NIMH · Mental Disorders as Brain Disorders: Thomas Insel at TEDxCaltech
Am wondering if murder, planning to murder, and domestic violence are brain disorders…
If so, or even probably so, this is a real wake up call for prison reform…
NIMH · Mental Disorders as Brain Disorders: Thomas Insel at TEDxCaltech.
From the 23 April 2013 item at the National Institute of Mental Health
A rethink is needed in terms of how we view mental illness, stated National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel, M.D., in a recent TEDx talkat the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena.
Deaths from medical causes such as leukemia and heart disease have decreased over the past 30 years. The same cannot be said of the suicide rate, which has remained the same. A vast majority of suicides—90 percent—are related to mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia.
Insel believes part of the problem is that mental illness is referred to either as a mental or behavioral disorder. “We need to think of these as brain disorders,” he said, adding that for these brain disorders, behavior is the last thing to change.
Insel walked the audience through recent advances in neuroscience, including the Human Connectome, which indicates that mental illness may be more of a neuronal connection or circuit disorder. The earlier these circuits are identified, he said, the earlier preventive treatments could be used to save the lives of people with mental illnesses.
“If we waited for the ‘heart attack,’ we would be sacrificing 1.1 million lives every year in this country,” he said. “That is precisely what we do today when we decide that everyone with one of these brain disorders, brain circuit disorders, has a behavior disorder. We wait until the behavior emerges. That’s not early detection, that’s not early prevention.”
Related articles
- Toward A New Understanding of Mental Illness (thesecretkeeper.net)
- A Break From Politics: Toward a new understanding of mental illness (freakoutnation.com)
- Once, people suffering from a mental illness were hidden … (jillsmentalhealthresources.wordpress.com)
- What Does It Really Mean for Me to Have a Mental Illness? (thedancingwriterblog.wordpress.com)
- Vaughan Bell: news from the borders of mental illness (guardian.co.uk)
- Mental Health Awareness Month (irishdragon7.wordpress.com)
- Medical Brain Disorders~The Benefits of Exercise (keepchoosingconsistency.com)
Frontiers publishes systematic review on the effects of yoga on major psychiatric disorders
From the 25 January 2013 EurkAlert
Yoga on our minds: The 5,000-year-old Indian practice may have positive effects on major psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, ADHD and sleep complaints
Yoga has positive effects on mild depression and sleep complaints, even in the absence of drug treatments, and improves symptoms associated with schizophrenia and ADHD in patients on medication, according to a systematic review of the exercise on major clinical psychiatric disorders.
Published in the open-access journal, Frontiers in Psychiatry, on January 25th, 2013, the review of more than one hundred studies focusing on 16 high-quality controlled studies looked at the effects of yoga on depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, sleep complaints, eating disorders and cognition problems.
Yoga in popular culture
Yoga is a popular exercise and is practiced by 15.8 million adults in the United States alone, according to a survey by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau, and its holistic goal of promoting psychical and mental health is widely held in popular belief.
“However, yoga has become such a cultural phenomenon that it has become difficult for physicians and patients to differentiate legitimate claims from hype,” wrote the authors in their study. “Our goal was to examine whether the evidence matched the promise.”
Psychotherapy Is Effective but Underutilized, Review Shows
From the 9 August 2012 article at Science News Daily
Psychotherapy is effective, helps reduce the overall need for health services and produces long-term health improvements, according to a review of research studies conducted by the American Psychological Association.
Yet, the use of psychotherapy to treat people with mental and behavioral health issues decreased over the last decade while the use of medications to address such problems has increased, according to government and insurance industry data.
“Every day, consumers are bombarded with ads that tout drugs as the answer to their problems. Our goal is to help consumers weigh those messages with research-based information about how psychotherapy can provide them with safe, effective and long-lasting improvements in their mental and physical health,” said Melba J. T. Vazquez, PhD, past president of the American Psychological Association who led the psychotherapy effectiveness review project…
The resolution also states Key findings of the resolution:
[The full resolution may be found here]
• Research demonstrates that psychotherapy is effective for a variety of mental and behavioral health issues and across a spectrum of population groups. The average effects of psychotherapy are larger than the effects produced by many medical treatments.
