/news/23226055/detail.html

“Autistic man found unharmed”:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100428/BREAKING/100429766/2055/NEWS

JRC “Joyce’s bills would curb shock treatments at Canton school”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/jrc_joyces_bills_would_curb_shock_treatments_at_canton_sch.htm

“Police fire taser as man has fit”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/police_fire_taser_as_man_has_fit.htm

“Facedown Holds Under Scrutiny: Dangerous but legal in New Jersey”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/facedown_holds_under_scrutiny_dangerous_but_legal_in_new_je.htm

“Mum rejects autistic daughter”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/abstract_sleep_problems_in_autistic_children_and_in_typical.htm

“Girl’s alligator swamp terror”:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2948166/Girls-alligator-swamp-terror.html

“Newark center trains N.J. Police, emergency personnel on autism awareness”:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/newark_center_trains_nj_police.html

“Secretary Sebelius announces new members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/secretary_sebelius_announces_new_members_of_the_interagency_.htm

“Ari Ne’eman: Autistic man draws support, doubt as nominee”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/ari_neeman_autistic_man_draws_support_doubt_as_nominee.htm

“Home Secretary Alan Johnson accused over second Briton facing extradition to the U.S.”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/home_secretary_alan_johnson_accused_over_second_briton_facin.htm

“General Election 2010: Nick Clegg quizzed by boy 12 over education policy/Parties divided over best way to help SEN children”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/general_election_2010_nick_clegg_quizzed_by_boy_12_over_edu.htm

“McKinnon’s mum fights for civil liberties in parliamentary run”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/mckinnons_mum_fights_for_civil_liberties_in_parliamentary_r.htm

‘Stanley I. Greenspan, Developer of ‘Floor Time’ Teaching, Dies at 68”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/stanley_i_greenspan_developer_of_floor_time_teaching_di.htm

HEALTH & RESEARCH

“Majority think autistic children just naughty”:

http://news.scotsman.com/health/Majority-think-autistic–children.6257378.jp

“Researchers take major step to predict adverse drug reactions using genetic information”:

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100423/Researchers-take-major-step-to-predict-adverse-drug-reactions-using-genetic-information.aspx

“Autism heritability higher in siblings”:

http://www.cbs19.tv/global/story.asp?s=12422716

“Brain changes associated with Fragile X take place before age two”:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/564050/?sc=rsmn&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewswiseMednews+%28Newswise%3A+MedNews%29

“New Research: Autism Effects May Be Reversible”:

http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=186262

“Community Care Magazine: Evaluating Risk Factor In Case of Vulnerable Adult, Living Alone & Rejecting Services”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/community_care_magazine_evaluating_risk_factor_in_case_of_v.htm

Abstract “Sleep problems in autistic children and in typically developing children”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/abstract_sleep_problems_in_autistic_children_and_in_typical.htm

“Naps and dreams help academics/The secrets of sleep”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/naps_and_dreams_help_academicsthe_secrets_of_sleep.htm

“Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Specialist treating patients with no clinical basis”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/chronic_fatigue_syndrome_specialist_treating_patients_with_.htm

“Discovery of rare genetic mutation could help battle Tourette syndrome”:

http://www.physorg.com/news192283164.html

“Aggression tied to timing of puberty”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/aggression_tied_to_timing_of_puberty.htm

“Help for children with anxiety and peer-related issues”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/help_for_children_with_anxiety_and_peerrelated_issues.htm

“The Neurobiology of Social Anxiety Disorder”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/the_neurobiology_of_social_anxiety_disorder.htm

“Addictions: New College Addiction? Social Media, Facebook or Friends/New approach for Opioid Addiction”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/addictions_new_college_addiction_social_media_facebook_or.htm

“Mental Health at Harvard”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/mental_health_at_harvard.htm

“Uncontrolled brain activity linked to epilepsy”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/uncontrolled_brain_activity_linked_to_epilepsy.htm

New research on Darwin’s study of recognizing emotion:

“How Darwin’s little-known work impacts current schizophrenia and autism treatment”:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/l-hdl050410.php

“Extreme preterm ups psych disorder risk”:

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/04/27/Extreme-preterm-ups-psych-disorder-risk/UPI-28571272346434/

“Single gene found responsible for OCD-like behaviors”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/single_gene_found_responsible_for_ocdlike_behaviors.htm

“Repetitive laughter response is similar to the effect of repetitive exercise”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/repetitive_laughter_response_is_similar_to_the_effect_of_rep.htm

“LSD and Ecstasy being used to combat cancer anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder”:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1268331/LSD-Ecstasy-used-combat-cancer-anxiety-post-traumatic-stress-disorder.html

“Children can display symptoms of psychosis”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/children_can_display_symptoms_of_psychosis.htm

“Helping children handle loss and grief”:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/roslindale/news/opinions/x1394812163/May-I-Ask-Helping-children-handle-loss-and-grief

“Why do so many women have depression?”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/why_do_so_many_women_have_depression.htm

“Side effects of depression meds improve heart health”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/side_effects_of_depression_meds_improve_heart_health.htm

“7 ways to beat depression if you’re unemployed”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/7_ways_to_beat_depression_if_youre_unemployed.htm

“Surgery, Depression, and Anxiety”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/surgery_depression_and_anxiety.htm

“Why is late-life depression harder to treat?”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/why_is_latelife_depression_harder_to_treat.htm

 

“Short duration ‘green exercise’ restores mood”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/short_duration_green_exercise_restores_mood.htm

