Seasonal Affective Disorder....
An estimated two to three percent of Canadians suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that seems to be related to the amount of sunlight that you are exposed to.......
Sometimes, even when effective in alleviating depression, antidepressants may interfere with sexual drive, arousal, function, and satisfaction. It can be difficult to differentiate the sexual disinterest so common in depression from the sexual disinterest seen with some antidepressant medications.
Other changes in sexuality, ..........
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Anxiety & Sleep
Sleep - is a basic human need at any age, as essential for good health as a proper diet and regular exercise. A good night's sleep refuels the body's energy, gives our active brains a rest, and puts us mentally in a better mood.
One of the greatest frustrations we all face at some point .........
WASHINGTON — A year ago, a bill giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to make pharmaceutical companies conduct safety studies of drugs after they're approved disappeared into the Senate committee that handles health matters.
But the results of a new report by congressional investigators on continuing safety problems at the FDA may put pressure on members of that committee to revive the bill.
Among those senators is Patty Murray, who has not been vocal on general drug-safety issues. The Washington Democrat has served on the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions panel since 1996.
The bill's author, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, applauded the study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Monday, saying...
While teen smoking and drinking continue to drop, a survey to be released today indicates that teenage abuse of prescription drugs has become "an entrenched behavior" that many parents fail to recognize.
For a third straight year, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America study showed that about one in five teens have tried prescription drug painkillers like Vicodin or OxyContin to get high. It also indicated that many teens feel experimenting with prescription drugs is safer than illegal highs.
Forty percent said prescription medicines were...
FDA and Drug’s Maker Warn Doctors of Possible Risk in Adults Aged 18-30 By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
May 12, 2006 -- The antidepressant Paxil and its controlled-release version, Paxil CR, are getting a new warning about suicide risk in young adults.
The FDA and Paxil’s maker, drug company GlaxoSmithKline, are notifying doctors about the warning, which is being added to the drug’s package inserts.
Antidepressants already carry a warning about...
Everybody loves to have a secret "angel," a special person who anonymously does nice things for them. When your work load or worry is reduced because someone stepped in and helped out, or when someone leaves a candy bar on your desk for no apparent reason, it really lifts your spirits.
We all know how much receiving these small favors can affect us. But little surprises can have a great many positive side effects for the giver as well as the receiver! Handing out one small surprise can change your mood immediately into a more positive one. This trick can easily work in everyone's favor.
In fact, giving one simple surprise-doing something that's nice and unexpected-can markedly improve a person's mood for about twenty to thirty minutes. Think of the implications.
Research in this area suggests that one effective treatment for normal, everyday moodiness need not involve drugs, therapy, or a large expenditure of funds. It can simply consist of being kind and doing something nice for others.
Here's how it works. If you want to help someone snap out of a bad mood, you could ask, "What's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?" The answer would probably be no. Rather than trying to solve the problem directly, show you care by doing something nice. If you have a bouquet of flowers on your desk, take out a few posies and leave them in your coworker's cubicle. The research suggests that doing something thoughtful for someone is a powerful act and can considerably change the mood of the recipient.
Any spontaneous act of kindness is going to improve the mood of the recipient for at least twenty minutes The warm glow from a greeting card, note, or positive email lasts about twenty minutes. That may not sound like a long time, but if a person is having a rough day, those moments may make all the difference and guide them toward a more pleasant day.
If you help someone out anonymously, two things happen The recipient gets a mood elevator for at least twenty minutes. So do you. Preliminary research suggests helping people without telling them gives you a "feel-good" better than a runner's high. Use this CPT on yourself, too. When you find a quarter in a coin return. see a four-leaf clover, receive a compliment from a colleague, hear from a long-lost friend, complete an enormous project on time, or get a good parking place, take time to enjoy these little surprises. Let these random, pleasant experiences raise your spirits for a while.
The cheap psychological trick: Do you want to help your friends feel better? You can't constantly control their emotions, but with one surprise--one act of random kindness--you can almost instantaneously turn a frown into a twenty-minute smile. If you do your good deed anonymously, you might find that your own smile lasts even longer.
From the book, "Cheap Psychological Tricks: What To Do When Hard Work, Honesty, and Perseverance Fail" by Perry W. Buffington, Ph.D.pp. 152 - 154
REFERENCES:
Isen, A. M., K. A. Daubman, and G. P. Nowicky. "Positive Affect Facilitates Creative Problem Solving". Journal of Personalty and Social Psychology June (1979): 1122-1131
Isen, A.M., M. Johnson, E. Mertz, and G. F. Robinson. "The Influence of Positive Affect on the Unusualness of Word Associations." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology June (1985): 1413-1426.
Moss, F. J. "The Hiring Mood." Psychology Today November (1988): 26
Raising questions, finding answers
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. This instability often disrupts family.............
Causes of Anxiety Disorders
Nature or Nurture?
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is harnessing the most sophisticated scientific tools available to determine the causes of anxiety disorders. Like heart disease and diabetes, these brain disorders are complex and probably result from a combination of genetic, behavioral, developmental, and other factors.
Studies of twins and families suggest that genes play a role in the origin of anxiety disorders. But heredity alone.....