Here's what to do about your anxiety

This is a very helpful article for people dealing with anxiety, it offers alternatives to prescriptions, and therapy is suggested. Make sure that you read the entire article.

(CNN) -- Dr. Charles Raison, CNN's mental health expert, addresses two questions from readers reacting to a piece on anxiety from Kat Kinsman, CNN Eatocracy managing editor, on her lifelong struggle with the condition. Look for Raison to address other questions in the future.

Q: Can using marijuana or having a drink or two be helpful for people with anxiety? What should they watch out for?

Dr. Raison: If one goes on any search engine looking for study results related to marijuana or alcohol and depression or anxiety, one will immediately see that most of the evidence tells a cautionary tale.

Many studies suggest that regular use of either marijuana or alcohol is associated with an increased risk for a variety of mental health problems, anxiety and depression among them. Increasing data suggests that regular marijuana use in adolescence may also be a risk factor for developing very serious psychotic disorders, especially schizophrenia.

In addition to promoting other disorders, alcohol is especially liable to abuse and dependence and has ruined innumerable people's lives for millennia.

Far fewer studies have examined whether using these compounds in moderation might improve depression or anxiety.

But as Socrates noted almost 2,000 years ago, alcohol is both a blessing and a curse to mankind. Indeed, now we know that the regular modest use of alcohol actually promotes a number of health factors.

Similarly, it is increasingly clear that many of the chemicals within marijuana hold great promise for the treatment of physical pain. The endocannabinoid system in the brain -- which is a primary target for marijuana -- has profound effects on how people think and feel.

Read more:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/health/raison-anxiety/

The death of a loved one in childhood 'affects adult mental health'

Grief is a natural response to loss. It’s the emotional suffering you feel when something or someone you love is taken away. You may associate grief with the death of a loved one – and this type of loss does often cause the most intense grief.  This article reviews a study connecting the loss of a loved one to a child's future mental health. 

A new study published in the British Medical Journal finds a small but significant increase in psychosis risk for people who suffer the loss of a family member in childhood.

Although we know that adult health can be influenced by the genes we inherit from our parents, as well as the environment and lifestyle we experience as children, some evidence has suggested that psychological stress from the mother can also affect the development of a fetus.

But previous studies examining a link between a mother's psychological stress and her offspring's mental health have not been very conclusive.

This new study wanted to test this link further by seeing if children born to mothers who went through severe bereavement before, during or after pregnancy would be more likely to show symptoms of psychosis in adulthood.

The study was a large systematic review analyzing the medical records of 946,994 people born between 1973 and 1985 in Sweden.

The researchers identified mothers who had experienced the death of their parents, offspring or father of their children in a period between 6 months before conceiving and up to 13 years after giving birth. They also took into account the cause of death when bereavements had occurred in these families.

Overall, 321,249 (33%) of the children in the study experienced a family death before the age of 13.

To read more:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/271447.php

What It's Like To Suffer From PTSD Post-Divorce

This article highlights a very serious outcome from a traumatic divorce. Going to couples therapy before things become really awful always helps; but when someone has been diagnosed with mental illness the therapy should be more intense than usual. If you are going through something similar to this woman in the article, make sure that you speak to a professional therapist as soon as possible.

“Once you go through a high conflict divorce you are never the same,” said Dana in an interview I had with her a few months ago.

Dana divorced her husband in 1999. Her ex, Jim, had been diagnosed withNarcissistic Personality Disorder and he has made Dana and their children’s lives miserable for 14 years. Due to the long, drawn out legal battle and Jim’s emotional abuse before and since the divorce, Dana was recently diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She is being treated as an inpatient and discussed what life has been like for her over the last few years.

“I feel as if I’ve been in the middle of a war zone for an extended period of time. I’ve lived with daily fear for years; there has been no relief because some sort of conflict with my ex was always lurking around the corner,” Dana says. "I didn’t have time to process one event before I was dealing with another one."

"When divorced from someone like my ex, you don’t have time to stop, process your feelings, grieve and move on," she continued. "You have to have your guard up at all times, be focused and ready for what is coming next and you learn quickly that there will be something coming.”

To read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/07/divorce-post-traumatic-_n_4557481.html?utm_hp_ref=divorce&ir=Divorce

5 Important Reasons to Stop Ignoring Your Mental Health

Your mental health is one of the most important things that you should be focusing on right now. If you are unsure about the stability of your mental health, it may be best to speak with a therapist. Sometimes speaking with someone who has no previous history with you can be the easiest person to unload your struggles upon. This article outlines the top reasons to stop ignoring your mental health...

When we come down with a cold, most of us don't hesitate to pop a pill or visit the doctor. But if we can't seem to shake our endless worries or that nagging sense of hopelessness, we plug along as though nothing is wrong. Hence the dire state of mental health in the U.S., where roughly one in four adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder, yet less than half receive treatment. So why should you care about your mental health?

#1 Better Physical Health
There is a strong connection between the mind and body. If you're in physical pain, your work and family life may be affected or you may not be able to do the activities you enjoy, which can lead to stress, anxiety and depression. A 2012 study in Health Services Researchconfirmed this connection, noting that people with physical health problems are three times more likely to seek mental health care than those without physical conditions.

Just as physical health problems can lead to mental distress, mental health disorders can impair physical health (for example, by causing sleep disturbances or impairing immune function). When both mental and physical problems co-occur, doctors typically focus solely on the physical complaint and the cycle of illness continues. However, if the mental health problem gets addressed, many patients report improvements in their physical health. For instance, a 2003 study found that the treatment of depression in arthritis patients led to reduced pain and better overall health.

#2 Improved Productivity and Financial Stability 
As a result of dependence on disability income, leaves of absence from work, lost earning potential and the high costs of mental health treatment, individuals with untreated mental health disorders may face significant economic struggles. Some end up foreclosing on their homes, declaring bankruptcy or homeless or incarcerated after trying to manage a mental illness.

In a 2003 survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 70 percent of those with mental illness had an annual income of $20,000 or less, and 20 percent lived on just $5,000 per year. Similarly, a study in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that people suffering from a serious mental illness earned at least 40 percent less than people in good mental health. People with untreated psychiatric illnesses make up one-third of the homeless population and about 16 percent of the total inmate population.

For those who are able to maintain employment, research shows a link between mental health disorders and reduced productivity. The World Health Organization reports that an estimated 200 million work days are lost each year due to depression alone, and five out of the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide are mental health problems. People who struggle with anxiety and depression are more likely to take sick leave repeatedly and for long periods of time (over 90 days), according to a 2012 study by researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

To read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sack-md/healthy-living-news_b_4494887.html

Can Your Marriage Be Saved After an Affair?

Can your marriage survive an affair?  The answer to that may depend on how healthy your marriage was to start, and whether or not you and your spouse are willing to undergo post-affair counseling. 

Many marital counselors say it is possible to repair a relationship after infidelity, but only if both parties are willing to work hard and honestly acknowledge shortcomings in the relationship and in themselves.

Some 20% of men and 14% of women who have ever been married have had extramarital sex, according to federally sponsored research conducted since 1972 by the social-science research organization NORC at the University of Chicago. (Reliable statistics about infidelity are scarce, largely because many people won't own up to an affair.)

How many marriages survive infidelity? Peggy Vaughan, a San Diego researcher who runs the website Dearpeggy.com, recently surveyed 1,083 people and found 76% of those whose spouses had affairs were still married and living with the spouse. Other estimates from a different sampling of marriage therapists range from 30% to 80%.

Ultimately, whether a marriage survives an affair depends on how healthy the marriage was to begin with, how long the affair lasted and the manner in which it was discovered.