• Large multi-site and meta-analytic studies have demonstrated that psychotherapy reduces disability, morbidity and mortality; improve work functioning; and decrease psychiatric hospitalization.
• Psychotherapy teaches patients life skills that last beyond the course of treatment. The results of psychotherapy tend to last longer than psychopharmacological treatments and rarely produce harmful side effects
• While medication is appropriate in some instances, research shows that a combination of medication and psychotherapy is often most effective in treating depression and anxiety. It should also be noted that the effects produced by psychotherapy, including those for different age groups and across a spectrum of mental and physical health disorders, are often comparable to or better than the effects produced by drug treatments for the same disorders without the potential for harmful side effects that drugs often carry.
“As Americans grapple with the ever-increasing cost of health care, it is important that consumers and those who make decisions about health care access understand the potential value in both improved outcomes and cost-saving of psychotherapies,” Vasquez said. “APA applauds and continues to support collaboration of psychologists with other health care providers as part of integrated health care teams. Psychotherapies are highly effective, but only when consumers have access to them.”
Related articles
- Psychotherapy is effective, but not used enough in many health situations (examiner.com)
- 8 Reasons to Cheer for Psychotherapy and to Broaden Its Availability (psychologytoday.com)
- Should Psychotherapy Notes Be a Part of Your Electronic… (psychcentral.com)
- Managed Behavioral Health Care Just May Shorten Your Life (forbes.com)
- DSM-IV: Depression Defined (everydayhealth.com)
- Psychiatrists Who Do Psychotherapy: Vanishing Breed? (jajsamos.wordpress.com)
- The Impact of Loss on the Therapeutic Relationship in Therapist-Initiated Termination (udini.proquest.com)
- Phone-Based Psychotherapy Helps Depression, at Least in the Short Term (healthland.time.com)
- Hothouse Psychotherapy (psychologytoday.com)
DSM-5 will capture the dynamic nature of mental illness
From the 20 July 2012 post at KevinMD.com
Much of the debate over the future edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-5) has centered on what disorders will be added, modified or dropped. But lost in the discussion is a change that will align disorders along a developmental continuum—one that looks at them across the lifespan. This shift will provide clinicians with a critical perspective that until now has been missing.
Historically, disorders were classified in DSM by symptom manifestation and patient presentation. As a result, they generally were grouped by discreet stages of life, as if there were no connections or implications from one stage to another. In particular, the opening chapter of DSM-IV, “Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence,” segregated such conditions as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, pica, rumination and autism disorder from the rest of the manual. The implication was that disorders in the “child” chapter affect only children and disorders in the rest of the manual affect only adults….
…
he need for these changes is obvious: The real world doesn’t work within distinct boundaries, and clinicians are not best able to understand potential connections, interrelations and ramifications when they only consider a single, narrow point in time. A young girl who lashes out with persistent and significant anger could presage a young adult with similarly explosive behavior, for example. Conversely, a middle-aged man’s extreme anxiety might reflect a difficult recent event, such as a divorce or layoff. But it also might be a problem that first manifested itself decades earlier, in panic attacks or a fear of leaving the house. In both cases, diagnosis as well as treatment will be more clinically useful if the factors involved are evaluated through a longitudinal lens.
This different perspective will especially benefit women, for whom mental disorders are often linked to specific ages or periods of life. We know that young women between 15 and 22 are much more likely to have negative body image than young men and to develop eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression, self-harm and, in the most extreme cases, suicide. But what happens after 22? Even with treatment, the risk of recurrent depression remains, and it often needs to be assessed in terms of the extra emotional and physical issues many women face throughout their lives—because of lower income, discrimination, sexual harassment and violence….
