...Upon researching the background and the meaning behind the anti-psychiatry movement, which began in the 1960’s, I have come to the conclusion that the short stories encompassed within the book entitled Shrink Wrapped, should in fact be considered a part of this movement. Psychiatry has always had its fair share of opposition among the medical, religious and social fields, but this group of criticasters grew in the 60’s when the public was brought to awareness of the procedures and the treatment of patients in psychiatric hospitals around the country. While the field of psychology and psychiatry are very closely related, psychiatry is generally geared more towards the mental well-being and chemical imbalances with the patient as opposed to solely the thoughts and feelings of this same patient. Psychiatrists focus on the prevention and treatment of mental disorders which in and of...
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...Anti-NMDA Encephalitis: A Novel Presentation of Schizophrenia Stephen A Belz B Pharm MPS The Prince Charles Hospital Pharmacy Department Rode Road, Chermside QLD 4032 ABSTRACT Background: It has been suggested that the modulation of dopamine is not the complete story when it comes to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Multiple other neurotransmitters have been linked to the condition such as NMDA & Serotonin. N-methyl D-asparate (NMDA) modulation has been used with success for a number of other conditions such as pain control and Alzheimer’s disease. Due to the high incidence of relapse and treatment failure of current therapies, it is vitally important that medical science looks further into the modulation of the other neurotransmitters involved. Aim: To report one case that illustrates a novel presentation of treatment resistant schizophrenia, that through extensive investigation produced a diagnosis of anti-NMDA antibody encephalitis. Clinical details and outcome: The patient had experienced extensive treatment for schizophrenia over at least 5 documented years at a number of institutions & hospitals with varying degrees of success. The patient’s presentation to TPCH resulted in the detection of Anti-NMDA antibodies leading to the diagnosis. Treatments used included immunomodulators and antipsychotics. Conclusions: After a prolonged admission, the patient was discharged back to her family substantially improved and is receiving maintenance immunoglobulin...
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...THE RELIABILITY OF PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that recognizes and treats mental illness. This science follows a medical model that is considered successful in classifying abnormal behavior. Psychiatrists need medical training in order to diagnose and treat mental disorders following the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, for more than two centuries, there has been an anti-psychiatry movement that questions the reliability and helpfulness of psychiatric treatments. Many psychiatrists such as Maurice Temerlin(1968) and David Rosenhan(1973) supported some of the objections and criticisms of the anti-psychiatry movement. Rosenhan questioned the reliability of psychiatric diagnoses and accused diagnostic labels of impairing medical judgement. David Rosenhan carried out the study “On Being Sane In Insane Places” through which he wanted to prove that psychiatric diagnoses are not reliable (Rosenhan, 1973). For the first part of the study, eight sane participants (pseudo-patients) pretended to have auditory hallucinations in order to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals in different states across the United States. Participants for the experiment included three psychologists, one psychiatrist, a graduate student, a housewife, a pediatrician, and a painter. The only false information given for admission was their name, job, and the claim of recent auditory hallucinations. All other details regarding their relationships...
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...ORIGINAL Afr J Psychiatry 2010;13:116-124 Mental Health Stigma: What is being done to raise awareness and reduce stigma in South Africa? 1 R Kakuma1,2,3, S Kleintjes3, C Lund3, N Drew4, A Green5, AJ Flisher3,6, MHaPP Research Programme Consortium7 Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada 2Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada 3Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa 4Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland 5Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development (NCIHD), University of Leeds, United Kingdom 6Research Centre for Health Promotion, University of Bergen, Norway 7The Mental Health and Poverty Project (MHaPP) is a Research Programme Consortium (RPC) funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID)(RPC HD6 2005- 2010) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DfID. RPC members include Alan J. Flisher (Director) and Crick Lund (Co-ordinator) (University of Cape Town, Republic of South Africa (RSA)); Therese Agossou, Natalie Drew, Edwige Faydi and Michelle Funk (World Health Organization); Arvin Bhana (Human Sciences Research Council, RSA); Victor Doku (Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana); Andrew Green and Mayeh Omar (University of Leeds, UK); Fred Kigozi (Butabika Hospital, Uganda); Martin Knapp (University of London,...
