“And a one and a two. . .”: Exercise as a way to improve Alzheimer’s (World Alzheimer Awareness Day)

Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia and the fifth leading cause of death for those 65 and older write Casey, Antimisiaris, and O’Brien in their 2010 article in Pharmacy and Therapeutics, “Drugs for Alzheimer’s Disease: Are They Effective?” I imagine… Continue Reading

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National Domestic Violence Awareness Month: A Startling Consequence of Early Abuse

Clearly growing up with abusive parents is no great shakes no matter how you look at it. Early abuse has been correlated with later-life depression, stunted brain development, anxiety, alcohol abuse–and I’m just getting started. But, even knowing how damaging… Continue Reading

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Dementia: A Growing Epidemic

Do you remember  when anyone exhibiting signs of dementia was simply said to have Alzheimer’s? Wait–kind of a heavy pause here.  What’s happening for me in this silence is the realization that to this very day, a significant minority, if… Continue Reading

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WHY Schizophrenics in Ibadan do better

So you might remember–and if you don’t, welcome to my world–a post I recently did called “Schizophrenic? Consider life in Ibadan.”  To save pursuing the link, I’ll tell you how it turned out.  Despite the fact that ‘developed’ countries have… Continue Reading

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Mental Health Wellness Week, October 5-11, 2014: Just the Facts, Ma’am.

  Unlike most of the Awareness Months, Weeks, or Days I cover, Mental Health Awareness Week is a grassroots public education campaign–it wasn’t designated by the Senate, it isn’t supported by an organization that’s been around since the time of… Continue Reading

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The government grooves to World Alzheimer’s Day. . .by starting over

As you my recall, either from your own font of knowledge, or from our post on the 11th (with the rather uninspiring but fairly informative title “World Alzheimer’s Month (September 2013) and Day (September 21),” in spite of the staggering numbers… Continue Reading

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September is National Pain Awareness Month

“Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself.” (French physician Albert Schweitzer, 1931) You might have taken a look at the title of this post and thought, “An awareness month for pain? This whole ‘Awareness’ thing… Continue Reading

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World Alzheimer’s Month (September 2013) and Day (September 21)

September is World Alzheimer’s Month, only the second such observance ever. The idea is for organizations to run awareness-raising activities around the world for 30 days.  It’s true this Awareness Month is only a year old–a mere baby as far as “Awareness”… Continue Reading

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Is America a Nation of Java Junkies?

It is fair to say that there never was such a fuss and hullabaloo surrounding a psychiatric manual as there has been about the DSM-5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, put out by the (psychiatry… Continue Reading

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Mental Illness and Insurance

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) just released  its annual report (these things take a while, apparently, given its date), entitled, “Results from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Findings.” There’s a lot–and… Continue Reading