Q: Is overspending a form of OCD?
A: In and of itself, no. Then again, I don't want to give an absolute answer without knowing all the facts of your situation. Overspending can certainly be a component of some OCD-like behaviors. For instance, many folks who hoard will chronically overspend on seemingly useless items.* Someone with a contamination obsession could be overspending on clothes if they will wear them only once.
Overspending as it is traditionally regarded would not qualify as OCD. It may be compulsive, but not in the manner that repetitive checking and washing are. One could be addicted to shopping as they would be to a drug. Likewise, overspending is often a hallmark of a manic episode in bipolar disorder. I hope this helps.
Be well,
Michael
*I refer to hoarding as OCD-like because I regard hoarding as a separate condition that just looks like OCD. However, it is officially considered OCD.
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Monday, February 23, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
This Love is Dangerous
Q: Eleven years and counting I have been in an abusive relationship. My SO was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder with antisocial traits. I have looked this up on your site, but feel things have progressed to Narcisistic Borderline Personality Disorder. Now, is there any hope or any use of me continuing on with trying to get my SO to seek medical and therapy intervention when he won't even acknowledge that he has a bonafide psychiatric condition? Or should I just try and escape before he kills me? It's that close. Right now he is rapid cycling all over the place. He cannot even function in activities of daily living or even remember the simplest task that needs to be done for the day. I am at a loss here. I have tried to talk with the M.D. and psychologist but neither is aware of his condition. There has been no intervention on either of their respective sides. This man is not medicated and is a danger to himself.
A: Get away from this man before he kills or injures you! Of all the psychiatric diagnoses, personality disorders are nearly impossible to treat. There is no medication or therapeutic intervention that can save your significant other from himself. The fact that he refuses to acknowledge having a problem in his personality style precludes any hope of therapeutic intervention. Having antisocial personality traits almost guarantees failure. No matter what he may tell you, or how he may try to manipulate you to stay, get out! Please contact me if you need referrals to resources.
Be well and stay safe,
Michael
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A: Get away from this man before he kills or injures you! Of all the psychiatric diagnoses, personality disorders are nearly impossible to treat. There is no medication or therapeutic intervention that can save your significant other from himself. The fact that he refuses to acknowledge having a problem in his personality style precludes any hope of therapeutic intervention. Having antisocial personality traits almost guarantees failure. No matter what he may tell you, or how he may try to manipulate you to stay, get out! Please contact me if you need referrals to resources.
Be well and stay safe,
Michael
Read more!
Friday, February 20, 2009
High Anxiety
Q: I am 21 years old and have recently began experiencing high anxiety and panic. This has never happened to me before and it started out small and is getting worse. I think it's all in my head, and when I think about or talk about panic, it makes it worse. When I am at work I get nervous and scared for no reason and driving makes me very nervous depending on how far I commute. I don't know what to do. I need some suggestions and tips that I can do myself to relax because I have no insurance and cannot afford private therapy. I would deeply appreciate any advice. Thank you.Freaking Out
A: Dear Freaking Out,First, take heart because you're in swell company with millions of other Americans who suffer panic attacks. I commend you for taking positive steps now to address your symptoms.
You are right to say that it's all in your head. Panic disorder is a game that your mind plays with you, and you have to outsmart it. The fact is that panic attacks live off your fear of them. That's why just thinking about them can send you into one. Let's look briefly at the components of panic.
Anxiety is an evolutionary development that helped our hunting-and-gathering ancestors survive. When you go into panic mode, also known as fight-or-flight mode, a number of physiological changes take place. Blood rushes from your head to your extremities, resulting in dizzyness, light-headedness, and/or feeling "unreal" or "otherworldly." Your breathing becomes shallow, resulting in a sense of "breathlessness." These are helping you to fight or flee a life-threatening situation. Many people become sweaty; the moisture makes us slippery and difficult for a predator to grasp. The thing to remember here is that anxiety was designed to save us, not hurt us.
Today, we aren't in the literal jungle anymore, but our physiology hasn't caught up. Hence, many people get a small flash of dizzyness or shallow breathing and interpret that they are having a heart attack. Others feel a rush of adrenaline and feel "out of this world," and interpret those sensations as "going out of my mind." They fear they might lose control and run around wildly killing strangers. Others may first have a disturbing "cognitive intrusion" or thought and begin to feel the physiological sensations. In any event,all of these misinterpretations only increase the anxiety and, voila, you have yourself in a panic attack.
