Elgin Mental Healthcare Center

How the hospital was developed can be broken down into five phases. The first phase ended in 1893. A stable leadership was responsible for the gradual growth during this period. After this phase, the hospital immensely grew to more than twice its size. This second phase, which ended by 1920, was characterized by a lot of politicking, leadership changes and power struggles in the system. For the third period, growth was more rapid. Hospital population, which reached its peak by the 1950s, increased for both geriatric and veterans. This is because the period was post World War I and World War II. By the time the third phase ended, hospital population declined. During this phase, psychotropic medications were introduced. Other milestones for this period include the development of community health facilities, deinstitutionalization, until the decentralization of decision-making and authority. This fourth phase ended until the 1980s.

The last phase is what some call the "rebirth." It began in 1983, when hospital census was at its lowest. Because of this, the hospital was on the verge of closure. However, the state decided to close Manteno Mental Health Center instead. During this time, the hospital was practically rebuilt. While the old buildings used a congregate model called the Kirkbride plan, new physical facilities were added such as cottages in order to adhere to a segregate plan. There are two divisions, civil and forensic. Each division has an acute treatment center, office and conference rooms which faculty and trainees can use. Forensic programs were further developed, and new affiliations with medical schools were also made. Affiliations include that with The Chicago Medical School, among others. An increase in educational activities showed that EMHC is also concerned with the education of future doctors and medical graduates. Hospital system operations were also modified. Activities of community mental health centers are integrated in the system operations. Community mental health centers refer their patients to EMHC. These community mental facilities include DuPage County Health Department, Lake County Mental Health Center, Ecker Center for Mental Health, and Kenneth Young Center.

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An Avoidable Tragedy

Unfortunately, people with serious mental illness also suffer from a high prevalence of modifiable risk factors, in particular obesity and tobacco use. Compounding this problem, people with serious mental illness have poorer access to established monitoring and treatment guidelines for physical health conditions.

Our nation?s healthcare system tends to be fragmented, with increased reliance on specialists who address very focused aspects of the health/illness continuum.

Fragmentation is most notable in the separation between the treatment for mental and physical illnesses. This separation is an artifact of how services have been funded historically, with the preponderance of funding for mental illness treatment coming from states and directed toward state psychiatric facilities that were often -- literally and figuratively -- far away from the mainstream of medical delivery.

What Can Be Done to Address this Tragedy?

There are solutions to this epidemic of premature death and morbidity among persons with mental illness. Policy makers can provide the policies, resources, and leadership to close this gap. We will have accomplished this goal when we can say that:

- Adequate funding is available to allow every provider of public mental health services to assess the physical health status as well as mental status of clients served in the public mental health system.

- States are learning from and following the examples of states such as Missouri and Louisiana, which are implementing primary care medical home initiatives with explicit mechanisms and financing integrated treatment between the mental health and primary care providers for coordination of services.

- State legislatures can create the policy infrastructure through statute or regulation to ensure that there is a strong working partnership between community mental health and community health provider organizations. These policies can define roles for these organizations, establish referral protocols, or allow for the cross-placement and reimbursement of clinical staff.

Disease Management: Another Promising Approach

Usual medical care often fails to meet the needs of chronically ill patients, even in managed, integrated delivery systems. The medical literature suggests strategies to improve outcomes in these patients. Effective interventions tend to fall into one of five areas: the use of evidence-based, planned care; reorganization of practice systems and provider roles; improved patient self-management support; increased access to expertise; and greater availability of clinical information. The challenge is to organize these components into an integrated system of chronic illness care. One approach to meeting these goals is through the creation of disease management programs.

Disease management (DM) is an approach to care coordination for individuals with chronic or persistent medical conditions for two important reasons: improved quality of care and decreased cost. Quality is improved because treatment is coordinated across the spectrum of care for individuals with these conditions using evidence-based practice guidelines and education on illness self-management. States have also been able to reduce costs through this approach.

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) issued a letter to state Medicaid directors encouraging the adoption of DM. Currently, DM is now widely used in states for asthma, diabetes, hypertension and other persistent medical conditions, and increasingly for enrollees with serious mental illnesses.

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Mental Disorders & Multi-Axial Assessment

Diagnosis involves accumulation, interpretation & categorization of data. The main aim of this is to enable the clinician to use the most effective treatments available for that condition and to allow them to make accurate assessment of prognosis.

