


Archive for January, 2011
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 31, 2010
As strange as it may sound, some individuals hurt themselves to obtain relief from emotional stress. Actions such as cutting or burning oneself are behaviors displayed by people who compulsively hurt themselves.
This behavior is sometimes evident among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD is a condition that often leads to intense emotions among individuals who have difficulty regulating their emotions.
Accordingly, this group of people displays high prevalence rates of self-injurious behavior, which may help them to reduce negative emotional states.
Researchers have studied the effects of emotional stimuli and a thermal stimulus in people either with or without borderline personality disorder.
They conducted a brain imaging study using picture stimuli to induce negative, positive, or neutral affect and thermal stimuli to induce heat pain or warmth perception. The painful heat stimuli were administered at an individually-set temperature threshold for each subject.
In patients with borderline personality disorder, they found evidence of heightened activation of limbic circuitry in response to pictures evocative of positive and negative emotions, consistent with their reported emotion regulation problems.
Amygdala activation also correlated with self-reported deficits in emotion regulation. However, the thermal stimuli inhibited the activation of the amygdala in these patients and also in healthy controls, presumably suppressing emotional reactivity.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/31/why-self-harm-feels-good-in-the-brain/17456.html
 
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POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 31, 2010
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In the wake of signing a 1994 court decree promising to provide education and appropriate mental health services to children with disabilities, Hawaii’s school system allowed two young sisters in dire need to slip through the cracks. No longer able to rely on a faulty federal judge who backed its negligence, the state Department of Education should seek reasonable settlement of the court dispute and take steps to prevent similar lapses.
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The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has questioned the school system’s defense of its conduct, overturning a ruling by visiting District Judge Manuel L. Real of California. A three-judge panel including Hawaii’s Richard R. Clifton ordered the case to be put before a judge other than 86-year-old Real, whose objectivity has been questioned in the recent past by appeals judges. The panel noted that this was the second time that Real had been reversed in this case at the 9th Circuit level.
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Hawaii’s school system promised in 1994 to expand programs for special-needs students, in compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act, to end a lengthy class-action lawsuit filed in the name of Jennifer Felix. That same year, Hawaii’s DOE found a 3-year-old girl named Michelle and her 2-year-old sister Natalie to be eligible for special education services because of autism.
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The girls’ family accuses the DOE of violating the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, which requires state services for the disabled. Children with autism need teaching that includes repetition, routine and behavioral reinforcement, according to Dr. Daniel B. LeGoff, a psychologist and consultant to the state Department of Health.
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Instead, the girls’ family maintains that from 1994 to 1999 they “were warehoused and put in a classroom with somebody who sat on the other side of the room and did very little.” In 1994, at least three Department of Health autism specialists were available and providing for the needs of public school children with the disorder, according to LeGoff.
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When Michelle and Natalie first were diagnosed as autistic, their family maintains, they were capable of “learning effective speech and communications skills” through appropriate teaching. Today, the court panel observed, “The girls are essentially non-verbal and have a limited ability to have meaningful interactions with others.”
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The 9th Circuit panel agreed that the evidence supports the family’s allegation that the DOE “was on notice” that the girls needed autism-specific services that were made available to other children. The appeals court ruled in 2004 and reiterated last week that the family should win its lawsuit if it can prove that the school system violated federal law “intentionally or with deliberate indifference.”
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This case has been in court for a full decade, costing untold tax dollars to prolong an argument that should have ended once it became clear that the state broke its promise to fill a need required by federal law. That is long enough.
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Source:Â
http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/20100831_Settle_DOE_autism_case_now.html#axzz0yByYdtye
 
by BK Davis
In 2009, the Minnesota legislature made significant changes to the Personal Care Assistance (PCA) program in order to save money. An estimated 3000 children and adults who use the program will no longer be eligible for the program, come July 2011. A significant percentage of these 3000 people are people of color.