The most successful treatment I have used in my practice is symptom induction. In this technique, the client will try to bring on their most disturbing physiological (not psychological) symptoms 3-5 times per day, or when they are starting to have a panic attack. The idea here is not to scare yourself, but rather to try to make your heart pound for about 10 seconds, make yourself feel dizzy for a bit, and so forth. This is a desensitization technique that has worked miracles for many.
This technique is part of cognitive-behavioral therapy treatment for panic disorder. Other essential elements are cognitive restructuring to help you reinterpret events and sensations more realistically.
Another bit of insight: A large majority of my clients with panic disorder exhibit a lack of assertiveness in their interpersonal relationships. I had noted this anecdotally for some time, but now there is research supporting this.
Finally, I would encourage you to visit this wonderful web site from the Centre for Clinical Interventions and the Department of Health in Western Australia, Panic Stations. This is a goldmine. It is a free set of 12 self-help modules for panic attacks, and it's free!
Be well,
Michael
Read more!
A: Dear Freaking Out,First, take heart because you're in swell company with millions of other Americans who suffer panic attacks. I commend you for taking positive steps now to address your symptoms.
You are right to say that it's all in your head. Panic disorder is a game that your mind plays with you, and you have to outsmart it. The fact is that panic attacks live off your fear of them. That's why just thinking about them can send you into one. Let's look briefly at the components of panic.
Anxiety is an evolutionary development that helped our hunting-and-gathering ancestors survive. When you go into panic mode, also known as fight-or-flight mode, a number of physiological changes take place. Blood rushes from your head to your extremities, resulting in dizzyness, light-headedness, and/or feeling "unreal" or "otherworldly." Your breathing becomes shallow, resulting in a sense of "breathlessness." These are helping you to fight or flee a life-threatening situation. Many people become sweaty; the moisture makes us slippery and difficult for a predator to grasp. The thing to remember here is that anxiety was designed to save us, not hurt us.
Today, we aren't in the literal jungle anymore, but our physiology hasn't caught up. Hence, many people get a small flash of dizzyness or shallow breathing and interpret that they are having a heart attack. Others feel a rush of adrenaline and feel "out of this world," and interpret those sensations as "going out of my mind." They fear they might lose control and run around wildly killing strangers. Others may first have a disturbing "cognitive intrusion" or thought and begin to feel the physiological sensations. In any event,all of these misinterpretations only increase the anxiety and, voila, you have yourself in a panic attack.
The most successful treatment I have used in my practice is symptom induction. In this technique, the client will try to bring on their most disturbing physiological (not psychological) symptoms 3-5 times per day, or when they are starting to have a panic attack. The idea here is not to scare yourself, but rather to try to make your heart pound for about 10 seconds, make yourself feel dizzy for a bit, and so forth. This is a desensitization technique that has worked miracles for many.
This technique is part of cognitive-behavioral therapy treatment for panic disorder. Other essential elements are cognitive restructuring to help you reinterpret events and sensations more realistically.
Another bit of insight: A large majority of my clients with panic disorder exhibit a lack of assertiveness in their interpersonal relationships. I had noted this anecdotally for some time, but now there is research supporting this.
Finally, I would encourage you to visit this wonderful web site from the Centre for Clinical Interventions and the Department of Health in Western Australia, Panic Stations. This is a goldmine. It is a free set of 12 self-help modules for panic attacks, and it's free!
Be well,
Michael
Read more!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
What, Me Worry?
Q: I am a worry wart and always have been. But now I feel completely stressed out. Are there any books you'd recommend to help me deal with this?
Scott V.
A: Scott, the good news is that there really is NOTHING to worry about. Worrying about anything has never changed the outcome, ever. What it does is paralyze us from taking action and, ultimately, wasting our real life away because we're trapped in our heads. And maybe that's what your worrying is enabling you to do, to avoid parts of the reality around you, but that's an issue you could deal with in a therapeutic context. But for now, here are two titles I'd recommend.