The Importance of diagnosis:

Allows inter-professional communication

Allows us to select appropriate treatments for patients

Allows assessment of prognosis

Allows scientific research to be preformed

However psychiatric diagnoses have been criticized because:

They provide little information about aetiology

They can carry pejorative connotation (negative labeling)

Patients don't always fall into neat categories. Some may have some but not all of the characteristic features of one or more different diagnostic categories (hence the terms schizoaffective & borderline personality)

The uniqueness of an individual patient is lost when labels are applied; one cannot fully convey a patient's predicament with a single label

Historically psychiatric diagnosis has low reliability & Validity (in general psychotic conditions have high reliability and neurotic conditions low reliability)

Both current diagnosis in psychiatry are categorical and can be monothetic (i.e. all criteria must be present e.g. Hypochodriasis) or Polythetic (some must be present e.g. Borderline personality disorders).

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) 1992

Mental disorders are described within chapter V (F) of the ICD 10. There are 10 categories within this chapter & each is further subdivided into further 10.

Categories are denoted by the letter F (for mental disorders chapter), followed by a number for the main group (e.g. F3 for Mood Disorders), followed by a further number for the category within the group (e.g. F32 for depressive episode). A fourth character (or third no) is used if it is necessary to subdivide further (e.g. F32.2 for severe depressive episode without psychotic symptoms)

In Schizophrenia, a fifth character is used to specify the course of the disorder (e.g. F20.01 for paranoid schizophrenia, episodic with progressive deficit).

Different versions of the ICD 10 are available & it is therefore flexible and acceptable to a variety of users for a variety of purposes:

1. Clinical descriptions & diagnostic guidelines: for general clinical, educational & service use.

2. Diagnostic criteria for research

3. Primary care version.

4. Multiaxial version.

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Mental Illness: Disease or Choice?

I'm asking you to take a journey with me into the realm of possibility. What if what we believe about mental illness is wrong in much the same way people in Columbus' day believed the world was flat? And if it's possible our conceptualization about mental illness is wrong, then it logically follows that perhaps we need to look at treatment differently.

My goal in this issue is not to change your mind about what you think and believe, but merely to present another possibility. Take a journey with me into an alternative explanation and see where it takes us . . .

Choice theory has two concepts that are central to this discussion. One is the concept of total behavior and the other is our creative system. I'll start with total behavior. Glasser says all behavior is total, meaning it consists of four inseparable components-your actions, your thinking, your feelings and your body's physiology. All of these components occur simultaneously, even when you are more aware of one of them.

You only have direct control over two of these components. No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to change your feelings or your body's physiology without first changing your actions or your thinking. You may not believe you have control over your thinking because sometimes certain thoughts enter our minds unbidden. However, once you learn how, you can direct your thoughts from unwanted topics to healthier ones.

When we want something we don't have, we are driven to create a behavior designed to get us what we want. Sometimes, we rely on behaviors we've used in the past that were effective. Other times we create a new behavior. Whatever our choice, we are choosing the best behavior available to us at the time to get what we want.

When it comes to mental health symptoms, many believe that an imbalance in our body's chemistry causes the unusual behavior or thinking. But what if the "crazy" behavior and thinking over an extended period of time actually causes the chemical imbalance instead? Isn't it at least possible? Isn't it exercising that releases endorphins into our blood? It's not the endorphins that make us exercise. Isn't it thoughts of bodily harm that releases the chemical adrenaline into our blood stream when we are scared? It's not the adrenaline that makes us scared, is it?

And what about those diagnoses that don't have a known chemical imbalance? What about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder. These are groups of symptoms that develop during a serious crisis that serve us in that moment. In Choice Theory, Glasser would say they become organized behavior. In neurology, it might be said that neurons that fire together wire together. This means that once we produce a behavior and repeat it over time, it basically becomes the path of least resistance and when confronted with similar circumstances, we will default to our typical way of handling it.

So, if someone has developed a behavior that works for them to get something they want, then they are more likely to choose that behavior in the future. It is difficult to think of mental health symptoms as having any positive benefit to them. Why would someone choose such thoughts and behaviors?

