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?”
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Tagged as:
Announcement,
Anxiety,
fMRI,
Medications
Anxiety Disorders cause severe distress and disrupt the lives of individuals suffering from them.
The frequency and intensity of anxiety involved in these Disorders is often debilitating. Fortunately, with proper and effective treatment, people suffering from Anxiety Disorders can lead normal, productive, and happy lives.
Many people think of treatment for Anxiety Disorders as being solely medication. While drugs can be effective, their remedy is temporary; they work only as long as you take them. And some medications for Anxiety Disorders are habit-forming and cannot be taken for more than a few months at a time.
But there is an equally effective treatment for Anxiety Disorders that will teach you how to manage and control them for the rest of your life: psychotherapy. Although psychotherapy requires more time to work than a pill, it is the best use of your time you will ever experience.
This article discusses the role of psychotherapy in the treatment of Anxiety Disorders under the following headings:
- Avoidance is at the core of Anxiety Disorders
- Why is it important to seek treatment for Anxiety Disorders?
- Are there effective treatments available for Anxiety Disorders?
- How can a qualified therapist help someone suffering from an Anxiety Disorder?
- How long does psychological treatment take?
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Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
Medical Health Professionals,
Medications,
Panic Attack,
Panic Disorder,
Social Anxiety Disorder,
Therapy
In these uncertain economic times, the number of people unable to afford their medications is getting higher and higher.
Many fixed- and low-income people find it an increasingly difficult task to pay for the medications they need to stay healthy. In many cases, it’s a choice between medicine and other necessities, such as food and heat.
The post “Financial Help with Prescription Medications,” written on July 7, 2008, has received a thorough rewriting with important new information. Since it was originally written, I have found several very helpful online sites that give information and application help for low- or no-cost medication programs sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies.
The post gives the details that you need to help you or a person you know to find programs that will help pay for medications. The topics discussed are:
- Eligibility for prescription help
- Online assistance with prescription medications from the pharmaceutical companies
- Assistance with prescription medications from the pharmaceutical companies by telephone
- Medicare Rx extra help
- The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP)
- Samples from your doctor
- Reducing the cost: Mail-order and online medications
- Reducing the cost: Comparisons of pharmacy costs
Tagged as:
Drug Costs,
Low-Income,
Mail-Order,
Medications,
Pharmacy
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.
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Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Legislation,
Medications,
Mental Health,
Murphy's Law
Antidepressants are often the medication of choice for addressing Anxiety Disorders.
Antidepressants all work because they affect serotonin, an important neurotransmitter in the brain that acts as a chemical messenger. They were first developed for depression, and later were found to be effective for treating most types of Anxiety Disorders, too.
Those taking antidepressants for the first time and even those who have been taking them a while often have many questions about them. These questions may not be answered fully by their doctor or by the information on the prescription bottle.
This post answers the most common questions that people have. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to ask them in the comments or in a personal message using the “Contact” tab. Please note that this post does not cover the antidepressant medications in detail — there is another post entitled “Medications for Anxiety, Panic and Phobias” that does that.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Medications
by Mike Nichols on September 24, 2008 · 6 comments
Drugs are commonly used in conjunction with therapy to reduce the effects of Anxiety Disorders.
One of the purposes of psychiatric medications is to relieve a person’s symptoms enough to allow therapy to be effective. This has been a standard approach for years.
A radical new approach to drugs and therapy has been proposed by researchers and published in the June 15, 2008, issue of Biological Psychiatry.
Instead of using drugs to relieve symptoms, they propose using certain drugs to enhance learning during therapy sessions, improving the effectiveness of behavioral therapy treatment for Anxiety Disorders.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Exposure Therapy,
Medications,
OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Therapy
Social Phobia is an Anxiety Disorder that affects up to 40 million Americans.
Also called Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), Social Phobia, is characterized by overwhelming anxiety and excessive self-consciousness in everyday social situations. People with Social Phobia have a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others and of being embarrassed or humiliated by their own actions.
So far, there have been no medications approved by the FDA specifically for the treatment of Social Phobia. The only medications proven to be effective have been antidepressants such as Effexor and Nardil, and Benzodiazepines such as Klonopin and Xanax.
In two different studies scientists have shown that the hormone oxytocin can inhibit the feelings of Anxiety in people with Social Phobia. These people were able to socially interact much more effectively and showed greatly reduced fears, as well. These discovery may lead to a better understanding and treatment of psychiatric conditions such as Social Phobia, in which people feel distressed when meeting and interacting with others.
Predrag Petrovic, one of the authors of a Swedish study, said that,
[O]xytocin can reduce anxiety and increase the chances of social contact for people with certain types of psychiatric disorder. There are also previous studies to show that oxytocin can inhibit [fear] activity, which tells us that we should see this as an opportunity for new forms of treatment.
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Tagged as:
Medications,
Research,
SAD - Social Phobia
Over and over I see the same things in the comments on the blogs and forums I visit.
People say that they want to reduce or eliminate their dependence on psychiatric drugs. Yet they are not doing anything to do so.
They complain that they are being enslaved by their reliance on the drugs to keep symptoms under control. But they do not take advantage of the single most effective, proven help that could liberate them.
Americans have been trained for over a century to rely on drugs to cure their ills, from the first marketing of aspirin in 1899 to the latest wonder-drug touted on tv. Have a headache? Take an Advil and it will go away. Depressed? You need Prozac. Bipolar disorder? Abilify for you.
Madison Avenue has helped the pharmaceutical companies imply instant and permanent relief from your problems just by popping a pill. And we have swallowed this advertising hype whole! It has made us the most drug-taking nation in the world today.
Pills have become a silver bullet for Americans seeking relief from their woes. They expect drugs to solve their problems quickly and easily, without any extra effort on their part.
No wonder there are so many bitter and disappointed people who feel enslaved by their psychiatric drugs!
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Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
Medications,
Panic Disorder,
Therapy
by Mike Nichols on August 29, 2008 · 1 comment
What if there were a medication that could simply switch off bad memories?
University of California, Irvine (UCI) researchers have identified the brain mechanism that turns off traumatic feelings associated with bad memories. This finding could lead to the development of drugs to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Panic Disorder, and other Anxiety Disorders.
Rainer Reinscheid, pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences associate professor at UCI, said,
The exciting part of this study is that we have discovered a completely new process that regulates the adverse responses to bad memories.
These findings can help the development of new drugs to treat conditions in which people are haunted by persistent fears, such as posttraumatic stress disorder or other panic disorders.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Amygdala,
Anxiety Disorder,
Medications,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Research
Do you treat your mental health issue with medication only?
If you do, you are part of a growing trend among mental health care providers.
This shift to the sole use of medication to treat mental health problems is detailed in a study released this month in the Archives of General Psychology. The authors find that market forces, primarily insurance reimbursements, are forcing psychiatrists to limit their time with patients to 15-minute medication maintenance visits rather than also providing psychotherapy.
The percentage of patients who received both medication and psychotherapy from their psychiatrists fell to 28.9 percent in 2004-05, from 44.4 percent in 1996-97.
The findings are expected to intensify a debate over the increased medicalization of psychiatric care. The debate is about the shifting emphasis on the biology of mental illness, as opposed to the processes of the mind addressed in psychotherapy. This debate is seen in the mental health stances of the two Presidential candidates. McCain’s plan emphasizes the use of medications over psychotherapy, while Obama’s seeks a balance between the two.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Medications,
Mental Health Professionals,
Panic Disorder,
Psychiatrist,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
SAD - Social Phobia,
Specific Phobias