Feeling Good, The New Mood Therapy by David Burns, MD. A great intro to cognitive-behavioral therapy for all our distorted thinking.
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, a wonderful and comforting guide to living in the present moment.
Be well,
Michael
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Scott V.
A: Scott, the good news is that there really is NOTHING to worry about. Worrying about anything has never changed the outcome, ever. What it does is paralyze us from taking action and, ultimately, wasting our real life away because we're trapped in our heads. And maybe that's what your worrying is enabling you to do, to avoid parts of the reality around you, but that's an issue you could deal with in a therapeutic context. But for now, here are two titles I'd recommend.
Feeling Good, The New Mood Therapy by David Burns, MD. A great intro to cognitive-behavioral therapy for all our distorted thinking.
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, a wonderful and comforting guide to living in the present moment.
Be well,
Michael
Read more!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Youthful bad behavior often continues through life, study says
News Item
Ian Colman, an epidemiologist in the University of Alberta School of Public Health, has determined that people who exhibited bad behaviour in their early teenage years were far more likely than their well-behaved classmates to leave school early and experience problems as adults such mental illness, family conflict and financial troubles.
For his research, Colman utilized data from an ongoing, long-term study, known as the 1946 British Birth Cohort, which tracked 5,000 British citizens born within one week of each other in March 1946.
Colman focused on questionnaires filled out when the test subjects reached the ages of 13 and 15, and looked at indications of conduct problems at school, including disobedience, lying, truancy, responding poorly to discipline and being restless or daydreaming.
The results of the questionnaires were grouped into three categories-those with severe conduct problems, those with mild conduct problems and those with no conduct problems-and compared to the test subjects' outcomes as adults.
Of the 29 per cent of the study subjects who exhibited some form of teenage behavioural conduct, children with mild and severe behavioural problems were respectively twice and three times as likely to experience problems in adult life than their well-behaved counterparts.
"This research suggests that conduct difficulties in adolescence are not just a short-term problem that disappears when children grow up and mature," said Colman. "This study suggests that adolescent-conduct problems are often indicative of more serious problems in creating and maintaining positive social relationships, and this inability to function pro-socially has a long-term effect on the young adult's ability to maintain good mental health, stable employment and a happy family life."
While the findings, which will be published in the Jan. 24 edition of The British Medical Journal, were not unexpected, Colman says he was surprised by how effective even mild adolescent behavioural problems were in predicting a life of hardship.
"They were more likely to leave school early, be involved in a teenage pregnancy and/or in adulthood abuse alcohol, be divorced and have lower paying jobs," he said.
Colman said his study adjusts for factors that influenced this association, including the family social class, an impoverished environment, cognitive ability, symptoms of depression and anxiety and gender. He explained that while males were more often associated with undesired adolescent behaviour, females involved in the same test group who exhibited the same inappropriate teenage conduct also experienced negative outcomes as an adult at a similar rate, which more often, however, manifested themselves in the form of mental-health issues.
This research into problem adolescents builds on a mounting body of evidence that points to the financial price paid by society in terms of the resultant overarching cost of education, welfare, crime, and health care, the latter of which will be one of the focuses of Colman's next study.
"We want to look at how physical health translates into life expectancy because obviously this is painting a very poor picture and we suspect for some kids that will translate into an earlier death," he said.
Colman also plans to explore the silver lining that emerged in the study, which saw a good portion of problem adolescents right the ship.
"Not every kid has this terrible road in front of them," he said. "There are going to be success stories emerge from these groups.
"I think we need to look at what's different about those kids and single out what were the things that supported them in getting their lives back on track."
Read more!
Ian Colman, an epidemiologist in the University of Alberta School of Public Health, has determined that people who exhibited bad behaviour in their early teenage years were far more likely than their well-behaved classmates to leave school early and experience problems as adults such mental illness, family conflict and financial troubles.
For his research, Colman utilized data from an ongoing, long-term study, known as the 1946 British Birth Cohort, which tracked 5,000 British citizens born within one week of each other in March 1946.
Colman focused on questionnaires filled out when the test subjects reached the ages of 13 and 15, and looked at indications of conduct problems at school, including disobedience, lying, truancy, responding poorly to discipline and being restless or daydreaming.