Currently, there is a concept I hear more and more in psychology called secondary gain. Mental health professionals are recognizing that there often is some pay off for mental health clients in their symptomotology. It might get the client attention. It may abdicate them of daily responsibility. It might get them SSI benefits. They may be able to avoid unpleasant situations and keep undesirables at arm's length. The list goes on and on. Couldn't it at least be possible that these are not actually secondary gains, but rather the reason the symptoms developed in the first place?

Couldn't it be that a person learned that being sad got them attention so they developed the behavior of depression? Couldn't it be that a person learns anxiety gets them out of doing certain undesirable things? Once we experience a benefit, the behavior is more likely to become hard wired and therefore repeated, even long after it stops being effective.

Once of the criticisms of Glasser's theory is that no one would actively choose to be neurotic or psychotic or personality disordered. Glasser never said it was a conscious choice. Most people suffering with mental health disorders are truly suffering, unaware there is any choice in the matter. Our current approach to treatment basically reinforces this image of mental health clients as victims.

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Strategy for Better Physical, Financial and Mental Health

Traditionally, business / financial gurus talk about pump and drains in reference to money in vs. money out.

Pumps = Things that make you money?

Drains = Things that cost you money

It’s a very simple way of evaluating your money situation.

In order to become financially fit, your pumps must drastically exceed your drains. If this is not the case, you must work to eliminate your drains and create more pumps.

It’s a simple and very effective concept that anyone can follow to evaluate his or her current financial status and plan for a better future.

With that said, I found that applying the concept of pumps vs. drains has helped me in other, non-financial ways as well.

We can use this concept with our diet and nutritional habits.

Pumps = healthy food that gives you vital energy?

Drains = Junk food that pulls down our vital energy

Looking at food in this manner adds a new perspective on the food that we eat everyday and can help us make better nutritional decisions.

Another valuable way that we can use this concept of pumps and drains is to look at the effect we have on others and the effect that others have on use.

Pumps = People that are positive and give off positive energy?

Drains = People that drain energy or give off negative energy

If we are positive, we give off positive energy and therefore create a positive environment that people want to be in. On the other hand, if we are a drain, we make ourselves and everyone around us miserable.

I have made a rule for myself to not only be as positive minded as possible but to eliminate the negativity and negative people in both my personal and social life.

The rule is simple-

If you’re a pump of positive energy, you’re in! If you’re a drain of energy, you’re out!

I have always been a happy person but have found that I’m even a happier person now that I have eliminated the negativity in my life.

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Mental Health Services

Yet many parents do not see drinking as a top-of-mind issue. To help bring this issue to the forefront, a new campaign is encouraging parents to speak with their children about the negative effects of alcohol to delay the onset of, and ultimately to prevent, underage drinking.

The campaign, developed in partnership with the Ad Council, is aimed at the parents of middle schoolers, particularly those whose children have not started drinking. Parents need to realize they have more influence over their children than they may know. Sure, kids spend a lot of time with friends, television, music, magazines and the Web. But they are also tuned in to what their parents say and do. Parents' disapproval of underage alcohol use is one of the key reasons youths choose not to drink. Underage drinking is not inevitable.

For too long underage drinking has been accepted as a rite of passage. Far too many young people, along with their friends and families, have paid the price. Any use of alcohol for teens involves risk-any use, not just binge drinking or drinking and driving. Alcohol can affect the developing adolescent brain. And we've learned the earlier a person is introduced to alcohol, the greater the chances are that that person will develop an alcohol problem in his or her youth and/or adulthood.

We must change attitudes toward teen drinking from acceptance to abstinence and recognize the importance of parents talking to their children early and often about alcohol, especially before they've started drinking. We must replace an environment that all too often enables underage alcohol use with an environment that discourages it.

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Memory and Mental Health

The finding, which appears in the July issue of The American Journal of Public Health, suggests that strong social interaction, through friends, family and community groups can enhance our brain health as we age and that social isolation may be an important risk factor for cognitive decline for old folks.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health used data gathered from 1998 to 2004 from the Health And Retirement Study, a large, nationally representative population of American adults aged 50 and older.

In the study, participants took memory tests at two-year intervals during the period. Testers read a list of 10 common nouns to survey respondents who were then asked to recall as many words as possible immediately. They did so again after a five-minute delay. The researchers also measured social integration based on marital status, volunteer activities and contact with parents, children and neighbors.

