Electroshocks are back!

It is very known that psychiatric diseases and electroshocks have been associated for many years. In fact, cultural depictions of asylums and psychiatric institutions always show us this “stereotypical couple”. People could think that this brutal technique is past. However, ECT (Electroconvulsive therapy) is back to treat bipolar disorder.

The purpose for this treatment is stimulating a patient’s brain through mild electric currents. Results have been successful in 75% of the trials. This led scientists to go beyond and improve this technique making it less painful and more effective. Recent studies—conducted by experts from the University of New South Wales, Australia—have demonstrated that electric currents can improve patients’ life, and even be more effective than antidepressants.

In contrast to old use of electroshocks, now these are controlled by the doctor in order to avoid any problem with the patient. The patient is put under general anesthesia, and then the current is applied. Experts suggest this treatment is effective if it is applied 3 times a week, for 3 or 4 weeks.

Perhaps a con that this treatment may have is side effects. ECT can cause headaches, jaw pain and nausea. Nevertheless, these could be considered “details” if they compared to the horrible effects that bipolar disorder carry.

It is impossible to not think of those terrible old psychiatric hospitals with this therapy, and many people think it is the same. So, could modern medicine open the doors to an old-school technique? Could be better to take action in another way, like improving antidepressants? For more information, please check the links below:

An article by WebMD.com

An article by Asianscientist.com

Is Transsexualism a mental disorder?

According to the World Health Organization, it is. People who are not satisfied with the sex they were born and feel they should have the opposite sex are diagnosed  by psychologists with Gender Identity Disorder (GID).

The American Psychiatric Association defines a mental disorder as “...a health condition characterized by significant dysfunction in an individual’s cognitions, emotions, or behaviors that reflects a disturbance in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning.”  Nevertheless, latest medical studies on brain structures of transsexual people could prove that these persons have the brain structures of the opposite sex; in other words, their brain structure corresponds to the sex they feel identified with.

Furthermore, in 2008, a group of Australian researchers found a genetic difference related to the androgen receptor gene in male-to-female transsexuals that could provoke debility in testosterone signals.

These studies indicate that Transsexualism is not actually a mental illness, since there are physical aspects involved.

Actually, a petition made by a female-to-male transsexual called Maxwell Zachs at Change.org asking for declassifying Transsexualism as a mental disorder from the World Health Organization has been signed by more than 42.000 people.  It is part of an International campaign in which Trans people claim that they are not sick, they are just people who were born in a different body, and that the classification of Transsexualism as a mental disorder just contributes to discrimination.

Here's the link to the full petition of Maxwell Zachs: http://www.change.org/petitions/world-health-organisation-who-we-are-trans-not-sick

Do you consider that Transsexualism is a mental disorder? What do you think about Maxwell Zachs's petition?

Therapeutic abortion

When someone important in our lives passes away we feel what is called by psychiatrists the steps of "grief". But what if the person we lost weren't even born yet? What if the person you lost were your unborn child?

When we think of grief we think of psycological process that is normal and that it will be overcome, eventually.

Actually, grief can be a little bit more complex than that. Although women have been acused for centuries of hysteria and weakness of character, recent studies had focused on explaining the physiological effects of grief after the death of an unborn child. A study conducted in 2009 shows that the loss of an unborn child by induced abortion because of malformation of the fetus and other problems is one of the most traumatic events in life that can cause intense grief in a mother. Evidence showed in this study supports the hypothesis that the same neural structures involved in the experience of physical pain are involved in the experience of social pain and loss (Neural Activation Underlying Acute Grief in Women After the Loss of an Unborn Child by Anette Kersting, Patricia Ohrmann, Anya Pedersen, Kristin Kroker, Daniela Samberg, Jochen Bauer, Harald Kugel, Katja Koelkebeck, Johannes Steinhard, Walter Heindel, Volker Arolt, and Thomas Suslow).

The process of grief can be one of the most life changing experieces in life, but we should be careful when living this process.

Therapeutic abortion is a topic that can never be black or white; but, certainly, whoever can cope with the consequences not only has a strong soul, but also a strong mind.

The Role of Family in Attention Deficit/Hiperactivity Disorder

Attention Deficit/Hiperactivity Disorder (ADHD), includes much more than the person who suffers it, this disorder also affects all the people that are involved in learning processes; This way, one of the most important actors in this process that we have to consider is family and the effect that a kid with this disorder implies for it, since family dinamics are affected by the behaviour that children with ADHD present, affecting at the same time the core of relationships and behaviour learning, which for a child is family.

According to JB Schweitzer, TK Cummins andCA Kant from Medical Clinics of North America (2001) ADHD is one of the most common yet undiagnosed psychiatric disorders in children. This might be an explanation for how difficult is to find material that helps you to work with this kid in the classroom; but parents, and family in general, should take more action since according to Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents by Larry S. Goldman, MD; Myron Genel, MD; Rebecca J. Bezman, MD; Priscilla J. Slanetz, MD, MPH the key to a succesful treatment of this deficit is the early diagnose and, most importantly, the right one.

Ideally the family should be alert and realize that if their children symptoms such as
developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, impulsivity, overactivity, or a
combination of these; they can help their kid by noticing and speaking with an specialist, because these characteristics may indicate ADHD which results in chronic functional impairment, affecting not only the children's academic performance, but also the family dinamics that build the life-style, the affective and socila enviroment in which the kid will grew up and learn.

Taking into account all the mentioned above, I would dare to affirm that family is one of the fundamental mainstay for a child that suffers from ADHD to develop a better life quality and to be treated propperly, in a healthy enviroment.