Wellness Retreat Blog

A majority of persons affected by alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are also affected by a co-occurring mental health or medical problem, with the prevalence statistically being between 25 and 50 percent.[1] Co-occurrence of more than one mental disorder is also not unusual[2]. According to Kessler’s The Epidemiology of Dual Diagnosis, the National Comorbidity Survey reports 51.4 percent of persons surveyed who were affected by an alcohol or other drug (AOD) disorder also stated they were also affected by a lifetime mental health disorder.[3] Also, 50.9 percent of persons surveyed who were affected by a mental health disorder stated they were

Read more

The brain’s activity is able to be adjusted therapeutically through electrical pulses, medicine, or a combination of the two. Focusing on electrical neuromodulation, Rush University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry Professor Dr. Philip G. Janicak and colleagues discuss the various techniques in which electrical currents are induced within the peripheral or central nervous tissue: electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and deep brain stimulation (DBS).[1] The electrical currents regulate certain dysfunctions within the neural circuits, impacting the brain at certain time installments, moderating the beneficial effects and decreasing the adverse effects.1 These types of therapy

Read more

Synthetic marijuana, also known as spice, blaze, or K2, is commonly consumed by adolescents and young adults. Many have even been sent to the emergency room for experiencing toxicity. A growing problem, synthetic marijuana is not even what it claims to be. Made in illegal laboratories and sold in convenience stores and smoke shops throughout the country, synthetic marijuana poisoning was responsible for 4,500 calls to Poison Control Centers from 2010 to 2011.[1] While the substance produces the euphoric and psychoactive effects similar to marijuana that users desire, it secretly contains various other substances that are much more dangerous. Users

Read more

The culmination of many factors—psychological, biological, social, and cultural—suicide behavior is more inclined to occur when there has been an individual, family, or socioeconomic crisis that is associated with some sort of loss or shame.[1] Psychologically, disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse have the highest rates of suicide ideation and behavior.[2] Therefore, in recent years researchers have been dissecting the effects certain psychiatric treatments have on suicide risk. While historically there is little evidence that psychiatric treatments reduce the risk of suicide among patients, some medicines, including the mood-stabilizer lithium, some antipsychotics, and certain antidepressants have shown

Read more

The Neuroscience Institute of Alicante has revealed that through manipulating the endocannabinoid system, a person’s level of impulsivity can be regulated—a helpful discovery for patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse, psychiatric disorders in which impulsivity is an issue.[1] A personality trait characterized by actions that lack forethought, impulsivity does not allow for the consideration of consequences. While some impulsivity is normal, as it allows humans to adapt to new surroundings, more frequent and severe impulsivity can be destructive.1 The Endocannabinoid System consists of two receptors (CB1 and CB2), two endogenous ligands, and two metabolism enzymes.1 The System regulates

Read more

Generally, psychiatric patients do not express violent behavior; however, if it should occur, it is normally brief. Still, clinicians understand that treating violent behavior is challenging.[1] According to Swanson and colleagues, schizophrenia and other major mood disorders often place patients at a higher risk of expressing violent behavior.[2] Further adding to the risk are co-occurring substance use disorders and co-occurring personality disorders.2 In fact, in patients with schizophrenia, a co-occurring substance use disorder increases the chance of violent behavior drastically. An analysis by Fazel and colleagues looked at the violent criminality of 18,423 persons with schizophrenia or other psychoses. They

Read more

Oftentimes, hallucinations in children are seen as a concern for both parents and clinicians; however, not always are they a symptom of a mental illness.[1] In fact, hallucinations in children are quite common and part of a normal development. Some other causes of hallucinations, or false sensory perceptions unassociated with real external stimuli,[2] are: stress, developmental difficulties, nonpsychotic psychopathology, psychotic illness, and family dysfunction.[3] Yoshizum and colleagues studied a sample of 11-year-old children and found that while hallucinations were present in eight to 21 percent of them, two-thirds of those children did not have a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis.[4] Other studies support

Read more

Efforts focusing on improving the validity of psychiatric diagnoses are significantly repetitive—providing a stable diagnosis leads to more effective treatment. However, rather than focusing on family or factor analytical studies, determining the factors that cause diagnostic instability seems a more practical approach.[1] University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, Professor William Coryell, M.D. states that a difference in diagnosis of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia are considerable, and not only in the medical world, but also for the individuals and their families.1 It communicates how they approach the situation and what to expect in the future. Coryell cites Bromet

Read more

Wellington Retreat, an addiction and psychiatric treatment facility, confidently introduces fitness trainers for the brain.  Perhaps this is a bit of an over simplification of the newest advances in computer technology facilitating the recovery process at The Wellington Retreat, but it serves as a useful model to introduce the role for Neurofeedback in the recovery process. For years, patients with ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder), OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and Addiction have suffered the stigma of being undisciplined rather than instilling empathy as patients suffering from a diseased brain.  Q-EEG (quantitative electroencephalography) now provides the newest computer technology to

Read more

In his article “Neuroscientific Mirages: Are We No More Than Our Brains?” Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, Herman van Praag, M.D., Ph.D. introduces the following issue: “It appears that in psychiatry, soul and mind have to retreat in favor of the brain and that brain sciences will soon occupy center stage, if that is not already the case.”[1] Overall, van Praag believes this issue is inadequately based, and delves into the philosophical, religious, and scientific reasons why. To begin, van Praag seeks to further dissect the meaning of the issue at

Read more