Holiday Stress Coping

One dreadful word that everyone wants to learn about, but no one wants to talk about is stress. Even if you wasn’t specifically reading this article to learn about stress, I can bet that was your answer anyways. Take that dreadful word, magnify it ten fold and you have holiday stress. Let’s take a moment and look at some quick facts which will make you even more stressful. Hey, I thought this about coping with holiday stress? Well my friend, you will learn two little, and unknown “secrets” to coping with your holiday stress. However, it must rain before you can see a rainbow so let’s get educated about stress first. Read more

Dr. Drug Rep: Thoughts on Working Too Closely with Pharmaceutical Companies

For a first-hand account of how physicians are working with pharmaceutical companies as speakers -- which I have done extensively in the last several years -- read a very frank one published last week in New York Times Magazine, by Dr. Daniel Carlat: Dr. Drug Rep.

Having had the privilege of meeting Dr. Carlat, I know that he holds himself to a firm ethical standard. You can see that in his article. But I have continued to give talks for a few select pharmaceutical companies, whereas he found the process ethically unacceptable. Am I violating a standard? Am I only fooling myself, to think that I have not?

Linking his essay, I posted the following paragraphs on my website on the page in which I explain how I use pharmaceutical company funding. I'm trying to be quite public about taking money for giving talks about bipolar disorder, to force myself to be as honest as possible about this practice. (Or am I using these posts as another false shield? I don't think so, but I must admit there is no way for me to really know.)

From the website, revised today:
You would have to ask someone who has attended one of my talks to confirm this, but I still think -- after going through the exact same thought process that Dr. Carlat describes -- that I am managing to stay neutral. Oh, I still show the company slides where required, and emphasize (for example) "this is what AstraZeneca wants you to know". But as quickly as possible we move to a discussion of bipolar diagnosis; and when we come around to treatment, I moderate an open-ended discussion in which I try to emphasize treatment approaches with solid, well accepted evidence for their efficacy. I only give talks for companies whose medications meet that criterion, so I am not -- I don't think -- in Dr. Carlat's position.

Indeed, I once gave talks for Wyeth, the company he uses as an example. When they required that I use their slides, as he describes, I declined any further invitations to speak for them. But before that, I did give a talk once for Wyeth in which I found myself promoting Effexor, just as Dr. Carlat did (after the same training experience with Drs. Thase and Sussman, who had a similar influence on me). I had the same feeling he describes: "whoops, I just went over the line". I remember that particular talk vividly (Dr. Robert Burton, a local internist colleague, was there, for example). I still feel guilty about that one. I don't want to have that feeling again.

Dr. Phelps

Bipolar Medicine - How Do You Know If You Need It?

Abrupt mood swings alternating between mania and depressive episodes is not normal. This is a mental illness that is referred to as bipolar disorder. In layman’s term, this is recognized as manic depression. Unfortunately, this problem can only be suppressed temporarily by a bipolar medicine.

There is no known permanent cure for this sickness. However, diagnosed bipolar patients are usually issued with a prescription. Another issue here is the fact that a bipolar medicine may have serious side effects. The safest way to obtain them for treatment is to always consult your doctor. Read more

Mixed Bipolar Disorder - The Two Types Of The Disease

Mixed bipolar disorder is classified into two types. The type which is known as a mixed state is when both the symptoms of depression and of mania are present simultaneously; the other is rapid cycling. Each presents its own unique set of difficulties; and each requires its own mode of treatment.

Mixed State Classification Read more

“Happy Faces” Important for Bipolar Kids

A new study discovers children with bipolar disorder respond differently to facial expressions than children without psychiatric disorders.

These findings provide additional insight into the neurobiology of pediatric bipolar disorder. The study is published in the November issue of the journal Bipolar Disorders.

“Although we know a great deal clinically about bipolar disorder in kids, our understanding of its neurobiology is quite limited, making it difficult to design targeted treatments,” said lead author Daniel P. Dickstein, M.D., director of the pediatric mood, imaging and neurodevelopment program at Bradley Hospital.

