hgh dhea metformin

Calendar

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

Pages

Archives

Recent Posts

Blogroll





Archive for October 6th, 2011

Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club

 

Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club seeks artists to participate in the 2012 “Art on the Lake” Poster Design Contest and display their work at the art show. The winning artist will receive $1,000 cash prize. Prints of the winning poster will be available for sale at Art on the Lake.

 

The fourth annual outdoor art show will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Jan. 29 at Miromar Lakes. Proceeds from the sale will benefit Artspeak, a program of the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools helping students with autism focus on their strengths using art as a medium for self-expression.

 

Artists can download contest entry forms and vendor information at MiromarArtOnTheLake. com. The registration and submission deadline is Dec. 9.

 

Art on the Lake is held on the waterfront Promenade at Miromar Lakes, featuring local artists whose works are displayed and offered for sale including watercolors, bronze and glass sculpture, nature photography, pet photography, outdoor paintings, jewelry, wood turning and many other techniques.

 

For more information about Miromar Lakes, call 877-809-9444, or visit MiromarLakes.com.

 

Source:

http://www.news-press.com/article/20110923/ENT/109230348/Artists-wanted-Miromar-Lakes-contest-1-000-up-grabs?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CHome%7Cs



ABC News

Pictured here is Derek Paravacini, a blind, autistic man who is a musical savant.

 

When Derek Paravacini, 32, played his concerto in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall Wednesday night, he knew the piece by heart — and all the parts for each instrument in the orchestra, about 45 in all.

 

But Paravacini has never looked at a single piece of music. He learned the concerto after hearing a computer play it a few times.

 

“There must be 10,000 notes, and he’s got it all in his head,” said Adam Ockelford, a music professor and Paravacini’s mentor. “It’s amazing.”

 

Paravacini is severely autistic and has been blind since birth. He is also a musical savant. He can play just about any song, from Bach to Britney Spears, after hearing it just once.

 

The concerto Paravacini played Wednesday night was written specifically for him by Matthew King, who met Paravacini a few years ago and was inspired by his abilities.

 

“He’s not like any other musician I’ve ever worked with,” King said. “I think music is almost like a substitute for language. He’s spent his whole life communicating through music.”

 

Paravacini’s talents showed up early. At age 2, he began teaching himself to play the piano, listening to jazz tunes and old standards and playing them back by ear. When Paravacini was 5 years old, he met Ockelford, then a music teacher at Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London.

 

Read in Full/View Video:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/autistic-blind-man-derek-paravacini-masters-music/story?id=14628425

 

Related Articles

“Derek Paravacini in New Scientist “How To Unleash Your Brain’s Inner Genius”

https://www.aspie-editorial.com/2011/01/20/derek-paravacini-in-new-scientist-how-to-unleash-your-brains-inner-genius/

 

“Derek Paravacini “A Musical Savant’s Favourite Things/The Human iPod: Meet the Musical Savant”

https://www.aspie-editorial.com/2011/01/19/derek-paravacini-a-musical-savants-favoutite-things/



Down Syndrome Awareness

by Kristin.

By Kristin Finney

Greene Publishing, Inc.

 

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in four adults in the United States suffer from a diagnosable mental illness. About 1 in 691 children will be born with Down Syndrome. October is a month dedicated to raising awareness for these two issues. The entire month of October is dedicated to Down Syndrome awareness, while the first week of October is dedicated to Mental Illness awareness.

 

There are many different types of Mental Illnesses and they effect nearly 25% of the population. They include autism, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, depression, Alzheimer’s, Asperger syndrome, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, physical abuse, perfectionism, psychotic disorder, sleep disorders, stuttering and many others.

 

There are over 400 different types of mental disorders and mental illnesses. What is included as a mental disorder or illness is officially decided by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the American Psychiatric Association.

 

The National Alliance on Mental Illness’s website shares some facts on Mental Illness. “Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.”

 

“Serious mental illnesses include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder. The good news about mental illness is that recovery is possible.”

 

Read in Full:

http://www.greenepublishing.com/?p=5808



Eileen Bailey

Months ago, when I first began writing for this site, I did so because my grandson has autism. He was diagnosed around the age of two and is now five. He began receiving early intervention services and his progress was amazing. He began saying some words, could communicate his needs, let you know when he was upset and could interact with his aunts, uncles, grandparents, smiling and laughing. Working on this site, researching and talking to parents and professionals about autism seemed like a good way for me to better understand my grandson.