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...1. Introduction This paper provides a brief overview of evidence based psychological treatments for anxiety disorders. It addresses the following questions: • How common are anxiety disorders? • What psychological treatments have empirical support? • What recovery rates can be achieved with these treatments? • How enduring are their effects? • Is there value in combining psychological treatments with medication? Psychological treatments can be delivered in a variety of formats. This paper restricts itself to the traditional, and most extensively researched, format of face-to-face contact with a fully qualified therapist. For most anxiety disorders the therapy sessions are once weekly for 60-90 minutes spread over a period of 8-20 weeks, with homework assignments in between. However, in specific phobias, the strongest outcomes have been obtained with a single, long (3-5 hour) session with a therapist, followed by a briefer follow-up session a week or so later. 2. How common are anxiety disorders? The most recent British Psychiatric Morbidity Survey1 estimates that 16.4% of the population have a diagnosable anxiety and/or depressive disorder. The diagnostic system that was used in the survey (ICD-10) is different from the diagnostic system (DSM-IV) that has been used in most trials of psychological treatments. For this reason, it is difficult to be precise about the number of individuals in the UK who have anxiety disorders for which there...
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...constructionism is to uncover the ways in which individuals and groups participate in the creation of their perceived reality. It involves looking at the ways social phenomena are created, institutionalized, and made into tradition by humans. Socially constructed reality is seen as an ongoing, dynamic process; reality is re-produced by people acting on their interpretations and their knowledge of it. Social phenomena include all behavior which influences or is influenced by organisms sufficiently alive to respond to one another. Behaviour refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. Behavior can be conscious or unconscious. Social constructionism can be seen as a source of the postmodern movement, and has been influential in the field of cultural studies. Some have gone so far as to attribute the rise of cultural studies (the cultural turn) to social constructionism. Berger (1966) is perhaps best known for his view that social reality is a form of consciousness. Central to Berger's work is the relationship between society and the individual. In his book The Social Construction of Reality Berger develops a sociological theory: 'Society as Objective Reality and as Subjective Reality'. His analysis of society as subjective reality describes the process by which an individual's conception of reality is produced by his or her interaction with social structures. He writes about how new human concepts or inventions become a part of...
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...Derrick L. Jackson Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice CRJS410 - 1304A - 01 Professor: Samantha Carlo Unit 1 Individual Project 1 July 25, 2013 Abstract Within this paper a report is written for the California Chief Attorney in efforts to support a presentation to the County Commission. Key components of victimology, history of victimology, theories, and differences between criminology and victimology are discussed. The flagstaff of safe houses for abused women and children, along with our nation’s first rape crises center are highlighted. The contribution from our history’s civil rights movement and how it has played a part in the U.S. laws are explained, along with children’s rights groups and the problems child victims face in the criminal justice system. In the conclusion of this paper, readers will be given a path to take in regards to advocacy groups for victims. Before we begin to understand the concept of victimology I feel it is important to first understand the definition of a victim, and the history in which victimology stems from. To be a victim means that you are a person who individually or collectively, has suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of your fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative within member state, including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power (UN Declaration 1985 on Basic Principles of Justice for Victims...
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...on February 7, 1870 (Adler University, 2008). He was third of the seven children. Early on, he developed rickets, which made motor movements difficult and painful for him and he was unable to walk until the age of four. From the very young age Adler decided to become a physician due to his interactions with doctors and rapidly became very interested in the subjects of psychology, sociology and also philosophy. At University of Vienna, he specialized as an eye doctor, and later in neurology and psychiatry. In 1895 Adler received a medical degree from the University of Vienna during which he had become attached to a group of socialist students and found his wife, Raissa Timofeyewna Epstein, who was an intellectual and social activist from Russia studying in Vienna. Adler and Raissa married in 1897 and had four children. Their children grew up to become a writer, two psychiatrist and a Socialist activist. Adler began his medical career as an ophthalmologist, but switched to general practice and established his office in Vienna across from a circus. His patients included circus employees, and it has...
