Celebrate The New Year By Giving Yourself The Gift of  You

The Long Reach of Childhood

By Ditta M. Oliker, Ph.D.
  It's easy to lose yourself in the whirlwind of the holidays. Getting caught in the pressure of so much to do and so little time is common, particularly as each year seems to rush by even more quickly than the last one. The celebration of a new year is also a time for reflection, renewal and resolutions, so take a moment to ask yourself if, putting the holidays aside, you consistently feel that you lose yourself in the whirlwinds and/or chaos of the lives of others.

 

New Year Resolutions - A Different View

We're at that special time of year yet again for New Year's resolutions. You know the drill... make plans to lose weight, exercise more, and find a way to make more money in 2012! Sadly, most folks who make resolutions rarely achieve success with them and often feel disappointed a few weeks or months into the New Year. So, this time around, how about considering approaching this issue a little bit differently?

Poor Practice, Managed Care, and Magic Pills: Have We Created a Mental Health Monster?

Anyone working in the mental health field will recognize that in patients with extreme irritability, explosive behavior, or quick mood changes, bipolar disorder (BD) is often unquestionably diagnosed. Thus, it is no surprise that a recent US study indicated a 10-year 40-fold increase in BD diagnosis in pediatric patients.¹

A mental health monster

Three factors are largely responsible for the phenomenon described in the Case Vignette: poor practice, managed care, and a pill-pushing society.

The Thoroughly Modern Guide to Breakups

Julie Spira isn’t just any writer. She bills herself as an expert on Internet dating and wrote a book called The Perils of Cyber-Dating. When, in 2005, she met The Doctor on an online dating site, Spira was positive she’d finally found The One. “He seemed very solid and close to his family,” Spira recalls. He made it clear on their first date that, after the end of a lengthy marriage and a year of serial dating, he was looking for an enduring relationship. “That was very appealing to me.”

A Conversation With Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter About Stigma, Discrimination, and Brain Disorders

S.Z. BergAuthor, The Other Side of the Window

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has been an unrelenting crusader for people suffering from mental illness (which I refer to here as brain disorders). For more than 40 years she's been working on promoting awareness of the issues, public policy, making health care insurance coverage for these brain disorders comparable to traditional health care coverage, and reducing stigma and discrimination against the people who suffer from these brain conditions.

Wiring the Brain, Literally, to Treat Stubborn Disorders

The procedure starts with a surgeon drilling two holes in the patient's skull. "Every bone and tooth in my head was rattling," says Lisa Battiloro, who was awake, but not in pain, during the eight-hour operation.

Neurologists asked her questions and issued commands as they pinpointed the exact spot in her brain for electrical stimulation. At one point, "I suddenly felt hopeful and optimistic about the future," recalls Ms. Battiloro, who had battled severe depression for more than a decade. That's when the doctors knew they had found Brodmann 25, an area deep in the cerebral cortex associated with negative mood. They secured the electrodes in place, then sedated Ms. Battiloro while they ran an extension wire under the skin, down the side of her head and into her chest, where they implanted a battery pack to supply her brain with a mild electrical current.