Anosognosia, a clinical lack of insight, affects up to 50% of people with bipolar disorder, leaving them unable to recognize their illness. This symptom can devastate not only those with bipolar disorder but also their loved ones. Discover why this happens, how it impacts treatment, and what you can do to help someone who doesn’t believe they’re unwell.
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Can people with serious mental illnesses recover? That’s the question. It depends on your definition of “recovery” of course, but we’ll get to that in a minute. “Recovery” is now the goal when it comes to mental illnesses and, if your doctor is anything like the one I had when I was diagnosed, he will have told you that you will recover. But I’m not sure that recovery isn’t a myth for those with serious mental illness. Read one for more about not recovering from serious mental illness.
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I know to some people, saying that bipolar, schizophrenia and depression are genetic is like saying the sky is blue. We know that these illnesses are genetic. It’s obvious. It’s also pretty obvious (to, me, anyway) that bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia overlap in some ways. Nonetheless, some people require yet more proof. Well, welcome to some more proof. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression (and actually autism and alcoholism) are genetic and these illnesses’ genes even overlap. Yes, we bipolars are genetically linked to our brothers and sisters with other psychiatric disorders.
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Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of a computer chip inside of aripiprazole (Abilify) pills. This computer chip is designed to indicate whether the person has taken his or her medication or not. The theory (and marketing push) is that this computer chip will improve treatment adherence (compliance). It will “ensure” people are taking their medications as prescribed. But will a computer chip inside of an antipsychotic really improve medication adherence?
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Yes, I know, you hate Eli Lilly. In fact, you hate all “big pharma;” I know. But right now you have a chance to get your hands on a scholarship that pays for tuition, books and lab fees and I really think you should consider it. The Eli Lilly Reintegration Scholarship is available to those living with bipolar disorder or a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder.
Read MoreHi all. I have a couple of announcements to make and a piece of schizophrenia research to share. Today’s post is about:
I, as a good little webmistress, keep an eye on my web analytics. So yes, I know some things about my audience, and one of the things I know is what people are searching for when they find me. This sometimes influences what I write about, like today: What is the worst mental illness?
That depends on how you judge it. You could judge it by suicide rate, in which case:
You could judge the worst mental illness based on disability rates in which case you would probably get:
Perhaps schizophrenia is the worst as it’s associated with more psychosis (delusions and hallucination). Perhaps major depression is worst because of the number of treatment-resistant cases.
Or perhaps the answer is simply this: The worst mental illness is the one you have.
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Happy holidays all.
I’m a pretty busy gal right now, so not a lot of time to write new material. I promise I’ll try to get to something new next week.
However, while you’re waiting, have you caught up on all your Breaking Bipolar articles? No? I didn’t think so. Here’s a run-down on some of what I’ve been doing over at HealthyPlace:
Hot on the heels of my post about the neurobiological evidence for major depressive disorder comes this: the first blood-based diagnostic aid for schizophrenia.
Um, what’s that again?
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