“Severe IBS symptoms relieved by non-medical treatment”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/severe_ibs_symptoms_relieved_by_nonmedical_treatment.htm

“Walter Reed Report confirms validity of fast-acting, non-drug PTSD treatment”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/walter_reed_report_confirms_validity_of_fastacting_nondru.htm

“PTSD: LSD and Ecstasy being used to combat cancer anxiety & PTSD”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/ptsd_lsd_and_ecstasy_being_used_to_combat_cancer_anxiety__.htm

“US Army PTSD Treatment: Heaven and Hell”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/us_army_ptsd_treatment_heaven_and_hell.htm

“Defining Intelligence: Cell Intelligence and Surviving the Dead of Winter”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/defining_intelligence_cell_intelligence_and_surviving_the_d.htm

“An underlying cause for psychopathic behaviour?”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/an_underlying_cause_for_psychopathic_behaviour.htm

“Mental Health Statistics”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/mental_health_statistics.htm

“BPS Research Digest: The Special Issue Spotter”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/bps_research_digest_the_special_issue_spotter_11.htm

“Spring fever blossoms in warm weather – but is it a real ailment?”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/spring_fever_blossoms_in_warm_weather__but_is_it_a_real_ail.htm

“Alice Ricciardi-von Platen: Against the Grain”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/against_the_grain.htm

“Feel like venting to a complete stranger? Try BlahTherapy.com”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/feel_like_venting_to_a_complete_stranger_try_blahtherapyco.htm

“Relationships: Friends First, Understanding Male Friendships, The Power of the Ex, One Dating Trait of a Successful Future Mate, Intimacy & Vulnerability & More …”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/relationships_friends_first_understanding_male_friendships.htm

“Relationships: Intelligence & Exclusivity, A Marriage Made In Hormones, Indifference, Serial Adultery, Alcohol Dependence, Choosing a Partner & More …”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/relationships_intelligence__exclusivity_a_marriage_made_i.htm

“Virtual Hospital”:

http://www.uihealthcare.com/vh/

EDUCATION

“Restraints used by NJ educators to curb unruly behavior under scrutiny”:

http://www.app.com/article/20100505/SPECIAL20/100504060/1024/POLITICS/Restraints-used-by-NJ-educators-to-curb-unruly-behavior-under-scrutiny

“Flintshire father’s fury as autistic son’s course faces cuts”:

http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/88088/flintshire-father-s-fury-as-autistic-son-s-course-faces-cuts.aspx

“Norquest opens door to high needs autistic students”:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/04/26/edmonton-norquest-autistic-students.html

“Teacher Magazine: Leveling the playing field for autistic students”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/teacher_magazine_leveling_the_playing_field_for_autistic_st.htm

“Students in Tottenham fight for their right to education”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/students_in_tottenham_fight_for_their_right_to_education.htm

“Isolated autistic boy gets special place at last”:

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/8122615.Isolated_autistic_boy_gets_special_place_at_last/

“Wasau schools use iPod Touch to reach children in new way”:

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20100425/WDH06/4250334

“Noble cause … Former model Emma Noble, who went through a bitter divorce from Sir John Major’s son, James, tells me she is struggling to find a secondary school for their son, Harry.

‘The provision of special-needs schools — specifically for Asperger’s and autism — is very poor in this country,’ she says. ‘I am searching at the moment and am finding it so difficult.’:

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1268121/Richard-Kay-April-23-2010.html

“Special school rated outstanding”:

http://www.gallowaygazette.co.uk/latest-west-midlands-news/Special-school-rated-39outstanding39.6247368.jp

“Debingh school one of the best in the UK”:

http://www.timeplan.com/news-and-events/news/1474-debingh-school-%27one-of-the-best-in-uk%27/

“Keeping needed special education services in place after graduation”:

http://www.examiner.com/x-10067-LA-Special-Education-Examiner~y2010m4d27-Keeping-needed-special-education-services-in-place-after-graduation?cid=edition-by-channel-rss-Los_Angeles-Education_and_Schools

“Video: Nick Hornby co-founder of Treehouse charity on the launch of its Talk About Autism campaign”:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/video/2010/apr/28/treehouse-autism-nick-hornby

“Special needs pupils in Wirral schools enjoy scootboarding activity sessions”:

http://www.wirralnews.co.uk/wirral-news/local-wirral-news/2010/05/05/special-needs-pupils-in-wirral-schools-enjoy-scootboarding-activity-sessions-80491-26373856/

EMPLOYMENT

“To Tell or Not to Tell your Boss: Bipolar and Depression in the Workplace”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/to_tell_or_not_to_tell_your_boss_bipolar_and_depression_in_.htm

“Creative Support Ltd”:

http://www.creativesupport.co.uk/


“Autelligent Laboratories

We believe all people have a contribution to make and deserve an opportunity to be productive.

With your caring and excellent help, we are creating jobs for the 40 million people worldwide who are diagnosed with Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Today less than one in five of us are currently employed. We are motivated and competent and we deserve equal employment. Help make this a reality.

