Your 12-year-old son keeps getting in trouble at school — for picking on his classmates, lying to his teacher, and even stealing other kids’ things. You think he’s just “acting out.” Until you find out he’s been sneaking out at night for the last 6 months. It becomes apparent that…
Just as physical health is supported by proper diet, exercise, and rest, our mental health is just as multi-faceted. Mental health consists of our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. In recognition of the importance of mental health awareness and treatment, World Mental Health Day is celebrated annually on October 10th. …
When I was a teenager, there was a girl at another school — let’s call her Allison — who was notorious for telling “little white lies,” but eventually she told a big lie with big implications. It was just another dull day in math class when an alarm began to…
All types of depression are characterized by deep sadness and a loss of interest in once-loved activities. Those who are depressed might wake up after a long night’s sleep and still feel miserably tired. They might forget to do simple things like brush their teeth or eat a meal (or…
Major depression disorder (MDD) is a mental health condition that impacts emotional well-being and can cause severe functional consequences in daily life. MDD is also called clinical depression, major depression, and unipolar depression (to distinguish it from bipolar depression caused by bipolar disorder). In Ancient Greece, depression was called melancholia,…
Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder characterized by extreme fluctuations in mood. These emotional shifts may take place over the course of hours, weeks, or months, and are often accompanied by drastic changes in behavior and functioning. There are three main types of bipolar disorder. People with bipolar I (type…
New research found a link between poor air quality and higher rates of bipolar disorder as well as major depression in the U.S. and Denmark. Additionally, it found a link between exposure to poor air quality in the first 10 years of life and a two-fold increase in schizophrenia and…
The unfortunate reality is that mental illnesses do go undiagnosed, for years or even lifetimes. There are multiple layers to why this occurs, including the individual’s failure to recognize that something is wrong or that the problem requires mental health treatment—additionally, many are hesitant to seek treatment out of fear…
In Demi Lovato’s newly-released documentary, Simply Complicated, the star details her struggle with a multitude of mental illnesses, from eating disorders to depression to addiction to bipolar disorder—all of which went undiagnosed for years. The effects, however, were observable long before. Demi traces her bipolar disorder back to a fairly…
We hear the terms “manic depression” and “bipolar disorder,” and we picture two different things: one, a depressed individual (hence, the word depression) who has trouble enjoying life, and two, an unpredictable person who experiences drastic mood swings and changes in behavior. We compartmentalize them as two different medical conditions….
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by extreme mood swings and emotional highs and lows. Formerly known as manic depression, the condition can leave its victims feeling hopeless and uninterested one minute, but happy and full of energy the next. These changes in mood and emotions negatively impact one’s…