Differences Between Boys and Girls With ADHD

 
Despite these factors, girls with ADHD remain at significant psychosocial risk into adulthood.

By E. Mark Mahone, PhD | October 3, 2012

Childhood ADHD is a major public health problem, with prevalence estimated to be over 5 million children in the US alone. Of particular concern is the recent increase in diagnosis of the disorder. In 2011, the CDC estimated that nearly 9% of children in the US (1 of 11 children between the ages of 5 and 17) have ADHD; the diagnosis is made in approximately twice as many boys as girls.1 Moreover, ADHD rarely exists alone. In most children with ADHD (75% to 80%), a second (or even third) psychiatric disorder develops at some point in their lives.
 

Is mental health seasonal?

 Sunday, Apr 21, 2013 11:00 AM EDT

New Google-based research suggests that we're happier -- and saner -- in the summer months

By Kevin Charles Redmon

(Credit: Shutterstock)

Spring has sprung, at least for most of us, which means sundresses, seersucker and boozy croquet parties on the front lawn. Goodbye happy lamp, hello mimosa.

But it’s not just champagne that’s lifting our spirits and banishing the wintertime blues. According to Google (and a team of researchers from the University of Southern California, Harvard and Johns Hopkins) mental illnesses — such as obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and anorexia — are far more seasonal than we think.

The epidemiologists, led by John Ayers, combed through every Google search performed in the United States and Australia between 2006 and 2010, looking for queries like “symptoms of” and “medications for” OCD, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar, depression, anorexia, bulimia and schizophrenia.

Moderator of the Month Of April

Hello Members!   LGJ and I are announcing the Moderator of the Month of April

April came in like a like a Lion and went out like March..a gentle Lion!

We had a new Moderator of the Month of April

NorthernStar!

She is fairly new and has caught on like a super aurora borealis star that she is!

I am amazed at how quickly she has learned her basic skills and I am so proud of her.

Things You Want to Know About Psychiatric Medications But Didn't Know Who (or How) to Ask

 April 21, 2013 
Psychiatric medications are among the most frequently-prescribed medications in this country and throughout the world. One in 10 Americans takes an anti-depressant. Yet despite the incessant barrage of multi-media drug promotions, you may not have the answers to the questions you most want answered.

I asked more than a dozen expert psychiatric colleagues, and myself, the questions they most frequently receive about psychiatric medications from people who take them or their families. Here are a dozen of those many questions; the responses are mine.

I’m One of the 26 Percent with Mental Illness

 In Crisis

After the Monitor’s mental health series, “In Crisis,” was published last week, I got one reaction more than any other: Readers were surprised, some unconvinced, that 26 percent of New Hampshire’s residents have a mental health disorder.

The statistic appeared in the second story of the series and came from a 2010 study by the Concord-based New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. The percentage includes a range of diagnoses, from major depression to anxiety problems to bipolar disorder.

“Didn’t 26 percent seem high?” a caller asked me last week.

Not to me. But I’m one of the 26 percent.

I have been hospitalized twice for “suicidal ideation,” most recently for eight days in 2009 with a diagnosis of “major depressive order and anxiety disorder,” according to my records. I take four medications a day and have my counselor’s name and number in my emergency contacts on my cell phone.

This will be news to most of the people who know me, family members included. That’s because with lots of help from my husband, a lot of exercise (one of my therapies) and medication, I’m able to keep my depression and breakdowns private.

So, I understand the reaction to the 26 percent.