Autelligent Laboratories is dedicated to creating a space where autistic software engineers can more than contribute, we can excel.”:

http://www.autlabs.com/

Luxury Quality Scented Candles “Humbolt Candles – Autism & Disability Employment Company”:

http://www.humboldtcandles.com/index.html

“Auties.org”:
Individuality, Diversity, Equality, Achievement

Auties..org is an Aspie & Autie friendly site for all people on the Autistic Spectrum who are ready to dare reach out to occupation and employment, open the doors to the community and market their abilities directly to the public and for those interested in supporting these pioneers.

http://www.auties.org/

“Prospects”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=473&a=2348

“AutismJobs”:
Linking job seekers with vacancies in work related to autism, Aspergers and ASDs

http://www.autismjobs.org/?section=00010009

“Current job vacancies within the NAS”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=170

For further employment information, please view”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/employment_on_the_autism_spectrum.htm

GENERAL/HUMAN INTEREST

“The advantages of autism”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/the_advantages_of_autism.htm

“Majority think autistic children just naughty”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/majority_think_autistic_children_just_naughty.htm

“Useful metaphors for explaining autism to neurotypicals – Part 3”:

http://www.examiner.com/x-7542-NY-Special-Needs-Kids-Examiner~y2010m5d3-Useful-metaphors-for-explaining-Autism-to-Neurotypicals–Part-3?cid=channel-rss-Family_and_Parenting

“How the web is improving the lives of disabled computer users”:

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/how-the-web-is-improving-the-lives-of-disabled-computer-users-684644

“Who’ll be there to care for our autistic son when we’re gone? Writer Nick Hornby’s ex-wife tells of her fears for the future”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/writer_nick_hornbys_exwife_tells_of_her_fears_for_autistic.htm

“No help to be found … a 23 year old with asperger syndrome falls through the cracks in the system”:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Public+Citizen+help+found+autistic+young+adult/2948673/story.html

“Parenting a child with Asperger Syndrome”:

http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12335700

“Autism Program (IL) releases “Temple Grandin” type curriculum”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/autism_program_il_releases_temple_grandin_type_curriculu.htm

“Pet Talk: Temple Grandin straddles the worlds of animal welfare and autism”:

http://www.oregonlive.com/pets/index.ssf/2010/04/pet_talk_temple_grandin_stradd.html

“Autistic college professor, featured on HBO special, will speak in Harrisburg about her life”:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/04/temple_grandin_will_speak_on_a.html

Communication: Son’s autism leads to innovation”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/communication_sons_autism_leads_to_innovation.htm

“Kevin Wos: Asperger’s student makes top 20”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/kevin_wos_aspergers_student_makes_top_20.htm

“Pennsylvania DPW Report: Developing New Housing Options for Autistic Adults Will Foster New Opportunities, Greater Independence”:

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Pennsylvania/2010/04/22/DC91657

“Dare to be different”:

http://north-west-news.whereilive.com.au/news/story/dare-to-be-different/#When:22:59:03Z

Communication “Grace iPhone gives autism a voice”:

http://www.psfk.com/2010/04/grace-iphone-app-gives-autism-a-voice.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+psfk%2Fwhen+%28PSFK+-+[Was+IF!]%29

“Blind 4 year old learns to navigate using ‘sonar’ clicks”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/blind_4_year_old_learns_to_navigate_using_sonar_clicks.htm

CROATIA

Croatian Flag

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia

Association for the Care of Autistic Persons
Senjskih uskoka 1
51000 Rijeka
CROATIA
E-mail:
lidijap@gzr.hr
Website:
http://www.autizam-ri.hr/
Tel: 051-551-344, 091-344-2220
Fax: 051-551-355
Zagreb, Croatian Capital

Zagreb, Croatian Capital

Autism Association Zagreb
Å ulekova 16
10000 Zagreb
CROATIA
Tel: +385 1 2303 901
Fax: +385 1 2303 901
Email:
uaz@zg.t-com.hr
Website:
www.autizam.net

 Dubrovnik at Dusk

Dubrovnik at Dusk

A cloudy evening in Dubrovnik, Croatia.The prosperity of the city of Dubrovnik has always been based on maritime trade. In the Middle Ages, it was known as the Republic of Ragusa, also known as the fifth Maritime Republic (together with Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa and Venice), and it became the only eastern Adriatic city-state to rival Venice. Supported by its wealth and skilled diplomacy, the city achieved a remarkable level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries. The city is on the list of Unesco World heritage sites.

“Autism Europe: Croatia”:

http://www.autismeurope.org/PORTAL/Default.aspx?tabid=122

Opatija

 Opatija is in the eastern coast of the Istria peninsula

“UNDP: Watching From the Sidelines – Children with Disabilities”:

http://www.undp.hr/show.jsp?page=97271

Dubrovnik Cathedral & Rector's Palace

Dubrovnik Cathedral & Rector’s Palace

“Croatia Facts”:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/croatia-facts/

Skradinski Buk

Skradinski Buk is a massive, clear, natural pool with quite high waterfalls at one end and cascades at the other located in the Krka National Park, in Croatia. It is the lowest of the three sets of waterfalls formed along the Krka river. In an area 400 m in length and 100 m in width there are 17 waterfalls and the total difference in height between the first and the last falls is 47.7 m. Due to the wealth and variety of geomorphological forms, vegetation, and the various effects caused by the play of light on the whilpools, Skradinski Buk is considered to be one of the most beautiful calcium carbonate waterfalls in Europe. The rate of flow is 43 m³ a second in winter, 18 m³ in summer, with an average of 55 cubic metres a second flowing down Skradinski Buk annually. It is the largest travertine cascade system in Europe.

Summer in Croatia

Summer in Croatia

“Croatia Guide”:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/croatia-guide/

Mala Kapela Mountains

Mala Kapela Mountains

“Cravable Croatia”

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2006/10/cravable-croatia.html

Trogir

Trogir is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in Split-Dalmatia county, Croatia. The city’s historic core is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trogir

Pula's Arena

 Pula’s Arena (Ampitheater, Istria)

“BUBL Link: Croatia(Catalogue of Resources):

http://bubl.ac.uk/link/c/croatia.htm

 Povlja

Povlja after dusk – This was taken in the nice little village of Povlja, Croatia.

