Could acupuncture or yoga replace antidepressants someday?
Maybe not, but people are turning to alternative medicine and practices to treat depression, either as a complement to mainstream psychology and psychiatry or as something that stands alone.
World of Psychology passes on a New York Times story about a type of acupuncture that uses “ear seeds” to help […]

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Stigma (noun) 1) a: archaic : a scar left by a hot iron : brand b: a mark of shame or discredit : stain c: an identifying mark or characteristic; specifically : a specific diagnostic sign of a disease
That definition from Merriam-Webster probably sums up how a lot of people view mental illness, whether […]

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Remember the “Zoloft defense“?
Now some people are making what I call the “Prozac excuse,” blaming the Northern Illinois University shooting on the fact that the gunman recently stopped taking that antidepressant (an SSRI).
But experts tell the Chicago Tribune that that idea is flawed.
They emphasize that going off antidepressants can be difficult and should be done […]

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It’s another plethora-of-news kind of day. (Doesn’t Thomas Jefferson look so excited?)
So, if you’re lucky enough to have today off (I’m not), here’s some follow-ups from items in previous posts to keep you busy.
- Beyond Blue celebrates the “melancholy Lincoln” in honor of Presidents Day. (Anyone know if George Washington had bouts […]

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To find out more about mental-health issues facing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, I interviewed John Bair, a clinical psychologist at the North Chicago Veterans Hospital.
(Full disclosure: He also happens to be my cousin’s father-in-law.)
Click here to listen
Click on the button above to listen, or read the following transcript:
Q: What age groups do you mainly work […]

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As you probably know by now, a graduate of Northern Illinois University (65 miles from Chicago) opened fire on a campus lecture hall Thursday, killing five students and then himself and injuring 17 others.
So far, we don’t know a motive or any connection between the gunman and his victims. We do know that he was […]

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Lying to your mental-health professional is bad enough - but in recent weeks, at least one patient went even further.
A man in New York City hacked a psychiatrist to death at her office in a gruesome attack with a meat cleaver. He also seriously wounded the woman’ s colleague, although police aren’t sure if the […]

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s a great post from Therese Borchard at Beyond Blue, which she got from the husband of Heather B. Armstrong, better known as “Dooce.”
Mr. Dooce eloquently describes how he wanted to “fix” his wife’s postpartum depression but had to understand he couldn’t. He also turned to therapy for himself and […]

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A recent study by four universities puts a twist on the old adage that money can’t buy happiness: When people aren’t happy, they don’t seem to care how much things cost.
My classmate Andrea Bartz notes that even temporary sadness leads people to spend more than they normally would on ordinary items.
Jennifer Bechdel at World of […]

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That was my first reaction when I read about a survey by Mental Health America that ranked Utah last among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for mental health.
I was stunned because when I think of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the predominant religion in Utah, I picture […]

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