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...effective, and increase public health. The scientific and medical communities, by a vast majority, support the use of vaccinations and are desperately attempting to get vaccines to third world countries and end massive generations-long death tolls attributed to preventable diseases. The diseases that these vaccines prevent had been eradicated in the United States and Western Europe for decades. Why, then, are people willing to allow their children to go unvaccinated in first world nations? Cognitive dissonance may hold the answer to this question. Ian and Linda Williams are educated parents in Auckland, New Zealand, who refused to vaccinate their son, Alijah. This decision would be life-altering. The family was caught up in the recent anti-vaccine movement, promoted heavily by celebrities like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Jim Carrey, and Jenny McCarthy - one of the most famous opponents to vaccine use. This paper will delve into the shocking story of one family’s regrettable decision to not vaccinate their child and the possible social psychological phenomena that led to their decision. What is Cognitive Dissonance? Cognitive dissonance theory “assumes that we feel tension, or a lack of harmony, when two simultaneously accessible thoughts or beliefs are...
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...Rehabilitating the Court System Gulsah Cetin Barry University Abstract This paper focuses on a court innovation for criminally involved people who suffer with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. It describes a recently developed strategy for dealing with the challenges of working with mentally ill individuals. The paper also discusses the historical and legal underpinnings of Mental Health Courts (MHCs), their growth, and the defining elements and operations of the earliest MHCs, which are best, viewed as evolving models of practice. Finally, the paper reviews studies of MHC operations and effectiveness and suggests future directions for MHCs. Rehabilitating the Court System In 2000, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported there were an estimated 283,000 prison and jail inmates who suffered from mental health problems. That number is now estimated to be 1.25 million. The rate of reported mental health disorders in the state prison population is five times greater (56.2 percent) than in the general adult population (11 percent). MHCs were developed in an attempt to solve the problem of criminalizing the mentally ill; this phenomenon occurs when the mentally ill are arrested and prosecuted for minor offenses rather than being treated by the mental health system. A greater focus on this may foresee a decrease in the rate of reported mental health disorders within the prison system. The basis for the above...
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...institutions, foster care or adoptive families. Measurements included the Observational Record of the Caregiving Environment, Strange Situation Procedure, Disturbances of Attachment Interview, and the Preschool Aged Psychiatric Assessment (Smyke, et. al. 2012), the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Interview (Cone, et. al., 2009) in addition to the Reactive Affective Disorder Checklist (RAD-C) and the Relationships Problem Questionnaire (RPQ), in the diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder (Thrall, et al., 2009). These measurements were not only utilized to discover the existence of RAD, but to test the validity of the methods. Additionally, treatment studies including holding, narrative therapy, parenting skills training, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, psychodrama, and/or neurofeedback (Wimmer, et. al.,2009) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (Cone, et. al.,2009) are examined. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) lists Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) as a serious, directly linked outcome of early infant–mother attachment difficulties (American Psychiatric Association 2000). According to the DSM-IV-TR, Reactive Attachment Disorder is ‘‘the psychological disturbance of the relationship between a child and his parent(s) or primary caregiver based on pathogenic care’’ (American Psychiatric Association 2000, p 128). It is characterized by ‘‘markedly disturbed and...