"Maiden with a Gull"

“Fly Away” – Opatija – “Maiden with a Gull.” This statue was erected in honor of a young couple lost at sea (film)

ADD/ADHD

“Is it ADHD? – Family and Child Health”:

http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_health_features_details.asp?channel_id=9&article_id=1375

“Fewer than 50% elementary students with ADHD get special education”:

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1243536&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_taiwan&cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng

“Wausau area boys with special needs experience scouting life”:

http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/92361094.html

Eton Academy “Five ways to help your child overcome dyslexia and ADHD”:

http://www.aadl.org/node/35865

“Local girl runner-up in APT writing contest”:

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20105010305

“Dealing with button pushing”:

http://add.about.com/b/2010/05/04/dealing-with-button-pushing.htm

ADRES “Adverse Drug Reaction Electronic System(Adverse Drug Reactions Website)”-This website provides patients, doctors, and other medical professionals with a comprehensive examination of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), side effects, and other safety information for both prescription and over-the-counter medications.. Our goal is to allow users of our website make informed decisions when taking (patients) or prescribing (doctors) drugs. We are providing unmatched information and analysis tools.

http://www.adverse-drug-reaction.net/

“adders.org”:
Our objective is to promote awareness to AD/HD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) and to provide information and as much free practical help as we can to those affected by the condition, both adults and children, their families in the UK and around the World via this website.

http://www.adders.org/

“ADDISS” The National Attention Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service…

http://www.addiss.co.uk/index.html

“ADDA”:

http://www.add.org/index.html

“hi2u ADHD Pages”:

http://www..adhd..org.uk/

“CHADD”:

http://www.chadd.org/am/CustomPages/home/CHADD_Home.htm?CFID=2282059&CFTOKEN=38105335&jsessionid=f2303343221169802693562

SPORT

“Autistic surfer Clay Marzo masters waves but struggles on land”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/autistic_surfer_clay_marzo_masters_waves_but_struggles_on_la.htm

“League busy breaking down the barriers”:

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2546782

“London Marathon major Phil Packer gets over line in 26 hours”:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/823478-london-marathon-major-gets-over-line-in-26-hours

“Swimming Challenges ~ Includes Great Swim Series 2010(June – September 2010)”:

The Great Swim series is taking place at various locations during summer 2010. There will be four televised one-mile outdoor swims, staged in lakes, lochs and docks around the UK.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2551

“10-kilometre runs”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1816

“Trek the Sahara – 5-25 March 2010 or 29 Oct-8 Nov 2010”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2542

“Trek the Inca Trail – 22-31 May 2010”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1863

“Trek Snowdon – 11–3 June 2010”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2524

“Trek the Jurassic Coast – 16-18 July 2010”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2525

“Trek Mount Kilimanjaro – 29 Sept-10 Oct 2010”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2200

“Trek the Great Wall of China – 9-18 Oct 2010”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2356

“Trek to Everest Base Camp – 5-21 November 2010”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2354

“Cycle Cuba – 14-22 March 2010”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2357

“London to Paris 2010 – 5-8 June”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2407

“L’Etape du Tour 2010 – 18 July 2010”

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2404

“Sky Diving – All Year Round”:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1726

MUSIC

“The AutisMusic Project”:

http://www.autismusic.com/

ART

“Autistic artist to show off incredible skill in Sydney”:

http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/stephen_wiltshire_autistic_artist_to_show_off_incredible_sk.htm

GLIMPSE – the talents of the autism community

They are painters, sculptors and photographers; poets and storytellers; musicians and creators of amazing video games. They are kids, teens and adults. Last year, a new online publication arose to celebrate the talents of autistic individuals and other developmental disabilities: GLIMPSE, offered by ICDL (The Interdisciplinary Council of Developmental and Learning Disorders). In late 2008, Volume 2 of GLIMPSE was released, and was expanded into a print book and notecards. The works are serious, humourous, deeply personal and illuminating. See it for yourself, share it with others, submit your own/your child’s work for inclusion in Volume 3, to release later this year. Find information and ordering details at www.icdl.com

“ARTROOM ………where under 17s can make and display art online”:

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artroom/index.php

MOVIES/ENTERTAINMENT

“The Landscape Man and The Autistic Me: One Year On”:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/apr/23/the-landscape-man-review

“Actors for Autism”:
http://www.actorsforautism.com/

BOOKS

“Count Me In!: Ideas for Actively Engaging Students in Inclusive Classrooms”

Richard Rose and Michael Shevlin

Foreword by Paul Cooper

http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781843109556

“Children and Adolescents in Trauma: Creative Therapeutic Approaches”

Edited by Chris Nicholson, Michael Irwin and Kedar N Dwivedi

Foreword by Peter Wilson

http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781843104377

“The Adolescent and Adult Neuro-diversity Handbook: Asperger Syndrome, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Related Conditions”

Sarah Hendrickx

With a contribution from Claire Salter

http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781843109808

“Exploring Bullying with Adults with Autism and Asperger Syndrome: A Photocopiable Workbook”

Anna Tickle and Bettina Stott

http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781849050357

“An Animated Introduction to Asperger Syndrome”

Biomation

** Winner of the International Animation Award at the Edinburgh Mental Health and Arts Festival 2008**

http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781849051347

“Life at the Edge and Beyond: Living with ADHD and Asperger Syndrome”

Jan Greenman

Foreword by James Gray MP

http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781849051064

“Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome”

Rudy Simone

Foreword by Liane Holliday Willey

http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781849058261

“Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired, and Sudden Savant”

Darold A. Treffert

Foreword by Daniel Tammet

http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781849058100

CINEMA

Shrek Forever After

Release Date: May 21, 2010

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7__TG7swg0

Synopsis: After the success of the first three films in the Shrek series, a fourth entry appears with more adventures of Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and Puss in Boots. But in addition to all the laughs the first three films have brought, SHREK FOREVER AFTER features a whole new element in the series: 3-D animation.

