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HealthyPlace.com Newsletter

This Week - July 14, 2003

1. Churches reach out to people with mental illness
2. New research into schizophrenia. Also blacks less likely to receive newer treatments for the disorder
3. Fighting depression: How popular concepts of success are overwhelming many young adults
4. Eating Disorders: how to help your child stop vomiting
5. More kids than ever being diagnosed and treated for mental illnesses
6. Adults with ADHD and Bipolar? Yes, it's true!
7. FDA approves Zyprexa in combination with Lithium or Depakote for bipolar mania
8. Abilify for treatment of acute manic episodes
9. How to cope with your narcissistic boss or co-worker.
10. Developing social confidence
11. I'm an anorexic oldie. Anyone else out there like me?
12. Thought for today

Churches Reach Out To People With Mental Illness

When a mother was diagnosed with cancer, everyone in her church came forward to offer support and help. But when her son was found to be schizophrenic, well, that was another story. Read her story and how her life changed from that one experience.

Other schizophrenia stories:

• Too Much Force May Be With You
• African Americans Less Likely to Receive Atypical Antipsychotics for Treatment of Schizophrenia

Additional stories on the HealthyPlace.com Thought Disorders homepage.

Sponsor Message:

Fighting Depression

Mass-media concepts of success overwhelming

More young adults -- ages 18 to 29 -- have experienced depression within the past year. That's more than any other age group, according to the National Institutes of Health.

One professor says the pressure on young people to achieve, combined with insecurity, is a volatile combination.

Read more about this and one college student's battle with depression.

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More Young Children Diagnosed with Mental Illnesses

Doctors are diagnosing mental illness in children at younger ages than ever, including in those barely out of diapers. The diagnoses include diseases once thought to appear almost exclusively in adults and adolescents, such as major depression and bipolar disorder, and have prompted a surge of new research in preschoolers.

Treatment is surging, too. The number of very young children who take psychiatric drugs has more than doubled in the past 15 years, a recent study found.

Is this a dangerous or positive trend?

view video: Is Your Child Depressed?

Studies Clarify Diagnosis, Identify Possible Treatment For Adults With ADHD And Bipolar Disorder

Two studies from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) address the challenges of diagnosing and treating individuals with both attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder (BPD). Published in the July, 2003, issue of Biological Psychiatry, one report clearly identifies symptoms of both disorders in study participants, supporting the theory that some individuals truly suffer from both disorders. The second study in the same issue finds that the antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin) may be helpful in treating those with both ADHD and BPD. Details here.

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FDA Approves Zyprexa With Other Drugs For Mania

The FDA has approved the use of Eli Lilly's popular schizophrenia drug Zyprexa in combination with lithium or Depakote to treat manic episodes of bipolar disorder. Continued

Abilify for Treatment of Acute Manic Episodes

A new drug application was filed for treatment of acute mania in patients with bipolar disorder. Many patients like Abilify because not only is it effective, but unlike other antipsychotics which can cause significant weight gain, most Abilify users experience little or no weight gain; some even lose weight. More here

How to Help Your Child Stop Vomiting

Most parents are mystified when a child engages in purposeful vomiting. Therefore, trying to understand "why" is the first step in helping.

Wondering how to accomplish that? Kim Fowler, MSW, CISW, Program Director at Remuda Ranch Center for Anorexia and Bulimia tells us how in this week's column.

Sponsor Message:

REMUDA RANCH - Help for your eating disorder

The caring and compassionate team at Remuda Ranch can help you or a loved one overcome an eating disorder. Our highly professional treatment team and biblically- based individualized programs have worked for hundreds of our patients.

Take the first step toward living a life that is not controlled by fear and food. Call us now at 1-800-445-1900. We'll be happy to answer your questions. or visit our site.

Narcissism in the Workplace

Are you working with a narcissist? Maybe your boss is a narcissist?

Dr. Sam Vaknin, author of Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited says if you are "you would never forget it. It is traumatic and very likely to end in actual bullying and stalking behaviors. Many workers end up with PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Others quit, or even relocate."

What are the best ways for coping and dealing with a narccisistic co-worker or employer? Read the transcript from last week's chat with Dr. Vaknin to find out.

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Developing Social Confidence

Steps to feel more comfortable with those around you.

Perhaps the single greatest source of mental energy is positive interaction with others. Even if you were the class nerd in high school, it's never too late to achieve social success. You can develop social confidence by following a few simple steps.

