I like the word "stress", and I find that patients accept the word and the concept. It helps answer the question, "why am I so screwed up?" It certainly beats words like "schizophrenia", "manic depressive" and "neurosis." "Borderline personality" never sold well. Change starts with awareness. Only when you know […]
Daily Archives: November 16, 2004
30 posts
Many studies show that stress symptoms and disorders are increasing. Not only are more people becoming clinically depressed, but it’s starting at an earlier age. Suicide is second only to accidents in cause of death in teenagers. The average adult weighs 30 pounds more than in 1970. Stress is a […]
? Body dysmorphic disorder • Hypochondriasis • Anorexia nervosa/Bulimia • Tourettes syndrome • Tics • ADHD/ADD • Trichotillomania (hair pulling) • Pathological gambling • Addictions • Asperger’s
? OCD is like the brain getting ‘stuck in gear? unable to shift to another thought • 2% to 3% of Americans, or 1 in 50 are affected by OCD • Onset of OCD is usually in adolescence or early adulthood • Studies show a gap of 17 years between […]
Classic OCD starts with a thought, “what if?”. Obsessive thoughts lead to compulsive behaviors. The serotonin system in the brain is overactive. Medications that increase serotonin make OCD worse. Every medicine that significantly helps OCD is a Reuptake Inhibitor of serotonin, or SSRI. When an SSRI is taken initially, (within […]
I always insist that my OCD patients listen to or read Brainlock, by Jeffrey Schwartz. The book not only explains effective cognitive behavioral techniques, but also teaches how to do “self talk.” This helps reduce OCD behavior. Schwartz and his UCLA colleagues also demonstrated that doing these techniques not only […]
The Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, SSRI’s, remain the number one choice for the treatment of OCD. All people with OCD have some abnormalities of the brain neuromodulator serotonin – some are high and others are low. Some types of OCD are effected by the brain modulators dopamine and/or norepinephrine. Frequently more […]
OBSESSIONS • Contamination • Harm • Symmetry • Religious • Sexual • Hoarding • Unwanted Urges COMPULSIONS • Checking • Cleaning/washing • Repeating • Mental Rituals • Ordering • Collecting • Counting
Are you sure it’s obsessive compulsive disorder? What if it won’t go away? You better check.? (This is “OCD think.”) Almost everyone has obsessive thoughts, worries too much, dwells too long on something, or has to do a task “just right.” Since most people don’t have OCD, where is the […]
?It’s ALL IN YOUR HEAD!?? That’s where your brain is-the most important organ in the body. The tendency to worry too much is usually inherited. In this world, there is a lot to worry about-we could all worry constantly… and people with GAD do just that! Worriers overproduce serotonin, a […]