Related articles
- Press Release from the American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) Draws Nearly 2,300 Public Responses (jeanettebartha.wordpress.com)
- In the age of anxiety, are we all mentally ill? (msnbc.msn.com)
- Exploring the Proposed DSM-5 Criteria in a Clinical Sample (leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk)
- Checklist vs. Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM): Mental Health Service Debate (jeanettebartha.wordpress.com)
- Sandusky’s “Mental Illness” Defense (thedailybeast.com)
- Two Who Resigned From DSM-5 Explain Why (psychologytoday.com)
- In the Age of Anxiety, are we all mentally ill? (vancouversun.com)
- Two resign from DSM-5 Personality Disorders Work Group over “seriously flawed” proposals (dxrevisionwatch.wordpress.com)
- ADHD in DSM-5: Lower Specificity, Increased Rates (madinamerica.com)
- DSM 5 Continues To Ignore Critics (psychologytoday.com)
- Autism Criteria Critics Blasted by DSM-5 Leader (medpagetoday.com)
Uncontrollable Anger Prevalent Among U.S. Youth: Almost Two-Thirds Have History of Anger Attacks
Although not addressed in this study, I couldn’t help but wonder if anger is “fed” by factors not easily determined as how we think about and treat people on an everyday basis.
This morning on Facebook, a friend posted an item about snarkiness and how this affects one’s productivity. However, I think snakiness not only affects oneself but the thoughts and actions of others.I couldn’t help but think that maybe snarky attitudes can somehow draw out anger in others. Yes, we are all ultimately responsible for our actions and thoughts. But we are also “our brother’s keeper”.
This article made me more aware of how I think and act towards teens, and how I need to rethink my thoughts and actions.
From the 2 July 2012 ScienceDaily article
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adolescents have experienced an anger attack that involved threatening violence, destroying property or engaging in violence toward others at some point in their lives. These severe attacks of uncontrollable anger are much more common among adolescents than previously recognized, a new study led by researchers from Harvard Medical School finds.
The study, based on the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement, a national face-to-face household survey of 10,148 U.S. adolescents, found that nearly two-thirds of adolescents in the U.S. have a history of anger attacks. It also found that one in 12 young people — close to six million adolescents — meet criteria for a diagnosis of Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), a syndrome characterized by persistent uncontrollable anger attacks not accounted for by other mental disorders.
The results were published July 2 inArchives of General Psychiatry.
[Full Text of the Report here]IED has an average onset in late childhood and tends to be quite persistent through the middle years of life. ..
Related articles
- Uncontrollable anger prevalent among U.S. youth: Almost two-thirds have history of anger attacks (sciencedaily.com)
- Uncontrollable anger prevalent among US youth (medicalxpress.com)
- Warning over youth anger ‘disorder’ (bigpondnews.com)
- Uncontrollable anger prevalent among US youth (eurekalert.org)
- Teen rage: Anger-related disorders on the rise (vancouversun.com)
- The age of rage: psychiatrists battle over teen anger diagnosis (theprovince.com)
- The age of rage: psychiatrists battle over teen anger diagnosis (canada.com)
- One in 12 teens have ‘intermittent explosive disorder,’ study finds (news.nationalpost.com)
- Harvard Researchers Study “Intermittent Explosive Disorder” (IED); Aggression in Adolescents (madinamerica.com)
- Does your teen have a severe anger disorder? (thechart.blogs.cnn.com)
Sleeping in Vermont Dumpster Shows Psychiatric Cuts’ Cost – Bloomberg
Sleeping In Vermont Dumpster Shows Psychiatric Cuts’ Cost
via Sleeping in Vermont Dumpster Shows Psychiatric Cuts’ Cost – Bloomberg.
Katherine Gluck blurts out to the judge, “I’m guilty.”
Gluck, 47, is charged on this March morning with threatening her former husband with a hammer. Police who arrested her in Burlington, Vermont, know those tired eyes and stringy blond hair. In December, Gluck was charged but not jailed or hospitalized after she slammed a dead raccoon against the front door of City Hall. Her family urged her to get help for her bipolar disorder, which usually involves getting back on medication. She refused.