 

Then, a few months ago, I was contracted with Penguin books to write a book for parents on Asperger’s syndrome (AS). I started reading as much as I could. I talked to my neighbor, who has twins with autism and to various parents, online and in-person about AS. I learned, literally, enough to write a book. But a strange thing happened. The more I read, the more I saw my youngest son. It was one of those “ah-ha” moments. I had never considered AS; even dismissing him when he had read a book about a teen with autism and asked “Mom, are you sure I don’t have autism? I never knew there was someone else that thought like me.” I had dismissed his concerns months earlier, but now I thought I may have dismissed the idea too readily.

 

My son is 14. He is a wonderful child, never disobeys, never lies, always does his homework, follows every rule. We had gone through years of temper tantrums but they seemed to have faded away, his sensory sensitivities were simply part of our life – I had always cut tags from his clothes until he became old enough and did it himself and his picky eating eventually gave way to trying new foods. The more information I read, the more all his quirky behaviors made sense. I suddenly realized why he would never initiate getting together with friends from school. If they called or invited him somewhere he was fine, but he would never make the first move. He once refused to eat anything but Spaghetti-Os and then moved on and would only eat macaroni and cheese. He “played” with Legos by re-creating the picture, following the instructions step by step but never made up his own designs.

 

He is in high school, is highly organized, gets good grades and has friends at school. He is a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is on the swim team. He still doesn’t like to initiate and spends a lot of time alone because he waits for friends to ask him to do something. But overall, he is accepting of who he is. He likes activities, such as the swim team or Tae Kwon Do that have “ready-made” activities he doesn’t have to plan or invite others to join him. He is content being by himself, telling me I worry about it more than him. Maybe I do.

But this post was about whether or not to seek a diagnosis. This is a personal decision, each family must decide for themselves. I will say, in my grandson’s case, a diagnosis was a good thing. He received services from professionals and he progresses more each month. But for my son, I am not so sure. He has AS, we agree with that, I have read books, shared information with my son, my daughter, my husband. None of us have any doubt but what we do wonder is, at this point, what will change with an “official” diagnosis?

Read in Full:

http://www.healthcentral.com/autism/c/1443/144801/syndrome-diagnosis/



Lake Worth, Texas

Published : Saturday, 24 Sep 2011, 7:22 PM CDT

Dionne Anglin

 

FORT WORTH, Tx – Fort Worth police will continue investigating the case of 16-year-old Ronny Howard’s disappearance.

 

The teen, who shows signs of having Asperger’s Syndrome, was found Friday lying beside a road near Lake Worth. Howard was reported missing Thursday when he didn’t return from his evening walk near his home in the 800 block of Cross Timbers Drive in far west Fort Worth.

 

His family says roughly 45 minutes after Ronny left, they received a series of strange phone calls from his cell phone number. They say the person on the line cursed at them and hung up repeatedly.

 

“He was found a long ways away from where we were searching. He doesn’t know how he got there. I’d really like to meet the people who found him, because he was just laying in the street from what we were told,” said Ronny’s mother, Jona Howard.

 

Mrs. Howard also said some of her son’s personal items are missing.

 

“His phone obviously was the first thing, but he had a pocket knife that’s gone, his glasses are gone, his watch is gone and he has no idea what happened to them or that he even had those things. Because of how he is, he’s very particular about his things, to me it says a lot,” said Howard.

 

Ronny’s family believes someone did something traumatic to him that caused him to shut down and block everything out.

 

Fort Worth police tell FOX 4 they hope Ronny will eventually recall what happened. Until then they have not ruled out a crime.

 

Source:

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/missing-teen-mystery



By Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.
Associate Editor

 

Psychologist Jason Seidel, Psy.D, has heard partners lament all-too often: “This isn’t the person I married” or “I’m worried this person isn’t perfect for me.” And you know what? They’re probably right.

But there’s more to relationships than a partner who remains the perfect fit your entire life. Seidel explains more about the myth of the perfect partner and other relationship fantasies.