Schedule Your Social Life

To hone your social skills you have to invest time in them. Practice makes perfect, even for the socially secure. By surrounding yourself with others you create a rich supply of opportunities to observe interactions and to improve upon your own social behaviors.

Stop turning down party invitations and start inviting people to your home. Plan outings with acquaintances you'd like to know better.

Think Positive

Insecure people approach others anxiously, feeling they have to prove that they're witty or interesting. Self-assured people expect others to respond positively-despite the fact that one of the most difficult social tasks is to join an activity that is already in progress.

Engage in Social Reconnaissance

The socially competent are highly skilled at information gathering, always scanning the scene for important details to guide their actions. They are tuned in to people's expression of specific emotions, sensitive to signals that convey such information as what people's interests are, whether they want to be left alone or whether there is room in an activity for another person.

To infer correctly what others must be feeling, you must be able to identify and label your own experience accurately. That is where many people, particularly men, fall short.

Good conversationalists make comments that are connected to what is said to them and to the social situation. You don't have to be interesting. You just have to be interested.

Enter Conversations Gracefully

Timing is everything. After listening and observing on the perimeter of a group they want to join, the socially competent look for an opportunity to step in, knowing it doesn't just happen. It usually appears as a lull in the conversation. Tuned in to the conversational or activity theme, the deft participant asks a question or elaborates on what someone else has already said. The idea is to use an open-ended question that lets others participate. "Speaking of the election, what does everybody think about so-and-so's decision not to run?"

Once the conversation gets moving, back off and give others a chance to talk. The goal is to help the group have a better conversation.

Learn to Handle Failure

Everyone will sometimes be rejected. The socially confident don't take rebuffs personally. They don't attribute rejection to internal causes, such as being unlikable or inability to make friends. They assume it can result from any of many factors-incompatibility, someone else's bad mood, a misunderstanding.

Self-assured people become resilient, using the feedback they get to shape another go at acceptance. When faced with failure, those who are well-liked turn a negative response into a counterproposal. They say things like, "Well, can we make a date for next week instead?" Or they move onto another group in the expectation that not every conversation is closed.

And should they reject others' bids to join with them, they do it in a positive way. They invariably offer a reason or counter with an alternative idea: "I would love to talk with you later."

Manage Your Emotions

Social situations are incredibly complex and dynamic. There's all kinds of verbal and nonverbal cues, such as facial expression and voice tone that have to be interpreted before you decide on the best response-all in a matter of microseconds. No one can do all that without a reasonable degree of control over their own emotional states, especially negative emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety, emotions that usually arise in situations of conflict or uncertainty. The trick is to shift attention away from distressing stimuli toward positive aspects of a situation.

Defuse Disagreements

Conflict is inevitable; coping with confrontations is a critical social skill. Instead of fighting fire with fire, socially confident people stop conflict from escalating; they apologize, propose a joint activity, make a peace offering, or negotiate. Sometimes they just change the subject. Managing conflict without aggression requires listening, communicating, taking the perspective of others, controlling negative emotions, and problem-solving. Even just explaining your point of view in an argument is a helpful move.

Laugh a Little

Humor is the most prized social skill, the fast track to being liked. There's no recipe for creating a sense of humor. But even in your darkest moments, strive to see the lighter side of a situation.

If you want a very practical guide to social skills, I urge you to read Why Doesn't Anybody Like Me? You can find it at Amazon.com. I wrote it for parents to help their kids, but many adults tell me they get a lot out of it for themselves.

Bulletin Board:
Anorexic Oldie

peggymousa:

"I hardly know anybody as old as me with Anorexia. I am 36 yrs old and I am married with two young boys. I'm not emaciated but I find the daily struggle with food is exhausting. I am within the lower level of an accepted weight for a woman of my age and height. I am still a mum and a wife and I am around food every day. I just want people to understand that Anorexia isn't just a teenagers disease or a phase and you do not have to be emaciated to be anorexic. If anybody is in the same situation as me, please get in touch with me. I need a friend."

Can you help peggymousa? Respond here.

Read: I Recovered From My Eating Disorder, You Can Too

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here's something to think about...

"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive it isn't." - Richard Bach

From all of us here at HealthyPlace.com, we hope you have a good week.

Previous Newsletters

• July 6, 2003
• June 30, 2003
• June 22, 2003
• June 15, 2003
• June 8, 2003
• June 2, 2003
• May 26, 2003
• May 20, 2003
• May 12, 2003
• April 28, 2003
• April 14, 2003
• March 31, 2003
• March 24, 2003
• March 12, 2003

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