Barb's Daily Dose

Childhood Trauma Linked to Depression

I saw a patient the other day, who is battling depression. She and I were talking about some of her early experiences as a child and there came that moment when I could see that no matter how resilient or  strong a person is, it's extraordinarily difficult to recover 100% from being treated badly.  

According to an excellent article by Kate Kelland from Reuters, "A study published earlier this month found that childhood hardship, including suffering abuse or losing a parent or having a parent with  addiction problems, also raised the risk of a range of chronic physical illnesses in later life, such as diabetes, heart disease or asthma.

Paulina's Midlife Affair with Meds

Paulina Porizkova, a former model, writer, and a mom featured an article on Huffington's Post that I thought would be of interest.

Here's What I Have to Say:

I see a lot of women in midlife and at the other side of hormonal swings, adolescence.  I'm convinced that our brain chemistry shifts dramatically with hormone surges and precipitous drops.  I've seen well adjusted women with everything under control, suddenly become unrecognizable to themselves and their families. I've seen the same thing happen with teens. HMMM?

Military Stress Disorder: Part III - Symptoms and Treatment

Today's Featured Guest Writer is:  Arlene Karidis, Freelance Writer

So how do you know if you or someone you care about is experiencing Military Sexual Trauma (MST)?  The signs, as with anyone who has been sexually abused, could be many....

Symptoms: 

Flashbacks; nightmares; memories of the abuse; anxiety; a feeling of being unsafe; depression; guilt; emotional numbness; new or increased drug or alcohol use; isolating oneself; difficulty controlling emotions such as:

Introduction to Sexual Assault on the Front Line (Part I)

Part 1 of a 3 Part Series

Featured Guest Writer Today - Arlene Karidis, Freelance Writer

Women serving our country through active duty have more than the Iraqi and Afghanistan militia to protect themselves from, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) report.  In the 2009 study one in four women using VA health care reported experiencing sexual trauma while overseas - debilitating physical or emotional problems resulting from sexual assault or blatant sexual harassment.  The problem has become so common it now has a name of its own:  Military Stress Disorder.  (MST)

Bullying

It's back to school time, and you know what that means?  Getting up early again, making lunches, back into a routine and the anxiety that is natural with any new school year.  Will I like my teacher(s)? Will the other kids be nice?  Can I do the work?  Will it be hard?  Boring? Overwhelming with homework? Will there be bullies?

Cognitive Dissonance

Like many of you, I am devastated looking at the images from Haiti.  This natural disaster is gut wrenching and the images are overwhelming.  Recently, I heard that there were some prominent personalities in the media who were "blaming the victims" of this tragedy.  I've even heard a few people try to "explain" the situation and attribute some of the fault with the people who live in Haiti.  As a student of human nature, I'm struggling to understand why it is, that when bad things happen, situations that are completely out of  
someone's control, some people feel the need to blame the victims.

Military Kids and Psychological Stress

NBC news ran a story about how military kids are under tremendous amounts of stress. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been dragging on for 8 years, and many fathers and mothers have had extended and repeated deployments to areas of danger.  The worry that ensues and the nearly constant moving can wreak havoc on a child's life.  Many times, when the parent comes home, they too have post-traumatic stress and that also can impact the children.