 

1. Myth: Your partner will always be the one.

 

Fact: There is no “once-and-for-all best match,” said Seidel, founder and director of The Colorado Center for Clinical Excellence in Denver. People and relationships rarely remain static. So that once great fit may “become broken, stale or wrong for [you].” In fact, according to Seidel, as you continue to grow in your life, you might even change who you’d pick as your partner.

 

A better way of looking at your relationship is to consider whether both of you are willing “to flex, experience, communicate and adjust.” More specifically, is your partner someone you “could struggle to reclaim or build a new way of connecting as [both of you] change,” and “would [you] want to?” Or “is this just great as long as things remain as they are (which they won’t)?”

 

Other important considerations are what both of you want out of the relationship and whether you’re on the same page when it comes to values and other key issues to you (an example would be having kids). Also, have you seen how your partner acts in a crisis? Do you trust each other? Do you know each other underneath your masks? Do you each honor who the other is?

 

2. Myth: It’s bad to have doubts before making a commitment or getting married.

 

Fact: “A lot of people have secret doubts that eat at them before and after the wedding or commitment about whether they are settling and should have held out for something better,” according to Seidel. But that’s not the point of commitment. Statistically speaking, “there is always someone better than your mate in some or even all dimensions of what attracts you or feels like the best fit.”

 

Also, having doubts is healthy, he said. That’s because “The older you get, the more you’re aware of the potential difficulties in relationships” and that relationships take hard work. The key is to consider if you can overcome these obstacles as a couple, respect each other’s differences and arrive at a compromise.

 

Couples run into trouble when they struggle with conflict, bury it or use other ways to distract themselves. In a healthy relationship “conflict is productive and mutually collaborative in terms of finding some way through it together,” Seidel said.

 

Read in Full:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/08/22/the-myth-of-the-one-and-other-relationship-fantasies/

By John M. Grohol, PsyD
Founder & Editor-in-Chief

 

While most of the time we try and stay positive here on World of Psychology, every now and again reality sucker-punches us back to our senses (although not personally affecting me).

The fact remains that despite our wise advice over the years, we haven’t budged the divorce rate in the U.S. (not that we thought we could!). Most relationships fail — there’s simply no way to argue with it.

 

So maybe it would help some of our readers to catch a sign of their failing relationship before it’s too late. Sure, we all would like to think that we could see the end of our relationship coming from a mile away. But truth is, many of us need a little help.

 

To that end, here are 8 ways you can bet you’re ruining your relationship and heading to splitsville.

 

1. Take your partner for granted.

 

There’s no better way to help hurry the end of the relationship than to just assume your partner is always there to make your life easier. Whether it’s by going to work or staying at home, cooking dinner or doing the grocery shopping, the ins and outs of our every day existence can take an especially hard toll when it comes to taking that special someone in our lives for granted.

 

Acknowledge your significant other’s efforts to your joint relationship and life together (no matter who is doing what). Say “Thank you” and “please” for being served something or for someone doing you a favor. After all, you wouldn’t treat a stranger in your home in that manner, so why would you treat the one you love any worse?

 

2. Stop talking.

 

Remember the start of your relationship? You couldn’t stop talking! You might’ve spent all night talking to one another, or countless hours on the phone or cuddled up on a couch somewhere.

 

Relationships die when the two people in it stop talking. And I don’t mean actual, physical talking (“We talk all the time!”). I mean the kind of real, honest conversations that couples have all the time at the beginning of a relationship, but which fade over time. Here’s help for improving your communication with your partner.

 

That fading is a natural progression in most relationships. The key is to not let that fading turn into never having those real conversations (which aren’t about the kids, your jobs, or what you read on TMZ today).

 

Read More …

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/09/20/8-ways-to-ruin-your-relationship/

 

Borderline Personality Disorder Challenges Relationships

 

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 19, 2008

 

 

A new study finds different patterns of brain activity in people with borderline personality disorder were associated with disruptions in the ability to recognize social norms or modify behaviors — factors that may result in distrust and broken relationships.

Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness noted by unstable moods, behavior and relationships. Each year, 1.4 percent of adults in the United States have this disorder,1 which is widely viewed as being difficult to treat.

 

Using brain imaging and game theory, a mathematical approach to studying social interactions, the NIMH-funded researchers offer a potential new way to define and describe this mental illness.

