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Health-Boosting Lithium?

6/30/2015

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Many have heard of lithium‬, but did you know that it was thought to have curative and health-boosting effects long before it was found to be useful for psychiatric conditions like bipolar disorder? In this interesting read "Should We All Take a Bit of Lithium?", the author reviews the history of lithium including lithium-enriched water springs being a popular health destination in the 19th century, to its use in the famous soda 7Up. Touching on more recent studies, the author also points out the benefits that lithium has with regards to the brain including decreasing the rates of suicide‬ and having positive impacts on the health and resiliency of our neurons.

"One could make a case that lithium is the Cinderella of psychotropic medications, neglected and ill used. Reported by an Australian psychiatrist, John Cade, in 1949 to be an effective treatment for bipolar disorder (it was approved as a drug by the Food and Drug Administration in 1970) its efficacy in mood disorders and suicide prevention has been documented as well as or better than virtually any other psychotropic medication. But it retains a grim and undeserved reputation, perhaps because it was originally associated in the public mind with serious mental illness and because, like many medications, lithium can have serious side effects if not monitored properly. As a psychiatrist, I can tell you that because of its stigma, lithium as a medication is a hard sell to patients with serious mood disorders who could clearly benefit from treatment. But there are undoubtedly other reasons for its neglect. Pharmaceutical companies have nothing to gain from this cheap, ubiquitous element."


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Psych In The News - Week 68

6/28/2015

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Catch up with all the news related to psychiatry and mental health from last week!


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Good Reads: The Theft of Memory

6/27/2015

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Dr. Harry L. Kozol, a man trained in both law and medicine, was a neurologist who was considered as one of the nation's top experts in the field of brain disorders.  During his career, he became known for his work in forensic psychiatry as well as the field of neuropsychiatry which continues to evolve and gain further interest today.  While Dr. Kozol spent his life assessing and diagnosing his patients, as he approached his 90s he made a life-changing diagnosis, except this time his patient was actually him.  The diagnosis? Dementia.

In this touching and honest memoir, Dr. Kozol's son Jonathan, chronicles his father's life, and particularly his journey with Alzheimer's disease.  Through the novel, one also experiences the reactions, tensions, and heart-wrenching emotions family members and especially caregivers experience as they watch their loved ones deteriorate in front of their eyes. 

Recommended For: Caregivers, families affected by dementia and Alzhiemer's disease, family physicians and those interested in seniors mental health


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Poetry Friday: Diet

6/26/2015

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In this powerful poem about living with an eating disorder‬, the poet skillfully and poignantly describes the daily battle one is faced with in their quest for attaining their ideal picture of thinness ..

"When I wake up
I feel light
And I remember that
it’s time for breakfast
I drink a cup of sweat
followed by a slice of self hatred
I make plans for the long day
and my stomach starts to pray ..."


To read the full poem, visit: http://allpoetry.com/poem/11866609-Diet-by-QuietIntrovert


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The Bright Side of Lithium

6/25/2015

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In her piece for the NY Times, I Don't Believe in God, But I Believe in Lithium, Jaime Lowe describes her experience with bipolar disorder which began during her adolescence and shares just how important the medication lithium‬ was in keeping her mind balanced and mania-free. More so, Jaime's article lets us learn more about the history behind lithium and its use in psychiatric medicine ...

"Lithium, a mood stabilizer that can help stop and prevent manic cycles, is usually the first medication tried with bipolar patients; it’s effective for most of them. Including me. I was discharged and sent back to high school with an apple-size bruise on my hip. For two decades since then, I have been taking lithium almost continuously. It has curbed my mania, my depression and, most significant, the wild delusional cycles that have taken me from obsessing over the value of zero to creating a hippie cult (my uniform: bell-bottoms, psychedelic sports bra and body glitter, head to toe). As long as I take those three pink lithium-carbonate capsules every day, I can function. If I don’t, I will be riding on top of subway cars measuring speed and looking for light in elevated realms.

