Friday, December 10, 2010

Teens with Hard-to-Treat Depression at High Risk for Relapse

Author: Traci Pedersen

Publication Name: Associate News Editor

Date of Publication: December 7, 2010

Teenagers with depression that is very hard to cure needs to lots of continuous care and huge reduction of stress, seriousness of life, and be more forgiven. NIMH released Journal of Clinical Psychiatry that tells teens who been in treatment for 24 weeks have a huge chance of getting depression again. In the study teens were taken different types of medicine to cure depression. Out of 334 participants 61 percent had remission by week 72 but many still had remaining symptoms on that week including low self esteem, fatigue, and get easily mad. The ones who have a more severe depression from the beginning were harder to cure. It is said that ethnic minorities have a higher chance of getting depression again than the whites. From the results of ethnic minorities, authors believe that culture have something to do with depression and recovery but the evidence is not clear.
The results are very important because we need to know how to completely cure depression with no relapse. Medicines that were given to teenagers are Paroxetine (Paxil), Citalopram (Celexa), Fluoxetine (Prozac), Venlafaxine (Effexor) with serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, and other types of medicine. They were also treated with cognitive behavioral therapy.
In conclusion this article is about how we can cure the symptoms. The reason on why we should care is because we want to know why the ethnic minorities have a higher rate of relapse than the whites. We want to know more detail if culture factors have something to do with the relapse.

Links To Study: N/A

Article: http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/12/07/teens-with-hard-to-treat-depression-at-high-risk-for-relapse/21544.html

Submitted By: Matthew Wong

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Gay Teenagers Face Harsher Punishments

AUTHOR: Tara Parker-Pope

PUBLICATION NAME: The New York Times

DATE OF PUBLICATION: December 6, 2010

SUMMARY: Gay, lesbian and bisexual is vulnerable. Kathryn found that they're being punish more harshly thatn their straight peers. They get picked on by their peers, teachers, the school, the police and the court; even though they have a smaller chance of making troubles then their straight peers. K thryn Himmelstein started the research of gay teens as an undergraduate student at Yale University and now a high school math teacher in New york City. She spend a lot of time in juvenile justice system study gay and lesbian teens in there , but she can't find any study in the scuentific literature about how likely is it for them to be involved in any crime activities and being punish more. In her senior year at Yale University, she found some research the National Longitudinal study of Adolescent Health had been doing between the year 1994 and 2002 on the gay and lesbian's health and bahavior problems of the students in middle and high school.

Scientists have done study on about 15,000+ students on middle achool and high school and found out that gay students have suffered through a great amount of harassment from classmates. There been many files in Unites States about gay, lesbian, and bisexual students being bullied and suicide due to all the harassments. Researshers surveyed teenagers about the use of drug, alcohol, weapon, stealing, crime, and lying to parent to study the differnt behaviors of the different types od the students. They concluded that gay, lesbian, adn bisexual teenagers are likely to commit small crimes such as lying to parents asn some non-violent misbehavior compare to their straight peer. However, their straight peers are more likely to be involved in some seriuos crime and violence.

LINKS TO STUDY: N/A

ARTICLE: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/gay-teen-face-harsher-punishments/?ref=health

SUBMITTED BY: Hue Ly

A Safe Haven in Cartoon Confidants

AUTHOR: David Bornstein

PUBLICATION NAME: The New York Times

PUBLISH DATE: November 22, 2010

SUMMARY: As we all know, many children become victims of child abuse in their own homes. The Pediatric Hospital of Tacubaya, located in Mexico, housed a 8 year old boy in the burn unit. He was burned everywhere with a clothing iron then was tied to a water heater in the basement by his aunt and uncle. Many therapists asked what had happened but the boy refused to answer. This is because in his mind, he is afraid if he says what had happened he would get in trouble and get hurt again. So a therapist decided to use Dulas.
     Dulas is a cartoon created by Julia Borbolla, a Mexican psychologist. This cartoon was created to be an alien from another planet who knows nothing, hoping to get answers from the kids, the kids will eventually gain trust from this cartoon. The cartoon is controlled by doctors viewing the session and when spoken, the voice transform into a goofy voice for the cartoon. Eventually the young boy started to talk about his life. How his mother and father died and was left to be raised by his aunt and uncle.
      After the first session with Dulas, when the boy was called to talk to the therapist he asked for Dulas. This method spread through out the country and a bit of the world in many hospitals. Naturally children have a fear of adults, especially if they've been abused by them and have trust issues. But with a kiddy cartoon always asking questions all kids know, they seem to put more trust in one who acts closer to their age and lacks knowledge of many things making the child feel superior and willing to tell the cartoon anything.

ARTICLE: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/a-safe-haven-in-cartoon-confidantes/?ref=psychology_and_psychologists

SUBMITTED BY: Shannen Quibuyen

Behind the Facade, Post-Traumatic Stress

AUTHOR: Karen Barrow

PUBLICATION NAME: The New York Times

DATE OF PUBLICATION: November 22, 2010

SUMMARY: Post-Traumatic Stress is psychological disorder commonly diagnosed to patients that are solders who return home from war. If a solder has this disorder they struggle to forget what has been seen while is combat. But not only does post-traumatic stress affect solders, it could also cause trauma towards survivors of natural disasters and mostly a rape victim. Robin Hutchins, 25, lived a normal life until one night she returns home from college and is raped by someone she knew. After a while she coped with what happened and continued to live life regularly. But acts of violence towards her puts Robin in an emotional state causing a severe anxiety attack. This was a drastic affect towards going to school or even getting out of her dorm. She was terrified to leave anywhere alone. After leaving college she had gotten into a car accident making her paranoia more intense. Friends and family believed this isolation thing was just a phase. Also when she went to see some psychologist they claimed she'll eventually get over it. But then she met a logical psychologist who listened to her full story and diagnosed Robin with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.)
               Dr. Ochberg, the Michigan State professor, who has never met Ms. Hutchins, estimated that as many as 80 percent of rapes may lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress. But the stigma of rape, along with a general misunderstanding of the disorder and how it can affect anyone who has suffered trauma, often gets in the way of a proper diagnosis. Robin was glad when she heard she had P.T.S.D. She found better ways to help ease her emotions if things get too tense. Still alone, she adopted a companion who then took on training to help P.T.S.D. patients relax. Since then, Robin has made great progress and is slowly getting control of her emotional outbreaks.

ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/health/23voices.html?_r=1&ref=psychology_and_psychologists

SUBMITTED BY: Shannen Quibuyen