The results of the questionnaires were grouped into three categories-those with severe conduct problems, those with mild conduct problems and those with no conduct problems-and compared to the test subjects' outcomes as adults.
Of the 29 per cent of the study subjects who exhibited some form of teenage behavioural conduct, children with mild and severe behavioural problems were respectively twice and three times as likely to experience problems in adult life than their well-behaved counterparts.
"This research suggests that conduct difficulties in adolescence are not just a short-term problem that disappears when children grow up and mature," said Colman. "This study suggests that adolescent-conduct problems are often indicative of more serious problems in creating and maintaining positive social relationships, and this inability to function pro-socially has a long-term effect on the young adult's ability to maintain good mental health, stable employment and a happy family life."
While the findings, which will be published in the Jan. 24 edition of The British Medical Journal, were not unexpected, Colman says he was surprised by how effective even mild adolescent behavioural problems were in predicting a life of hardship.
"They were more likely to leave school early, be involved in a teenage pregnancy and/or in adulthood abuse alcohol, be divorced and have lower paying jobs," he said.
Colman said his study adjusts for factors that influenced this association, including the family social class, an impoverished environment, cognitive ability, symptoms of depression and anxiety and gender. He explained that while males were more often associated with undesired adolescent behaviour, females involved in the same test group who exhibited the same inappropriate teenage conduct also experienced negative outcomes as an adult at a similar rate, which more often, however, manifested themselves in the form of mental-health issues.
This research into problem adolescents builds on a mounting body of evidence that points to the financial price paid by society in terms of the resultant overarching cost of education, welfare, crime, and health care, the latter of which will be one of the focuses of Colman's next study.
"We want to look at how physical health translates into life expectancy because obviously this is painting a very poor picture and we suspect for some kids that will translate into an earlier death," he said.
Colman also plans to explore the silver lining that emerged in the study, which saw a good portion of problem adolescents right the ship.
"Not every kid has this terrible road in front of them," he said. "There are going to be success stories emerge from these groups.
"I think we need to look at what's different about those kids and single out what were the things that supported them in getting their lives back on track."
Read more!
Monday, January 12, 2009
First grade success can predict depression later
Students' successes in the first grade can affect more than their future report cards. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers found links among students' weak academic performance in the first grade, self-perceptions in the sixth grade, and depression symptoms in the seventh grade.
"We found that students in the first grade who struggled academically with core subjects, including reading and math, later displayed negative self-perceptions and symptoms of depression in sixth and seventh grade, respectively," said Keith Herman, associate professor of education, school and counseling psychology in the MU College of Education. "Often, children with poor academic skills believe they have less influence on important outcomes in their life. Poor academic skills can influence how children view themselves as students and as social beings."
In the study, MU researchers examined the behaviors of 474 boys and girls in the first grade and re-examined the students when they entered middle school. Herman found that students who struggled academically with core subjects, such as reading and math, in the first grade later showed risk factors for negative self-beliefs and depressive symptoms as they entered sixth and seventh grade. Herman suggests that because differences in children's learning will continue to exist even if all students are given effective instruction and support, parents and teachers should acknowledge student's skills in other areas
"One of the main ways children can get others to like them in school is by being good students. Children with poor academic skills may believe that they have one less method for influencing important social outcomes, which could lead to negative consequences later in life. Children's individual differences will always exist in basic academic skills, so it is necessary to explore and emphasize other assets in students, especially those with lower academic skill relative to their peers," Herman said. "Along with reading and math, teachers and parents should honor skills in other areas, such as interpersonal skills, non-core academic areas, athletics and music."
The researchers also found the effect of academic proficiency on self-perceptions was significantly stronger for girls. Girls who did not advance academically believed that they had less control of important outcomes, a risk factor for symptoms of depression.
Read more!
"We found that students in the first grade who struggled academically with core subjects, including reading and math, later displayed negative self-perceptions and symptoms of depression in sixth and seventh grade, respectively," said Keith Herman, associate professor of education, school and counseling psychology in the MU College of Education. "Often, children with poor academic skills believe they have less influence on important outcomes in their life. Poor academic skills can influence how children view themselves as students and as social beings."