When the results were analyzed, it showed that people in their 50s and 60s who were involved in a lot of social activity also had the slowest rate of memory decline. In fact, compared to those who were the least socially active, study subjects who had the highest social integration scores had less than half the rate of memory loss. The researches looked at age, gender, race and health.

It was interesting that those who had the least number of years of formal education appeared to have he most to gain from an active social life as they aged. The study showed hat the protective effect of social integration was greatest among individuals with fewer than 12 years of education.

“The working hypothesis is that social engagement is what makes you mentally engaged,” said Dr Lisa F Berkman, the study’s lead researcher and director of the Harvard Center For Population And Development Studies.

“You can’t sit and withdraw if you’re constantly talking and working on things and figuring out problems in your daily life. It’s not just completing a crossword puzzle, it’s living your life.”

Hopefully, the results will change the mindset of those who are put in a position to care for an elderly family member. There are many people who erroneously believe that just being there to give moral support to an aged person is enough. But people need to understand that aged people need to be more socially engaged to reap the rewards of good mental health. Old folks need to be encouraged to get involved more socially and engaged at a level that is meaningful both for the individual and the group or community they are involved in.

Such involvement by aged people in a community or group can reap similar memory benefits as engaging in a memory training or using memory techniques to enhance learning and memory skills. It is also definitely more meaningful and has an added side effects - contentment, greater self-esteem, optimism and overall greater self-confidence.

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Volkswagen Ad Didn't Escape Probing Eyes of Mental Health Groups

Another automaker was targeted by the suicide prevention groups for having ads that suggest suicide. Europe’s largest automaker and maker of renowned Volkswagen performance parts, Volkswagen AG didn’t escape the probing eyes of the suicide prevention groups. Five mental health groups have recently demanded that Volkswagen scrap its new TV spot that shows a depressed guy on a ledge who decides not to jump off the building after he hears that Volkswagen is offering three vehicles under $17,000.

According to Keith Price, VW spokesman, the company has no plan whatsoever of scrapping the ad since “We see no reason to stop at this point. We are willing to continue the discussion. But controversy is not something VW has shied away from its marketing.”

The complaints came pouring in after General Motors has agreed to modify the ending of their Super Bowl ad that features a depressed robot that jumps off the bridge. Masterfoods USA similarly scrapped their Snicker’s ad because gay activist groups complained that the reaction of the men on the commercial is homophobic.

The Volkswagen’s commercial “Jumper” was first aired last Monday at NBC’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The ad was created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky and is also shown at YouTube. Before the ad was aired, Suicide Prevention Action Network USA has sent a letter to VW requesting for its stoppage. Another letter was sent to VW last Wednesday asking for the stoppage of the ad but this time it was from four mental health groups: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, American Psychiatric Association, mental Health America and National Alliance on mental Illness.

Madison Avenue is feeling the increasing pressure from activists who are keen in checking commercial contents. And that’s not all; it seems also that interest groups actually have the power to apply pressure even on some of the world’s largest companies.

Barry Glassner, professor of sociology at the University of Southern California said, “There’s little that marketers or politicians can do if power advocacy groups coalesce against them. In some cases, they’re crucial corrective that society needs. In other cases, they go overboard.” But in this case, Glassner is in support of the advocacy groups.

Jerry Reed, executive director of Suicide Prevention Action Network USA also said, “There’s nothing entertaining about the public health tragedy of suicide.” This was seconded by Robert Gebbia, executive director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention saying, “You shouldn’t use mental illnesses as a way to sell cars.”

But according to VW spokesman Price, the automaker didn’t mean to harm anyone with its commercial and further stated “it was not designed or conceived to offend anyone” unfortunately due to forces we cannot control the whole ad thing came out offensive to some people. This was answered by crisis consultant Jonathan Bernstein saying that Volkswagen should dump the ad completely, “VW should have learned a lesson from GM. It’s not worth running an ad that’s socially controversial.”

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Drug Abuse & Mental Health

An individual who has a mental disorder may quickly become dependent on this drug, or the feeling the drug creates, and will not be able to function properly without abusing drugs. The problem worsens when the mental immunity to those chemicals strengthens.

