Are you the parent of a teen?

Get that kid to bed by 10!

According to a new study published in the journal, Sleep, parents who enforce earlier bedtimes are doing their teens a big favor.

Why?

Kids who stay up until midnight or later are 24 percent more likely to be depressed and 20 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts, than teens with bed times of 10 p.m. or earlier.

Dr. James E. Gangwisch and his colleagues of Columbia University Medical Center in New York City made the discovery. According to Dr. Gangwisch, “It’s… a common idea that older adolescents don’t need as much sleep as younger adolescents, but that’s really not true–they still need about 9 hours of sleep at night.” Depression has long been linked to inadequate sleep in both teens and adults. The team’s report verifies this fact and notes the connection could be “bidirectional”-meaning getting too little sleep boosts depression risk, while being depressed makes it harder to sleep.

Gangwisch’s team looked at over 15,000 seventh- through twelfth-graders who, along with their parents, were surveyed in 1994-1996. Fifty-four percent of parents said their teens had to go to bed at 10 p.m. or earlier on school nights. Twenty-one percent set bedtime at 11 p.m., and twenty-five percent allowed their children to stay up until midnight or later. More than two-thirds of the teens said they went to bed when they were supposed to.

Considering the possibility that parents who were stricter about bedtime might have other traits or behaviors that protect their child from depression, the researchers analyzed the relationships between the teens and their parents and then accounted for this in their study.

They found no link between a set bedtime and how much teens felt their parents cared for them, but there was a strong relationship between bedtimes and whether or not the teens felt they got enough sleep. Adding to the importance of getting enough sleep, the team learned that kids who got five hours of sleep nightly or less were seventy-one percent more likely to be depressed, and forty percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts than their peers who got eight or more hours of sleep a night.

“Getting adequate sleep is really important for our mental health as well as being able to focus and have the necessary energy and motivation to do the things we need to do during the day,” Gangwisch noted.

So, parents of teens, take note: Eight or more hours of sleep are vital to your teen’s mental health. Staying up late is not to be considered a privilege, but rather a health risk.

Tricia and Karen Callaghan share their experiences  with chronic depression.

Additional video and information available at www.bringchange2mind.org

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Fighting the stigma of mental illness…

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As rates of depression and anxiety increase in older adults, health-care providers are searching for more effective methods of treatment. Since most elderly people already take prescription drugs, many PCPs want a non-pharmaceutical alternative.

New research may have discovered the solution in an old therapy model.

Melinda Stanley, a professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, found that people over age 60 who were treated with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) had less worry, fewer depressive symptoms and improved general mental health at the end of the study compared to people who received biweekly telephone calls from their health-care provider.

“This kind of treatment (CBT) can be useful for people who have anxiety, and it can help them learn how to manage it better,” said, Stanley.

“Many older adults are not…thrilled with the use of medications for anxiety. Many times, they’re already on medications for chronic health conditions, and they may be afraid of side effects. This is a non-medication treatment option,” she noted.

The study included 134 people with an average age of 67. All were being treated in primary care for anxiety. Half of those involved in the study participated in cognitive behavior therapy with experienced therapists. They had up to 10 sessions of CBT over three months that included relaxation training, problem-solving exercises, behavioral sleep management, cognitive therapy and education and awareness training.

The other half received standard primary care, and they were called biweekly to ensure their safety and provide support if needed. Both groups were told to call the therapists if their symptoms worsened.

Response rates in the CBT group were much higher– 40 percent compared to 22 percent — versus the usual care. Worry severity and depression reduced more in the CBT group, and overall mental health improved more in the CBT group, based on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire.

This is good news, and much less expensive than long-term medication management. As managed health care evolves, we must look to both innovative and tried-and-true treatment approaches.

Kathy Larson, author and illustrator of “Dancing Crazy,” generously agreed to an interview about this recently published children’s book aimed at helping kids understand bipolar disorder. Here is an excerpt from that exchange:

What motivated or inspired you to write “Dancing Crazy?”

I really had no choice.  Our daughter experienced the most challenging event in the course of her disease.  Doctors feared she was moving into a permanent catatonic state; we feared she was dying.  After spending three months in a secured setting, Susan was released from the hospital.  The world immediately became a different place-for her and her husband, their children, all of us, really.  Each of us helped as best we could-praying, baby-sitting, cooking meals and doing the laundry, all the while seeking reassurance in words we could understand.  There were many excellent books on the market for adults, but none for little ones.  So I wrote one.

Please share your personal experiences with serious mental illness.

Although never diagnosed with depression, my mother spent long hours staring out a window or napping on the couch.  As children, we figured she was just worn out from raising the five of us.  Now, as adults, we wonder how Mom even survived with such responsibility and little support.

