Psychosis Is Not Always What It Seems

Chronic depression isn’t the same as major depression — it’s a mood disorder with symptoms that can linger for at least 2 years. Although it’s considered less severe than major depression disorder (MDD), chronic depression can still be a serious mental health condition. Also known as...

POST-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can seriously impact someone's life. Those suffering from the condition have nightmares and flashbacks, and struggle to move forward. PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by intensely stressful, frightening or distressing events. People affected by the condition are often forced to relive a traumatic event from...

Personality disorders are disorders of relationships, which drugs cannot fix. Certain symptoms such as panic disorder and subsequent self-injurious behavior can be legitimate targets for psych meds. The combination of a certain antidepressants and long-acting benzodiazepines has not been studied but is anecdotally supported in some cases. Source: Wikimedia Commons:...

Anxiety and depression don’t affect only adults. From 2013 to 2019,. ages 3 to 17 was affected by anxiety, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The same research showed that 1 in 5 adolescents ages 12 to 17 reported experiencing a major depressive episode. Anxiety...

Teens face a number of changes, challenges, and other factors that can lead to depression. It’s not always easy being a teenager. As if the pressures around you aren’t enough, your body is also growing and going through changes and sometimes throwing your hormones off the charts. As...

It’s a story many have heard before. COVID-19 enters a household whether through a spouse, parent, sibling or caretaker – but despite extensive exposure, not everyone gets sick. [. SEE:. Latest Coronavirus and Vaccine News ]. And it could be a more common occurrence than some think. The...

Though helpful for cleaning and disinfecting, Lysol contains a number of harmful chemicals that can irritate your eyes, skin, and respiratory system.

Walking at a brisk pace for just 75 minutes every week could cut your risk of depression, a new study finds. The World Health Organization recommends everyone should exercise for at least two-and-a-half hours every seven days. But researchers at Cambridge University, England, found adults who got half as much...

Well over two years into the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of COVID cases continue to be recorded around the world every day. With the rise of new variants, the symptoms of COVID have also evolved. Initially, the NHS regarded a fever, cough, and loss or change in sense of smell or taste as the main symptoms which could indicate COVID infection. Now, recently updated NHS guidance suggests also looking out for symptoms including a sore throat, blocked or runny nose, and a headache.

COUGHS and colds have become more common again as we return to a more normal life post-Covid. And as sunnier weather is also starting to return, the urge to get out and socialise with pals in pub gardens is getting stronger. But if you're suffering from an illness and taking...

Alprazolam, which is available under the brand name Xanax, is a form of benzodiazepine. Benzodiazepines are a type of sedative, meaning that they help slow down brain and bodily functions. Xanax is prone to misuse, which may lead to addiction. Xanax is a prescription medication that treats conditions such as...

Contrary to popular opinion, OCD is not a “behavioral quirk,” and is indeed a recognized disorder by the DSM-5. Though I am a former mental health professional with training in Psychology, I am not a doctor and I offer no medical advice or diagnosis herein. Please contact a currently practicing medical or mental health professional foranypotential issue related to this article that requires attention. Sources for this article include Wikipedia.org, TheGuardian.com, and The University of North Carolina’s Health Science Library.

Anxiety shivers are a common symptom of anxiety. Although not a formal clinical term, anxiety shivers refers to the experience of anxiety that might cause someone to shiver, shake, tremble, feel like they have the chills, or feel it is hard to regulate their body temperature. Anxiety shivers can be alarming, but are not dangerous, and go away on their own as your anxiety dissipates.

PARENTS are passing on their smartphone addiction to their children, researchers say. They are guilty of phubbing — ignoring someone in favour of a phone — and damaging their relationships with teenagers. And when mums and dads showed signs of being unable to put down their phones teen...

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental health condition characterized by intense mood swings. While it’s experienced in similar ways for both men and women, there are some distinct differences when it comes to symptoms. Let’s take a look at the unique ways that bipolar disorder affects women. What...

Alcohol withdrawal refers to a condition that may occur when an individual with alcohol use disorder suddenly stops or significantly reduces their alcohol consumption. A person may notice initial symptoms after a few hours that could last for up to a week or longer. Individuals with alcohol withdrawal syndrome may...

While it has been referenced throughout history, notably in World War I, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as we know it today was first described as a distinct diagnosis after World War II among individuals who had survived Nazi concentration camps. The patients came home experiencing anxiety, depression and nightmares. They were frequently startled. In a paper synthesizing some of these early observations in 1963, psychiatrist Paul Chodoff wrote, “Perhaps the most nearly universal and most characteristic symptom was an obsessive rumination state in which the patient was more or less constantly preoccupied with recollections of, and ruminations about, his experiences during persecution, and about family who had died or been killed.” Psychiatrists tested a variety of treatments from drugs to exposure therapy for what Chodoff referred to as “concentration camp syndrome.”

Taking care of our dead in the home is a longstanding tradition in many parts of the world. When a baby dies, parents can benefit enormously from taking their baby home until burial or cremation. It is legally permitted to care for our dead loved ones at home until disposition;...

When I was a child in the 1980s, the people I knew with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were hyperactive boys who went to the school nurse at lunchtime to get their medicine. Many people assumed that these boys would “grow out of” their symptoms as teenagers or adults. For most of the 200-year-plus history of the condition we now know as ADHD, it was considered a childhood disorder. Specialists began to more widely recognize that ADHD can also affect adults only in the 1990s, when scientific evidence showed that some people continue to experience ADHD symptoms into adulthood and that it can...

Jean-Guy Beauvoir is a thirty-something Inspector in the Sûreté du Québec, once married, loyal to his boss Armand Gamache, shot in the line of duty, and addicted to OxyContin. Most importantly, Beauvoir is a fictional character in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache mystery series. His character sounds initially like a cliché: the wounded police officer, heroically refusing therapy, becoming an addict. Except that Penny explores the cliché in a multi-novel story arc, through all her characters' thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and interactions. She creates a seemingly stable character in Beauvoir and then, through novel after novel, unravels him. Through Beauvoir, I enter the mind of an arrogant, paranoid, traumatized addict with a severe case of literal self-centeredness, beloved by Gamache.