One in five U.S. adults takes medication for a mental disorder
Medications to treat mental health disorders is soaring among U.S. adults, according to data released Wednesday by Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefit manager. One in five U.S. adults takes medication for a mental disorder By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog 9:53 AM PST, November 16, 2011 Medications to treat mental health disorders is soaring among U.S. adults, according to data released Wednesday by Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefit manager. Twenty percent of all adults said they took at least one medication to treat a mental disorder. Among women, 25% said they took such medication and 20% said they were using an antidepressant.…
Could this be the first medication for Borderline Personality Disorder?
With a debt of u-opiods and over active u-opiod receptors, could this be the first medication for BPD? I am not a doctor yet when I saw this on twitter I immediately thought of Borderline Personality Disorder: Extended-Release Opioid Gets FDA OK By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today Reviewed by August 26, 2011 Review WASHINGTON — The FDA has approved tapentadol (Nucynta), an extended-release oral opioid, to treat severe chronic pain. According to the reports of this on NeuropathyReliefGuide.com, the agency first approved the drug for relief of moderate to severe acute pain in 2008. Friday’s approval is for an extended-release pill that chronic pain patients can take twice…
Amy Winehouse, addiction and BPD from the NY Times
Before her death, I’d written about Amy Winehouse and my analysis of why she was very high on the BPD-o-meter. Here is an article from the NY Times about addiction that mentions both Amy Winehouse and Borderline Personality Disorder (but not as her having it). Here are some interesting quotes: Clinicians have long been aware that patients with certain types of psychiatric illnesses — including mood, anxiety and personality disorders — are more likely to become addicts. According to the National Institute of Mental Health’s Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study, patients with mental health problems are nearly three times as likely to have an addictive disorder as those without. Conversely, 60…
A Must-Read Interview with a recovered Borderline
How DBT saves lives and how to accept the label borderline. I stumbled upon this interview with Stacy Pershall, a woman recovered from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The interview itself is fascinating and can be found here. She has also written a memoir entitled: Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl. Here are some highlights from the interview: Stacy on the label Borderline Personality Disorder: When I first heard of BPD, it was in a magazine article given to me by a college roommate. That was back in the early ’90s, and the article said BPD couldn’t be cured, so I either had to resign myself to being crazy…
Why would Lindsay Lohan shoplift?
Well, obviously her shoplifting is alleged at this point. There is a TMZ article about things (other than the necklace) that she allegedly took. And another one regarding a fur coat that she wore and about which she had to settle a complaint against her for that. On these pages, I have analyzed the behavior of Lindsay and made the suggestion that she has borderline personality disorder. I am not a doctor, a diagnostic expert or have I ever actually met with Ms. Lohan. I am a person who is familiar with BPD and I have met numerous individuals with BPD and their families. Shoplifting can be a feature of borderline personality…
Has Depression become a Catch-All Diagnosis?
I believe that it has. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons that depression is a catch-all diagnosis. One certainly is the influence of the pharmaceutical industry given that billions of dollars are spent on anti-depressants each year. Also, doctors who are not mental health professionals (like GP’s) are prescribing anti-depressants if their patients are “depressed”. Unfortunately, sometimes depression is not accurate. Many times when people say “I’m feeling depressed” they are really expressing that they are feeling emotional pain. Sometimes emotional pain is normal, sometimes a great deal of emotional pain is not normal and becomes problematic. When someone is feeling too much emotionally, it is not depression.…
