Everyone experiences anxiety, whether it’s dreading tomorrow’s math test or fearing a dangerous situation. However, anxiety disorders cause anxiety out of proportion to the situation and interfere with normal, daily activities. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), exaggerated tension without apparent cause, can be debilitating but doesn’t usually cause people to avoid certain situations. People with GAD…
Read moreYear: 2010
Mind Games
by Susan J. Shelley In February 1996 my ex-husband Frank Velez, a former deputy sheriff from Los Angeles County, was released from prison. He had served ten years for murdering our seventeen-year-old son in our Arizona home. I had suspected something was wrong with Frank several months before he killed Frank Jr. His eyes…
Read moreMind Games – Mental illness vs. mental retardation
Contrary to what some think, mental illness isn’t the same as mental retardation. Retardation stems from a learning and intellectual disability. Mental illness is a biologically based brain disease that hinders a person’s ability to reason or relate to reality. Mental illness is far more common than cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or arthritis. One in…
Read moreMind Games – Manic-depression & Schizophrenia
Manic-depression Manic-depression usually results from a personality disorder. Extreme stress can also trigger it. Mild cases can be treated with medication, psychotherapy, and rehabilitation. Symptoms Extreme mood swings Mood cycles of elated overactivity (mania) to irregular, deep depression Sleep disturbances, awakening earlier each day; inability to stay in bed Decreased work output; distraction and restlessness…
Read moreMind Games – If a loved one threatens violence
Don’t think you can handle it alone. Contact a mental health organization, such as NAMI, and call a friend or neighbor to help. Don’t leave the person alone. List all peculiar behavior and behavior patterns: times, dates, length of pattern. List questions, suspicions, and fears to ask professionals. If the person refuses to see a…
Read moreMind Games – Criminal law
Insanity is used as a defense against responsibility for a crime. The first modern test of insanity was the M’Naghten rule (1843). It held that a person was insane if he or she had such a defect of reason at the time of committing a criminal act that he or she did not know…
Read moreMind Games – Additional Organizations
Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 800-826-2950 Grief Recovery Helpline 800-445-4808 Information Referrals & Crisis Helpline 800-233-4357 National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association 800-826-DMDA (3632) National Foundation for Depressive Illness (NAFDI) 800-248-4381 National Institute of Mental Health Information, Resources and Inquiries Branch 800-64PANIC (72642); provides information on panic disorders. National Mental Health Association 800-969-NMHA (6642) National…
Read moreI Am Bipolar
Meeting God in the pit of depression. by Nancy Hagerman The door swung shut behind me, and the automatic lock clicked on. Shoes and socks, watch, purse, and even my wedding ring were confiscated at the front desk. The uniform — sweat pants and t-shirt — was doled out, and I changed under the…
Read moreI Almost Committed Suicide
What would Jesus and others think? by Kathy Collard Miller As the train rumbled past the East Coast countryside, taking my daughter and me to New York City for a vacation, my thoughts were as piercing as the train’s screeching wheels. Why did Greg take his own life? Greg was a distant relative I…
Read moreGod Gave Me a Sound Mind
From hate to wholeness. by Gayle Threlkeld as told to Muriel Larson “Gayle, your husband called me,” my gynecologist said over the phone, “and he seems very worried about you.” “About what?” I asked, well aware of what the answer might be. During our last big battle, I completely lost control and attacked my…
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