An individual will then need to use a drug more frequently, and in larger doses, to achieve the same level of pleasure. Aside from the risk of overdose, there are more problems that arise.

Rather than feeling a genuine sense of happiness, an individual is feeling false pleasure. The difference is that when that “high” is gone, one will feel lower than before. For this reason, an individual is dependent on the drug both physically, and mentally. Once drug addiction begins, it only snowballs into something worse.

Luckily, drug abuse treatment centers understand the relationship between drug abuse and mental health. This is why the only way to fully recover from an alcohol addiction is to seek treatment at a rehab center where personalized attention is given to treat each of the individual contributing factors.

Many rehabilitation centers have psychiatrists who first analyze the patient and find reasons behind their addiction. They also see that whether the patient is mentally prepared to quit drug addiction. Accordingly, they suggest a program and treatment for the patient.

For more information on the correlation between drug abuse and mental health, consult a health or a drug treatment center near you.

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What is Mental Maths About?

Though mental maths differs in purpose from the classroom written maths, they complements each other in that answers to simple written sub-steps of the overall solution can be done faster without the hassle of pressing the buttons of a calculator. The flexibility in doing mental maths also enables learners to apply different methods to solving complex problems by breaking them down to smaller manageable chunks.

The approach to mental maths solving also takes a totally different path. The conventional written maths begins with the rightmost digit and ending with leftmost digit. For mental maths, the computation is reversed. This is so because of the reading habit of humans. The human brain reads from the left to the right. Therefore it computes easily from left to right.

Another difference between the written and mental approach is the way the steps are done. In the written form, the calculation steps are straight forward and aiming towards the outcome. A single working step can contain many numbers and mathematical operations.The objective is to have the least number of steps as possible. Sometimes, with the aid of a calculator, getting the numerical figure is just a step or two away. For mental maths, all calculations are done within the brain and the steps have to be kept simple for the brain to handle. Too many complex computations or numbers will make computation mentally challenging. As such, for this approach, the steps are simplified and may requires many iterations of the same steps. It is sometimes necessary to split a large number to a few smaller number for ease of manipulation. An example is to split 23 to 10 + 10 + 3. The aim is to use the number 10, 2 or 1 in mental computation as they are deemed easier to handle.

Flexibility in the operation has also to be applied. Division by a large number can be done easily with the help of a calculator in a single step. But for mental division, the process has to be done using small number and repeated a few times. Sometimes, twist to conventional calculation has to be done. An example is to perform the maths operation "x5". A simpler way is to "x 10", followed by "/2". Though two steps are needed, mentally, the two steps are easier to calculate than the "x 5" computation. Flexibility is therefore necessary coupled with an acceptable level of basic maths understanding.

Mental maths is still maths but differs only in the way the questions are solved. It biases towards solving maths questions mentally as compared to the conventional written style. Its applications are more time-immediate in nature. An example is the calculation of changes when paying for goods purchased. This differs from the written approach in that the written method is geared more towards applications requiring visual presentation, for example, in maths exam or classroom tutorials.

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Mental Tennis Toughness

Without a strong foundation of mental toughness, you're in for some serious heartbreaks and painful experiences. But the good thing is, there are some great ways to help develop your mental toughness, and most of it comes from simply experiencing the game. It takes time to build up the calm that you'll need in order to play smart tennis, without allowing frustrations and stresses take over your game. Here are a couple mental tennis tips that will help you develop a strong mental toughness foundation for tennis.

Losing

No one enters a game of tennis expecting to lose. However, each time you lose, your mental toughness develops a bit more. This is especially true if you experience a heartbreaking loss, such as being tied and then losing the tie breaker. Other examples might include winning the opening set or having a match point and then losing the match, or even losing to a very lesser ranked player when you've already beaten an amazing one just before. Any of these things would cause a very painful loss, because you're pretty sure that you're going to win. It's like having the tournament in your hand and then dropping it. These things are necessary to build up a mental toughness for tennis.

Another thing that will help you develop a strong mental toughness foundation would be getting too frustrated by elements outside of the game and losing the match as a result. A lot of times, when you're so psyched up for a game and you're really excited, there are things which might frustrate you to the point of not being able to play the game at your best. These can be simple things like noise or the wind. Things like this can make you lose your concentration easily. There can also be serious things like bad calls or nervousness that frustrate you to the point of losing your concentration and not playing at your best.

