After a long hiatus, I’m back with four more interesting articles for you to read. Sunbeams, rainbows and bluebirds! Nothing to bring you down, and everything to lighten your mood.
Here’s a list. To read them all, just click the “Read the entire article” link:
- FDA Approves Generic Lexapro for Depression, Anxiety
- Mentoring scheme helps anxiety sufferers
- Panic in Paradise — Honeymoon Ruined by Agoraphobia and Panic
- Mobile app lets you "Tweet-A-Beer" — Perfect for agoraphobic beer lovers!
Many people take Lexapro for Anxiety Disorders, and it can become quite costly after a while. Good news!
In March, 2012 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first generic Lexapro (escitalopram tablets) to treat both depression and generalized anxiety disorder in adults. Of course, generic drugs are much less expensive than name-brand medications.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Announcement,
Anxiety,
Mental Health
Here I am again with another mental health miscellany for you! It’s not all tragic, either — there’s some right good humor mixed in!
But first: a birthday announcement. On June 25th, Anxiety, Panic & Health celebrated its first year of existence. During that time I’ve posted 132 articles and have had 834 comments on them. The top 5 articles were:
Rather than bore you with any more introductory blather, let’s get right to it. You’ll get a taste of what’s in store for you from the headlines of the sections:
- A Pioneer of brain imaging talks about her career and research
- Eyewitnesses may be more witness than eyes
- A touch — well, more of a whack — of psychiatric humor!
- Senior citizens may quit taking their medicine when the Medicare “Doughnut Hole” hits
- Materialistic people form strong brand connections when they fear death — really!
- Finally, another “Where have you been?”
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Announcement,
Anxiety,
fMRI,
Medications
Artwork by Andy Warhol
Sometimes there can be just too much of a good thing!
Part 3 of the current series, “Surviving the Recession, Part 3: Things You Can Do to Regain Control,” provides you with over 25 great tips to help you proactively deal with the recession.
The only problem is that the article has grown to over 4,000 words, which is way too long for a single post. You would be scrolling into next week!
So I’ve decided to split the article into 2 parts to be posted tomorrow and the next day. I’m reformatting it to make it easier to read and use while I’m splitting it.
Thank you for reading parts 1 and 2! I hope you’re looking forward to parts 3 and 4 as much as I am!
As you probably know, I do very few personal posts on Anxiety, Panic & Health.
There’s a simple reason behind it: I want to provide you with the best information possible concerning the Anxiety Disorders, not moan and groan over my own mental state. However, I have had a couple of interviews on other sites that might be of interest to you.
Alec Satin has an excellent blog called Making Project Management Better. He covers all aspects of project management and also discusses personal development topics. I did a podcast interview with him in October, “Dealing with Stress at Work.” It covers such subjects as how to know if your stress level is out of hand, what to do to manage stress, and whether admitting a problem with stress is a sign of weakness. If you ever wanted to hear my voice, now’s your chance!
Pro Writing Tips is John Roach’s blog about grammar and writing help. I have greatly enjoyed reading his blog, and he always has easily-understood, humorous posts on various aspects of writing and grammar. His post today is an interview with me entitled “The power of research: Interview with Mike Nichols.” He asked some very good questions about my preparation for writing this blog, why I write about mental health issues, and my actual writing process.
As a lagniappe I direct you toward a story I wrote for Time Goes By’s Elder Storytelling Place. Its title is “The Night I Was a Leprechaun.” It details a humorous incident when I played in the orchestra in a little town in Mississippi.
So now I’ve tooted my own horn enough. I hear sighs of relief from around the globe!
Tagged as:
Interviews,
Story
This is Mental Illness Awareness Week, a time when we pause to reflect on the state of mental illness in America.
Congress authorized Mental Illness Awareness Week in 1990 as the first week in October in recognition of the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ (NAMI) efforts to raise mental health awareness. In NAMI’s words,
Real recovery from mental illness requires community action, understanding, and teamwork. Recovery is possible because of improved science, better community supports, and reduced stigma. But significant barriers still exist. Services are at risk, insurance can be insufficient, and stigma, though less today than when Mental Illness Awareness Week was founded, is still prevalent.
You can learn more about Mental Illness Awareness Week by visiting NAMI’s website. Another worthy organization is Mental Health America. Both are grassroots organizations that fight for the rights to compassionate, non-discriminatory treatment of the mentally ill, and against the stigma of mental illness that still imprisons them.
Please join with me in both celebrating the advances in treatment of mental illnesses and thinking about the barriers to treatment this week.
Tagged as:
Announcement,
Mental Health America,
Mental Illness,
NAMI
I have some very good news: The mental health parity bill passed Congress just a couple of hours ago, and it is predicted that President Bush will sign it into law!
This means that insurance companies are now forced to offer the same coverage and copays for mental health services as they do for physical health.
To quote Mental Health America:
Mental Health America today hailed as “a great civil rights victory” the approval of a mental health parity legislation that will broadly outlaw health insurance discrimination against Americans with mental health and substance-use conditions in employer-sponsored health plans.
The legislation, which recognizes the importance of mental health to overall health, bans employers and insurers from imposing stricter limits on coverage for mental health and substance-use conditions than those set for other health problems. It will provide parity for 82 million Americans covered by self-insured plans and another 31 million in plans that are subject to state regulation.
It is estimated that roughly 67 percent of adults and 80 percent of children requiring mental health services do not receive help, in large part because of discriminatory insurance practices.
For more information, see Mental Health America’s press release.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Legislation,
Medications,
Mental Health,
Murphy's Law
Every blog has to have a first post, and I think it’s the hardest one. I’ve been thinking about, planning and working on Anxiety, Panic & Health for over a year. After all that time, you’d think that the first post would be easy!
There’s so much I want to say, so much I want to share, and no first post can possibly do that. Besides, a lot of it is contained under the “Information” heading on the right.
I’m still filling in the “Anxiety Reference” section, and it ought to be finished in a few days. But I wanted to get this blog going, and finally decided that I would just go ahead and start posting before all the background material was up.
Above all, I am anxious that you find this blog to be informative and helpful. It’s not meant as an ego trip, so personal posts will be limited. It will continue to expand its offerings over time. For example, I intend to add a section where you can tell your own stories, and hope to add a forum as time goes on.
Your comments are more than welcome: They are essential to this blog’s success. I want you to tell me what you’re interested in, what information you wish you had, what your questions are. I promise to address your concerns and issues in a timely fashion, and to the best of my ability.
Welcome to Anxiety, Panic & Health!