June 4 (Bloomberg) — Hurricane Irene wiped out the last state-operated psychiatric beds in Vermont nine months ago. As the only U.S. state with no government-operated psychiatric beds, Vermont’s experience reflects a growing realization among mental-health experts and advocates that the decades-long trend toward outpatient care has reached its limit and public outcry against the latest round of cuts is beginning to change the game. Bloomberg’s Tom Moroney reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
Now, court-appointed lawyer Sarah Reed hopes Judge Thomas Devine will send Gluck to a hospital. The odds aren’t good. Hurricane Irene wiped out the last state-operated psychiatric beds in Vermont nine months ago.
Since then, private-hospital emergency rooms have been backed up with mentally ill patients — some handcuffed to ER beds for as long as two days. Dozens of people are turned away each month without being admitted, and calls to Burlington police about mental-health issues increased 32 percent over the prior year.
As the only U.S. state with no government-operated psychiatric beds, Vermont’s experience reflects a growing realization among mental-health experts and advocates that the decades-long trend toward outpatient care has reached its limit — and public outcry against the latest round of cuts is beginning to change the game….
Related articles
- In Vermont, what happens when the mentally ill have no place to go (bangordailynews.com)
- Rights group: Man died after neglect by son, state (mysanantonio.com)
- Vt. governor signs mental health bill (sfgate.com)
- Need for psychiatric hospital beds surges in Alabama, nation (al.com)
Experts Recommend Overhaul Of Psychiatry’s Diagnostic Manual
From the 18 May 2012 article at Medical News Today
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), long the master reference work in psychiatry, is seriously flawed and needs radical change from its current “field guide” form, according to an essay by two Johns Hopkins psychiatrists published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“A generation ago it served useful purposes, but now it needs clear alterations,” says Paul R. McHugh, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-author of the paper with Phillip R. Slavney, M.D., a professor emeritus in the same department. “They say they can’t do any better. We disagree and can show how.”
The original DSM, published in the 1950s, was intended as a public health service documenting the incidence and prevalence of mental illnesses. By its third edition in 1980 (DSM-III), however, it had evolved into a reference book prescribing how clinicians should identify and classify psychiatric disorders.
Today, the Johns Hopkins psychiatrists say, DSM provides checklists of symptoms, offering few clues to the underlying causes of mental disease and making it difficult to direct treatment or investigate the disorders it details. A new edition, DSM-5, is due out in 2013.
The manual, put together by the American Psychiatric Association, currently identifies hundreds of conditions via lists of diagnostic criteria and symptoms, functioning exactly as does a naturalist’s field guide but for mental illness. It offers no way to make sense of mental disorders and no way to distinguish illnesses that appear to be similar but actually are quite different and require different treatments, the psychiatrists argue.
“If you just name things and don’t explain what the causes are, you do not know how to rationally treat or study the diseases,” says McHugh, former director of Hopkins’ psychiatry department. “The DSM gives everything a name but not a nature.”….
Related articles
- Johns Hopkins Experts Say Psychiatry’s Diagnostic Manual Needs Overhaul (tricitypsychology.com)
- Does Everyone Have a Mental Illness? (madinamerica.com)
- Psychiatrists say diagnosis manual needs overhaul (vancouversun.com)
- ‘Label jars, not people’: Lobbying against the shrinks (newscientist.com)
- ‘Label jars, not people’: Lobbying against the shrinks (newscientist.com)
- Profit Motive? Big Psychiatry Invents and Redefines Mental Illnesses (sott.net)
- ‘Label jars, not people’: Lobbying against the shrinks (newscientist.com)
- Two proposed changes dropped from DSM-5: Media round-up (dxrevisionwatch.wordpress.com)
How A Parent’s Education Can Affect The Mental Health Of Their Offspring
How A Parent’s Education Can Affect The Mental Health Of Their Offspring
From the 29 January 2012 article at ScienceNews Today
New research sheds light on cycle of low socioeconomic status and depression Could depression in adulthood be tied to a parent’s level of education? A new study led by Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, a medical sociologist from McGill University, suggests this is the case……The team found that higher levels of parental education meant fewer mental health issues for their adult children. “However, we also found much of that association may be due to the fact that parents with more education tend to have children with more education and better paying jobs themselves,” explained Quesnel-Vallée. “What this means is that the whole process of climbing up the social ladder that is rooted in a parent’s education is a crucial pathway for the mental health of adult children.”
