A joint study by Indiana University and Columbia University researchers found no change in prejudice and discrimination toward people with serious mental illness or substance abuse problems despite a greater embrace by the public of neurobiological explanations for these illnesses.
The study, published online Sept. 15 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, raises vexing questions about the effectiveness of campaigns designed to improve health literacy. This "disease like any other" approach, supported by medicine and mental health advocates, had been seen as the primary way to reduce widespread stigma in the United States.
"Prejudice and discrimination in the U.S. aren't moving," said IU sociologist Bernice Pescosolido, a leading researcher in this area. "In fact, in some cases, it may be increasing. It's time to stand back and rethink our approach."
Stigma, the well-documented reluctance by many to socialize or work with people who have a mental or substance abuse disorder, is considered a major obstacle to effective treatment for many Americans who experience these devastating illnesses. It can produce discrimination in employment, housing, medical care and social relationships, and negatively impact the quality of life for these individuals, their families and friends.
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by Mental Health America of Montana staff) from materials provided by Indiana University.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
False Memories from Simply Observing Others
Have you ever wondered if you really did something, or did you just remember the event because you watched someone else perform the action?
If so, don’t feel bad. Experts continue to gather evidence that memory is not always reliable.
Interestingly, the insight came as a team of psychologists were studying imagination, a recognized method by which false memories can be created.
In an experiment, psychologists found that people who had watched a video of someone else doing a simple action — shaking a bottle or shuffling a deck of cards, for example — often remembered doing the action themselves two weeks later.
“We were stunned,” says Gerald Echterhoff, of Jacobs University Bremen. As a result, Echterhoff and collegues changed the focus of the invesitgation to examine this phenomenon with a series of experiments.
In each experiment, participants performed several simple actions. Then they watched videos of someone else doing simple actions—some of which they had already performed, and some of which they had not.
Two weeks later, they were asked which actions they had done. They were much more likely to falsely remember doing an action if they had watched someone else do it. This happened even when participants were told about the effect and warned that it could happen to them.
If so, don’t feel bad. Experts continue to gather evidence that memory is not always reliable.
Interestingly, the insight came as a team of psychologists were studying imagination, a recognized method by which false memories can be created.
In an experiment, psychologists found that people who had watched a video of someone else doing a simple action — shaking a bottle or shuffling a deck of cards, for example — often remembered doing the action themselves two weeks later.
“We were stunned,” says Gerald Echterhoff, of Jacobs University Bremen. As a result, Echterhoff and collegues changed the focus of the invesitgation to examine this phenomenon with a series of experiments.
In each experiment, participants performed several simple actions. Then they watched videos of someone else doing simple actions—some of which they had already performed, and some of which they had not.
Two weeks later, they were asked which actions they had done. They were much more likely to falsely remember doing an action if they had watched someone else do it. This happened even when participants were told about the effect and warned that it could happen to them.
Perceptions of Life Threat Can Cause Long-Term Distress
Perceptions about one’s safety during a disaster—even from a distance—can leave emotional scarring and long-term issues with mental health.
These findings are part of a study that focused on 1,500 residents of Stockholm who had been in the disaster area during the 2004 tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean. Surprisingly, some of those displaying signs of long-term mental distress had not been affected directly by either self harm or harm to friends and family.
“A difficult experience can lead to an excess of feelings and impressions. This is normal and can be seen as a sign that the mind and body need time to work through what happened,” said Dr. Lars Wahlström of the Crisis and Disaster Psychology Unit at the Center for Family and Community Medicine (CeFAM) in Stockholm.
Part of the doctoral thesis “Disaster and Recovery,” conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, researchers had participants—all over 15 years of age—fill out a questionnaire regarding their experiences 14 months after the incident.
Results revealed that 30 percent of those interviewed were still experiencing symptoms that included post-traumatic reactions, mood disturbances or sleep issues. Of those still experiencing mental health issues, 20 percent had not been directly affected, but they had perceived their presence and experience in the region as life-threatening.
