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QUOTE (Maedhros @ Sep 23 2008, 05:11 PM) * This forum has been great. I understand myself better now and realize I'm not alone.
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated 40 million
Americans living today will suffer from major depressive illness during their lives.

Seasonal affective disorder is major depression that appears in the fall or winter and goes away in spring, thought to be caused by lack of sunlight.



Postpartum depression occurs within four weeks of a women giving childbirth. Most new mothers suffer from some form of the �baby blues.� Postpartum depression, by contrast, is major depression, thought to be triggered by changes in hormonal flows associated with childbirth.

Catatonic depression is a rare form of major depression characterized by (at least two): Stupor, excessive motor activity, extreme negativism, peculiarities in voluntary movement, and repetition of other people's words or actions. - mcmanweb.com



Psychotic depression is a rare form of depression characterized by delusions or hallucinations, such as believing you are someone you are not and hearing voices.


According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the US population age 18 and older in a given year, have a depressive disorder.
Depression is a chronic illness that exacts a significant toll on America's health and productivity.  It affects more than 21 million American children and adults annually and is the leading cause of disability in the United States for individuals ages 15 to 44.


Lost productive time among U.S. workers due to depression is estimated to be in excess of $31 billion per year.  Depression frequently co-occurs with a variety of medical illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, and chronic pain and is associated with poorer health status and prognosis.  It is also the principal cause of the 30,000 suicides in the U.S. each year.  In 2004, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death in the United States, third among individuals 15-24.


According to the World Health Organization, depression is presently on track to becoming the world's second-most disabling disease (after heart disease) by the year 2020.

Depression is responsible for some $87 billion a year in lost productivity in the US (a conservative estimate), and according to Bank One, is responsible for most lost work days in its employees after pregnancy and childbirth.

Additionally, one million people worldwide die by their own hand, most as a result of a mood disorder. Finally, the linkage between depression and a host of physical illnesses makes it arguably the world's greatest killer.

Research presented at the 56th Annual Conference of the Canadian Psychiatric Association shows a marked link between bipolar disorder and migraines.

The odds of migraine in persons with bipolar disorder were 40% higher than the general population.

Data obtained from 36,984 people aged 15 and over, who screened positive for manic or depressive episodes with migraine, were compared against those who screened positive for mania but who didn�t suffer from migraines.

Amongst males, 14.9% of those with manic episodes were also diagnosed with migraines compared with 5.8% of the general population. Amongst females, 34.7% had both migraines and bipolar disorder compared with 14.7% who only had migraines.unquote.gif

While the research was skewed towards persons who were already diagnosed with bipolar disorders, what does it mean for people who suffer from migraines but who may have an undiagnosed bipolar disorder?



Migraines and headaches aren�t fully understood but the manifestations are very real and debilitating for their sufferers:

Throbbing pain
Nausea
Heightened sensitivity to light or sound
Seeing dots, wavy lines, flashing lights, or blind spots
Difficulty with speech, sensation, or movement

 


An estimated 2.1 million American adolescents have experienced major depression within the last year, according to a new comprehensive government study.  Researchers surveyed more than 67,000 young people ages 12 to 17 and found that one in 12 had suffered from serious depression in the previous year.Nearly 13 percent of girls had struggled with depression, compared to less than 5 percent of boys. Odds of depression increased with age -- just 4 percent of 12-year-olds experienced depression but that climbed to 11 percent for older teens.

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Acting Up is Not “Acting-Out”

By Forum Admin


Acting Up is Not “Acting-Out”

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True “acting-out” is an outward manifestation of an emotional conflict that can’t be consciously recognized by an individual. Acting-up is NOT acting-out.

In the ‘jargon’ of mental health professionals one frequently hears the term acting-out. It is amazing how frequently this term is misused. As is the case with denial, which I posted about earlier (see “Understanding Denial as a Defense Mechanism”), true acting-out is an unconscious ego defense mechanism. Without knowing it, persons who act-out engage in some kind of behavior (as opposed to a psycho-physiological or other kind of “symptom”) that serves to ease the emotional pain and anxiety associated with an unconscious conflict between their primal instincts and their conscience. A good example would be an overworked and underpaid worker who slaved all night to finish a project and when he placed it on his boss’s desk, the only thing his taskmaster had to say was “Well, it’s about time!” On his way back to his desk, the worker mutters under his breath “That SOB!.” He then enters the washroom and begins to wash his hands. He washes, and washes…and washes. He washes until his hands turn red and blister, but he continues to wash. He’s not aware of it, but he seems to engage in this compulsion whenever he feels bad inside for thinking ill about another. That’s not right, after all. On the one hand, he wants to tell his boss where to go. On the other hand, he’s grateful to have a job and he’s been taught well that bearing ill feelings toward another is the work of the Devil. He feels so unclean when he “slips” and says those hateful things under his breath. His compulsion is an instance of displaying through an action the conflict that rages within him. It helps relieve the anxiety he feels to some degree, but it doesn’t really solve the problem. Yet it gives him enough relief that he does this over and over again in similar situations, with no insight into the “dynamics” of the situation. In the end, we have a behavior (handwashing) that is a “symptom” (called a compulsion) that represents an unconscious way to mediate underlying emotional pain. This is what the term acting-out has historically been meant to describe. In such a scenario, a person is acting out a dynamic with which they cannot otherwise emotionally or consciously connect.

