Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Thoughts of Suicide
• "Surviving a Family Member's Suicide Attempt" On HealthyPlace TV
• Reactions to the HealthyPlace Bipolar Psychosis Section
• Is Your Child Behaving Differently Than Other Children?

Thoughts of Suicide

Here's an eye-opener! About 32,000 people commit suicide in the U.S. yearly, but many more Americans, more than 8 MILLION, seriously consider suicide each year, according to a new government study.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report was based on a survey of 46,190 people, age 18 and over.

SAMHSA says young adults (18-25) were far more likely to seriously consider suicide than adults 26-49 (6.7 to 3.9%). And among people with a substance abuse disorder, 11 percent had considered suicide, compared to 3 percent for people without such disorders.

Additional Insights into Suicide:

• Why Do People Kill Themselves?
• Depression: Understanding Thoughts of Suicide
• Suicide: The Risk is Lifelong for Those Who've Tried It Once
• Feeling Suicidal? How To Help Yourself
• Coping With Feelings and Thoughts of Suicide
• Handling A Phone Call From A Suicidal Person

We have in-depth information about suicide, along with crisis hotline numbers, here.

"Surviving a Family Member's Suicide Attempt" On HealthyPlace TV

The Gallaghers were the picture-perfect family. They'd been on Oprah twice talking about how to raise happy kids on a reasonable budget. That was before husband, John, went into a deep depression and tried to twice take his life. What went wrong and how do family members survive when a loved attempts suicide? on Tuesday's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show.

Join us Tuesday, September 22, at 5:30p PT, 7:30 CST, 8:30 EST or catch it on-demand. The show airs live on our website. Patricia Gallagher will be taking your questions during the live show.

• Surviving a Family Member's Suicide Attempt - TV Show blog with this week's show info
• Coping with Suicide (Dr. Croft's blog post)

In the second half of the show, you get to ask HealthyPlace.com Medical Director, Dr. Harry Croft, your personal mental health questions.

Still to Come in September on the HealthyPlace TV Show

• Conquering Your Food Addiction

If you would like to be a guest on the show or share you personal story in writing or via video, please write us at: producer AT healthyplace.com

Click here for a list of previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Shows.

Reactions to the HealthyPlace Bipolar Psychosis Section

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, we opened our new section on Bipolar Psychosis in the HealthyPlace.com Bipolar Community. Coinciding with that, author, HealthyPlace.com writer and bipolar patient, Julie Fast, made a guest appearance on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. She not only shared her personal experiences with bipolar psychosis, but she also discussed her treatment plan for coping with psychosis. If you missed it, you can watch it here.

We received about 70 emails from HealthyPlace.com members about the subject. Here's a small sample of comments on bipolar psychosis.

Even with my antipsychotic medications, I still become mildly psychotic at times. I have hallucinations and although sometimes I can tell when I'm hallucinating, the difficult part is trying to figure out when things are real or not.
- Michael

The general public, including family members and friends, don't get psychosis. Try sharing your psychotic thoughts or explaining your actions when your psychotic, and see the look on their faces. Now that's stigma!
- Eileen

Excellent article! When you couple it with Julie's Gold Standard for Treating Bipolar Disorder, you have a complete view of bipolar disorder and how to manage your bipolar symptoms. Something you'll never get from your doctor. They just don't have the time to spend with you.
- Doug

Is Your Child Behaving Differently Than Other Children?

We get emails from parents on a regular basis listing some symptoms and asking if we can provide them with an idea of what's going on with their child.

Even if you're a seasoned parent, it can be difficult to determine if your child has a behavioral or mental health problem. Why?

In adults, most symptoms are typical and obvious, plus adults are better communicators. In children, mental health symptoms can show up as anger, lack of impulse control, and frequent temper tantrums.

If your child is acting significantly different than children his/her age and you're concerned, it's best to speak to your pediatrician and seek professional help. It's also important for parents to familiarize themselves with different mental health issues and the warning signs that accompany childhood psychiatric disorders.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index

Most ADHD children grow into ADHD adults. Learn more about the diagnosis and treatment of adult ADHD.