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/shrek_goes_fourth/

Iron Man 2

Release Date: April 28 2010(France) May 7, 2010(US)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siQgD9qOhRs

Synopsis: Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film based on the legendary Marvel Super Hero “Iron Man,” reuniting director Jon Favreau and Oscar® nominee Robert Downey Jr. In “Iron Man 2,” the world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored Super Hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces.

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/iron_man_2/

VIDEO GAME

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, Sony PSP, Nintendo DSi, PC DVD, ) 16+

Release Date: May 21, 2010.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prince-Persia-Forgotten-Sands-Xbox/dp/B003AU5NAO/ref=pd_nr_vg_h__53?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

“Super Street Fighter IV Review”:

http://uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com/da/super-street-fighter-iv-aef2da.html

“Monster Hunter Tri makes strides for Wii”:

http://uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com/blog/article/12511/

LIFE

“To Be The Best, Learn From The Rest”

Imitation isn’t just the sincerest form of flattery – a €10,000 game has shown it can be a smarter survival strategy than innovation … If societies are to adapt to changing conditions, there must be innovation too – people cannot blindly copy everything because the information may be wrong, outdated or unavailable.

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627581.700-to-be-the-best-learn-from-the-rest.html

SPACE

 

“What Would It Take To Put A Walking Robot On The Moon?”

A humanoid robot could be walking on the moon – and drawing the Japanese flag on its surface – by 2015, according to a plan proposed by a group of Japanese companies … Mary-Anne Williams, a robotics designer at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, says the mission concept is “pretty cool”, but says a more stable, four-legged design could also grab the public’s attention. “If I were [doing it], I’m building a robotic dog to go up there.”

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18852-what-would-it-take-to-put-a-walking-robot-on-the-moon.html

Take Care,

Julie

In the Stillness, Croatia

In the Stillness, Croatia



 

04 May 2010 by David Wolman

MICHELLE Dawson can’t handle crowded bus journeys, and she struggles to order a cup of coffee in a restaurant because contact with strangers makes her feel panicky. Yet over the past few years, Dawson has been making a name for herself as a researcher at the Rivière-des-Prairies hospital, part of the University of Montreal in Canada.

Dawson’s field of research is the cognitive abilities of people with autism – people such as herself. She is one of a cadre of scientists who say that current definitions of this condition rely on findings that are outdated, if not downright misleading, and that the nature of autism has been fundamentally misunderstood for the past 70 years.

Medical textbooks tell us that autism is a developmental disability diagnosed by a classic “triad of impairments”: in communication, imagination and social interaction. While the condition varies in severity, about three-quarters of people with autism are classed, in the official language of psychiatrists, as mentally retarded.

Over the past decade or so, a growing autistic pride movement has been pushing the idea that people with autism aren’t disabled, they just think differently to “neurotypicals”. Now, research by Dawson and others has carried this concept a step further. They say that auties, as some people with autism call themselves, don’t merely think differently: in certain ways they think better. Call it the autie advantage.

How can a group of people who are generally seen as disabled actually have cognitive advantages? For a start, research is challenging the original studies that apparently demonstrated the low IQ of people with autism. Other studies are revealing the breadth of their cognitive strengths, ranging from attention to detail and sensitivity to musical pitch to better memory.

More recently, brain imaging is elucidating what neurological differences might lie behind these strengths. Entrepreneurs have even started trying to harness autistic people’s talents (see “Nice work if you can get it”). “Scientists working in autism always reported abilities as anecdotes, but they were rarely the focus of research,” says Isabelle Soulières, a neuropsychologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, who works with Dawson. “Now they’re beginning to develop interest in those strengths to help us understand autism.”

The fact that some people with autism have certain talents is hardly a revelation. Leo Kanner, the psychiatrist who first described autism in the early 1940s, noted that some of his patients had what he termed “islets of ability”, in areas such as memory, drawing and puzzles. But Kanner’s emphasis, like that of most people since, was on autism’s drawbacks.

Today it is recognised that autism varies widely in terms of which traits are present and how prominently they manifest themselves. The cause remains mysterious, although evidence is pointing towards many genes playing a role, possibly in concert with factors affecting development in the womb.

A single, elegant explanation capturing all that is different about the autistic mind has so far proved elusive, but several ideas have been put forward that attempt to explain the most notable traits. Perhaps one of the best known is the idea that autistic people lack theory of mind – the understanding that other people can have different beliefs to yourself, or to reality. This account would explain why many autistic people do not tell lies and cannot comprehend those told by others, although the supporting evidence behind this theory has come under fire lately.

Verbal cues

People with autism are also said to have weak central coherence – the ability to synthesise an array of information, such as verbal and gestural cues in conversation. In other words, sometimes they can’t see the wood for the trees.

