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36 Results for search "Emotional Disorders: Misc.".

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What is anorexia nervosa? Anorexia nervosa, or simply anorexia, is a psychiatric and physical illness in which the sufferer basically starves herself. Clinically, a person is anorexic if she has 85 percent or less of the normal body weight for someone of her age and height, yet continues to fast or diet. An estimated 1 percent of teenage girls have the disease. It's a serious condition that can ca...

After countless phone calls pleading for an appointment, the patient appeared in Dr. Luis Fajardo's office. She took a seat and began frantically pulling little bits of material out of her nose. "These are the parasites that are bothering me," she cried. "They're crawling inside my nose." Luis Fajardo, a physician and professor emeritus of pathology at Stanford University, looked at the material ...

In real life, salvation doesn't usually debut as tidily as it does in the movies. You know, when the heroine peeks in the rearview mirror or glances up at a billboard, and there it is in fiery script: the magic combination that will make her life work. But that's how it seemed when Sally Shreve's phone rang one morning last winter. Shreve's friend, Sue Ann DeBower, was on the line, exclaiming ove...

We all have times when we feel euphoric or despondent. A death in the family can cause profound sadness. Winning a sports competition can lead to elation. But some people have dramatic shifts in mood that can take them by surprise. Through no fault of their own, their brains can shift from deep depression to unsettling highs. This condition used to be called manic depression, but now it's known a...

Shirley Beeman's mother used to get drunk and beat her daughter with a wooden spoon, even throwing her through the wall on several occasions. When she was just a toddler, a teenage cousin began molesting her, and years later an uncle took over where the cousin left off. Today, Beeman* has confronted her childhood abuse and discusses it quite openly. Talking about the past and dealing with it, she ...

What is brief therapy? Brief therapy, also called solution-oriented therapy, is based on the idea that most people don't have to spend years on an analyst's couch to solve their emotional problems. The method was developed in the late 1960s by a group of psychotherapists who challenged conventional beliefs about how much self-knowledge you need in order to change. They suggested that treatment sh...

At a recent family reunion in Atlanta, Janis Sellers* learned something unusual. Sitting around the table at Christmas with several relatives, the topic somehow shifted to depression. "It turned out that all four of my female cousins on my mom's side were taking antidepressants, and so were their mothers," recalls Sellers, who had been treated for depression herself. "I always knew that depression...

What is music therapy? Hospitals around the country now make use of Mozart and Beethoven as well as morphine and bandages. Although the "Moonlight Sonata" certainly sounds better than the normal din of a hospital ward, the music isn't there for entertainment. It's being played because many nurses and doctors believe that a good dose of it can ease pain, reduce anxiety, and even protect the heart. ...

Can depression and anxiety help cause hypertension? You don't need to measure your blood pressure to know that a heated argument or a walk down a dark alley can send that pressure soaring. Your pounding heart and flushed face say it all. Stress can temporarily boost blood pressure: For instance, some people have short-term hikes in blood pressure when they visit a doctor's office. Fortunately, th...

How does depression affect cancer patients? For cancer patients, depression means much more than just a dark mood. The illness, which strikes about up to 25 percent of all cancer patients (compared with about 7 percent of the general public), can sap a person's immune system, weakening the body's ability to cope with disease. Patients fighting both depression and cancer feel distressed, tend to ha...

In 1994, Kurt Cobain took his life at the age of 27. Like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and other rock stars who died young before him, Cobain has achieved a youthful immortality in which his memory endures as symbol more than man. As the reluctant poster child for Seattle's early-'90s grunge rock explosion, Cobain never adjusted to his enormous fame as leader of the band Nirvana. His ...

There may come a time in your life in which the days go by in a monotonous blur. None of the activities that you used to enjoy so much give you any pleasure; nothing excites you; no one makes your pulse race. You feel listless and empty, although plagued by a vague anxiety and dread. Family members may accuse you of being irritable and snapping at them for no reason, and it's true that at present ...

Even psychologists get the blues. As James Pennebaker's marriage started to flounder, the noted therapist sunk into a massive depression. After a month of misery, he turned to a trusted source of comfort: his typewriter. Each afternoon, he pounded out his thoughts about his failing marriage and other crucial issues, from sex to death. He didn't realize it at the time, but the words on those pages ...

SAM-e (pronounced "sammy") is short for S-adenosylmethionine and has become a big seller in the supplement industry. The compound supposedly eases the symptoms of both depression and osteoarthritis, a combination punch that no prescription drug can match. Even if you've never swallowed a SAM-e supplement, the compound is hard at work in your body. SAM-e, which forms naturally when the amino acid m...

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder? For millions of Americans with winter depression, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, sunlight streaming through the window after months of gray skies is more than a sign of spring. It means that the depression that has lingered during the dark winter months will also lift. People with the disorder may soon feel energetic again, perhaps inspired and involved. In t...

Does someone close to you constantly insult you or humiliate you? Do you feel like you're always walking on eggshells in an effort to keep that person from blowing up at you? Are you starting to believe the accusations that person levels at you? If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you may be a victim of verbal abuse. This form of abuse, though it may not leave the easily discernib...

In the words of psychiatrist David Burns, MD, people who are depressed are often masters of illusion. Their pessimistic outlook -- and some unconscious tricks of the mind -- can turn triumphs into setbacks, and setbacks into personal failings. Those of us prone to depression may be successful and accomplished, but we're often plagued by negative thoughts about ourselves and our future. This thinki...

For many of us, learning how to understand and handle our feelings is a lifelong task. For depressed people, however, recognizing and experiencing emotions is essential to recovery. According to psychotherapist Richard O'Connor, PhD, this is the very starting point for overcoming and preventing depression. Some people are afraid of emotions because they fear they will be overwhelmed, even consumed...