 

They conclude that people with borderline personality disorder either have a distorted sense of generally accepted social norms, or that they may not sense these norms at all. This may lead them to behave in a way that disrupts trust and cooperation with others. By not responding in a way that would repair the relationship, people with borderline personality disorder also impair the ability of others to cooperate with them.

 

Read in Full:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/08/19/borderline-personality-disorder-challenges-relationships/2779.html

Married and Bipolar

 

By Sandra Kiume



NAMI has reprinted Beating the Marriage Odds, the cover article from the current issue of bp Magazine about marriage and bipolar disorders. With some statistics pegging the divorce rate of people with bipolar disorder as high as 90%, the article offers encouraging advice and models from couples that have stuck it out and learned to successfully cope with bipolar disorder in the marriage.
Read More …
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/01/11/married-and-bipolar/

Fear of Commitment in Relationships

Sally Connolly, LCSW, LMFT Updated: Aug 23rd 2011

Commitment can be a scary word for some people because of the implications of what it means to commit. For many, commitment symbolizes loss, feelings of being trapped or controlled.

 

 

Committing to another person involves consideration of another person’s thoughts, feelings and needs which implies a loss of independence in activities and decision-making.

 

 

Ben loved his life, almost as much as he loved Gina. He loved sports, both watching and participating; music, he played in a jazz band; and time with the guys just hanging out.

Ben loved being with Gina as well. They were very compatible in so many ways. The only complaint that he had was that she seemed to want to restrict his time doing his own thing. Gina didn’t object to Ben’s regular Tuesday night band practices or his occasional weekend gigs. She did not object to his two baseball team commitments or season tickets with the guys during basketball season.

Read in Full:
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=44340&cn=289

Your Primary Spiritual Relationship – Love for Yourself

Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Updated: Sep 2nd 2011

 

 

Popular culture is focused on attracting love, yet you’ll only be able to receive as much love as you give to yourself. You’ll deflect or guard love that doesn’t resonate with you – like a compliment you don’t believe. The opposite is also true. You’ll allow others to abuse you a bit less than you abuse yourself. So if you desire lasting love, learn to love yourself, because your relationships will parallel your relationship with yourself. The subject of love interested me from an early age after reading Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving. I was still young and unconscious of my feelings about myself. For years,the concept of loving myself eluded me.Like many on a spiritual path, I became very good at compassion for others, but had no idea what self-love meant. Little by little, I’ve learned that it starts with self-esteem, self-acceptance, and finally compassion and love – all of progressive stages.

 

 

Read More …

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=44444&cn=110

Marriage Is Good For Your Health

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 24, 2011

 

 

A new study discusses the health-related benefits that appear to be conveyed by being in a good relationship. Of interest is the discovery that the advantages of marriage are different for men and women.

 

In men, marriage appears to be linked to improved survival rates with the more satisfying the marriage, the higher the rate of survival.
As an example, University of Rochester researchers discovered happily married men who undergo coronary bypass surgery are more than three times as likely to be alive 15 years later as their unmarried counterparts.

The quality of the relationship is even more important in women. An unhappy marriage does not provide a survival bonus yet satisfying relationships increase a woman’s survival rate almost fourfold, the study found.

Read in Full:http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/08/24/marriage-is-good-for-your-health/28882.html

 

Study Offers Insight For Returning Troops And Their Relationships

 

Article Date: 02 Sep 2011 – 0:00 PDTTroops overseas often want nothing more than to get back home to loved ones – but the reunion period often can be more emotionally taxing than the deployment.

Returning service members are at a greater risk of both depressive symptoms and relationship distress, and research shows the two often go together, says University of Illinois researcher Leanne Knobloch (pronounced kuh-NO-block). That’s not a good thing, since someone suffering from depressive symptoms “really needs the support of their romantic partner.

 

In a study published in August in the Journal of Family Psychology, in a special issue on military families, Knobloch, a professor of communication, and co-author Jennifer Theiss, a professor of communication at Rutgers University, offer some advice for returning service members: Recognize the uncertainties you might have about the relationship and address them.

 

And anticipate sources of interference from your spouse or partner in everyday life and routines, and attempt to resolve them.

 

Those were two issues that showed up in their study as “mediators” linking depressive symptoms and relationship distress, Knobloch said.

