Mental Health
106 Articles & Excerpts
Coping With Hearing Voices
by Rethink
Most people in modern-day western culture think of hearing voices as a clear sign of mental illness but it's as well to remember that not everyone shares this opinion. A report published by the British Psychological Society in (2000) claims that 10-15%
Parents with Mental Illness
by Rethink
Being a parent with mental illness can be both challenging and rewarding. People often stigmatise and assume that children born to people with mental illness will experience social and emotional difficulties, that they may be abused or neglected
Recovery from Severe Mental Illness
by Rethink
Approaches to Recovery: The medical model. The medical model is the traditional approach to recovery from severe mental illness. It considers recovery to be a reduction in symptoms, a reduced need for medication and a reduced need for medical and social
Mental Illness: Advocacy
by Rethink
What Is Advocacy? Advocacy is a means of supporting and helping people to speak up or act for themselves. The key aims of mental health advocacy are to empower people who use mental health services and to protect their rights as citizens by helping them
Mental Illness: Talking To Doctors
by Rethink
Talking to doctors can be difficult at the best of times: Doctors are sometimes not used to people asking for explanations: there is a tradition of doctors «talking down» to patients as if they were children.
Talking About Severe Mental Illness
by Rethink
A diagnosis of severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, is likely to be very disturbing to the person affected and their family. It may be difficult to come to terms with what is happening and it may take some time before everyone can begin to deal
Living With Severe Mental Illness
by Rethink
For many people, accepting that they have a severe mental health problem is very difficult. But accepting this fact is essential to beginning the process of learning to live with the condition. Psychiatrists call this developing insight.
Research Into Mental Illness
by Rethink
There is an enormous amount of research into severe mental illness. Here we summarise a small amount of this research, focussing upon those areas most frequently asked about. If you are looking for research on a specific topic or you need in depth
Dual Diagnosis
by Rethink
Dual diagnosis is the co-occurence of mental health problems and substance misuse (alcohol an/or drug dependence). Thirty-seven percent of alcohol abusers and 53% of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness. Dual diagnosis can include
Childhood Severe Mental Illness
by Rethink
It is easy for parents to identify their child's physical needs: nutriticous food, warm clothes when it's cold, bedtime at a reasonable hour. However, a child's mental and emotional needs may not be as obvious. The basics for a child's good mental health
Personality Disorders
by Rethink
Each of us has a personality or group of characteristics (called traits) which influence the way we think, feel & behave and makes us a unique individual. Someone may be described as having a 'personality disorder' if their personal characteristics
How Is Mental Illness Diagnosed?
by Rethink
At the moment, there are no tests for mental illnesses. They cannot be diagnosed by checking the blood or body fluids of the person experiencing symptoms. There is hope that in the future scans of the brain, or some other test, will be used to confirm the
What is severe mental illness? Signs and symptoms of psychosis
by Rethink
We all know that our mental health state may vary from time to time, but for most of us this is just a temporary change. But for people who have a mental illness or disorder, their experience will be very different. They may experience a range of symptoms
Finding the right medication. Why take medication?
by Rethink
One of the main treatments used to combat the symptoms of mental illness is medication in various forms. Psychiatric drugs can be given in the form of tablets, syrups or injections. They act on the chemical balance in the brain so that thoughts, feelings
Practical Tools for Reducing Anxiety
by Mark Fourman, LLP
War, terrorist attacks, a new deadly virus, job and family stress. Let's face it: most of us have something to be anxious about these days. Anxiety is fear about the future that we keep experiencing for long enough that it becomes a habit.
Self-Care Program for People With Bipolar or Unipolar Mood Disorders
by Jan Maizler, MSW, LCSW
Mood disorders like depression or manic depressive illness affect as much as 8 per cent of the world s population and account for billions of dollars worth of lost wages, salaries, and costs of treatment. No one knows the exact amounts, but the economic
Negative Messages
 I'm Sorry
by Jay Krunszyinsky
How did your experiences with a parent contribute to your way of thinking today? Some people receive many negative messages throughout their childhood. Those who received negative messages as children develop irrational thought processes that carry over
Trauma
I'm Sorry
by Jay Krunszyinsky
Psychiatric illnesses can occur as a result of trauma. Have you ever suffered a traumatic event in your life? People who suffer traumatic life events such as abuse, disaster, abduction, or the ravages of war can also adopt irrational thought processes due
Mental Illness and Irrationality
I'm Sorry
by Jay Krunszyinsky
Did you know that one out of every three people suffers from a mental illness? Do you struggle with panic attacks, social fears, emptiness, paranoid thoughts, or extreme highs and lows? As a child, did you grow up with anxiety, attention problems, depress
Agoraphobia
by Loren Parks
Agoraphobia is a severely debilitating psychological condition that arises from the subconscious. In other words, one does it to himself, unconsciously. I have long observed that the subconscious just loves to scare the dickens out of its owner
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