Every year at his family's Christmas party, Peter Sheras' relatives would drive him to distraction. There was the overbearing aunt who habitually "smooched me or pounded on my arm." At the end of the party, he was exhausted and stressed from trying to evade her. Finally, after years of this cat-and-mouse game, Sheras, a psychologist, found a way to cope with the stress of dealing with obnoxious re...

Alexandra Kennedy always knew the day would come when her son, Taylor, would leave for college and an independent life. She was sure she would be prepared. After all, as a marriage and family therapist in Santa Cruz, California, Kennedy specializes in grief counseling. Having counseled countless other parents through this passage, she expected her training would shield her from many of the conflic...

In Truckee, California, 25-year-old Timothy Brooks flew into a rage after another car cut him off on the highway. He followed the offending car to a bagel shop where the driver, 47-year-old Robert Ash, had stopped to eat. After yelling at the older man, Brooks attacked him, stabbing him to death with a knife. Brooks was convicted of second-degree murder. In Little Falls, New Jersey, May Lee and h...

In this high-tech, high-pressure age, multitasking has become a national pastime. No matter where we are or what we're doing, we can always add one more ball to the juggling act. Many people regularly check emails on their Blackberry while talking on the cell phone, pausing only to yell at other drivers. "Because of all of the new electronic gadgets like cell phones, Palm Pilots, and other person...

Despite the talk about the "stages of grief," there's no real guide to mourning. Each person reacts to loss in his or her own way. Still, there is one universal component of grief: Almost every loss, no matter how expected, will be accompanied by stress and disorientation. In the words of a report from the National Mental Health Association, "The loss of a loved one is life's most stressful event....

Lost love. It's difficult to think of great literature without this enduring theme. Would, for example, Emily Bronte's Heathcliff and his passion for Cathy have captured our imaginations if they had lived happily ever after in Wuthering Heights? And would Romeo and Juliet have been as memorable if they had quietly married with the blessing of their families? Unfortunately, what makes for great...

No American will ever forget where he or she was on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. I'm no exception, though that date will always mark two major events in my life. When the first plane struck the World Trade Center, I was at a funeral home, preparing to act as a pallbearer at my father's memorial service and burial. It was a duty I assumed with sadness but also some ambivalence. My father left hom...

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric problems among older people, but it's not a natural or inescapable part of aging. Seniors don't become "grumpy" or "crotchety" (to name two stereotypical descriptions) simply because they've grown older. They may be clinically depressed -- which may be misinterpreted by others, and by the depressed individuals themselves. Friends, family, and even d...

When does gambling become a problem? Gambling can be a fun diversion for adults of any age. Many people enjoy going to the horse races, picking teams in an office pool, or dreaming of lottery winnings. For seniors, especially, a bingo parlor or casino can be a great opportunity for socializing and a nice break from routine life. The great majority of people, young and old, gamble responsibly, but...

Nikki Tilford's first glimpse into her personal nightmare came 21 years ago as she was driving to her job at the University of Cincinnati. "It was like a thunderbolt inside of me. My heart just started racing and my first thought was that I was having a heart attack or a stroke," says Tilford. Everything seemed normal when she got to work, so she dismissed it as a bad morning. The next day, on the...

If you have an explosive temper or simply snap at people more often than you'd like, you would probably benefit from being able to control your anger more. Remember, anger is only a feeling; how you deal with that feeling is your choice. With a little practice, you can learn how to avoid blow-ups that only harm you and the people you care about. 1. Recognize the warning signs Can you recognize wh...

Anger is a signal, and one worth listening to. -- Psychologist Harriet Goldhor Lerner, in The Dance of Anger Anger is a perfectly normal, healthy emotion -- and a warning that we should pay attention to. It can indicate that we're being harmed, that our needs aren't being met, and that we're compromising too much of our own values in a relationship. It may mean that our rights are being trampled o...

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's reasonable to fear earthquakes. However, it's far less reasonable to fixate on the possibility that, in a major temblor the snakes in a nearby pet shop will escape and slither into your office, looking for you. That kind of phobia is right up Dr. Howard Liebgold's alley. You may not have heard of Liebgold by his real name. He's much better known as "...

Diane Berman* started young. She remembers being at dinner when someone began talking about a man who had died from hardening of the arteries. "I realized I had all the symptoms: chest pain, trouble breathing," Berman recalls. "I remember being beside myself, going to my mother and saying, 'I think I have that!'" Berman was 4 years old at the time. This was her first brush with hypochondria, a psy...

While people who are apt to fly into rages face one set of problems, those who rarely express their anger -- including those who don't even acknowledge that they feel anger -- can face negative consequences as well. One recent study of 23,000 older men found that those who outwardly expressed their anger from time to time had a significantly decreased risk of stroke and heart disease than men who ...

When Hurricane Katrina unleashed its fury over southern Louisiana, it wiped out more than just buildings and homes. Survivors escaped harm only to find themselves reliving the nightmare again and again. More than a month after the hurricane passed, nearly half the survivors still showed signs of emotional distress, including intense fear and anxiety, according to a survey by the Centers for Diseas...

You might hit the tennis courts a few times a month. You might go to the gym like clockwork. Perhaps you've just returned from a Hawaii vacation. But ask yourself: When was the last time you really lost yourself in fun? When was the last time that minutes and hours just seemed to fly by as you engaged your body and mind? In other words, when was the last time you really played? For adults, playti...

Tim Day is a master sergeant in the Air Force. When the Gulf War erupted in the early 1990s, he was one of the first to volunteer for Operation Desert Storm. He also runs three miles a day and plays full contact football, often emerging from games bloodied and bruised. But he is so terrified of seeing a dentist that he refused to get his teeth cleaned for nine years. Now when it's time for a routi...