 

Read in Full:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/233705.php

Higher Rate Of Extramarital Sex And Divorce Among Veterans

 

Article Date: 22 Aug 2011 – 1:00 PDTVeterans were significantly more likely to have ever engaged in extramarital sex and ever gotten divorced than people who were never in the military, according to new research to be presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

 

The study, based on data from a 1992 national survey, found that more than 32 percent of ever-married veterans reported extramarital sex, which is about twice the rate among ever-married non-veterans (16.8 percent).

 

“To the extent that the patterns observed in these data hold for our current veteran population, the results of this study provide evidence that the concerns about infidelity among spouses of persons who have served in the military are to a considerable degree valid,” said Andrew S. London, chair of the sociology department and a sociology professor at Syracuse University. “However, even though the reported rates of infidelity were significantly higher for veterans than non-veterans, extramarital sex was only reported by one-third of ever-married veteran respondents.”

 

Read in Full:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/233131.php

By Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.
Associate Editor

“For many people, an affair is deeply traumatizing [and] some marriages can’t recover from it,” said Jason Seidel, PsyD, founder and director of The Colorado Center for Clinical Excellence in Denver. But if you decide to work on your relationship post-affair, you must accept a hard truth: Another affair can happen. This is the paradox of healing, Seidel said. Often, partners who’ve been cheated on will demand full access to their spouse’s email, cell phone records, Facebook and other accounts (or they’ll sneak around to get the access), he said. They see this as legitimate and essential to helping reestablish trust in the relationship. A common belief is “How could I ever trust you again unless you give me full access?”While this thinking is understandable, it simply doesn’t work.The real issue, at the core, is self-protection. Partners cling to the idea that if they have all the information and control enough of their partner’s life, they’ll somehow be spared another betrayal, Seidel said. (Some partners also will take this distrust into new relationships, where they automatically doubt the person and almost prepare themselves for infidelity, he said.)

 

Read in Full:http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/08/25/to-heal-after-an-affair-and-rebuild-the-relationship/

Are Pick-Up Tactics Sexy or Sexist?

 

Do pick-up tactics work on women?

Welcome back to The Attraction Doctor:As a social psychologist and dating expert, I have kept an eye on the pick-up community for years. Now, research is beginning to take a look too. An upcoming study in the journal Sex Roles has tested a subset of the more “assertive” techniques of the pick-up artist to evaluate whether some women like them and why some men use them.For my two cents, while I personally don’t advocate every single tactic employed by the pick-up artist, I do believe the overall message of empowerment and self-development for men is positive. Just like everyone else, men need to know they are valuable, lovable, and worthy of getting their needs met too – and sometimes they don’t know it. I also believe that finding love (and sex) requires a diversity of methods, depending on each person’s goals and desires. The techniques and tactics that work for some are useless or distasteful to others. The conclusion of the above-mentioned research appears to agree with me…

Read in Full:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-attraction-doctor/201108/are-pick-tactics-sexy-or-sexist

Irresistible Neanderthals: Sex in Human Ancestry

Why are we fascinated by Neanderthal sex?

Canoodling. Nookie. Hanky panky. Dalliances. Hookups.Yes, it’s Neanderthal sex, again.Caveman’s Sexy Bonus, the UK’s Daily Express headlined their version of the story, summarizing the key points with a totally anachronistic set of images:

Cavemen made us healthier by having sex with primitive Neanderthals…One night stands between them and our ancestors boosted the human genome.here is something that the press cannot resist about the idea of sex between early modern humans and the human populations that preceded them in Europe and Central Asia.Even the less lurid news reports seem more focused on imagined sexual acts than on details about immunity and disease.Indeed, it was the original press release from Stanford University that introduced “canoodling” into the story. From the first sentence the tone is coy and teasing:

For a few years now, scientists have known that humans and their evolutionary cousins had some casual flings, but now it appears that these liaisons led to a more meaningful relationship.

 

Casual flings? One night stands?

 

Read in Full:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-makes-us-human/201108/irresistible-neanderthals-sex-in-human-ancestry

 

Why We Think Monogamy Is Normal

 

How polygamy became an “exotic exception.”

