This Week in Mentalists – The “I’m so OCD” Edition
Hello!
This is Bellsie from Obsessively Compulsively Yours here. This week is OCD Awareness Week – a chance to clear up some of the myths that still surround the illness. The term OCD is frequently misused in everyday language, and a recent street survey highlighted that 44% of people felt they had ‘OCD traits’, which clearly shows the lack of understanding that still exists about OCD, with people still confusing non-anxiety provoking traits for the illness.
I know that I’m preaching to the congregation here but in honour of OCD Week, I thought that we’d start with a quick round up of some of the OCD blogs that w...
Source: Dawn Willis sharing the News and Views of the Mentally Wealthy - October 20, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: obsessivelycompulsivelyyours Tags: Mental Health, The News & Policies. Source Type: blogs
Three Eating Disorders You Should Know About
In this article, I provide basic information regarding three eating disorders that can problematize an individual's mental and physical health. The three disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder.Contributor: Jocelyn CrawleyPublished: Oct 19, 2013 (Source: Most Recent Health Wellness - Associated Content)
Source: Most Recent Health Wellness - Associated Content - October 19, 2013 Category: Other Conditions Source Type: blogs
Helping Your Child Reduce Self-Harming Behavior
Self-harm, or inflicting physical harm onto one’s body to ease emotional distress, is not uncommon in kids and teens.
In fact, according to clinical psychologist Deborah Serani, PsyD, in her book Depression and Your Child: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers, about 15 percent of kids and teens engage in self-harm.
There are many forms of self-harm, including cutting, scratching, hitting and burning. Many kids and teens who self-harm also struggle with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, physical abuse or other serious concerns or psychological disorders.
These kids “don’t know how to verbalize their feelings, and i...
Source: World of Psychology - October 16, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Anorexia Anxiety and Panic Bipolar Books Bulimia Children and Teens Depression Disorders Eating Disorders Family General Mental Health and Wellness Self-Help Stress Borderline Personality Disorder Coping Deborah Serani De Source Type: blogs
2013 World Mental Health Day: Taking Care of You
Today is World Mental Health Day. Today, I take a moment to reflect on the many challenges faced by those living with mental illness, especially those who are unable to access treatment.
Today is the perfect day to urge others to support mental health prevention, mental health education, and improved access to mental health treatment. Today is our chance to restart the conversation about mental health, to speak openly about uncertainties and misconceptions surrounding mental illnesses, and to move toward eliminating the damaging and unnecessary stigma that lingers around mental illness.
There are many obstacles people with...
Source: World of Psychology - October 10, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Psych Central Staff Tags: Disorders Ethics & Morality General Mental Health and Wellness Policy and Advocacy Treatment World Mental Health Day Civil Rights Health Care House Of Representatives Illness Insurance Companies Jennifer Louden Medicine Mental Source Type: blogs
Community: The Kinship of Thinspiration
From beneath her beautifully tiny, A-cup breasts, her smooth ribs, covered only by a thin layer of white flesh, peeked out, taunting me, reminding me of what I could never be.
Yet, at the same time, they gave me a glimmer of empty hope that one day my ribs may protrude like hers. One day, my hip bones may sharpen and stick out, my collar bone may reveal itself to the public, my thighs may one day stop touching.
At 13, I found myself sitting in my living room, my eyes glued to the screen of my family’s clunky, black desktop as I fantasized what it would be like to be this 18-year-old goddess whose long, wavy dirty-blonde...
Source: World of Psychology - October 9, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Amanda Ameen Tags: Addiction Anorexia Bulimia Children and Teens Disorders Eating Disorders Friends General Mental Health and Wellness Personal Psychology Recovery Relationships Self-Esteem Women's Issues community Depression (mood) Mental Source Type: blogs
This Week in Mentalists: The 2012 Winners and Runners-up Edition
Hi everyone. It’s Amanda here from Beauty From Pain Blog.
Sorry this is coming to you so late in the weekend. I was being my usual procrastinating self!
Now I’m sure you’ve likely seen the announcement of the This Week in Mentalists Awards 2013. (If you haven’t, do please check them out, and get nominating.)
In doing this week’s round-up, I thought ‘why not go back and check in with some of last year’s winners and runner-ups?’ Let’s see what they’ve been up to and how they’ve been lately.
So here goes.
Firstly, I’d like to say that I do look forwa...
Source: Dawn Willis sharing the News and Views of the Mentally Wealthy - October 6, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: Amanda Tags: Mental Health, The News & Policies. Source Type: blogs
Does Your Brain Make You Fat?
Have you ever considered that the three pounds of grey matter in your skull might be the reason you’re gaining weight? After all, your brain controls your actions, your emotions, and your lustful thoughts of Apple Pie. So consider this; If your brain is making you fat, wouldn’t it be reasonable that your brain could make you skinny just as well?
Let’s break it down. So if our brain is the culprit, and the brain is made up of many components, which part of the brain is actually affecting our waistlines?
This is the million dollar question that brain scientist Dr. Daniel Amen asks in his insightful book, Change Your B...
