Health Information Center

In a previous article I discussed the importance of including balance issues in any discussion of the contributors to panic attacks and anxiety. Amazingly, this connection hasn’t received much attention, but it appears as though that’s changing. Yes, children with balance issues are being assessed for signs and symptoms of anxiety, and intervention strategies and techniques are being developed and implemented. This is great news, as it holds the potential to save millions from life-long suffering.

As you may know, in addition to our sense of hearing the inner ear is the headquarters of balance and equilibrium. Within the membranous labyrinth, a fluid-filled structure deep within the inner ear, is a relatively large area known as the vestibule. And it’s the “vestibular system” that monitors and manages balance and equilibrium by receiving and integrating input from the eyes, ears, and muscles of the trunk, neck, and limbs. Of course, the vestibular system gets a little help from its friends, one of which is the brain’s cerebellum. I guess it would make sense that the cerebellum is a major player in the integration of sensory perception, as well as motor control.

Continue reading ‘Panic Attacks and Anxiety: Treatment of Balance Issues In Childhood’ »

Hans Eysenck, a Brit born in Germany in 1916, may not be one of the more widely known personality theorists; however, he was one of the finest. And his work is important to panic attack sufferers.

Eysenck believed temperament, a characteristic mode of emotional response, is the featured component of personality. And he believed it was up and running at birth. Now, that isn’t to say he didn’t believe in the influence of environment, it’s just that he reasoned nature, as opposed to nurture, merited top billing with regard to how we think, feel, and behave.

Now, in his PEN (Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism) model, Eysenck submitted there are three dimensions of temperament; what he called “superfactors.” Within the context of panic, I’d like to limit our chat to neuroticism and extraversion.

Neuroticism
People that fall into this dimension are generally fairly calm to very nervous. According to Eysenck, these folks are prone to what he called “neurotic” problems, issues of a mental or emotional nature that result in stress. Interestingly enough, Uncle Hans focused upon the sympathetic nervous system. Well, panic sufferers know this system well, as under the direction of our fear and emotion circuitry, the sympathetic nervous system launches our physical fight/flight response. According to Eysenck, neuroticism involves, shall we say, a “hyperactive” sympathetic nervous system.

Continue reading ‘Panic Attacks, Temperament, and Uncle Hans: It's a Matter of Engineering?’ »

Anger is a perfectly normal emotion. We feel angry when we have been hurt physically or emotionally, have been wronged by someone or when we feel really frustrated. Anger is a normal human expression in response to an event or person.

We all have been angry at some time or another. Like of our other emotions: love, sadness, happiness, desire, pride and fear; we can experience anger at different levels of intensity, depending on the experience that triggered the emotion.

Continue reading ‘Anger is a Normal Emotion, but Sometimes Needs to be Controlled’ »

In my ongoing quest for knowledge pertaining to the contributors to panic attacks and anxiety, as well as treatment strategies and techniques, I came upon some very cool stuff several years ago. It’s called Somatic Experiencing (SE) and it’s the amazing work of Peter A. Levine, Ph.D. This will be the first in a series of two articles. Here we’ll have a look at SE within the context of a contributor to panic and anxiety. The article that follows will approach SE from a treatment perspective. Well, tune-in because I know you’re going to find the information fascinating, hopeful, and helpful.

SE came to life as Dr. Levine observed that though wild animals of prey are under constant threat and siege, they’re rarely traumatized. Well, I never really gave that much thought, but I suppose it’s true. So, just how in the heck do they pull that off? Well, credit is given to an innate regulating mechanism that very efficiently manages and discharges the energy that accumulates in their bodies as a result of self-preservation behaviors. Levine observed that when an animal of prey survives a potentially deadly chase, it actually takes time to physically shake-off unused energy before moving on with the herd. Well, Levine posits we humans are equipped with essentially the same mechanism; however, ours is greatly inhibited by our more advanced cognitive capabilities. Man, how many times does thinking mess things up for us? By the way, isn’t it interesting that we so often use the phrase, “Just shake it off,” when someone takes a relatively minor hit of some kind. Continue reading ‘Panic Attacks, Anxiety, and Somatic Experiencing: Part I’ »

Background -

One aspect of the mental health Access and Retention Initiative involves using transaction data to identify non-engaged patients. These patients may be defined as those having diagnoses including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bi-polar disorder and who, during the pre-pilot period missed 30% or more of their scheduled individual therapy appointments and/ or medication management follow-up appointments. Once these patients are identified, their provider staff will be identified and will pilot one or more strategies intended to improve patient engagement.