Over the years, many of my students have suffered physical or emotional abuse from mentally ill family members.  Others continue to live with the results of parents or siblings who have either attempted suicide or been successful.  I think of one little fifth grader who stopped coming to school after excerpts from her father’s trial were detailed in the local newspaper.  She was positive everyone would figure out she was the person he’d raped and “stare at her”.

On a personal level, several members of my family take medication for anxiety or depression; and a few more probably should. Looking at the myriad of mental illnesses-from schizophrenia to borderline personality disorder to just plain naughty-we’ve got it all somewhere.

What do you hope to accomplish by publishing “Dancing Crazy?”

“Dancing Crazy” will reduce the fears of many children as they deal with Bipolar Disease.  Kids’ worries are so much the same.    Did I make my parent act this way?  Can someone “catch” bipolar?  What’s going to happen to me or my family tomorrow or the next day or the next?

What do you want people, especially children, to know about bipolar disorder?

Bipolar Disorder is a disease caused by a chemical imbalance in somebody’s brain. Your mom or dad did not get it because they work too hard.  Nor did they get it because they have too much fun.  The truth is everyone in your family will still have good days and not-so-good days, just like they did before someone got diagnosed with bipolar disease.

To learn more about Ms. Larson’s book, or to order it for yourself, click here. And if you know of other books about mental illness written specifically for children, please contact me.

Fondly,

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR, a psychotherapy treatment originally designed to alleviate distress associated with traumatic memories, is now being used with success in the treatment of PTSD, panic disorder and generalized anxiety.

During EMDR the client thinks about emotionally upsetting material in brief sequential doses while focusing on an external stimulus at the same time. Therapist-directed lateral eye movements are the most commonly used external stimulus. Hand-tapping and audio stimulation are often used as well.

EMDR helps clients access their own traumatic memory network, accelerating information processing and enabling them to create new associations between the traumatic memory and more helpful, adaptive information.

These new associations result in “complete information processing, new learning, elimination of emotional distress, and development of cognitive insights.”

EMDR uses a three pronged approach:

(1) Past events leading to dysfunction are processed and new associative links with adaptive information are created.

(2) Current circumstances that provoke distress are targeted and internal and external triggers are desensitized.

(3) Future events are imagined and envisioned as positive scenarios to assist the client in acquiring the skills needed for adaptive functioning.

Dr. Francine Shapiro, developer of EMDR, asserts that the human brain has an inherent information-handling system that processes multiple elements of every experience to an adaptive state where learning takes place. She sees memory as being stored in linked networks organized around the earliest related event and its associated affect. These memory networks contain related thoughts, images, emotions, and sensations.

Shapiro believes that unprocessed experiences become the basis of dysfunctional reactions and are the cause of many mental disorders. She proposes that EMDR successfully alleviates mental disorders by fully processing the components of distressing memories. These effects are thought to occur when the targeted memory is linked with other more adaptive information. When this happens, learning takes place, and the experience is stored with appropriate emotions able to guide the person in the future.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) contains many of the same elements found in psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered therapies. “It is an information processing therapy…used to address the experiential contributors of a wide range of pathologies. It attends to the past experiences that have set the groundwork for pathology, the current situations that trigger dysfunctional emotions, beliefs and sensations, and the positive experience needed to enhance future adaptive behaviors and mental health.”

Interestingly, EMDR seems to be the most effective treatment for PTSD in returning veterans. Twelve sessions of EMDR eliminated post-traumatic stress disorder in 77% of the multiply traumatized combat veterans studied. There was 100% retention in the EMDR condition. Effects were maintained at follow-up.

This is some of the best news I’ve heard in a long time, and I hope those in need have access to this quick, effective treatment.

*Information adapted from Dr. Francine Shapiro’s Accelerated Information Processing model to describe and predict EMDR’s effect.

Do you struggle to get a good night’s sleep?

Do you toss and turn, frequently awaken, or rise in the morning still feeling fatigued?

If so, you have more on the line that just a long, tired day. Your overall happiness may be at stake.

According to a recent Finnish study, people who have difficulty getting a good night’s sleep are three times as likely to be dissatisfied with their lives later on.

While poor sleep and life dissatisfaction each show a strong tendency to be inherited, they do not share the same genetic roots, according to Dr. Tiina Paunio of the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki. This suggests that something about sleeping badly in itself affects “the brain, emotions, and mood.”

Past studies looked at the relationship between life dissatisfaction – as reflected in feelings of well-being and mental functioning — and sleep quality, but none looked at how the two are associated until Dr. Paunio and her colleagues surveyed a group of 18,631 same-sex twins in 1975 and again in 1981.

In 1975, 9 percent of the study participants reported dissatisfaction with life, and were likely to be dissatisfied in 1981. However, their sleep quality did not deteriorate over this period. However, the people who slept “rather poorly or poorly” in 1975 were more than twice as likely to be dissatisfied with life in 1981.

The researchers adjusted for all of the variables including health problems, smoking and drinking habits, and physical activity levels, finding that poor sleep independently tripled the likelihood of life dissatisfaction.