The thing that separates the great players from the mediocre is learning to overcome these issues. True champions will keep a positive mindset and think of these things as simple learning experiences and they will truly learn from these mistakes and losses. Staying positive and staying focused when you're in theses situations is the key to becoming a better player and developing a great mental toughness.

No matter how great of a tennis player you are, you will eventually experience these things, and if you become negative and believe that you will never win because of one thing or another, you will probably not succeed with tennis.

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Mental Handicap

Malnutrition is a common cause of reduced intelligence in parts of the world affected by famine, such as Ethiopia. Prenatal and postnatal trauma are also common causes, including intracranial hemorrhage, hypoxic injuries (often due to cerebral palsy), and head injuries. Certain infectious diseases can also lead to mental handicaps when they result in complications.

Measles, chicken pox, and whooping cough may lead to encephalitis or meningitis, which can cause brain damage. Other infections, including congenital rubella, toxoplasmosis, and HIV can also lead to mental handicaps. Institutionalisation at a young age can cause mental retardation in normal children. Non-inherited metabolic disorders, including Reye's syndrome, hypernatremic dehydration, and hypoglycemia may lead to mental disability. Exposure to toxins, such as lead and mercury, can cause brain damage, as can the mother's use of alcohol or drugs. There are sevral classifical of mental handicap. First is Mild learning disability: IQ 50-70, approximately 85% of cases. Second is Moderate: IQ 35-49, approximately 10% cases; use simple language when talking but understand speech better.

Third is Severe: IQ 20-34, approximately 3-4% cases: many able to look after themselves with careful supervision. Fourth Profound: IQ less than 20, approximately 1-2% cases. Most adults with learning disability have very limited economic resources. The primary goal for treating someone who is mentally handicapped is to develop the person's possibility for achievement to its fullest. Special education programs often begin as early as infancy to help the child develop language and social skills, which are level at helping the person function as normally as possible as an adult. Individuals who are mildly handicapped can develop new skills and abilities through early intervention and specialized education. Early and effective management of problems in the neonatal period and early childhood.

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Bipolar Disorder: Shared Mental Illness

In just five years, she went from consumer to a full time mental health worker (case manager) at the community mental health organization. She has been struggling with bipolar disorder for 26 years yet she never gave up hope. Her compassionate and heartfelt message to others with mental illness is, "If I can do it, you can do it too."

Bipolar disorder is a disorder of the brain that can result in drastic changes in mood and personality. Nearly 6 million adults, roughly 2 and 1/2 percent of the population, suffer from bipolar disorder. Although there is currently no cure for bipolar disorder, it can be treated and individuals suffering from bipolar disorder can lead relatively normal adult lives under the proper care.

"Annette's" struggles began at age 14, when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was at this time, that her mother, also suffering from this illness, committed suicide. When she needed friends the most, she was ostracized by her schoolmates once they learned of her illness. Throughout her life she had the loving support of her father and sisters.

Annette's 26 year struggle to take control of her illness was sidelined numerous times due to repeated hospitalizations. For this reason, it took her 10 years to earn her Bachelor's Degree. Her efforts to be independent were also impacted by her illness costing her to lose employment several times.

In 2001, Annette sought help at a community mental health organization. As she started to manage her symptoms, her work hours and responsibilities were increased. She was doing well until 2003 when she relapsed and was hospitalized four times in an eight month period. It was during this period that she learned self-help techniques to gain control of her illness--and she's never looked back.

Once back at work, she worked part time in the mental health center's outpatient and day treatment program. Now that she has her life on track, she shares her personal experience with clients and works hard with them to help them understand that they too can gain control of their illness.

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Bipolar Disease

The battle with bipolar disease can last a lifetime. Bipolar disease can destroy the lives of those who suffer it and can have a profound negative affects on those close to those who have it. Because of this it is important that not only those who suffer with this condition get proper treatment but family and friends are not only supportive but also seek to understand what this disease is doing to their loved one and why they are exhibiting the behaviors they do.