The idea of the autistic savant, with prodigious, sometimes jaw-dropping, talents has taken hold in popular culture. Yet savants are the exception, not the rule. The usual figure cited is that about 1 in 10 people with autism have some kind of savant-like ability. That includes many individuals with esoteric skills that are of little use in everyday life – like being able to instantly reckon the day of the week for any past or future date.

The reality is that children with autism generally take longer to hit milestones such as talking and becoming toilet-trained, and as adults commonly struggle to fit into society. Only 15 per cent of autistic adults have a paying job in the UK, according to government figures. The mainstream medical view of autism is that it represents a form of developmental brain damage. But what if that view is missing something?

The first way in which Dawson challenged the mainstream view was to address the association between autism and low IQ. In 2007, Dawson and Laurent Mottron, head of the autism research programme at the University of Montreal, published a study showing that an autistic person’s IQ score depends on which kind of test is used. With the most common test, the Weschsler Intelligence Scale, three-quarters of people with autism score 70 or lower, which classifies them as mentally retarded, as defined by the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases. But when the team administered a different, yet equally valid, IQ test known as the Raven’s Progressive Matrices, which places less weight on social knowledge, most people with autism scored at a level that lifted them out of this range (Psychological Science, vol 18, p 657).

Dawson believes her personal connection to this field of inquiry gives her unique insights. Recently, she began wondering if autistic strengths might already have surfaced in research settings, only to be buried in a literature dominated by the view of autistic people as damaged goods. “No one had ever thought to ask: What cognitive strengths have been reported in the literature?” she says.

After reviewing thousands of papers and re-examining the data, Dawson says she has found dozens that include empirical evidence of autistic strengths that are cloaked by a preoccupation with deficits.

Take, for example, a 2004 study where autistic and non-autistic people did sentence comprehension tests while lying in a brain scanner (Brain, vol 127, p 1811). The autistic volunteers showed less synchronicity between the different language areas of the brain as they performed the task. The authors speculate that this could explain some of the language problems seen in autism. Yet according to the results section, the autistic group did better at this particular comprehension task than the control group. “The researchers use the higher performance in one area to speculate about deficit elsewhere,” says Dawson.

Attention to detail

Evidence for autistic advantages is also coming in from new studies. One strength derives from an aspect of autism that has long been seen as one of its chief deficits: weak central coherence. The flip side of an inability to see the wood for the trees is being very, very good at seeing trees.

The flip side of an inability to see the wood for the trees is being very, very good at seeing trees

Psychologists investigate the ability to aggregate or tease apart information by showing volunteers drawings of objects such as a house, and asking them to identify the shapes embedded within it, like triangles and rectangles. Numerous studies have shown that people with autism can do these tasks faster and more accurately. And that’s not just with pictures; autistic people also do it with music, in tasks such as identifying individual notes within chords.

Maretha de Jonge, a child psychiatrist at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands, who has done such studies, explains that “weak” in the context of central coherence doesn’t have to mean inferior in daily life. “Weakness in integration is sometimes an asset,” she says. It can be useful to filter out external stimuli if you are writing an email in a noisy coffee shop, for example, or are searching for a camouflaged insect in a rainforest. Recasting weak central coherence as attention to detail and resistance to distraction suggests a mode of thought that could have advantages.

Other autistic strengths are harder to paint as disabilities in any way. For example, Pamela Heaton of Goldsmiths, University of London, has shown that people with autism have better musical pitch recognition.

On the visual side, a few autistic savants who are immensely talented artists are well known, but recent studies suggest superior visuospatial skills may be more common in autism than previously supposed. Autistic people are better at three-dimensional drawing, for example, and tasks such as assembling designs out of blocks printed with different patterns (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol 39, p 1039).

Brain scans indicate that this may be because people with autism recruit more firepower from the brain’s visual areas when doing such tasks. They may even use their visual areas for other thought processes. Mottron’s team found that people with autism were completing the reasoning tasks in the Raven’s IQ test by using what is usually regarded as the visual part of the brain, along with more typical intelligence networks (Human Brain Mapping, vol 30, p 4082).

Many researchers note that people with autism seem hypersensitive to sights and sounds. In 2007, based partly on this finding, Kamila Markram and Henry Markram and Tania Rinaldi of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne set out a theory of autism dubbed the “intense world syndrome” (Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol 1, p 77). According to this, autism is caused by a hyperactive brain that makes everyday sensory experiences overwhelming.

One of their planks of evidence is autopsy findings of structural differences in the brain’s cortex, or outer layer. People with autism have smaller minicolumns – clusters of around 100 neurons that some researchers think act as the brain’s basic processing units – but they also have more of them. While some have linked this trait to superior functioning, the Lausanne team still framed their theory as explaining autism’s disabilities and deficits.

Mottron’s team has published an alternative theory of autism that they believe more fully and accurately incorporates autistic strengths. Their “enhanced perceptual function model” suggests autistic brains are wired differently, but not necessarily because they are damaged (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol 36, p 27). “These findings open a new educational perspective on autism that can be compared to sign language for deaf people,” says Mottron.

While Henry Markram maintains that autism involves a “core neuropathology”, he told New Scientist that the intense world idea and Mottron’s theory are “aligned in most aspects”. “Of course the brain is different, but to say whether the brain is damaged or not depends on what you mean by damaged.”

What other cognitive abilities make up the autistic advantage? More rational decision-making seems to be one – people with autism are less susceptible to subjective or emotional factors such as how a question is worded (New Scientist, 18 October 2008, p 16). Still, until the idea of the autie advantage gains ground, the full range of autistic strengths will remain unknown.

