Time for our weekly round-up from the mental health blogosphere.
Some of the more observant among you may notice that the nursing-related Weekly Handover round-up didn’t appear last week. I think I’m finding it a bit too much to do two round-ups a week rather than one. Anyone fancy taking over the Weekly Handover to ease the burden on poor little me?
A Newsweek story on the controversial topic of childhood bipolar disorder receives an unimpressed response from Furious Seasons.
The author, Mary Carmichael, admits a few times in the piece that the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in kids is controversial and that some doctors feel it’s overdiagnosed (since it doesn’t even exist in the DSM, it’s overdiagnosed by definition). However, Carmichael doesn’t include a single quote from a single critic of the child bipolar disorder paradigm. These critics exist, have medical degrees, teach at major medical schools and are easy to find through the miracle of search engines. Why Carmichael didn’t include any dissenting views is hard to understand.
Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry: A Closer Look has read the same Newsweek article and isn’t impressed either.
Yes, you read that correctly — he’s been on thirty-eight psychiatric meds and he’s 10 years old. Gee, I wonder if such a heavy regimen of medication is healthy for the developing brain?
Experimental Chimp looks at the use of vitamin supplements in mental health. Fortunately he’s not going by the same research as the Scientologists.
The substance of real interest here is vitamin B9 (folic acid). The evidence isn’t absolutely convincing, but it is persuasive, particularly for its use as an adjunct to anti-depressants. There haven’t been any studies that actually use it for bipolar disorder, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable – given the similarly low levels that have been found in manic patients – to provisionally assume that it may help. I’m equivocating here. Folic acid’s dirt cheap and safe enough that various countries fortify bread and cereal products with it. And it looks like a good enough idea that I’m going to start taking it myself.
The Shrink has been taking patients off amitryptiline.
Over the last two weeks I’ve seen three new patients with acute confusional states (or delirium, as it seems to be called, once again). All presented with disorientation, distress, lethargy and low mood.
Having stopped their amitriptyline, which had been appropriately started by their GPs then they’d been on for ages, I’ve reviewed them all this week.
They’ve all improved. A lot. Tiredness, mood and muzzy head causing disorientation, all gone. Great to have days where folk are reviewed and have been cured. Other than use of ECT, it’s rare to have those “pick up your bed and walk” cured moments in old age psychiatry, then three come at once!
Life With Aspergers discusses how perfectionism can cause problems for school kids with Aspergers.
This obsession with impossible levels of perfection and completion can cause a lot of stress, particularly in young aspies at school and particularly where other factors, such as learning difficulties, writing problems or other forms of work-impairment are present.
For example; An aspie with poor writing skills may find that he is constantly crossing out and redoing entire paragraphs of work because it doesn’t meet his or her standards. Often they will tear out a page in their exercise books rather than leave imperfect work on the page.
This isn’t limited to writing and can happen during mathematics, science experiments and craft activities. In fact, the perfection issue can pervade all aspects of the aspies life from school, to sport and even solitary play.
Seaneen considers the use of the word “pain” to describe emotional suffering.
Pain is incredibly variable and subjective. Some people, especially those of my generation, express themselves in shorthand. Online, one of these shorthand modes of expression is via images. Although it may be useful, therapeutic, even, to express an emotion that way, it tends to make me wince. You know the kind of thing I’m talking about; those blinkie images that have a seriously out of context lyric written in CaPitAls and lowercase overlapped onto an image, usually of a girl crying or some bloody wrists.
The increasingly-intriguing New Republic blog gives an account of his consultation.
Dr Gorgeous: Ah! Good morning Mr Socrates. Much better. But do not lift your knees as you approach me, shuffle; keep your knees in contact with the ground at all times.
Nurse Lurch: Grrrr.
Doctor Gorgeous: This is Nurse Lurch, your new Community Psychiatric Nurse. We keep her for the more challenging cases.
Nurse Lurch: Gr!
Doctor Gorgeous: This situation where currently, you are not on any regular psychotropic medication is not acceptable to me. It is further evidence of your willful refusal to whole heartedly engage with our Best Practice Mental Health Services.
Socrates: But I’m not mentally ill! I’m mentally disabled…
Nurse Lurch: GRRRR!
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