The PCA program aids people with disabilities or chronic illnesses who need help with dressing, grooming, bathing, positioning, transferring, mobility, eating or toileting. These are called “activities of daily living.†The program also aids those who display difficult behaviors such as being physical aggression towards self or others, or destroying property that requires an immediate response of another person. These are called “Level 1 behaviors.â€
There are four groups of people who will lose their PCA services. Nearly 1000 people have already lost their services because they do not need help with any activities of daily living nor do they have Level 1 behaviors. Come July 2011, there are three groups of people who will lose their services:
• People who only have serious behavior issues, a “Level 1†behavior
• People who need help with only one activity of daily living and do not have a Level 1 behavior
• People who need help with only one activity of daily living and have a Level 1 behavior
Of those who only have a Level 1 behavior, 77 percent are under the age of 22 and 41 percent are people of color. These are largely children and adolescents who have ADHD, autism or a general emotional disturbance.
For those who only have only one activity of daily living that they need help with, 66 percent are people of color and 61 percent are female. Most are between the ages of 23 to 64 and many have immune disorders, arthritis, lupus and diabetes.
For those who have a Level 1 behavior and need help with one activity of daily living, 73 percent are under the age of 22 and 47 percent are people of color with 14 percent receiving adoption assistance. These are children who primarily have ADD, mood disorders, autism, or a developmental delay.
Based on these figures, representatives of NAMI Minnesota say they are very concerned that these cuts will disproportionately impact children of color and their families.
NAMI Minnesota representatives say the organization is seeking the public’s help and input as these drastic changes to the PCA program happen. Reassessments are now taking place and so families should learn soon if their child or family member will no longer be eligible for PCA services.
Additionally, the legislature also directed the Minnesota Department of Human Services to develop alternative services for those who will lose their PCA services. The department is currently meeting with organizations about what those alternatives could look like.
NAMI Minnesota representatives say they want to make sure that the public’s voice is heard and that its ideas and needs are received by the state.
“We want to know if you will be losing your services,†said a NAMI representative, “and the impact that this will have on your family. We also want to know how you have used PCA services and whether you have ideas about alternatives that would work as well or better for your needs.â€
As part of their overall mission, NAMI Minnesota is sponsoring a walk to raise awareness and promote acceptance of mental illnesses. NAMIWalks 2010 will be held on September 25th at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis. For more information, go to www.namihelps.org.
Source:Â http://www.onenationnews.com/fullstory.asp?newsid=9706
 
Posted Monday, Aug. 30, 2010, at 2:10 PM ET
The 2010 Emmy for lead actor in a comedy went to Jim Parsons, who plays Dr. Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory, the popular CBS sitcom. (It was the only award for the series.) In 2009, Paul Collins took a close look at Sheldon’s hilarious, geeky, gawky character and argued that although the series never describes him as such, Sheldon is the first sitcom star to have Asperger’s syndrome. The article is reprinted below.
Picture a man and a woman in a car. The woman appears hungover and irate, and the man maintains a nonstop patter to engage her, oblivious to her fraying temper: “I’ll say an element, and you say an element whose name starts with the last letter of the one I said.” No response. “I’ll start!” he blurts, ignoring her body language. He heedlessly bores through helium, mercury, ytterbium, molybdenum, and more until he reaches mendelevium—and her last nerve. “Get out!“ she commands. When he does, he’s startled to find that she’s not asking him to look at the car engine.
For some therapists, this is a familiar scene: a guy enthusiastically firing on all conversational cylinders at precisely the wrong moment and then puzzled by a hostile response. But it’s not an autism spectrum disorder case study—it’s a clip from The Big Bang Theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmhWwSJDkaw&feature=related
How do you build a sitcom around a neurological condition without uttering its name? That’s the challenge CBS faces in its show about the travails of four Caltech researchers: experimental physicist Dr. Leonard Hofstadter (played by Johnny Galecki), engineer Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), astrophysicist Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), and theoretical physicist Dr. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons). The running joke of The Big Bang Theory is that these guys are brilliant at understanding the workings of the universe, yet hopeless at socializing with Penny (Kaley Cuoco), a waitress who lives next door. But a more subtle theme is that Sheldon—flat-toned, gawky, and rigidly living by byzantine rules and routines—appears to have Asperger’s syndrome.