As I noted in my last post, the ethnographic evidence suggests that human nature is adapted to an ancestral mating system that was predominately polygynous (one husband, multiple wives). Most ancestral men aspired to polygyny (even though most weren’t impressive enough to attract more than one wife), and some ancestral women preferred to be the co-wife of a really impressive man than the sole wife of a second-rate one.In other words, the genetically encoded psychological machinery of human mating behavior was built by, and for, a world in which striving for polygyny was often reproductively advantageous. That’s why people living in modern societies often seem inclined towards polygyny, even in cultures that have attempted to abolish it.

Read in Full:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/darwin-eternity/201109/why-we-think-monogamy-is-normal

Why Don’t Women Flirt With Their (Own) Husbands?

Apparently Married Men Have To Give Up Being Flirted With

I was at a winery recently.As I was standing there [sipping some (quite honestly, not very good) wines], I noticed a couple across from me at the sipping bar.As I watched them, and observed how they were relating, I came to the conclusion that they were not married.I decided to go over and talk with them – just to confirm my suspicions.Eventually I got around to my point: “You aren’t married, are you?”After recovering from the oddity of the statement, they responded:”No.  But how could you tell?”All I was doing is observing how the woman was relating to the man she was with.It was the way she looked at him – with just a hint of coyness.  It was the (artful) playfulness as she glanced at him.It was the way she smiled at him - with a clear warmth and a slight glow.It was the way in which she nuzzled up to him – gently letting him know that she was happy to be with him.Bottom line — she was being flirtatious.Why would this flirtatiousness lead me to conclude that this couple was not married?

Read in Full:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-bytes/201108/why-dont-women-flirt-their-own-husbands

Sexual Satisfaction Part of Successful Aging

 

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 25, 2011

A new study of older women finds that successful aging and a positive quality of life are linked to sexual satisfaction. Researchers at the Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego discovered successful aging, quality of life and sexual satisfaction continue to be interrelated even as the physical health of women declines between the ages of 60 and 89.The report is published online in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.Researchers reviewed self-reported information from 1,235 women enrolled at the San Diego site of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study.

Read in Full:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/08/25/successful-aging-includes-sexual-satisfaction/28923.html



Depressed People’s Brains Process Feelings Of Hate Differently

 

Editor’s Choice
Academic Journal

Article Date: 05 Oct 2011 – 8:00 PDT

 

The human brain’s Hate Circuit appears to be uncoupled by depression, researchers from the University of Warwick reported in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. In other words, the brain of many people with depression appears to process hate differently, compared to those without depression.

 

Professor Jianfeng Feng and team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan activity in the brains of 23 female and 16 male patients with diagnosed clinical depression, and compared their findings to 14 female and 23 male “controls” (people with no depression).

 

They found that the fMRI scans showed considerable differences in the brain circuitry of depressed individuals and the controls. The uncoupling of the “hate circuitry” involving the superior gyrus, insula and putamen was particularly noticeable, the authors wrote.

 

Read in Full:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/235530.php

Depression’s Secret Plan For Your Identity

 

By YourTango Experts

This guest article from YourTango was written by Erin C. Pollard.

 

We’ve all come to know the experience of the blues, being down, heartbreak, disappointment, sadness, or what some might even call depression. All too often the worst part of the experience isn’t even the sadness or the bad feelings themselves, but rather the way sadness is able to change the way we see ourselves, our past, and our hope for the future.

 

Depression may try to convince you that it holds the true assessment of your personality, weaknesses, and limitations. But before you become completely convinced by depression there are six important things you should know.

 

 

1. When depression enters your life, its main goal is to impact your identity.

 

Your identity is what is most meaningful to you, your talents, your character, what makes you uniquely you. Depression knows that this is the key to taking away the most hope and happiness from your life and keeping you under its thumb. Simply ruining your mood isn’t enough for depression; it aims to shake the core of how you see yourself.

 

2. Depression is a master manipulator.

 

It starts by discrediting your proud and good-feeling moments in your memory. It will insist that you didn’t really succeed when you thought you had, that you simply got lucky. You may think the compliment you just received wasn’t really genuine, that they were just being nice. It may even go as far as to say that your friends don’t really care about you and that you are totally alone. It will suggest that everyone else has this figured out and the fact that you don’t makes you a loser, a failure, unlovable, or any number of other things.