The use of lithium as a therapy for mental illness goes back to at least Greek and Roman times, when people soaked in alkali-rich mineral springs to soothe both ‘‘melancholia’’ and ‘‘mania.’’ In the mid-1800s, lithium was thought to cure gout and sometimes ‘‘brain gout,’’ a lovely description for mania, extending the notion of swollen joints to a swollen brain. The element gets its name from lithos, the Greek word for stone, and lithium is indeed found in granite — and in seawater, mineral springs, meteorites, the sun and every other star and all humans. It is classified as a metal on the periodic table of elements. It was first identified as a solid in the form of petalite ore on the Swedish island Utö in 1817. A year later, scientists found that lithium, when ground into powder, turned flames crimson red — it’s the key ingredient in red fireworks. Fiery and unstable, lithium somehow calms emotional states often characterized in the same way."


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Therapy Without The Therapist?

6/24/2015

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Since the start of the 21st century, there has been an immense amount of attention and focus placed on technology, and particularly on technological advances in the fields of medicine and psychiatry. While new apps and online programs have evolved to help improve physicians' and student learners' diagnostic and therapeutic acumen, more focus is now being placed on patients themselves ...

For example, in the area of mental health‬, while psychotherapy is a powerful and important treatment for those suffering from conditions such as depression‬ and anxiety often barriers to care including access (especially in low income or rural areas), cost, and the time committment required, limit the utility of therapy. So when CBT and other similar therapeutic apps and programs began to be developed, it held huge promise and hope for reaching more people than our traditional mental health programs, but is it just as effective? Take a read of the article "Depressed? Try Therapy Without the Therapist" to learn more!

"MoodGYM and its kin are important because untreated mental illness is a huge global problem. Depression is the leading cause of disability for women worldwide, and the second-leading cause for men. If medical care is hard to come by in much of the world — in rural Indiana as well as rural India — mental health care is often impossible to get. In the United States, at least half of major depression goes untreated, and in very poor countries the figure is close to 100 percent...

Over all, the benefits of online cognitive behavioral therapy are persuasive. It allows people who could not otherwise get therapy to get it — and can help psychotherapists and specialists focus on more complex cases. It saves money for patients and health systems. And the online clinic never closes. When you can’t sleep for worry and it’s 3 a.m., your therapist is there for you."



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Taking a stroll - good for body and mind 

6/22/2015

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New large scale study shows that ‪#‎walking‬ recreationally to enjoy the outdoors and ‪#‎nature‬ has significant improvements in ‪#‎stress‬ reduction, mental health, and ‪#‎depression‬. Indeed, as an affordable and accessible method of mental well being, in conjunction with the benefits of physical‪#‎exercise‬, it shows promise as a simple and effective modality for mind and body.


http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201409/walking-depression-and-beating-stress-outdoors-nature-group
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Psych In The News - Week 67

6/21/2015

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Check out all the news related to mental health and psychiatry from last week!

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Dementia Dogs

6/20/2015

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Service dogs have received well-deserved recognition in recent years for supporting those living with mental illness. Dementia Dogs is a recent initiative in Scotland aimed at training service dogs to help those living with dementia to maintain their independence. "[Dementia Dogs] can help people with dementia maintain their walking, sleeping and eating routine, remind them to take medication, improve confidence, keep them active and engaged with their local community, as well as providing a constant companion who will reassure when facing new and unfamiliar situations." To learn more about this amazing initiative, check out the Dementia Dogs website: http://dementiadog.org/index.html


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Poetry Friday - Panic

6/19/2015

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Panic attacks can be a truly terrifying experience as this young poet vividly expresses in her poem "Panic"...

Then it grasps around the neck,
Clings real tight and blocks the breath.
Suffocation builds inside,
While jerking body right to left.

Small quick gulps of air find strength
To make their way inside,
While hands grip tight to someone else,
Where in them I confide.

For the full poem visit: http://allpoetry.com/poem/2419491-Panic-by-KrisAven

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