Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is often considered something children outgrow. But researchers say the disorder can carry over into adulthood.
A new study published in this week’s Pediatrics journal finds that about a third of those diagnosed as children continue to have ADHD as adults, and more than half of those adults have another psychiatric disorder as well.
Suicide rates were nearly five times higher in adults who had childhood ADHD compared to those who did not, according to the study. Researchers aren’t exactly sure why; they speculate that problems associated with childhood ADHD, such as lower academic achievement and social isolation, make people more prone to life issues as adults.
The study looked at roughly 230 people born between 1976 and 1982 who were diagnosed with ADHD as children. The group was followed until they were about 30 years old.
Full story of ADHD beyond childhood at CNN Health
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Beedie Savage – President of Quantum Units Education
Ice cold, hard and emotionless. Such is the psychopath — we think. Until we get a glimpse behind the mask. Researchers have for decades been almost unanimous in their accord with the popular perception that psychopaths are made in a certain way, and will forever remain that way.
But Aina Gullhaugen, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, disagrees.
Nature or nurture?
"A lot has happened over the past few years in psychiatry," Gullhaugen says. "But the discipline is still characterized by the attitude that a certain group of people are put together in such a way that they cannot be treated. There is little in the textbooks that says that these people have had a hard life. Until now the focus has been directed at their antisocial behaviour and lack of empathy. And the explanation for this is based on biology, instead of looking at what these people have experienced."
Through her experience as a psychologist, Gullhaugen has found, in fact, that there is a discrepancy between the formal characteristics of psychopathy and what she has experienced in meeting psychopaths.
Full story of a psychopath’s mind at Science Daily
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Most people talk to themselves at least every few days, and many report talking to themselves on an hourly basis. What purpose is served by this seemingly irrational behavior? Previous research has suggested that such self-directed speech in children can help guide their behavior. For example, children often talk themselves step-by-step through tying their shoelaces, as if reminding themselves to focus on the job in hand.
"One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody’s listening." Franklin P. Jones once said.
Can talking to oneself also help adults?
In a recent study published in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, psychologists Gary Lupyan (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Daniel Swingley (University of Pennsylvania) conducted a series of experiments to discover whether talking to oneself can help when searching for particular objects. The studies were inspired by observations that people often audibly mutter to themselves when trying to find, for example, a jar of Peanut Butter on a supermarket shelf, or the stick of butter in their fridge.
Full story of talking to yourself at Science Daily
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Press Release
American Occupational Therapy Association will promote HR 3762 with briefing on March 19
The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) will sponsor a House & Senate Congressional staff briefing in support of the Occupational Therapy Mental Health Act (HR 3762) on Monday, March 19th at 11:00 A.M. in 121 Cannon House Office Building. The event will examine the important clinical role that the nation’s occupational therapists play in helping consumers manage serious mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major clinical depression, and PTSD, and achieve optimal functional performance in their everyday lives.
The legislation would add occupational therapists to the current list of "behavioral and mental health professionals" in the National Health Services Corps (NHSC), making occupational therapists eligible to participate in the NHSC Scholarship and Loan Repayment Programs.
"We plan to educate and highlight the important role of occupational therapy in the provision of high quality mental health care," said Ralph Kohl, Legislative Representative for AOTA. "There is a need for mental health clients to have access to the full spectrum of services which includes occupational therapy."
Full story of mental health act at Market Watch
By Maia Szalavitz
Child maltreatment has been called the tobacco industry of mental health. Much the way smoking directly causes or triggers predispositions for physical disease, early abuse may contribute to virtually all types of mental illness.
Now, in the largest study yet to use brain scans to show the effects of child abuse, researchers have found specific changes in key regions in and around the hippocampus in the brains of young adults who were maltreated or neglected in childhood. These changes may leave victims more vulnerable to depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the study suggests.
Harvard researchers led by Dr. Martin Teicher studied nearly 200 people aged 18 to 25, who were mainly middle class and well-educated. They were recruited through newspaper and transit ads for a study on “memories of childhood.” Because the authors wanted to look specifically at the results of abuse and neglect, people who had suffered other types of trauma like car accidents or gang violence were excluded.
Full story at Time
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is often considered something children outgrow. But researchers say the disorder can carry over into adulthood.
