Few things are more misunderstood than mental illness. People once thought mental illness was caused by demon possession, sin or witchcraft. Often the mentally ill were cruelly mistreated or killed. You might think those days are long over, but superstition and ignorance are hard to overcome. It wasn’t so long ago that we were taught that our secret thoughts and fears caused mental disorders. Until recently, treatment for mental illness happened in distant and dismal state run asylums (think about “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” – that isn’t far off the mark). The mentally ill were feared and shunned. But in the last 20 years, things have changed dramatically.
Health
The Fiive Myths of Mental Illness
- 10 September 2010
- Margareth Hawkins
Serious mental illness is scary and off-putting even for the healthiest among us, but for those afflicted it’s a thousand times worse. They’re often isolated, misunderstood and adrift from lives that once felt purposeful. Sometimes they even hear voices and suffer terrifying delusions. And it isn’t just the sick person who suffers – mental illness can and often does devastate
whole families. Part of what hurts, of course, is the illness itself, and, for families, the loss of a fully functioning loved one. But when you add to that the suffering caused by stigma and shame, and the resulting secrecy that keeps whole families from asking for help, you have a truly vicious cycle.
Five ways to increase your brain power
- 25 June 2009
- Sondra Kornblatt
If you can’t remember where you left your keys or the name of a new colleague, it’s probably not stupidity or dementia. More likely, your brain has gotten caught in ruts and information overload. But you can help your brain learn and remember. Create new connections—big or small—and your brain becomes more active and stays flexible. Even the brains of older people can grow new neurons. Here are five ways to create new neural pathways and to help your brain stay plastic:
Managing the Symptons of Menopause
- 03 March 2009
- Douglas Kirkpatrick, MD
Each day, an estimated 6,000 women reach menopause—the time in a woman’s life when the ovaries stop producing eggs and menstrual periods stop. Most women experience menopause-related symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, and vaginal dryness. For some, these symptoms can be annoying and uncomfortable, but for others, menopausal changes severely affect quality of life, making it hard to focus on much else.