“It would seem that the very experience of threat to life leaves traces,” Wahlström said, adding that survivors of disasters could possibly be better evaluated for potential long-term effects by asking more pointed questions about their perceptions. “It might be enough for a nurse at the emergency ward to sit down for a moment and ask what the survivor has been through and how the experience felt. After survivors’ first reactions have subsided, at the latest within a month, those who felt a threat to life should be contacted again to find out how they are doing.”
Doctoral thesis: “Disaster and recovery,” Lars Wahlström, Karolinska Institute
These findings are part of a study that focused on 1,500 residents of Stockholm who had been in the disaster area during the 2004 tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean. Surprisingly, some of those displaying signs of long-term mental distress had not been affected directly by either self harm or harm to friends and family.
“A difficult experience can lead to an excess of feelings and impressions. This is normal and can be seen as a sign that the mind and body need time to work through what happened,” said Dr. Lars Wahlström of the Crisis and Disaster Psychology Unit at the Center for Family and Community Medicine (CeFAM) in Stockholm.
Part of the doctoral thesis “Disaster and Recovery,” conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, researchers had participants—all over 15 years of age—fill out a questionnaire regarding their experiences 14 months after the incident.
Results revealed that 30 percent of those interviewed were still experiencing symptoms that included post-traumatic reactions, mood disturbances or sleep issues. Of those still experiencing mental health issues, 20 percent had not been directly affected, but they had perceived their presence and experience in the region as life-threatening.
“It would seem that the very experience of threat to life leaves traces,” Wahlström said, adding that survivors of disasters could possibly be better evaluated for potential long-term effects by asking more pointed questions about their perceptions. “It might be enough for a nurse at the emergency ward to sit down for a moment and ask what the survivor has been through and how the experience felt. After survivors’ first reactions have subsided, at the latest within a month, those who felt a threat to life should be contacted again to find out how they are doing.”
Doctoral thesis: “Disaster and recovery,” Lars Wahlström, Karolinska Institute
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
More children in the United States are receiving diagnoses of bipolar disorder
Mental health professionals say that more and more children are receiving diagnoses of and treatment for bipolar disorder, and at younger ages. This is a serious brain disorder in which a person goes through extreme mood episodes of mania and depression, going from intense excitement and lack of focus to sadness and even suicidal behavior.
A 2007 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that the number of office visits resulting in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder for those under 19 was 1,003 per 100,000 people in 2002-03 in the United States. This was a dramatic uptick from 25 per 100,000 people in 1994-95.
Bipolar Disorder 101
"The prevalence of bipolar disorder in children in genuinely growing, but I think it's also because we are also becoming more aware that children who have very wild and very problematic mood swings may have bipolar disorder," said Dr. Rakesh Jain, a psychiatrist in Lake Jackson, Texas.
But another reality that's not popular among parents is that sometimes, components of the child's environment contribute to these behavioral disturbances, said Dr. Charles Raison, psychiatrist at Emory University.
There are, of course, children who genuinely have bipolar disorder, but he cautions that ideally, as a first line of defense, family support and therapy would be given to the child and problematic environments -- be it home or school -- would be improved, and then medication would be given as needed.
The story is featured inCNN.
A 2007 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that the number of office visits resulting in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder for those under 19 was 1,003 per 100,000 people in 2002-03 in the United States. This was a dramatic uptick from 25 per 100,000 people in 1994-95.
Bipolar Disorder 101
"The prevalence of bipolar disorder in children in genuinely growing, but I think it's also because we are also becoming more aware that children who have very wild and very problematic mood swings may have bipolar disorder," said Dr. Rakesh Jain, a psychiatrist in Lake Jackson, Texas.
But another reality that's not popular among parents is that sometimes, components of the child's environment contribute to these behavioral disturbances, said Dr. Charles Raison, psychiatrist at Emory University.
There are, of course, children who genuinely have bipolar disorder, but he cautions that ideally, as a first line of defense, family support and therapy would be given to the child and problematic environments -- be it home or school -- would be improved, and then medication would be given as needed.
The story is featured inCNN.
New Study Reconciles Conflicting Data On Mental Aging
A new look at tests of mental aging reveals a good news-bad news situation. The bad news is all mental abilities appear to decline with age, to varying degrees. The good news is the drops are not as steep as some research showed, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.