Read in Full:Â http://www.slate.com/id/2265530/

 
Creativity researchers aren’t so confused. They have long-ago accepted the fact that creative people are complex. Almost by definition, creativity is complex. Creative thinking is influenced by many traits, behaviors, and sociocultural factors that come together in one person (see “Could Michael Jackson Have Created Twitter?”). It would be surprising if all of these factors didn’t sometimes, or even most of the time, appear to contradict one another.
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 25, 2010
In recent years, the hormone oxytocin has gained notoriety as an influence on various aspects of social behavior. A new study attempts to dispel myths and scientifically document the beneficial effects of the hormone.
According to background information, prior research has associated increased levels of oxytocin with greater caring, generosity, and trust.
However, researchers wanted to know if oxytocin increases people’s trust in just anybody or if it acts more selectively.
Psychological scientist Moïra Mikolajczak from the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and her colleagues investigated just how trusting oxytocin can make us. In this experiment, volunteers received either a placebo or oxytocin nasal spray.
Then, they played a trust game in which they received a certain amount of money which they could share with a partner (any amount shared with the partner would then triple). The partner then decides what to do the money—they can keep it all for themselves or split the amount with the giver.
If the volunteer is trusting, they will share more money with their partner (in the hopes of having some of it returned to them) than volunteers who are not as trusting. The participants played the trust game against a computer and virtual partners (which were supposedly in another room), some of whom appeared reliable (they seemed likely to share the money with the participants) and some of whom appeared unreliable (they seemed likely to keep the money for themselves).
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/25/effects-of-oxytocin-clarified/17245.html
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 25, 2010
Beginning college is a landmark event for many young people and a key step toward adulthood. However, for some, it also can be an episode that pushes some into a dangerous battle with eating disorders.
Stress can trigger an eating disorder, and for the college student who is away from home for the first time, the stress of moving into a totally different environment and meeting new people can make them more susceptible to developing an eating disorder, says Mary Boggiano, Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Even new positive events are processed by the brain as stressful, she says. “A lot of students have heard about the ‘freshman 15,’†says Boggiano.
“To keep from gaining weight, some students engage in risky behaviors such as excessive dieting or purging food. In many cases, people learn about the risky behaviors from others students in their dorm or over the Internet, so that obsession about weight can become infectious.â€
Boggiano says the common signs of an eating disorder include:
- A preoccupation with calculating calories, fat grams and carbohydrate grams
- A need to weigh oneself more than once a day
- Allowing the numbers on the scale to determine mood
- Exercising, skipping meals or purging after overeating
- Exercising to burn calories rather than for health or for fun
- An inability to stop eating once eating begins
- Eating in secret
- Feeling guilty, ashamed or disgusted after overeating
- Basing self-worth on looks or weight
- Worrying continuously about weight and body shape
- Abusing diet pills or laxatives
Eating disorders can lead to long-term health problems, and even death.
For any young people who suspect they might be developing an eating disorder, Boggiano encourages them to seek help at free campus counseling centers, through a pastor or family doctor or through programs like Overeaters Anonymous.
“Whatever you do, don’t try to take care of it by yourself,†says Boggiano. “It will only get worse.â€
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/25/stress-triggers-college-eating-disorders/17262.html
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2010) — While some teenagers may puff on cigarettes to ‘self-medicate’ against the blues, scientists at the University of Toronto and the University of Montreal have found that smoking may actually increase depressive symptoms in some adolescents. Published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, the findings are part of the long-term Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study based at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre.
“This observational study is one of the few to examine the perceived emotional benefits of smoking among adolescents,” says lead author Michael Chaiton, a research associate at the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit of the University of Toronto. “Although cigarettes may appear to have self-medicating effects or to improve mood, in the long term we found teens who started to smoke reported higher depressive symptoms.”
As part of the study, some 662 high school teenagers completed up to 20 questionnaires from grades 7 to 11 about their use of cigarettes to affect mood. Secondary schools were selected to provide a mix of French and English participants, urban and rural schools, and schools located in high, moderate and low socioeconomic neighbourhoods.
Participants were divided into three groups: never smokers; smokers who did not use cigarettes to self-medicate, improve mood or physical state; smokers who used cigarettes to self-medicate. Depressive symptoms were measured using a scale that asked how often participants felt too tired to do things; had trouble going to sleep or staying asleep; felt unhappy, sad, or depressed; felt hopeless about the future; felt nervous or tense; and worried too much about things.