“We used neuroimaging technology to study the brain-behavior interactions of children with bipolar disorder in hopes of shedding some light on this relatively unknown area.”

Dickstein, who is also an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, led this research while with the National Institute of Mental Health.

The study included 23 children with bipolar disorder and 22 typically developing children without psychiatric disorders between the ages of 7 and 17. Dickstein and his team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a non-invasive technique that localizes regions of the brain activated during cognition and experience, to scan the children while they “encoded” different facial expressions.

During the MRI scan, the children viewed photos of 32 different actors – eight actors each displaying one of four emotions (angry, fearful, happy and neutral) – from standard gray-scale photograph sets of facial expressions. After seeing the photos four times, they rated each face by answering questions such as “How afraid are you”” “How hostile is the face”” and “How wide is the nose””.

Thirty minutes after the MRI scan, children were given a surprise out-of-scanner memory task, during which they viewed 48 actors (half of which were seen previously during the MRI and half that were not previously viewed). They were then asked whether they recalled seeing the face during the earlier test.

During the encoding of “happy” faces, researchers observed increased activity in the region of the brain (striatum) associated with rewards in the children with bipolar disorder. Increased activity was also found in the part of the brain (orbitofrontal cortex) liked to irritability when the same children encoded “angry” faces. Brain activity in both instances was significantly greater than in children without bipolar disorder.

Based on the number of correct identifications during the memory task, Dickstein and colleagues also found that children with bipolar disorder demonstrated reduced memory for emotional faces as compared to children without bipolar disorder – particularly with “fearful” faces.

“This study suggests a neural basis for mania in children, which typically involves unusually irritable or excessively happy moods, and raises questions about whether treatments, therapy or medication could address these brain changes,” Dickstein said.

The authors say further research is required to determine the impact of mood state, medication and the presence of an additional illness, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, on these findings.

Source: Lifespan

Bipolar Relationships Taking Steps To Make Life More Pleasant

If you or your Significant Other has bipolar disorder, you probably already know that life can be difficult, miserable, and chaotic. You may be interested to know that it does not have to be that way — that both you and your partner can take certain steps which will make your lives much more livable and even pleasant. While the focus of bipolar relationships can be seen in terms of adult-aged partners, these facts also hold true in other types of relationships, such as friends, siblings, and co-workers. Read more

3 Popular Drugs Used To Treat Bipolar Disease

For many disorders, bipolar disorder included, there is not just one but many drug treatments available. Here are three of the most popular drug treatments currently being used to treat bipolar disease.

Lithium

Lithium is commonly known as the first mood stabilizer. Although it was discovered in 1817, it was not until much later in the century that it was found to have mood stabilizing properties, specifically anti-manic capabilities. By 1969 it was the preferred method of treating manic depression. Read more

25 Ways To Calm My Nerves

1. Take a 10-minute walk. This will help your body to relax and let off energy that may be leading to your anxiety.

2. Listen to some music or a relaxation CD. This will help distract you from thinking about your current stressors.

3. Stop obsessive thoughts. Keep busy as much as possible outside your home is even better to avoid getting bored.

4. Stop talking about your past. If you must, seek counseling for professional help. Soon after try to move on with your life and leave your past behind. Read more

The Bipolar Disorder Test - Diagnosing The Problem

You’ve made an appointment with your doctor, and you’re nervous. Things haven’t been going too well for you lately, and you have the distinct feeling that something about your health just isn’t right… you just aren’t sure.

The Manic Stage Read more

The Bipolar Condition - Facts And Rumors

The bipolar condition is a subject that is becoming quite well-known among the general populace. Whereas until relatively recent times it was virtually unheard of, it has joined the bandwagon as one of the latest trends. If you are not familiar with this concept, what it means is that when something which is relatively new becomes known, many are quick to grab a hold of the label and apply it whether it is accurate or not; and this hastiness to apply a diagnosis is on both the parts of mental health professionals and their prospective patients. Read more

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