Source: Success Begins Today - October 5, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: John Richardson Tags: books Diet learning thinking Source Type: blogs
The This Week in Mentalists Awards 2013 – Meet the Judges
Nominations for the This Week in Mentalists Awards 2013 are now open. Please click on this link and leave a comment there to tell us your favourite mental health blogs and vlogs.
On November 1st, when the public nominations end, the top three nominees in each category will be passed to our judges. They’ll then have until just before Christmas to pick their favourites, after which the winners will be announced online on Saturday 21st December.
So let’s introduce the judges. Please note that they are all acting here in a personal capacity and not on behalf of their respective employers. Please also note that th...
Source: Dawn Willis sharing the News and Views of the Mentally Wealthy - October 1, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: Zarathustra Tags: Mental Health, The News & Policies. TWIM awards Source Type: blogs
Study Quantifies Whether Weight Loss Surgery Cures Diabetes
A study recently published in the Annals of Surgery gives much more insight into oft-repeated claims that weight loss surgery cures diabetes.The study can be found here:Can Diabetes Be Surgically Cured? Long-Term Metabolic Effects of Bariatric Surgery in Obese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Brethauer, Stacy A. et al. Annals of Sugery, 10/13/2013. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0b013e3182a5034bThe study followed 217 people with Type 2 Diabetes who had had weight loss surgery for a period lasting between 5 and 9 years. One hundred and sixty-two had the radical Roux-en-Y gastric bypass operation, which irreversib...
Source: Diabetes Update - October 1, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jenny Source Type: blogs
It's a Wellness Program: What Harm Could It Do?
By Jan Chait
"One of my partner's patients stopped taking his insulin last week to meet his employer's weight-loss goal. A1C 13.5. He got his incentive money through his employer though."
The quote is a comment posted on a physician-written opinion piece about corporate wellness programs in which the author questions their effectiveness in either cost savings or improved health.
A 13.5% HbA1c, by the way, is an average blood glucose level of 341 mg/dl. That dude must have been whizzing pure sugar!
His employer may have been happy the guy lost weight, but keeping the weight and getting help for his diabulimia — an ea...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - September 24, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs
Type 1 and Eating Disorders
By Quinn Phillips
Eating disorders are, sadly, a fact of life among teenagers in the United States. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, more than half of all teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys engage in unhealthy behaviors (skipping meals, vomiting, taking laxatives) to control their weight, and 1% of female adolescents have anorexia, characterized by an extremely distorted body image and emaciation. During this often difficult phase in life, having Type 1 diabetes presents unique challenges, as a study published last month in the journal Diabetes Care makes c...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - September 11, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Cases: "Do you have something stronger than this dilaudid?" The case for opioid rotation
Discussion:
Opioid rotation, or trial of an alternative opioid, is commonly practiced when a patient’s pain responds poorly to one opioid or intolerable side effects develop. These intolerable side effects may include nausea, vomiting, sedation, or even hyperalgesia. Although rotation is a common practice, a Cochrane review in 2004 found that evidence to support the practice for opioid rotation was anecdotal and in non-controlled studies. Randomized trials were suggested. Since that time, several prospective studies have been performed where opioid analgesic effect was inadequate or side effects to the opioid were intol...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - September 6, 2013 Category: Palliative Carer Workers Authors: Christian Sinclair Source Type: blogs
Abuse and Eating Problems
This study revealed that “national
surveys suggest that more than a third of girls in the US experience some
degree of physical or sexual abuse before they reach adulthood.” It also widened the range of abuse-related eating
problems to include bingeing and food obsessions, rather than only obesity,
anorexia, and bulimia.
Wondering what constitutes abuse? Here
are the study’s criteria: Sexual abuse was characterized as “sexual touching”
or “forced sexual activity.” Physical abuse was described as “mild (being
pushed, grabbed, or shoved at any frequency or being kicked, bitten, or punched
once or ...
Source: Normal Eating - August 30, 2013 Category: Eating Disorders Authors: eatnormalnow Source Type: blogs
Rerun: Happy 6th birthday to the Health Business Blog
The Health Business Blog is on vacation this week and re-running some classic posts. This one is from March 2011, the sixth birthday of the Health Business Blog.
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The Health Business Blog turns six years old today. Continuing a tradition I established with birthdays one, two, three, four andfive I have picked out a favorite post from each month. Thanks for continuing to read the blog!
March 2010: Clinical decision support and meaningful use: Perspective from Zynx Health CEO Dr. Scott Weingarten
Physicians and hospitals that implement electronic health records (EHR) are sometimes disappointed with the results...
Source: Health Business Blog - August 23, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: dewe67 Tags: Announcements Blogs Source Type: blogs
It doesn't get better than this...
We presented at a college today and a young man came up afterward to share that he'd heard us speak in 2012. It was last year's talk that made him realize he was in trouble and needed help.
He explained, "It's Andrea. Somehow I could hear from her what I couldn't hear any other way." He got into treatment for anorexia and is now back in school and doing well.
Prior to every presentation, Tom and I hold a brief, private ritual where we thank Andrea for bringing us to this opportunity and always extend an invitation for her to join us in "opening hearts and changing minds." When we hear this sort of testimonial we ...
Source: Advice for Parents - August 23, 2013 Category: Eating Disorders Authors: Doris Smeltzer Source Type: blogs