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...Abstract Could you imagine being so afraid of food and the possibility of gaining weight that you would actually starve yourself? Food and eating are pleasures of everyday life we take for granted. Having the life of an Anorexic person fills you with the constant fear of one thing “becoming fat”. Many teen girls suffer with anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder in which girls use starvation diets to try to lose weight. They starve themselves down to skeletal thinness yet still think that they are overweight. Bulimia, meanwhile, is a disorder in which young women binge on food and then force themselves to vomit. They also often use laxatives to get food out of their system. All of these young women who suffer from this problem are considered to suffer from a psychiatric disorder. While the causes are debatable, one thing that is clear is that these young women have a distorted body image. (Wolf, 1991, p. 214-216) Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa are slowly gripping a part of the female adolescent to young adult population. Although, Anorexia Nervosa has only been public since the 1970’s, records of the disorder go back as far as 1689. Thomas Morton, an English physician, studied subjects with a disorder he called the “wasting” disease. He had two cases, which were very similar. One was an eight-teen yr. old girl and the other was a six-teen yr. old boy. Both subjects had similar symptoms. They both had a strong lack of appetite, sensitivity to coldness, and extreme...
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...DEPRESSION IN ADOLESCENTS 2. Table of Contents Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….…....3. Background of Depression in Adolescence…….…………………………………………….4. Causes ...............................................................................................................................…...5. Symptoms………………………………………………………………………………….…6. Diagnosis….…………………………………………………………………………………. 7. Treatment……………………………………………………………………………………..7. Epidemiology of Depression in Youth……………………………………………………….9. Contextualised issues pertaining to Depression in Adolescence……………………………10. The impact of Culture on Adolescent Depression…………………………………………...10. Abnormal behaviours associated with Adolescent Depression….…………………………..11. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...11. References…………………………………………………………………………………...12. DEPRESSION IN ADOLESCENTS 3. This research paper will address depression in adolescents. Depression is often labelled as ‘the sickness of our time’ due to its prolific nature. Some of the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of depression in adolescents as well as the contextualised issues, cultural implications and other abnormal behaviour associated with the disorder will be discussed. DEPRESSION IN ADOLESCENTS 4. Background of Depression in Adolescence Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood, a stage of major growth and development in which significant physiological, cognitive, psychological...
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...Running head: EXAMINATION OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Examination of Clinical Psychology University of Phoenix PST/480 Karen Wilson Nov 14, 2011 Examination of Clinical Psychology Clinical psychology is a very important as well as popular part of the field of psychology that is used very often. To begin, a definition of clinical psychology will be included. According to APA (2009) “Clinical psychology attempts to use the principles of psychology to better understand, predict, and alleviate ‘intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human functioning’” (Plante, 2011, p. 5). The following paper will first describe the history and evolving nature of clinical psychology. Second, the role of research and statistics in clinical psychology will be addressed. Finally, the differences between clinical psychology and other mental health professions will be examined. Clinical psychology provides an insight into the human psyche and how we as individuals can deal with different aspects of the world around us. The first item to be discussed is the history and evolving nature of clinical psychology. History of Clinical Psychology Clinical psychology has been around unofficially for hundreds of years. People have always had mental or emotional problems in the past, but there was never a name to go with the problem. Psychology has been around since 2500 B.C. but during that time period people used magic, herbs, reasoning...
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...Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 3/29/2015 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder A mental illness refers to a group of psychiatric disorders that are characterized by severe disturbances in thought, mood, and behavior. According to Zelman, PhD, Tompary, PharmD, Raymond, PhD, Holdaway, MA, and Mulvihill, PhD (2010) mental illness affects one of every four Americans. The history of post-traumatic stress disorder goes back as long as since there has been any trauma. During the early periods, it was war that caused post-traumatic stress disorder. Signs and symptoms may start within three months from a traumatic event but sometimes it can also take years to develop. Post-traumatic stress disorder can be diagnosed base on signs and symptoms as well as psychological evaluation. Treatment for post traumatic disorder is psychotherapy but also includes medication. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can affect individuals who have been exposed to an overwhelming traumatic incident such as the events of Hurricane Katrina, war, and or encounters of trauma such as rape, violence or child abuse. Throughout the history of post-traumatic stress disorder, it was not recognized as a disorder until 1980 in the Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (Zagata, 2010). In the earlier periods, post-traumatic stress disorder was limited to war experiences. During the American Civil War, many physicians in the military experienced emotionally behaviors to stress and fear of battle...
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