“Smokers who used cigarettes as mood enhancers had higher risks of elevated depressive symptoms than teens who had never smoked,” says coauthor Jennifer O’Loughlin, a professor at the University of Montreal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine and scientist at the of the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre. “Our study found that adolescent smokers who reported emotional benefits from smoking are at higher risk of developing depressive symptoms.”
The association between depression and smoking exists principally among teens that use cigarettes to feel better. “It’s important to emphasize that depressive symptom scores were higher among teenagers who reported emotional benefits from smoking after they began to smoke,” says Dr. Chaiton.
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 Michael Chaiton, Joanna Cohen, Jennifer O’Loughlin, Juergen Rehm. Use of cigarettes to improve affect and depressive symptoms in a longitudinal study of adolescents. Addictive Behaviors, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.07.002
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100827102551.htm
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 27, 2010
Researchers have discovered that moderate exercise, such as walking for 40 minutes three times a week, can enhance cognitive skills.
Specifically, the exercise can improve the connectivity of important brain circuits, mitigate declines in brain function associated with aging and improve performance on cognitive tasks.
Researchers followed a group of “professional couch potatoes,†composed of 65 adults ages 59 to 80, who joined a walking group or stretching and toning group for a year.
All of the participants were sedentary before the study, reporting less than two episodes of physical activity lasting 30 minutes or more in the previous six months. The researchers also measured brain activity in 32 younger (18- to 35-year-old) adults.
The study is published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
Rather than focusing on specific brain structures, the study looked at activity in brain regions that function together as networks.
“Almost nothing in the brain gets done by one area – it’s more of a circuit,†said University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute Director Art Kramer, who led the study.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/27/walking-is-good-brain-exercise/17326.html
 
Article Date: 27 Aug 2010 – 2:00 PDT
Mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders, addiction and schizophrenia are the core challenge of most health care systems around the world. In the EU alone, each year 27% of the total adult population this corresponds to 83 Million citizens suffer from mental disorders. Depression alone affects almost 20 million ranking in the EU as the most disabling disorder of all diseases. Unless appropriately treated, mental disorders are typically associated with a wide range of complications and sequelae for the subjects affected, their partners and families as well as society as a whole, and they can be lethal. Suicide a frequent complication of depression and other mental disorders is a major cause of premature death in Europe with over 160.000 completed suicides every year; rates of attempted suicides are at least 10 times higher. Nevertheless despite the tremendous suffering and burden of mental disorder and the fact that mental disorders are treatable the majority of persons with mental disorders in the EU remain untreated.
The EU over the past three years has recognized with increasing emphasis the urgent need to change this, calling for concerted mental health action on all levels: science and research, improved public health and outreach activities and improved policies in its member states. The 2008 ‘European Pact for Mental Health and Well-being’ reflects the EU’s strong commitment for this mission, highlighting that mental health and well-being in the population is a key resource for the success of the EU as a knowledge-based society and economy. Confronting the high and increasing prevalence of mental disorders and their currently deficient care in many areas, health care systems and schemes are encouraged to act, striving for improved early recognition and diagnosis and ensuring the provision of adequate and state of the art treatment and comprehensive rehabilitation programmes for all.
Mental disorders are “complex disorders of the brain”, bound to the way we perceive, think, feel and behave. Understanding such brain dysfunctions in mental disorders is of core relevance for their prevention and their treatment. The interdisciplinary field of neuropsychopharmacology links the core disciplines of neuroscience, psychology and pharmacology and is devoted to this aim. It covers basic and clinical neuroscience from the molecule to system approaches over the establishment of improved diagnostic and treatment standards to fostering their implementation in the health care system for patients with neurological and mental disorders.
The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) is Europe’s largest and most comprehensive interdisciplinary forum in this field, dedicated to translating new knowledge on fundamental disease mechanisms into clinical practice, paving the way for improved pharmacological and non drug treatments for the prevention and treatment of all mental disorders and disorders of the brain in general.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/199120.php


