Research consistently shows that clergy – not psychologists or other mental health experts – are the most common source of help sought in times of psychological distress.
In 2008, a Baylor University study found nearly a third of those who approached their local church for assistance in response to a personal or family member’s diagnosed mental illness were told by their church pastor that they or their loved one did not really have a mental illness. Baylor researchers have now built upon that research and have found that depression and anxiety are the mental illnesses that are dismissed the most often. [continue reading…]
Depression

Image: iStockphoto
It might be obvious to many, and reading this particular press release my first reaction was …OK… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that adolescent depression and anxiety disorders are two distinct psychiatric disorders and are classified thus in the revised fourth edition of the DSM-IV. However it has been suggested that these two disorders be given a join classification in the DSM-V. Dr. William W. Hale III(a researcher of the Langeveld Institute for the Study of Education and Development in Childhood and Adolescence at Utrecht University) and his colleagues completed a five-year study which concluded that while adolescent anxiety and depression were strongly related to one another, adolescent depression and anxiety disorder symptoms are in fact best classified as two distinct disorders.As such Hale argues that the classification of adolescent depression and anxiety disorders be preserved in the DSM-V
This publication will appear in the October issue of The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and can be found online at : http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgibin/fulltext/122473904/PDFSTART

Now a new report from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is published by Elsevier in the September-October 2009 issue of General Hospital Psychiatry , explores the management of pregnancy and depression. [continue reading…]
Grandma’s on Facebook from uabnews on Vimeo.
Many elderly adults are increasingly isolated and grapple with depression, loneliness and declines in physical health. The UAB Department of Sociology and Social Work will use a five-year, $1.9 million National Institute on Aging (NIA) grant to study the ability of computer use and social media networking to enhance the quality of life of elderly adults through online social connections and easier access to health information. [continue reading…]