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on: Monday, 01 December 2008 11:43
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I'd like to thank everyone who has been there for me through all the laughter and the tears, but especially through the last few weeks of my son's graduation. I didn't think I'd survive the emotional roller coaster I was on.... but you guys were always there... ever supporting, every pushing, prodding, leading me on toward the light.... toward the day when I could just life my arms up in exclamation and say, "I have done it! I have done it! I have done it!" and I have... My son has graduated high school tonight... this very night... and though my eyes still well up with tears... my heart swells up with pride at the love that fills me every time I think of all of you... pushing me on toward the end goal! Praise! Collaboration! Love! And isn't THAT what the DF is all about? :nod: Thank you... and most especially, thank you to Lindsay, sarah-nicole, weeble, and caddon, for their undying support! :hearts: I couldn't do it without you! :hugs: (I am Cat)
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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 11 th 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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Excessive tantrums in preschoolers may indicate serious mental health problems
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Excessive tantrums in preschoolers may indicate serious mental health problems
By Jim Dryden
Dec. 12, 2007 -- Certain types of tantrums in preschoolers may be a sign of serious emotional or behavioral problems, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Although temper tantrums are common and normal in young children, the researchers found that long, frequent, violent and/or self-destructive tantrums may indicate the presence of psychiatric illness. Download
The research team reports its findings in the January print issue of The Journal of Pediatrics currently available online. Researchers compared tantrums in healthy children to the tantrums in children diagnosed with depression or disruptive disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Most children have temper tantrums at some point, but the researchers found healthy children tend to be less aggressive and generally have shorter tantrums than their peers with depression and disruptive disorders.
"It's clearly normal for young children to have occasional tantrums," says first author Andrew C. Belden, Ph.D., a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) post-doctoral research scholar in child psychiatry. "Healthy children may even display extreme behaviors if they're very tired or sick or hungry. But if a child is regularly engaging in specific types of tantrum behaviors, there may be a problem."
The researchers studied 270 children between 3 and 6 years old. They gathered the information about tantrums from a parent. The children were divided into four groups according to psychiatric symptoms: no psychiatric diagnosis, major depressive disorder, disruptive disorder, or depression and disruptive disorder. All of the children were part of a larger NIMH-funded study of psychiatric illness in preschoolers.
"We've been following these children for several years," says principal investigator Joan L. Luby, M.D., associate professor of child psychiatry and director of the Early Emotional Development Program at the School of Medicine. "It's important to find age-specific ways to diagnose depression and other problems in young children because it can be difficult to get very young children to tell you about their feelings. We've successfully used narrative and observational techniques, but characteristics of tantrums when present might be another helpful tool."
Luby, Belden and colleagues identified five types of tantrum behavior that appeared to be connected with depression or diagnosable disruptive disorders.
The first involves extremely aggressive behavior during a tantrum. When a toddler displays aggression directed at a caregiver or violently destructive behavior toward an object such as a toy during most tantrums, parents should be concerned. The study found that these children tend to have diagnoses of ADHD, oppositional-defiant disorder and other disruptive disorders.
The second worrisome tantrum behavior is when toddlers intentionally injure themselves — actions such as scratching until the skin bleeds, head-banging or biting themselves.
"It doesn't matter how long these types of tantrums last or how often they occur, self-injurious behavior almost always was associated with a psychiatric diagnosis in this study," Belden says. "Children with major depressive disorder tended to hurt themselves. We didn't see that in healthy kids or those with ADHD and other disruptive disorders. It really surprised us that this type of behavior was emerging at such a young age."
Other "red flags" involved children who had more than five tantrums a day for several consecutive days. Very long tantrums also signaled a problem. Healthy children might have a tantrum that lasts 10 or 11 minutes, but several children in the study, especially those with disruptive disorders, averaged more than 25 minutes per tantrum.
Finally, when preschoolers are unable to calm themselves following a tantrum, they appear to be at much greater risk of psychiatric problems.
"If a child is having tantrums and parents always have to bribe the child with cookies or other rewards to calm him or her down, this may be something more serious than normal toddler volatility," Belden says.
It's important, he stresses, to replicate these findings in studies of other children and to more rigorously classify what types of behavior may be problematic. Since this study relied on parent reports of children's tantrum behaviors, future studies will involve video analysis of them.
Belden, who has two young children, became interested in tantrum behavior because of the very different tantrum styles displayed by each of his two children. His advice for parents is not to worry when a child has a tantrum but to pay attention to how the child is behaving during the tantrum.
"The best news from this paper is that it's normal for children to display excessive behavior sometimes," Belden says. "If a child lashes out at you, it doesn't mean, 'Oh my gosh! They're doomed!' But if they lash out and hit you every time, there might be a problem. And if they hurt themselves intentionally, I think it's best to consult a pediatrician or mental health professional."
Belden, AC, Thomson NR, Luby JL. Temper tantrums in healthy versus depressed and disruptive preschoolers: defining tantrum behaviors associated with clinical problems. The Journal of Pediatrics, vol. 151:6, Jan. 2008. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2007.06.030
This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.
Washington University School of Medicine's full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine News & Information Medical News
Affiliated with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital, members of BJC HealthCare.
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Depression Forums would like to hear from you!
Depression Forums would like to hear from you!
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!
There is hope! Together, we can help ourselves and others. Please PM Forum Admin for more information to submit your story. Warm Regards, ~Lindsay and The Depression Forums Administration Staff
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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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