This week's blog is about a condition that I know quite well. You see, I have ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Like most people with the condition, mine started in childhood, and continued into adulthood. Most experts agree that ADHD, most of the times, starts in childhood, though often it is not recognized in kids for what it really is. Because of the hyperactivity and other behavioral and social problems associated with ADHD, it is often mistakenly called a behavioral or learning problem in childhood.

ADHD Children Become ADHD Adults

When I was in training (and the dinosaurs roamed the earth !), I was taught that although ADHD started in childhood it somehow "disappeared" when the child became an older adolescent or adult. The confusion, I think, had to do with the original thinking that the hallmark symptom of ADHD was the "hyperactivity" or behavioral disturbances associated with the disorder. We now know that the key symptom is the problem with attention, focus and concentration, and most adults with ADHD seem to lose a lot of the hyperactivity as they age.

What is now believed is that most kids with ADHD continue to suffer from the concentration problems of the disorder into adulthood, and that the condition does not "disappear" with aging. Adults with the disorder suffer from difficulties of focus and concentration (read: ADHD Adults Struggle to Focus), organization, "follow-through" and often are involved in significant "risk taking behaviors" (driving too fast, not thinking behaviors "through" before engaging in them, etc.)

ADHD is also frequently associated with other psychiatric disorders such as : substance abuse, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and other conditions, such as financial problems. Sufferers of adult ADHD have trouble with: work, social relationships, marriages, and educational endeavors (Impact of ADHD on Adults).

Adult ADHD is Real and Can Be Treated

The good news about adult adhd is that it is now recognized as a real disorder, and treatments are now available for those suffering from the disorder.

Medications are now approved for treatment of adult ADHD. However, not all those with the disorder require or are benefited by ADHD medications. There are many behavioral treatments for adult ADHD which help sufferers cope with their disorder. In my case, behavioral treatments have worked quite well.

On the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV show on adult ADHD and Depression, I'll be discussing how I deal with my ADHD symptoms. Our guest has also found some successful non-medication ways of treating his ADHD and depression symptoms. It should be an interesting show.

Watch the HealthyPlace TV Show on "ADHD and Depression"

Join us this Tuesday, December 15, 2009. You can watch the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show live (5:30p PT, 7:30 CT, 8:30 ET) and on-demand on our website.

Dr. Harry Croft is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist and Medical Director of HealthyPlace.com. Dr. Croft is also the co-host of the HealthyPlace TV Show.

next: What's Behind Compulsive Overeating?
~ other mental health articles by Dr. Croft

What is compulsive overeating and what drives people to eat compulsively?

Most of us overeat from time-to-time, but compulsive overeating is a condition in which the person overeats frequently with the desire (compulsion) to eat being driven not by hunger, but rather by psychological factors. The eating may involve eating large amounts of food (usually in a period of minutes or hours), or may involve eating smaller amounts of food which is usually loaded with a large number of calories ( and is usually fat, sweet, salty) on a fairly regular basis, again driven by psychological factors.

What Causes Compulsive Overeating?

There are many psychological factors which can result in the activity of compulsive overeating. Some of the more common ones mentioned by sufferers are: guilt, shame, depression, anger, stress, and negative self image. Some have had stressors earlier in life, such as abuse, neglect, failure, embarrassment, but others report no such problems.

Once the problem of compulsive overeating begins, there are resulting physical, psychological, or relationship issues that may develop that may cause the problem of compulsive overeating to continue. Increase in weight can result in negative self-image, which can then result in either embarrassment or false bravado. Relationships become disturbed, self-image often suffers, and shame and depression may result.

Compulsive behaviors, whether they be compulsive gambling, shopping, sexual behavior or chemical abuse have several things in common. They are often driven by psychological factors involving anxiety, and overwhelming desire. When the person engages in the behaviors there is often a tremendous feeling of relief. The compulsion behavior decreases the negative feelings, but often only for the duration of the behavior. Following the overeating, there often follows a sense of overwhelming guilt, embarrassment and often depression.

Biological Factors Behind Compulsive Overeating

While the cause of the behavior is psychological, there is also a strong biologic component usually involving the release of a brain chemical called "dopamine." The emotions following the "giving in" to the compulsive behaviors is chemically more complicated. The result of the negative feelings following "giving in" is often to repeat the behaviors later, often despite personal "promises" to avoid the behaviors at all costs.