Yet the idea seems to be taking root. When speaking at the TED conference in Long Beach, California, in February, professor of animal science Temple Grandin, who has autism, was cheered after quipping that Silicon Valley wouldn’t exist without the condition. She also claimed the tech-heavy crowd was probably stacked with “autism genetics”.

Galling message

Perhaps it will prove impossible to draw all-encompassing conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of a condition described as a spectrum. Autism includes brilliant engineers, music prodigies who can’t unload a dishwasher, maths savants who can’t speak, and other combinations of talent and disability.

It is important to note, however, that the concept of the autie advantage has not been universally welcomed. A number of researchers, as well as parents of autistic people, are leery of too much emphasis on autistic strengths. They fear it could lead society to underestimate some people’s impairments and the difficulties they face.

That outcome could threaten funding for badly needed social services and therapy programmes. As one researcher who did not want to be identified put it: “Michelle Dawson’s first-hand experience is valuable. But her experience doesn’t necessarily map onto other people’s.”

For a parent struggling with a child who cannot feed or use the toilet themselves it must be galling to hear that the condition may be advantageous. Yet other parents may be equally fed up of hearing uniformly negative messages about their children’s potential. Perhaps only by considering the advantages of autism as well as its disadvantages can those affected reap better opportunities in life.

As far as Dawson is concerned, what matters most is evidence. Last year, at an autism conference, she presented a poster on her work. “When people looked at my results, they said, ‘It’s so good to see something positive!’ I said that I don’t see it as positive or negative. I see it as accurate.”

Nice work if you can get it

Thorkil Sonne, founder of the IT firm Specialisterne in Copenhagen, Denmark, has led private-sector efforts to capitalise on autistic strengths, such as memory and attention to detail. His company employs 48 people, 38 of whom have autism.

After receiving training, employees work as IT consultants to other firms. Sonne, a former IT consultant himself, founded the company in 2004, soon after his son was diagnosed with autism. “I am just a father who reacted in despair by establishing a company tailored to meet the working conditions of people with autism,” he says.

Specialisterne is no charity, though. The company turns a healthy profit – £120,000 in 2008 – and branches will soon open in the UK, Iceland and Germany. In Chicago, a non-profit start-up called Aspiritech is based on Sonne’s model.

Michelle Dawson, an autistic cognition researcher at the University of Montreal, Canada, who has the condition herself, is hopeful that such enterprises will improve public attitudes and career opportunities for people with autism. Yet she cautions against pigeonholing people: “Asking what kind of job is good for an autistic is like asking what kind of job is good for a woman,” she says.

Sonne says it is not his intention to stereotype autistic people as data-entry drones. The IT connection is because that’s where his experience lay, but he’s already ramping up the operation to cater to individual preferences and talents. He recently established an education programme for adolescents with autism, and hired a music and art teacher. Sonne says: “Our ambition is to work out a model in which people who struggle with traditional expectations of social skills can excel.”

David Wolman is a science writer in Portland, Oregon. His book Righting the Mother Tongue is available from HarperCollins/Smithsonian Books

Source:  http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627581.500-the-advantages-of-autism.html?full=true



ScienceDaily (May 4, 2010) — Scientists have found an important clue in the quest to understand why people who suffer from depression in later life are harder to treat and keep well in the long term.


A study led by Toronto’s Baycrest has found that older adults with depression don’t respond normally to emotional stimuli, such as when they see happy, sad or neutral faces.


The study appears online in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and is likely the first published data to focus specifically on emotional processing in un-medicated older adults with late-life depression.


“In our study we found significant differences between older depressed subjects and older healthy subjects in how they emotionally respond to and perceive facial expressions,” said principal investigator Dr. Linda Mah, a clinician-scientist in the Mood Clinic at Baycrest.


Emotion dysregulation is already well established in mid-life depression and some studies have shown it to be predictive of a relapse of mood symptoms. But the majority of late-life depression studies have concentrated on the link with cognitive decline, suggesting that the more impaired the cognitive functions the greater the chances of a poor prognosis in depression.


“Our data suggest that we need to also focus on emotion to better understand the neurobiology of late-life depression, so we can treat it more effectively and help people feel better longer,” said Dr. Mah.


In the study, 11 un-medicated outpatients with major depressive disorder, and 11 healthy comparison subjects, participated in two tasks that involved looking at photographs of faces with happy, sad, fearful or neutral expressions. The age range of participants was 60 to 87.


In the first task, participants were asked to make judgments regarding a physical feature of faces, rather than judging the emotional expression. In the second task, participants were asked to label the emotional expressions on faces.


The study found that healthy controls were 16% slower in making judgments about physical features of the faces with positive or negative emotional expressions (happy, sad, fearful) relative to neutral faces — an indication that they were distracted or affected by the emotional expressions on faces. The depressed participants showed no differences in response time to rating physical aspects of faces with emotional expressions or neutral faces. This suggests they were less sensitive to the effects of positive or negative emotional expressions.


In the second task, depressed participants had greater than 60% more difficulty with correctly labeling neutral faces, compared to healthy subjects. Depressed participants misread neutral expressions as happy, sad or fearful.


Dr. Mah noted that an impaired ability to read other people’s emotional expressions can have social consequences and affect the quality of social interactions with others.


She also pointed out that these abnormalities in emotional processing seen in older depressed adults are distinct from those already reported in younger depressed adults who tend to perceive and process emotional stimuli more negatively overall when compared to healthy subjects.