These findings suggest that policies aimed at increasing educational opportunities for all, regardless of social background, may help break the intergenerational cycle of low socioeconomic status and poor mental health. “Children don’t get to choose where they come from. I think we have a responsibility to address health inequalities borne out of the conditions of early childhood,” said Quesnel-Vallée.
Related articles
- How A Parent’s Education Can Affect The Mental Health Of Their Offspring (medicalnewstoday.com)
- Exploring how a parent’s education can affect the mental health of their offspring (eurekalert.org)
- DSM-IV: Depression Defined (everydayhealth.com)
School Absenteeism, Mental Health Problems Linked
From the 29 December Medical News Today article
School absenteeism is a significant problem, and students who are frequently absent from school more often have symptoms of psychiatric disorders. A new longitudinal study of more than 17,000 youths has found that frequently missing school is associated with a higher prevalence of mental health problems later on in adolescence, and that mental health problems during one year also predict missing additional school days in the following year for students in middle and high school….
Related articles
- School Absenteeism, Mental Health Problems Linked (psychcentral.com)
- Chronic School Absenteeism Linked to Mental Health Problems (nlm.nih.gov)
SAMHSA Announces A Working Definition Of “Recovery” From Mental Disorders And Substance Use Disorders
From the December 2011 news release
Date: 12/22/2011 10:00 AM
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press Office
Telephone: 240-276-2130SAMHSA announces a working definition of “recovery” from mental disorders and substance use disorders
The new working definition of Recovery from Mental Disorders and Substance Use Disorders is as follows:
A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.
“Over the years it has become increasingly apparent that a practical, comprehensive working definition of recovery would enable policy makers, providers, and others to better design, deliver, and measure integrated and holistic services to those in need,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde. ”By working with all elements of the behavioral health community and others to develop this definition, I believe SAMHSA has achieved a significant milestone in promoting greater public awareness and appreciation for the importance of recovery, and widespread support for the services that can make it a reality for millions of Americans.”…
Through the Recovery Support Strategic Initiative, SAMHSA has also delineated four major dimensions that support a life in recovery:
- Health : overcoming or managing one’s disease(s) as well as living in a physically and emotionally healthy way;
- Home: a stable and safe place to live;
- Purpose: meaningful daily activities, such as a job, school, volunteerism, family caretaking, or creative endeavors, and the independence, income and resources to participate in society; and
- Community : relationships and social networks that provide support, friendship, love, and hope.
Guiding Principles of Recovery
Recovery emerges from hope: The belief that recovery is real provides the essential and motivating message of a better future – that people can and do overcome the internal and external challenges, barriers, and obstacles that confront them.
Recovery is person-driven: Self-determination and self-direction are the foundations for recovery as individuals define their own life goals and design their unique path(s).
Recovery occurs via many pathways: Individuals are unique with distinct needs, strengths, preferences, goals, culture, and backgrounds ? including trauma experiences ? that affect and determine their pathway(s) to recovery. Abstinence is the safest approach for those with substance use disorders.
Recovery is holistic: Recovery encompasses an individual’s whole life, including mind, body, spirit, and community. The array of services and supports available should be integrated and coordinated.
Recovery is supported by peers and allies: Mutual support and mutual aid groups, including the sharing of experiential knowledge and skills, as well as social learning, play an invaluable role in recovery
Recovery is supported through relationship and social networks: An important factor in the recovery process is the presence and involvement of people who believe in the person’s ability to recover; who offer hope, support, and encouragement; and who also suggest strategies and resources for change.
Recovery is culturally-based and influenced : Culture and cultural background in all of its diverse representations ? including values, traditions, and beliefs ? are keys in determining a person’s journey and unique pathway to recovery.
Recovery is supported by addressing trauma : Services and supports should be trauma-informed to foster safety (physical and emotional) and trust, as well as promote choice, empowerment, and collaboration.