Although there is a biological and psychological component to compulsive behaviors, there may also be a situational and genetic component as well.

Treatment for Compulsive Overeating

The treatment of compulsive overeating and other compulsive behaviors is most commonly to engage in individual or group psychotherapy or support group follow-up. (Read: How to Stop Overeating)

On this week's HealthyPlace TV show, we will talk about compulsive overeating, its causes, results and treatments.

Watch the HealthyPlace TV Show on "Compulsive Overeating"

Join us this Tuesday, December 1, 2009. You can watch the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show live (5:30p PT, 7:30 CT, 8:30 ET) and on-demand on our website.

Dr. Harry Croft is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist and Medical Director of HealthyPlace.com. Dr. Croft is also the co-host of the HealthyPlace TV Show.

next: Coping with Mental Illness in the Family
~ other mental health articles by Dr. Croft

An outline of the struggles family members endure when there's a loved one with mental illness in the family.

Many of the visitors to the HealthyPlace.com website will understand the difficulties inherent in mental illness, whether they, themselves, are sufferers of a psychiatric disorder, or whether they are family members or close friends of those with a mental disorder. For family members or friends, the difficulties experienced by them can be sometimes as troubling as, or even more troubling than those suffered by the patient.

Many family members have talked to me about their own concerns and problems as a result of their position vis-a-vis the patient. They tell me of several such difficulties. Often these involve emotional, financial or social concerns, in addition to their psychological concern regarding their loved ones.

What is Going On?

Initially, there is the problem of not understanding what is happening to or what is "wrong with" their loved one. Is it an illness, a cry for help, an overdramatization of a life situation, or is it something else that is difficult or impossible to understand? Often, especially at the outset, the cause of the symptoms or unusual behavior or emotions is not clear - either to the patient or to the loved ones.

Once a diagnosis is made, there often is the problem of getting the patient to accept the fact that they have a mental illness, or to accept treatment for it. This can be especially traumatic for family members when the patient refuses to participate in psychiatric treatment, or to even accept the fact that they have a mental illness.

In the case of the patient with, for example, bipolar disorder, it is sometimes traumatic when they begin to become manic, or to "get high." In this situation, they often discontinue taking their bipolar medication, and begin to enjoy the "high" feelings, leaving family members to worry about their loved one's future well-being.

Stigma, Financial Troubles That Come with Mental Illness

Unfortunately, there is still stigma associated with mental illness and often the family members are "embarrassed" to tell their friends or other family members that their relative is suffering from a "mental problem." On previous HealthyPlace TV Shows, we talked about the burden a family member's suicide can cause the others in the family; especially the parent of a child who commits suicide.

Then there is the problem caused by the financial strain on a family. The costs of mental health treatment for their loved one can be enormous. I have seen family finances devastated by the "non-insurance covered costs" that fall on the shoulders of the family.

In addition to the problems mentioned in this article, there are many other difficulties faced by the family members of someone with a mental illness. We will explore many of these difficulties Tuesday night on our HealthyPlace TV show on Mental Illness in the Family.

Watch HealthyPlace TV Show on "Mental Illness in the Family"

Join us this Tuesday, November 24. You can watch the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show live (5:30p PT, 7:30 CT, 8:30 ET) and on-demand on our website.

Dr. Harry Croft is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist and Medical Director of HealthyPlace.com. Dr. Croft is also the co-host of the HealthyPlace TV Show.

next: What is Intersexuality?
~ other mental health articles by Dr. Croft

What does it mean to be intersexual and what causes intersexuality? Plus the difference between intersexual and transsexual.

Imagine being called a "boy" at birth, but realizing as you grew up that you felt more like a "girl" than boy, and that you had genitals that appeared more female than male. That's what happened to Kailana, our guest on the HealthyPlace TV show on Intersexuality. Kailana was born with what then might have been called "hermaphrodism." She had the biology and psychology of one sex, but the genitals and internal sex organs of both sexes. The causes of intersexuality ( the more modern and accepted term) is complicated and involves potential abnormalities caused by both genetics, hormones, and other factors.