 

Read More …

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/10/05/depressions-secret-plan-for-your-identity/

Managing a Work Life with Depression

John Folk-Williams Updated: Oct 4th 2011

 

Decades of recurring depression caused me a lot of problems but one of the worst was its effect on my work life. Those familiar symptoms a doctor will ask when making a diagnosis are poison for the profession I was in.

 

Loss of energy and motivation, difficulty in mental concentration, feeling worthless, losing interest in everything, frequent despairing moods: they’re all disastrous when you’ve got high pressure work that involves running group meetings of all sizes, managing teams, writing detailed reports.

 

When you add in other symptoms that build over time, like weakening short-term memory, and a related condition of extreme social anxiety, professional life gradually takes a dive.

 

Sherwin Nuland, the physician/author of “How We Die”, described the collapse of his practice in a memoir about his father (“Lost in America”). Working in a hospital, his condition was no secret, and his colleagues realized he could no longer handle his patient load. He didn’t want to admit the debilitating effects of depression, but after a while he had no patients and faced the reality that his practice had become impossible.

 

I toughed it out for years, but my clients could see the decline. During the last years of my attempt to keep going, I went from inconsistent performance to a total inability to work effectively. I wasn’t fired altogether but had to bow out when I couldn’t even trust myself to get the job done.

 

Read in Full:

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=44815&cn=5

More Screening Needed to Identify Depression, Vision Loss After Mild Stroke

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2011) — On the surface they appear unaffected, but people who have mild strokes may live with hidden disabilities, including depression, vision problems and difficulty thinking, according to a study released October 3 at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

 

The study calls for new guidelines for the treatment and management of mild strokes, which account for two-thirds of all strokes and usually involve a hospital stay of one to five days. Co-author Annie Rochette, Ph.D, of the University of Montreal, and her research team interviewed 200 people in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta within the first six weeks of their stroke.

 

“There is no such thing as a mild stroke,” says Dr. Rochette, who describes high rates of sleeplessness and depression among study participants – almost a quarter of whom were clinically depressed. “These patients face huge challenges in their daily lives.” Study participants reported a significantly poorer perceived quality of life.

 

Read in Full:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111003080409.htm

Be Prepared for SADness

Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. Updated: Sep 27th 2011

 

Just because it’s only fall, don’t be fooled, winter is just around the corner and it’s always wise to plan if you’re someone who is affected by “winter blues.” In fact, over 10 million Americans alone experience SADness. That is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) where the lack of sunlight and the presence of gray skies begins to mirror how we feel inside leading us down a dark corridor to depressing thoughts, lethargic bodies, and uncomfortable emotions. Women are 3 times more likely than men to experience SADness during this time and suicide rates begin to spike up.

 

Here’s a little background to know how SADness operates. During any adjustment in mood there is an interaction that goes on between our thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behavior. For example, when you wake up in the morning and you’re tired and it’s cold, pulling off the covers and exposing your body to the cold might lead to some physical discomfort. The thought may arise, “oh, what I would give to just stay in bed, this is torture”. That may lead to the emotions of frustration and resentment, which makes the body feel agitated and tense. Your partner turns to you and sluggishly says “good morning” in which you reply “whatever”. While in the shower all you can think about is how miserable this day is going to be. The cycle continues throughout the day as you try to isolate and avoid people, finding yourself stuck, stewing in negative thoughts, uncomfortable sensations and emotions, and reactive behavior.

 

Read More …

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=44743&cn=5



By John M. Grohol, PsyD
Founder & Editor-in-Chief

 

Today is National Depression Screening Day, so it’s time for your annual depression checkup. Are you depressed? Or are you skirting the threshold of depression, feeling low on energy and taking little pleasure out of life?

 

You don’t need to make an appointment or go see someone in person in order to find out the answer to these questions. Since 1995, Psych Central has offered an online interactive depression test that gives you an instant result. While nobody can diagnose a mental disorder online, it can give you a quick sense of whether it’s something to be concerned about and make an appointment with a mental health professional to examine further.

 

The quick depression test is just 8 questions and is an accurate screening measure for depression. It takes most people less than a minute to complete. The longer 18-question depression quiz is the oldest one online and is a more thorough screen for depressive symptoms. It’s a little more accurate, and most people complete it in under 3 minutes.

 

Read in Full:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/10/06/national-depression-screening-day-is-today/