The purpose of this article is to outline some potential ‘engagement improvement’ strategies as a basis for pilot staff “self assessment” (i.e. where do individual pilot staff stand with regard to current use of the strategies), “strategy selection” (i.e. which strategies do the pilot staff believe might improve retention among their identified pilot cases) and “identification of training/ support” for strategy implementation. Since the no-show / cancellation rates for the selected ‘non-engaged’ pilot patients will have occurred in the context of current practice, site teams are encouraged to pilot strategies not currently in use or not consistently in use. Continue reading ‘The Patient Centered Approach to Treating Patients Suffering with Schizophrenia and other Serious Mental Illnesses’ »

Incoming search terms:

• person centered therapy and schizophrenia
• person-centered treatment plan for schizophrenia patient
• Serious Mental Illness: Person-centered Approaches

If you lose things inexplicably, similar to motor key or wallet several times a week what condition might you own?
if you are in your 30’s, not elderly its call where did i put the bloody key and wallet , dont worry roughly speaking it ive done that from about the age of 18…

Is in that and protected wholestic vitimans for bipolar?
I was in recent times wondering if you guys know ofd any safe wholestice vitimens that I can give somebody a lift in enclosure to my lythum and atvn i take for my bipolar I am type 1 bipolar.I do relize that some whoestic solutions could…

OK here is the problem. I dunno wats wrong wid me.?
i hv be depressed fr a few months immediately bt culdnt want formal minister to.cudnt explain to my parents. my friends told me 2 look at the brighter side of time and cope up beside the depression.(it ws pretty fruitless .. i have turned a… Continue reading ‘Mental Health questions and answers’ »

Here are a few simple things that you can learn that will allow you to calm down and relax. Take Deep Breaths: Breathe from your diaphragm. When you breathe from your chest, it won’t relax you like deep breathing will. Picture in your mind your breath coming up from way down in your abdominal area.

Slowly repeat a calming word or phrase such as “relax,” “take it easy”, “it’s ok.” Repeat the word or phrase to yourself while breathing deeply.

Continue reading ‘Strategies That Tame the Anger Monster’ »

Mental health counselling can be an effective therapy as part of a wider treatment plan for an individual who is suffering from depression or an anxiety related disorder, or for people who have experienced a traumatic event in their lives and are finding it difficult to cope with, or for those who are struggling to deal with specific problems and issues. It is often a doctor who will recommend mental health counselling, however, many individuals will seek the services of a counsellor themselves, either by asking their doctor for advice or by approaching a counsellor directly.

What is counselling

Continue reading ‘Mental Health Counselling Is A Great Idea’ »

I read a marvelous article several days ago entitled, “Understanding the Anxious Mind.” Written by Robin Marantz Henig, it appeared in the September 29, 2009 edition of The New York Times Magazine. The article was so good I knew I’d have to spread the word moments after I began reading it. And you can be sure I’ll keep it handy for future reference.

Henig wrote about the longitudinal anxiety studies of Harvard psychology professor Jerome Kagan. Also featured was the work of Harvard psychiatrist Carl Schwartz who conducted follow up research on Kagan’s work.

Kagan’s studies focused upon the role of temperament in the predisposition for anxiety. His methodology consisted of establishing anxiety baselines in infants and tracking the unfolding of anxiety as the subjects progressed into adolescence and adulthood. The work brought to mind the temperament-based personality theory of Hans Eysenck, which I’ve written about in the past. Continue reading ‘Panic Attacks and Anxiety: Recap of a Great Article’ »

The effects of secondhand smoke on the lungs and on the heart have been clearly demonstrated in previous studies.  Now it appears that secondhand smoke might also affect one’s mental health.

A new study examined more than 5000 non-smoking adults and more than 2500 smoking adults.  Each participant, none of whom had a history of mental illness, was asked about psychological distress and admission to psychiatric hospitals.  The participants were followed for a period of six years. Continue reading ‘Secondhand Smoke and Mental Health’ »