In the study, MU researchers examined the behaviors of 474 boys and girls in the first grade and re-examined the students when they entered middle school. Herman found that students who struggled academically with core subjects, such as reading and math, in the first grade later showed risk factors for negative self-beliefs and depressive symptoms as they entered sixth and seventh grade. Herman suggests that because differences in children's learning will continue to exist even if all students are given effective instruction and support, parents and teachers should acknowledge student's skills in other areas
"One of the main ways children can get others to like them in school is by being good students. Children with poor academic skills may believe that they have one less method for influencing important social outcomes, which could lead to negative consequences later in life. Children's individual differences will always exist in basic academic skills, so it is necessary to explore and emphasize other assets in students, especially those with lower academic skill relative to their peers," Herman said. "Along with reading and math, teachers and parents should honor skills in other areas, such as interpersonal skills, non-core academic areas, athletics and music."
The researchers also found the effect of academic proficiency on self-perceptions was significantly stronger for girls. Girls who did not advance academically believed that they had less control of important outcomes, a risk factor for symptoms of depression.
Read more!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Sexual communicating through sweat
News Item
A new Rice University study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that socioemotional meanings, including sexual ones, are conveyed in human sweat.
Denise Chen, assistant professor of psychology at Rice, looked at how the brains of female volunteers processed and encoded the smell of sexual sweat from men. The results of the experiment indicated the brain recognizes chemosensory communication, including human sexual sweat.
Scientists have long known that animals use scent to communicate.
Chen's study represents an effort to expand knowledge of how humans’ sense of smell complement their more powerful senses of sight and hearing.
The experiment directly studied natural human sexual sweat using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Nineteen healthy female subjects inhaled olfactory stimuli from four sources, one of which was sweat gathered from sexually aroused males.
The research showed that several parts of the brain are involved in processing the emotional value of the olfactory information. These include the right fusiform region, the right orbitofrontal cortex and the right hypothalamus.
"With the exception of the hypothalamus, neither the orbitofrontal cortex nor the fusiform region is considered to be associated with sexual motivation and behavior," Chen said. "Our results imply that the chemosensory information from natural human sexual sweat is encoded more holistically in the brain rather than specifically for its sexual quality."
Humans are evolved to respond to salient socioemotional information.
Distinctive neural mechanisms underlie the processing of emotions in facial and vocal expressions. The findings help explain the neural mechanism for human social chemosignals.
The understanding of human smell at the neural level is still at the beginning stage. The present work is the first fMRI study of human social chemosignals.
The research, co-authored by Chen and Wen Zhou, graduate student in the Psychology Department, appeared in the December 31 issue of Journal of Neuroscience.
The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.
Read more!
A new Rice University study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that socioemotional meanings, including sexual ones, are conveyed in human sweat.
Denise Chen, assistant professor of psychology at Rice, looked at how the brains of female volunteers processed and encoded the smell of sexual sweat from men. The results of the experiment indicated the brain recognizes chemosensory communication, including human sexual sweat.
Scientists have long known that animals use scent to communicate.
Chen's study represents an effort to expand knowledge of how humans’ sense of smell complement their more powerful senses of sight and hearing.
The experiment directly studied natural human sexual sweat using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Nineteen healthy female subjects inhaled olfactory stimuli from four sources, one of which was sweat gathered from sexually aroused males.
The research showed that several parts of the brain are involved in processing the emotional value of the olfactory information. These include the right fusiform region, the right orbitofrontal cortex and the right hypothalamus.
"With the exception of the hypothalamus, neither the orbitofrontal cortex nor the fusiform region is considered to be associated with sexual motivation and behavior," Chen said. "Our results imply that the chemosensory information from natural human sexual sweat is encoded more holistically in the brain rather than specifically for its sexual quality."
Humans are evolved to respond to salient socioemotional information.
Distinctive neural mechanisms underlie the processing of emotions in facial and vocal expressions. The findings help explain the neural mechanism for human social chemosignals.
The understanding of human smell at the neural level is still at the beginning stage. The present work is the first fMRI study of human social chemosignals.
The research, co-authored by Chen and Wen Zhou, graduate student in the Psychology Department, appeared in the December 31 issue of Journal of Neuroscience.
The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.
Read more!
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