They seem to have proven that poor sleep quality may lead to an overall dissatisfaction with life.

So if you’re sleeping poorly, figure out why and make the necessary changes.

Your future happiness may depend on it.

Even if teens act as if they don’t need their parents’ help, research proves that they do.

Teenagers usually think of their friendships as their most important relationships; but new research shows that support from mom and dad, not friends, helps prevent suicidal behavior in teens that experienced depression or attempted suicide in the past.

Depression during high school and a previous suicide attempt were significant predictors of suicidal thought one or two years later, according to a study led by James Mazza, a University of Washington professor of educational psychology.

Young people who were depressed or had attempted suicide in high school were less likely to have suicidal thoughts if they had strong family support and more open communication. Having a girlfriend or boyfriend also helped.

“Our findings suggest that the protective quality of family support and bonding, or having an intimate partner, are not replaced by peer support and bonding in emerging adulthood,” said Mazza.

Bonding refers to a young adult’s closeness with family or a romantic partner and the ability to talk with them about important issues.

“Peers don’t provide the same type of safety net that comes from a family or by having an intimate partner,” Mazza said. “When it comes to suicidal behavior, young adults may feel that their family or partner may be more accepting and less judgmental than perhaps some of their peers.”

Data came from a larger National Institute of Drug Abuse 15-year study of youth in a Seattle-area school district that looked at risk factors for marijuana and cigarette use, binge drinking, depression and past suicidal behavior.

“Parents shouldn’t give up on their adolescents, because our work indicates they still rely on them in this kind of situation,” Mazza said.

Speaking from both personal experience and through my work’s observation, I couldn’t agree more with Mazza.

Never, ever give up.

Tom Wootton has taken his personal experience with bipolar disorder and shifted the universal paradigm.

As a former accelerative learning trainer for major corporations, and the author of “The Bipolar Advantage” and “The Depression Advantage,” Wootton challenges pervasive attitudes about serious mental illness and charts a different course looking at the positive as well as negative aspects of those conditions.

Through Bipolar Advantage, a company that teaches individuals how to turn their symptoms into assets, Wootton’s mission is to “help people with mental conditions shift their thinking and behavior so that they can lead extraordinary lives.”

“We are dedicated to the concept that recovery does not have to be limited to 90% of full function; true recovery means doing the hard work that brings you to 150%! We strongly believe that we can turn our ‘condition’ into one that becomes an advantage instead of an ‘illness’ or a ‘disorder’,” says Wootton.

Through talks, workshops, videos and books, Wootton and Bipolar Advantage have helped thousands of people to realign their thinking with their realities and turn disadvantages into assets. And now he’s applying those techniques and skills to corporate America.

According to Wootton, “In recent months discussions about the boom and bust cycles of our economy going back to the Great Depression have been the focus of many news stories. During boom cycles companies experience periods of inflated feelings of power or delusions of grandeur, characterized by excessive risk taking and out of control spending. During bust cycles companies experience periods of indecisiveness, black and white thinking, loss of energy and fatigue, even feelings of worthlessness and suicidal thoughts. These reactions are classic symptoms of bipolar.”

He goes on to say “Businesses can be trained to understand how different reactions and thought processes are assets when they are acted upon with the powerful understanding of bipolar conditions. Training individuals, management groups, and CEOs to recognize ‘bipolar’ assets and how to utilize them… shifts companies from immobility to confidence and action. Bipolar Advantage teaches essential tools for weathering the current global financial changes.”

Consider the Bipolar Advantage perspective on the following questions:

Is there any evidence that a Bipolar Economy is an advantage for business?

Yes, there’s a great deal of evidence. Companies can and do prosper during times of economic turmoil. What do GE, Disney, HP and Microsoft have in common? They were all startups during steep declines in the U.S. economy. GE started during the panic of 1873, Disney started during the recession of 1923-24, HP began during the Great Depression, and Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft during the recession of 1975. All these companies realized that they had an advantage by adopting a different mindset, a different way of seeing the crisis. They saw it as an opportunity.

How can a business turn market turmoil into an advantage?

Bipolar Advantage can help by bringing in experts who can shift a business’s thinking from a reactive fear-based response to one that is creative and opportunistic. Wootton emphasizes, “With a keen understanding of how the mind functions in different states and how to best utilize those states, Bipolar Advantage can take your company way beyond the pop psychology of positive thinking.”

What is this shift in thinking?

Generally speaking, companies that not only survived but also thrived during the Great Depression were those that took advantage of their creative capital; those people who already knew how to manage the mood swings in their own personalities. Those that understand their strengths and are able to use deep introspection to explore opportunities in a crisis are the ones who excel in turbulent times.

These are compelling ideas for compelling times.

I think Tom Wootton is joining the long list of brilliant minds whose mental “illness”  led to amazing accomplishment.

What are your thoughts?