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I Was Very, Very Afraid of the Dark
In retrospect all that paranoia was—I’ve been told—an early warning sign of my borderline personality disorder, bipolar, and severe anxiety. I Was Very, Very Afraid of the Dark By Patrick Marlborough I suffered from acute night terrors and paranoia as a kid, and I still feel the after-effects today. Night terrors, aka pavor nocturnus, is one of two non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep arousal disorders in the DSM-5. It’s a lot like sleep paralysis, but instead of being stuck in a sort of limbo waking state, you’re frozen by sheer terror. They often come accompanied by screaming and panic attacks. I always had a hyperactive imagination: no trouble conjuring up stories…
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Ten Percent of Adults Have a Drug-Use Disorder in Their Lifetime
People with drug use disorder were much more likely to have psychiatric illnesses, the researchers reported in JAMA Psychiatry, as they were… 1.8 times as likely to have borderline personality disorder, when compared to people without drug abuse. Ten Percent of Adults Have a Drug-Use Disorder in Their Lifetime A survey of American adults who land a nice job, revealed that drug-use disorder is common, co-occurs with a range of mental health disorders and often goes untreated. The study, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that about 4% of Americans met the criteria for drug use disorder…
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Self-Injury: Raising the Profile of a Dangerous Behavior
“By applying one type of pain,” he says, “they get rid of a different type of pain,” Self-Injury: Raising the Profile of a Dangerous Behavior A Rutgers researcher appeals to the medical community for better treatment tools and insurance coverage By Rob Forman Self-injury so often occurs in private, an important reason why solid statistics are hard to come by. But researchers estimate between 10 and 40 percent of adolescents, and up to 10 percent of adults, harm themselves physically – usually by cutting or burning their skin. Yet, the condition – known as nonsuicidal self-injury – is not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as a mental…
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The history of the concept of borderline personality disorder
The individual with BPD oscillates violently between dejection and disillusionment and episodes of euphoria and explosive episodes of irritability, impulsive anger and self-destructive behavior. The history of the concept of borderline personality disorder Daniel Calder The diagnostic label “borderline” is perhaps the most controversial in the history of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. While it was relatively recently formally classified as a personality disorder in the DSM-III, the term “borderline” has historically been used to designate a kind of mid-point between non-psychotic mental illness and psychosis. Unlike personality disorders such as avoidant personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder, furthermore, the “borderline” syndrome has not always been associated with specific symptoms, but, instead,…
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Reorienting a Depressed Patient to Address Underlying BPD
Undesirable living situations and/or failures to achieve what you expect of yourself exacerbate and prolong depression. Reorienting a Depressed Patient to Address Underlying BPD John Gunderson, M.D. October 08, 2013 DOI: 10.1176/appi.pn.2013.11a23 A 22-year-old African-American male named Morris was referred to me by Dr. Henri. Morris was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) after a nonlethal overdose had led to an ER visit. This event occurred after several years in which his “treatment-resistant” depression had persisted despite many medication trials. Neatly dressed in black jeans and shirt, he seemed wary and perhaps, I thought, a bit frightened when he arrived. While we were in the waiting room, his worried overweight…
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Will the new DSM-5 change the way we deal with the Americans with Disability Act?
DSM-5 does not treat personality disorders separately from other mental disorders as did its predecessors. Will the DSM-5 Lead to Crazy Employment Law? From the Experts By James J. McDonald Jr. The American Psychiatric Association released a new edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as “DSM-5,” on May 18. Although the manual is primarily used by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in diagnosing patients, its influence extends to the courts and the development of employment law as well. DSM-5 will surely affect employment law profoundly, but it may well do so in some disparate and unpredictable ways. DSM-5 is likely to expand the number of…
