Anxiety Doesn't Get Any Respect

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

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

• "Anxiety Doesn't Get Any Respect"
• Mental Health Experiences
• SSRIs Effectiveness Reduced By Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
• From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• For Parents: Teaching Discretion To The Know-It-All Child
• Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat
• Fighting Alcohol Addiction
• Caring for a Parent with Alzheimer's Disease

You can also read the HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter online.

"Anxiety Doesn't Get Any Respect"

I received an email from Dan, one of our readers, with just that title and was discussing it with others here in the office. Kate White, who writes our Treating Anxiety blog once made a similar comment - saying many people don't take anxiety seriously. "When you tell someone you have severe anxiety, their reaction is just relax and get over it." Kate lamented. If only it were that easy.

Until all the media stories and pharmaceutical company commercials, people used to say the same thing about depression (some still do). Here are some interesting statistics from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America:

• Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older (18% of U.S. population).
• Anxiety disorders affect one in eight children. Research shows that untreated children with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform poorly in school, miss out on important social experiences, and engage in substance abuse.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder affects 6.8 million adults, or 3.1% of the U.S. population. Women are twice as likely to be affected as men. Panic Disorder, which has a high comorbidity with major depression: 6 million, 2.7%. And PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) - 7.7 million, 3.5%. Rape is the most likely trigger for PTSD and child sexual abuse is a strong predictor for developing PTSD.
• People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.

Anxiety Disorders are serious conditions that affect a lot of people.

Information on Anxiety Disorders

• Overview of Anxiety and Panic
• What Causes Anxiety Disorders?
• Different Types of Anxiety Disorders
• Treatments for Anxiety and Panic
• Anxiety Medications
• Reducing The Stress in Your Life
• When A Family Member Has An Anxiety Disorder, What Can You Do?
• How to Help Your Anxious Child
• All Anxiety Articles on HealthyPlace.com

------------------------------------------------------------------

Mental Health Experiences

Share your thoughts/experiences on the seriousness of anxiety disorders, what life is like with an anxiety disorder or any mental health subject, or respond to other people's audio posts, by calling our toll-free number (1-888-883-8045).

You can listen to what other people are saying by clicking on the gray title bars inside the widgets located on the "Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences" homepage, the HealthyPlace homepage, and the HealthyPlace Support Network homepage.

If you have any questions, write us at: info AT healthyplace.com

------------------------------------------------------------------

SSRIs Effectiveness Reduced By Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

Why do so many depressed patients taking SSRIs not respond to antidepressant medication treatment? The explanation may lie in a new study which reveals that anti-inflammatory drugs reduce the effectiveness of SSRIs like Lexapro and Prozac. Anti-inflammatory drugs include ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The most widely used class of antidepressant medications (list of antidepressant medications), the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, are taken for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders.

The study may be especially significant in the case of Alzheimer's disease. Such patients commonly suffer from depression (read Alzheimer's and Depression: Managing Depression in Alzheimer's Patients) and unless this can be treated successfully, the course of the illness is likely to be more severe. Depression in the elderly is also a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's Disease and researchers have suggested that treating depression in the elderly might reduce the risk of developing the disease.

From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• About Amy Kiel, Author of Depression Diaries Blog (Depression Diaries Blog)
• Patient-to-Patient Communication Can Be Dangerous (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• Educate Yourself - How to Stop Verbal Abuse, Part 3 (Verbal Abuse and Relationships Blog)
• When Anxiety and I First Met (Treating Anxiety Blog)
• To Talk Therapy or Not to Talk Therapy? (Life with Bob: A Parenting Blog)
• The Hunger Games, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and PTSD (Dissociative Living Blog)
• BPD, Personal Responsibility and Identity (More Than Borderline Blog)
• Phobias, Anxieties and Work (Part 2) (Work and Bipolar/Depression Blog)
• Surviving ED — Taking Care of Myself As Part Of Recovery (Surviving ED Blog)
• Natasha - Example of a Psychiatric Treatment Failure?
• Raising a Child with Mental Illness Requires Flexibility
• Is My Best Enough to Beat Anxiety?
• Reach Out - How to Stop Verbal Abuse, Part 2
• The Borderline Who Cried Wolf

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

For Parents: Teaching Discretion To The Know-It-All Child

Is your child smart, but socially inept. One mom writes to Dr. Steven Richfield, the Parenting Coach, saying our gifted son is too interested in showing off his knowledge and it's socially backfiring. Any suggestions? Here's his sound advice for helping a know-it-all child.

Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat

On our Relationships forum,smile 0726 wonders if she is doing the right thing. She's been married for 16 years, but recently her husband's mental illness and paranoia got out of hand and he suddenly tried to kill her by stabbing her in the back. He now faces first degree murder charges and she's filed for divorce. "People around me keep telling me that I need to hate him and not care for him because he didn't care for me. But I had 14 wonderful years of life with him. I still love him and miss him but at the same time I am angry at him." Sign into the forums and share your thoughts and comments on dealing with these conflicting feelings.

Join us on the HealthyPlace Mental Health Forums and Chat

You must be a registered HealthyPlace member. If you aren't already, it's free and takes less than 30 seconds. Just click the "register button" at the top of the page.

At the bottom of the forums page, you'll notice a chat bar (similar to facebook). You can chat with any registered member on the forums site.

We hope you'll be a frequent participant and share our support link with others who may benefit.

Fighting Alcohol Addiction on HealthyPlace TV

She was a binge drinker right from the get go. For Kendra, it started in college where binge drinking seemed acceptable, part of the party scene. Years later, suffering from panic attacks, eating disorders and self-injury, Kendra used binge drinking to medicate her mental illness away -- until she finally landed in an alcohol treatment center. The party was over. That's on this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. (The Insidiousness of Alcholism - TV Show blog)

Other Recent HPTV Shows

• By Helping Others You Help Yourself (The Self-Healing Power of Helping Others - blog)
• The Worst Anxiety in Indiana (Living with Severe Anxiety - blog)

Coming in May on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show

• Breaking the Cycle of Dysfunctional Living
• Family Faced with Schizophrenia Finds Hope and Recovery
• Trip From Mental Illness to Advocacy

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

For all previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV archived shows.

Caring for a Parent with Alzheimer's Disease on HealthyPlace Radio

There are many conflicting feelings adult children have when it comes to caring for their aging parents. Christopher Lanni is a 51 year old creative consultant who stays home to care for his 90-something year old mother with Alzheimer's Disease. On this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health Radio Show, Christopher shares what it's like being a full-time caregiver to his aging mother. Listen.

Information about caring for Alzheimer's patients and the need for caregivers to care for themselves.

Other Recent HealthyPlace Radio Shows

• Women, Body Image, and Weight: It seems women are always worried about their weight. In a blog post titled "The Weight," author Jen Selk says her weight concerns began when she was a little girl. The number on the scale tied into her body image, her body image into her self-image. Jen shares those concerns of "feeling fat" and whether it's possible to separate "feeling fat" from feeling good about yourself.
• Help for Postpartum Depression and Anxiety: Postpartum Progress is the most widely-read blog on postpartum depression and other mental illnesses related to childbirth. It's editor, Katherine Stone, started the blog in 2001; two years after being treated for postpartum OCD. Ms. Stone discusses just how far we've come in the diagnosis and treatment of postpartum depression and society's growing recognition and acceptance of it as a legitimate illness.

If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week,

• follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index