"There is now convincing evidence that even vocabulary knowledge and what's called crystallized intelligence decline at older ages," said study author Timothy Salthouse, PhD.
Longitudinal test scores look good in part because repeat test-takers grow familiar with tests or testing strategies, said the University of Virginia psychologist. Factoring out these "practice effects" showed a truer picture of actual mental aging, according to Salthouse.
Still, the declines, although pervasive, are smaller than thought, according to the report in the July issue of Neuropsychology. That finding contradicts data gathered by the other major research approach to aging, cross-sectional studies, which compare the performance of different age groups at the same time.
Source:
"There is now convincing evidence that even vocabulary knowledge and what's called crystallized intelligence decline at older ages," said study author Timothy Salthouse, PhD.
Longitudinal test scores look good in part because repeat test-takers grow familiar with tests or testing strategies, said the University of Virginia psychologist. Factoring out these "practice effects" showed a truer picture of actual mental aging, according to Salthouse.
Still, the declines, although pervasive, are smaller than thought, according to the report in the July issue of Neuropsychology. That finding contradicts data gathered by the other major research approach to aging, cross-sectional studies, which compare the performance of different age groups at the same time.
Source:
Monday, September 13, 2010
Brain Scans May Track Childhood Psychological Disorders
Physicians are encouraged to look at brain scan data in a new way. According to a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, doctors should be able to analyze the development of a child’s brain and also keep track of any possible psychological or developmental disorders after a typical five-minute scan.
“Pediatricians regularly plot where their patients are in terms of height, weight and other measures, and then match these up to standardized curves that track typical developmental pathways,” says senior author Bradley Schlaggar, MD, PhD, a Washington University pediatric neurologist and the A. Ernest and Jane G. Stein Associate Professor of Neurology.
“When the patient deviates too strongly from the standardized ranges or veers suddenly from one developmental path to another, the physician knows there’s a need to start asking why.”
Schlaggar and his colleagues propose a new way of looking at brain scanning data that moves beyond observing the brain from only a structural point of view. This would be especially helpful in the monitoring and treating of patients with psychiatric and developmental disorders.
According to Schlaggar, he has sent children with obvious, profound psychiatric conditions for MRI scans and received results marked “no abnormalities noted.”
“That’s typically looking at the data from a structural point of view—what’s different about the shapes of various brain regions,” he adds. “But MRI also offers ways to analyze how different parts of the brain work together functionally.”
The study is featured this week in Science.
“Pediatricians regularly plot where their patients are in terms of height, weight and other measures, and then match these up to standardized curves that track typical developmental pathways,” says senior author Bradley Schlaggar, MD, PhD, a Washington University pediatric neurologist and the A. Ernest and Jane G. Stein Associate Professor of Neurology.
“When the patient deviates too strongly from the standardized ranges or veers suddenly from one developmental path to another, the physician knows there’s a need to start asking why.”
Schlaggar and his colleagues propose a new way of looking at brain scanning data that moves beyond observing the brain from only a structural point of view. This would be especially helpful in the monitoring and treating of patients with psychiatric and developmental disorders.
According to Schlaggar, he has sent children with obvious, profound psychiatric conditions for MRI scans and received results marked “no abnormalities noted.”
“That’s typically looking at the data from a structural point of view—what’s different about the shapes of various brain regions,” he adds. “But MRI also offers ways to analyze how different parts of the brain work together functionally.”
The study is featured this week in Science.
Double the Costs for Worksite Mental Illness
A new Canadian study reveals that mental illness is associated with more lost work days than any other chronic condition.
When researchers calculated the actual cost of mental health leave, they found that on average, it’s double the cost of a leave for a physical illness.
The study, published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, looked at data tracking the short-term disability leave of 33,913 full-time employees in Ontario.
Results showed that the cost to a company for a single employee on a short-term disability leave due to mental health concerns totals nearly $18,000.
When researchers calculated the actual cost of mental health leave, they found that on average, it’s double the cost of a leave for a physical illness.
The study, published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, looked at data tracking the short-term disability leave of 33,913 full-time employees in Ontario.
Results showed that the cost to a company for a single employee on a short-term disability leave due to mental health concerns totals nearly $18,000.
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