It is truly appalling how often people use the term acting out to refer to someone who’s simply exhibiting undesirable or problematic behavior.

Acting-up, (i.e., conscious, deliberate misbehaving) is NOT acting-out. It is truly appalling how often people use the term acting out to refer to someone who’s simply exhibiting undesirable or problematic behavior. I hear TV commercials by behavioral therapists offering remedies that will “fix your child’s ‘acting-out’ behaviors at home and at school,” and see rules in psychiatric hospitals and residential centers forbidding “sexual acting-out” or other inappropriate conduct. One online psychiatric glossary even gave two definitions for acting-out — one correct, the other being the mistaken notion that has so deeply crept into the popular lexicon that it’s made a correct understanding of the concept almost impossible.

The real danger in misusing this term is that one can make a disastrous presumption that every time someone acts in an inappropriate manner, they’re necessarily playing out some kind of unconscious inner conflict (i.e., unresolved “issues”), when in fact they may be simply engaging in immature, irresponsible behavior about which they’re fully aware and which is completely within their ability to control. Misperceiving the nature of circumstances is a major way people end up being abused by irresponsible characters. It’s also how clinicians inadvertently enable irresponsible behavior instead of fostering real change. Words mean things. As behavioral scientists, professionals can’t communicate effectively with one another or even frame problems correctly unless they use terms appropriately. To do that, we have to know what the words actually mean and then use them to label a situation accurately.

Although acting-out definitely tops the list, it is not the only misused psychological term

Although acting-out definitely tops the list, it is not the only misused psychological term, and professionals aren’t the only ones who misuse it. Denial, which I posted about earlier, is another of the more frequently misused terms. A good example of why it’s so important to use terms correctly is illustrated by research recently done on “denial” and its possible role in predicting the effectiveness of therapy. Some studies have shown that addressing issues of denial doesn’t appear to be crucial to effecting a positive therapeutic outcome. These results are counterintuitive. It’s been long assumed that a person can’t really begin to address and resolve a problem unless they are willing to admit they have it. It would be a big deal to have this assumption disproved experimentally. The problem with the research on “denial,” however, is that it didn’t bother to differentiate what really is or isn’t true denial. Rather, it lumped together all of the various types of behaviors often mislabeled as denial, and then got ambiguous results. A saying used in computer science — “Garbage in, Garbage out!” — attests to the fact that regardless of the elaborateness of the methodology or the sophistication of the statistical analyses, if you put ambiguous data into a study, you’ll get unreliable findings. We can never be clear about our scientific data unless we define our terms correctly and succinctly. As a psychologist, I’ve literally read thousands of studies over the years. The psychological abstracts alone are among the most hefty compilations you’ll ever find in libraries. Yet, the number of principles we know with certainty about human behavior would fill only a small book. Why? It is in large measure because even though our statistical and other data analysis methods are among the most sophisticated there are, the logic is flawed in the construction of our research, and the logic of our interpretations of the results is equally flawed much of the time. It’s really frustrating sometimes. But it should serve as a caution for all professionals to be much more careful about how accurate we are when we use terms or interpret data.

There are ten terms commonly used in mental health that are all too frequently misused. This post, and the next several to follow, will deal with the top 5 of these misused terms.


Comments

Depression Forums would like to hear from you!
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Mental illness affects one in seventeen Americans.
We would like to invite you to share your story about your Depression, as breaking the silence will help us to break open the stigma surrounding mental health that keeps people from getting the care that continues misunderstandings about those affected by mental health disorders.

Stories with a positive outlook are most welcome.
There is nothing better than to speak out, tell your story and get the word out! 

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Together, we can help ourselves and others.

Please PM Forum Admin for more information to submit your story.
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs 2
What is Clinical Depression?

Clinical depression can affect your body, mood, thoughts, and behavior. It can change your eating habits, how you feel and think about things, your ability to work and study, and how you interact with people.

Clinical depression is not a passing mood, a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed away. Clinically depressed people cannot "pull themselves together" and get better.

Depression can be successfully treated by a mental health professional or certain health care providers. With the right treatment, 80 percent of those who seek help get better. And many people begin to feel better in just a few weeks.

Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health
World Health Organization Finds Depression Often Goes Untreated
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Sept. 6, 2007 -- Depression has a greater impact on overall health than arthritis, diabetes, angina, and asthma, but it all too often goes unrecognized and untreated, a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests.
more...Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health

For Additional Information About Depression Write To:
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663
Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
 

For free brochures on depression and its treatment call:  1-800-421-4211.
or visit: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
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