Although dealing with a bipolar disorder is anything but easy the reasons it is hard to deal with is easy to see when one considers that those who suffer its affects are cycling between two psychological states: Depression and mania. This cycling between these two states can have serious affects on the personality and behavior that its sufferers exhibit. Within the diagnosis of bipolar disease there are several subtypes of the disorder itself. These include: rapid cycling bipolar, teen bipolar disorder, and types I and II. Being properly diagnosed is important when it comes to deciding on which treatment regimen to follow. Bipolar disease sufferers exhibit many of the same type of symptoms with each person experiencing these symptoms to varying degrees of severity depending on which cycle of the disorder they are in.

At the other extreme of bipolar disorder is depression. When the bipolar sufferer is in this state they will exhibit feelings of despair and hopelessness, lose interest in work and family, show signs of anxiety, lose interest in sex, have trouble getting out of bed and suicidal thoughts. The depression side of bipolar disease can also manifest physical symptoms such as headaches, stomach and digestive issues, weight gain or loss, social withdrawal and for some abuse of drugs and/or alcohol. Bipolar disease can be treated with a combination of psychotherapy and prescription medications. The first step any one who suffers from this disorder must take is getting a diagnosis from a psychiatrist or psychologist before any medications or therapies can begin. SSRI's and MAOI's are the two groups of antidepressant drugs most commonly used to combat the symptoms of bipolar disease, but because of the severity of this condition psychotherapy is also highly recommended in conjunction with any drug therapy.

When experiencing a manic episode they will usually experience intense feelings of pleasure and/or happiness. Their creativity and motivation are at a high point, which helps explain why many successful writers and musicians show the signs of bipolar disease and are diagnosed with it. During the manic episode those with this disorder will also talk incessantly while feeling that they are not getting their point across to whoever they are talking to. In more severe cases this manic state can cross over into more dangerous territory and include symptoms like hostile behavior, destruction of property and hallucinations and delusions.

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Stress And Anxiety

It is unimportant if it is a "good" change or a "bad" change, they are both symptoms of stress. When you find your dream home and prepare to move, that is stress. If you break your leg, that is stress. Bad or good, if it is a change in your life, it is stress as far as your body is concerned. Even imagined change is stress. ( imagining changes is what we call "worrying". ) If you fear that you can not have enough money to pay the rent, that is stress. If you worry that you'll get fired, that is stress. If you believe that you're going to receive a promotion at work, that is also stress ( though this would be a good change ).

Stress is when you are worried about your job security, or worried about having enough money to pay your obligations, or maybe worried about your mum when the doctor claims she would need an operation. Actually, to many people, stress is linked with worry. If it is something that makes you worry, then it is stress. Your body has a wider definition of stress. To your body, stress is related to change. Anything that causes a change in your life causes stress.

Whether the event is bad or good, imagining changes in your life is stress. So How Does Stress Affect Health? Anything that causes change in your daily agenda is stressful. Anything that causes change in your fitness is stressed. Imagined changes are just as stressed as real changes. Stress has effects on Your Body and Brain Stress causes issues with with the chemicals in your brain. When life is smooth, your brain is in a position to supply enough relaxing chemicals, like serotonin, to keep up with normal levels of stress, demands, and expectancies. But when too much stress is placed on the brain, it starts to fall behind in its capacity to cope. As the strain continues, some of the relaxing chemicals may begin to fail. Important nerve centers then become uneasy. You enter a state of brain chemical imbalance known as -- overstress. From the above outline, you can likely imagine that overstress can have an effect on your looks. When you can't sleep, you look washed out. When you have aches and pains, you look ( and feel ) unhappy.

Exercise is a good method of reducing stress and promoting relaxation. One of the benefits of regular aerobic exercise is its moderating effect on feelings, both long term and short term. If you are feeling irritated or upset, a fast walk or run or a half hour of lifting weights will probably put you back in a cheerful mood. While exercise is a technique to burn up excess energy and dissipate strain, it does not always teach you the way to process stress differently, and is best used as a complement to another methodology, as an example, visualization or yoga. Yoga is a good promoter of relaxation as well as a good form of non-aerobic body conditioning. It fully enhances aerobic exercise.

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Causes of Autism

Nicotine – We all know that smoking and passive smoking are bad for us and that they cause cancer, but researchers are now linking nicotine to autism and other developmental disorders. Studies have found that smoking mothers have babies who have an increased risk of developing learning disorders, low IQs and attention deficits. Pregnant women who are exposed to passive smoking can have babies who are at a greater risk of low IQs, speech problems and language problems.

