Going to Extremes: Cognitive Factors and Mood Disorders
Researchers have isolated social and cognitive factors that contribute to mood disorder. For example the loss of a parent, particularly a mother, early in life is a powerful predictor of mood disorder. Early abuse experiences may also trigger the on...
Going to Extremes: Genetic Links to Mood Disorders
If a person has a first degree relative who suffers from bipolar disorder or depression they are significant risk for having a mood disorder themselves, as we see in the cases of Beverly and Kay Redfield Jameson. Stephen Hinshaw talks about wonderin...
Going to Extremes: Researching the Causes of Schizophrenia
The sources for complex psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia involve looking for contributions from many different gene variants. These gene combinations do not exhibit the cognitive impairment that characterizes the disease until the brain reac...
Going to Extremes: Support for Families of the Mentally Ill
More than anything, families with loved ones who are mentally ill need information and support. Too often psychological disorders are still considered a source of shame. The public at large as well as family members need to know that these are commo...
Abnormal Psychology; Introduction to Psychology: Suicide Risk
Fifty percent of people with bipolar disorder attempt suicide at some point in their lives; 20% complete the act. Kay Redfield Jamison talks about her own struggle with bipolar disorder and the sense of helplessness and pain that result. The period ...
Abnormal Psychology; Introduction to Psychology: Bipolar Disorder
With bipolar disorder, the mood landscape is more complex. In the first stage called hypo mania depressions are offset by periods of mild mania. For about 50% of people with bipolar illness, these early stages are an incredible rush of ideas and cre...
Abnormal Psychology; Introduction to Psychology: Depression, the World's Leading Cause of Disability
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and the number one reason people seek help from mental health professionals. There is no way of predicting who will get depressed, although family history and previous depressive episodes are ...
Abnormal Psychology; Introduction to Psychology: Creating Treatments That Work
Clinicians assume that the treatment of personality disorders will take longer because it's an attempt to change the core person, a person who has been rehearsing these behaviors for a lifetime. To assist the development of treatments, researchers a...
Abnormal Psychology; Introduction to Psychology: Symptoms of Depression
Depression is not the normal ups and downs of mood that are part of life but getting stuck down and staying there for weeks. The physical and emotional symptoms of depression range from a sense of profound worthlessness and loss of interest in what ...
Out of Balance: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
A person who suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder repeatedly re-experiences a disturbing event in their life. A scene of what happened pops into their mind or they alternately try to convince themselves that it could not have happened. Not eve...