The Baycrest study included small sample sizes, so the results should be considered preliminary. Efforts are ongoing to recruit older patients who are currently not on antidepressant medications, and to use functional neuroimaging to pinpoint the brain changes underlying the abnormalities in emotional processing that appear to be associated with late-life depression.


In addition to her psychiatric practice at Baycrest’s Mood Clinic, Dr. Mah is a clinician scientist at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute as well as the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit. She is also an assistant professor of Psychiatry, in the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, at the University of Toronto.


Dr. Bruce Pollock, the Sandra A. Rotman Chair in Neuropsychiatry at Baycrest and the University of Toronto, assisted in this research. Dr. Pollock is vice-president of Research at CAMH, Chair of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at U of T, and an internationally-renowned expert on the effects of drugs on mood and behavioural disturbances in dementia.


The Baycrest study was funded by the Geoffrey H. Wood Foundation, the University of Toronto’s Dean Fund, the National Institute of Health, and the Sandra A. Rotman Chair in Neuropsychiatry.


Journal Reference:


  1. 1.  Mah, Linda; Pollock, Bruce G. Emotional Processing Deficits in Late-Life Depression. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2010; DOI: 10.1097/JGP.0b013e3181d6b762

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100504102122.htm



 

Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, has published case reports detailing the successful treatment of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder with a stellate ganglion block.

SGB is a 10-minute procedure during which local anesthesia is injected next to the stellate ganglion, a collection of nerves in the neck. SGB has been used safely to treat chronic pain and other ailments since 1925, but Dr. Eugene Lipov, a Chicago-area anesthesiologist and researcher, has pioneered this approach for the treatment of PTSD.

In duplicating Dr. Lipov’s work, the Walter Reed team, led by Lieutenant Colonel Sean W. Mulvaney, M.D., found that, “unlike conventional treatments for PTSD, SGB appears to provide results almost immediately. Both patients experienced immediate, significant and durable relief.”

One of the patients in the Reed case reports is a 36-year-old white male on active military duty whose symptoms began after the battle of Fallujah. The other patient is a 46-year-old Hispanic male retired from military service whose symptoms began 18 years ago in the first Gulf War. For over a year, both patients had been receiving pharmacologic treatment, which was ineffective in treating their symptoms; both suffered adverse effects from their medications, including depression, somnolence and erectile dysfunction.

The Walter Reed case reports, published in the May 2010 issue of Pain Practice 10.3, concluded that “selective blockade of the right stellate ganglion at C6 level is a safe and minimally invasive procedure which may provide durable relief from PTSD symptoms, allowing the safe discontinuation of psychiatric medications.”

Dr. Lipov was invited to provide his expert opinion on the results in a guest editorial, which noted that Dr. Mulvaney’s case reports were not the first to describe the psychiatric effects of the SGB. As he wrote, “[Other reports have] described the successful treatment of mental depression by bilateral stellate ganglion block, unexpected improvement in schizophrenia following SGB, and improvement of despair in rats by a superior cervical sympathetic ganglion block.”

Dr. Lipov has published papers in several medical journals, providing a theoretical model of the biological brain changes that reverse PTSD following the procedure. “Using functional MRIs to show the part of the brain that is active during fear and other traumatic emotions, we can see and measure the physiologic changes that occur during trauma,” he explains. “These MRIs are telling us that the cause of PTSD is physical in nature, and not simply a ‘psychological condition.'”

In a paper published in 2009, he proposed a mechanism, based on solid experimental data, that trauma leads to an increase in nerve growth factor. “That leads to sprouting of the sympathetic nerves, which leads to increased production of norepinphrine – adrenaline – and that makes people anxious,” he says. A block placed next to the stellate ganglion leads to a decrease in nerve growth factor and a reversal of PTSD symptoms.

The coming tsunami of PTSD cases. The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeing an increasing number of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with a mental disorder such as major depression or PTSD. As deployments lengthen, those numbers are expected to grow.

About 25 percent of homeless Americans are veterans-131,000 according to VA statistics-and more than 75 percent have a mental disorder, often PTSD. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans has noted that Iraq veterans are already beginning to show up in that population.

“If we could use the stellate ganglion block to treat these patients, we might be able to turn back the tide and stop the surge of PTSD,” says Dr. Lipov. “Multiple attempts were undertaken to secure funding for randomized, controlled trials to quantify the efficacy of SGB, but the primary obstacle to funding has been the lack of a theoretical model to explain how SGB relieves PTSD and its simplicity.

“We are hoping that Dr. Mulvaney’s confirmation of our results will open the door to further research so that PTSD sufferers all over the country – ultimately, all over the world – will be relieved of this debilitating disorder.”

Eugene G. Lipov, MD is board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Management and an internationally recognized leader in the development of innovative treatments for intractable pain. Dr. Lipov lectures internationally and has authored articles on his research for PTSD, hot flashes, hybrid stimulators, and other pain topics. He has given numerous media interviews for his pioneering treatments. He and his team have developed methodologies to relieve various discomforts in new ways. His new approach for treating hot flashes has been validated by researchers in Belgium, and his ground-breaking treatment for PTSD by Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A practitioner in the field of pain medicine for over 20 years, Dr. Lipov was an instructor for International Spine Injection Society (ISIS), is a member of ISIS, and is currently an instructor for North American Spine Society (NASS). He formed and was the first president of the Illinois chapter of American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP). He is currently the Director of Chronic Pain Research, Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and Founder and Medical Director, Advanced Pain Centers, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Source
Advanced Pain Centers

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/187161.php