Recovery involves individual, family, and community strengths and responsibility: Individuals, families, and communities have strengths and resources that serve as a foundation for recovery.
Recovery is based on respect : Community, systems, and societal acceptance and appreciation for people affected by mental health and substance use problems – including protecting their rights and eliminating discrimination – are crucial in achieving recovery.
For further detailed information about the new working recovery definition or the guiding principles of recovery please visit: http://www.samhsa.gov/recovery/
SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities.
Related articles
- SAMHSA Provides New Working Definition of Recovery (asapnys.wordpress.com)
- SAMHSA Announces A Working Definition Of “Recovery” From Mental Disorders And Substance Use Disorders (medicalnewstoday.com)
- SAMHSA issues new definition of Recovery. What does it mean for your drug-using loved one? (homedrugtestkit.wordpress.com)
- Patients Can Be Helpful Peer Counselors (psychcentral.com)
- SAMHSA Highlights Healing and Recovery from Trauma at 2011 Voice Awards Hosted by Emmy-Nominated Peter Krause (prnewswire.com)
- Mental Illness Rates By State Highlighted in New Report (prnewswire.com)
- SAMHSA Awards $22.5 Million To Advance State Substance Abuse Prevention Planning (medicalnewstoday.com)
About
This blog presents a sampling of health and medical news and resources for all. Selected articles and resources will hopefully be of general interest but will also encourage further reading through posted references and other links. Currently I am focusing on public health, basic and applied research and very broadly on disease and healthy lifestyle topics.
Several times a month I will post items on international and global health issues. My Peace Corps Liberia experience (1980-81) has formed me as a global citizen in many ways and has challenged me to think of health and other topics in a more holistic manner. (For those wishing to see pictures of a 2009 Friends of Liberia service trip to this West African country, please visit www.fol.org. My photo album is included).
Do you have an informational question in the health/medical area?
Email me at jmflahiff@yahoo.com
I will reply within 48 hours.
This blog is a companion site to my Health and Medical News and Resources Web site with…
- Informational sites and guides
- Links to help from others (as health care providers and support groups)
- Interactive tools (as health calculators and apps)
- Select related news sites and blogs
My professional work experience and education includes over 10 years experience as a medical librarian and a Master’s in Library Science. In my most recent position I enjoyed contributing to our library’s blog, performing in depth literature searches, and collaborating with faculty, staff, students, and the general public.
While I will never be be able to keep up with the universe of current health/medical news,
I subscribe to the following to glean entries for this blog
- Medical News Today, a MediLexicon International daily online health news product
- MedLib-L ,a medical librarian discussion list
- Science Daily – Your source for the latest research news
- A Consumer and Patient Health (CAPHIS) discussion list , by a section of the Medical Library Association (MLA)
- MedlinePlus email updates from the US National Institutes of Health
- Public Health Partners from the National Library of Medicine
- US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) electronic newsletter with updates on the agency’s efforts to “improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans”
- Krafty (Medical)Librarian,” a collection of writings from Michelle Kraft on items of interest to medical librarians. She tends to write on technology and medical libraries but she also writes about things in general on librarianship, medicine and health”
- Research Buzz, “news about search engines, digital archives, online museums, databases, and other Internet information collections since 1998″
- Library Journal – Breaking News
- librarian.net by librarian consultant Jessamyn West
- The Cornflower, the blog of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region
- DocuTicker with “abstracts from ‘grey literature’: PDF reports published by government agencies, think tanks, NGOs, research institutes and other public interest groups”
- PubMed New and Noteworthy, updates from the largest indexer of biomedical journals in the world
- Free Government Information, a ”place for initiating dialogue and building consensus among the various players (libraries, government agencies, non-profit organizations, researchers, journalists, etc.) who have a stake in the preservation of and perpetual free access to government information”
- Scout Report, a “weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators”
- Latest from Brookings Institute, independent research reports on social and political issues
- KevinMD.com -”Social Media’s leading physician voice”
- EurekAlert-Medicine and Health