Solvents – Solvents, such as ethanol in alcohol and chemicals found in paints, glues, varnishes and cleaning products, are neurotoxicants which can cause damage to children's brains and also disrupt hormones. Studies have linked solvents to behavioral difficulties, learning problems, impaired memory, low IQs, attention deficits and hyperactivity.

Vaccines – Everyone who has watched Oprah and Larry King had heard of the vaccine/autism debate and how many children have developed autism symptoms within days of receiving childhood vaccines like the MMR. Generation Rescue, Jenny McCarthy's organization, link the amount of vaccines that children now receive (36 between birth and the age of 6) with the rise in autism.

Heavy metals – Heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead and manganese are all present in our environment and heavy metal poisoning has been linked to autism. Mercury is used as a preservative (thimerosal) in certain medicines and vaccines, and the symptoms of mercury poisoning (speech problems, sensory abnormalities, learning difficulties and social problems) are practically identical to autism symptoms. Cadmium is found in our drinking water and our air, from pollution, and a build up of it in the body has been linked to cognitive impairment. Lead can be found in old paint, old water pipes and also leaded fuel, and high levels of it in children's bodies has been found to cause learning problems, aggression, ADD and learning difficulties. Manganese, at high levels, can cause hyperactivity and learning problems.

PCBs – Chemicals like PCBs and dioxins do not biodegrade easily and tend to bioaccumulate in the food chain, meaning that they are in the food that we eat. They can also be present in our water and in the air. Unfortunately, PCBs are actually stored in our body's fat stores, rather than being excreted, and are present in our blood and in breastmilk. One statistic says that breastfed babies are actually exposed to 50 times higher levels of dioxin than an average adult! Exposure to these chemicals can lead to attention deficits, lower than average IQs, hyperactivity and learning disabilities.

Mercury emissions – As well as being present in some medicines and vaccines, mercury is also present in emissions from concrete manufacturing, industrial boilers, coal-fired utility plants and waste incinerators. A study by the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) has linked the rise in autism cases with proximity to the source of mercury emissions.

Pesticides – It is a known fact that organophosphates are developmental neurotoixcants, meaning that they are toxic and adversely affect the brain, and there have been many different studies linking the use of organophosphate pesticides to impaired memory, hyperactivity and developmental problems.

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Improve Memory

Some memory problems are resulted from other medical conditions; those conditions must be treated before you can find a complete solution to your memory loss. However, in other circumstances, your memory problem can be resolved by natural means. Here are some effective tips to help you have a better memory. Exercise - as in the prevention of any disease, regular exercise is important to improve the functioning of your memory.

Your body needs physical activities to function properly. Not only physical activity helps the cells of the brain to assimilate the nutriments they need, but also help them to better eliminate toxins accumulated in your brain. Train your brain - The brain, like all other muscles, is made to work if you do not use it, you will eventually lose it. Practice it often to help it keep its capacity. If possible, participate in games that can develop your intellect, chess, scrabble, etc. Smoking can affect your memory.

It is shown in several studies that people who during their youth, made advanced scientific studies have less risk of developing amnesia. Make yourself social - Social isolation may decrease your brain performance - Social exclusion can reduce the performance of the brain according to a study conducted by a group of researchers at the San Diego State University. Whenever, make yourself socially active, participate in games, go out with friends, try to learn new things, read and meditate on the Bible, etc. those things, although often neglected, are powerful tools to help you have a better memory. Sleep well - after decades of controversial, it is now confirmed that sleep plays a positive role on memory concentration.

A study by Harvard Medical School has shown a positive link between good sleep and the ability to remains focus. That is, better sleep better memory. People who sleep on a regular interval or before undergoing an exam perform much better. Healthy diet – it is crucial to eat a healthy diet containing foods rich in essential fatty acids such as Omega 3 and DHA (a fatty acid that facilitates the release of neurotransmitters). Other supplements like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium (found in the milk, cheese, bread, vegetables, etc.) and B complex vitamins (found in wheat germ, brewer's yeast, yogurt ...) are necessary to help you have an active brain. Your brain needs a variety of substances (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids) to function effectively. A Simply lack of these substances can cause an imbalance or memory loss.