Kailana was identified by doctors as a boy at birth in 1970, but later, growing up, doctors ignored her claims that she felt like a girl. "I looked like a boy sort of, I did not feel it," says Kailana. (Read Kailana's blog post - Intersexual: Raised the Wrong Sex)

It was not until her 20s, while a male soldier in the military, that she went to a doctor who recognized the condition and that intersex diagnosis, laments Kailana, "pretty much destroyed what little life I had held onto."

Intersexual vs. Transsexual

Intersexuality is different from what we have talked about previously in this blog, transsexuality. In transexuality, the biology of the sex of the individual is what is commonly recognized as either clearly male or female, but the psychology of the individual is that of the sex opposite of their bodies. They are felt to be one sex born into the body of the opposite sex.

In intersexuality, there is a problem with the genetics and hormones in fetal and later development of the individual such that the actual gender of the person is uncertain, and may be neither all female or male, but with anatomic features of both sexes.

This birth "defect" is rare (less than 1/1000 births), often unrecognized fully at birth, and one that can cause great suffering to the individual and the family.

On our HealthyPlace TV show on Intersexuality, we will learn more about this fascinating, confusing, and troubling condition.

Watch HealthyPlace TV Show on "Being Intersexual"

Join us this Tuesday, November 17. You can watch the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show live (5:30p PT, 7:30 CT, 8:30 ET) and on-demand on our website.

Dr. Harry Croft is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist and Medical Director of HealthyPlace.com. Dr. Croft is also the co-host of the HealthyPlace TV Show.

next: Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD): Symptoms and Treatment
~ other mental health articles by Dr. Croft

Signs and symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder, its effects on sufferers, and treatment of BDD.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a type of disorder called a "somatization disorder" and represents a preoccupation with an "imagined or excessive concern with a defect (perceived or real) with appearance. All of us, from time-to-time, become concerned with the way our body (or its parts) look. We may think our hips are too big, our waist too large, our nose or ears or lips are too big or too small. These concerns are fairly common and don't in and of themselves represent a psychiatric disorder. But for people afflicted by BDD, these concerns are either unreal (there is only an "imagined" defect) or they are excessive (there is a small defect that is "overblown" in the person's mind). Most importantly, as with all psychiatric disorders, it causes clinically significant emotional distress or impairment in day-to-day functioning.

In Body Dysmorphic Disorder, the perceived flaws in body parts are distorted - not real at all, or not nearly as bad as seen by the sufferer. The person with BDD, literally, becomes "obsessed" by the perceived flaw(s), and will often spend hours looking at themselves in a mirror.

Tragically, this problem is becoming more common, and in some studies is felt to effect almost 1 in 50 persons, often teens or young adults. The BDD patient is likely to suffer from low self-esteem as well. This condition is often one that co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders such as: depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and even substance abuse.

Too Many Plastic Surgery Procedures May Be Symptom of Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Often, if the BDD sufferer can afford it, plastic surgery is seen as the obvious solution. The problem is that no amount of such surgery "is enough," because there is always another perceived body "flaw" that takes the place of the one treated by plastic surgery. BDD sufferers often then become "addicted" to more and more plastic surgery procedures, only to find that none helps the underlying emotional condition.

Nor does reassurance by family members and friends help. It is as if the reassurance of loved ones "falls on deaf ears." I have treated many such people whose problems started in their teens or twenties, but are still bothered by the condition well into middle-age.

Treatment of Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Treatment for Body Dysmorphic Disorder begins with recognizing the disorder for what it is - a psychological / psychiatric problem rather than a physical "flaw." Generally it is believed that psychotherapy, including behavioral and cognitive approaches, is the treatment of choice. Medications, such as the serotonin increasing antidepressants, may decrease the anxiety and obsessions, but ultimately it is therapy that helps the most.

On our HealthyPlace TV show on Body Dysmorphic Disorder, we will explore its impact on sufferers and discuss the treatment of BDD in more detail.

Extensive information on eating disorders.

Watch HealthyPlace TV Show on Struggling with Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Join us this Tuesday, November 10. You can watch the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show live (5:30p PT, 7:30 CT, 8:30 ET) and on-demand on our website.

Dr. Harry Croft is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist and Medical Director of HealthyPlace.com. Dr. Croft is also the co-host of the HealthyPlace TV Show.

next: Coping with Suicide
~ other mental health articles by Dr. Croft