Bipolar Disorder: An Amazing Infographic

I was doing some reading on Twitter last night and found this excellent infographic at this site: http://www.gmeded.com/gme-info-graphics/bipolar-disorder.  Its size is quite large so you may need to open the image in a new tab to view it correctly.

Original image is here: http://www.gmeded.com/files/styles/infographic/public/V.3.Bipolar.jpg 

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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"Egotist Rex: Are a Dictator's Defiant Statements Indicative of Self-Delusion?"

Here's an article examining the mental state of Muammar Qadhafi. It is an article from Scientific American, written by John Matson, based on an interview with Jerrold Post. Jerrold Post in a Professor of Psychiatry, political psychology and international affairs, and Director of the Political Psychology Program at George Washington University.

D. Post analyzes the long-time leader of Libya by providing evidence for narcissistic and borderline personality features in Qadhafi's statements and behaviors. It is an interesting examination of a very complex individual.

For teachers wishing to bring current events into the classroom, this article might provide an interesting way to discuss the definitions of "abnormality," the difficulty of diagnosis, and/or the characteristics of various personality disorders.

Kristin H. Whitlock

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Fascinating Television Dealing with Anxiety Disorders

Apparently, when A&E television created its new season of shows, they must have liked the response from Intervention. So now there are at least two shows dealing with psychological disorders, Obsessed and Hoarders. You can watch the episodes online in addition to recording them. While I have not yet seen an entire episode of Obsessed, I viewed portions of the descriptions and early cognitive behavioral therapeutic interventions. What I saw was a good representation of the anxiety shown by those who suffer from the disorder. The web site indicates that the series deals with the most severe anxiety disorders (from which there are more than 3 million Americans suffering).

In Hoarders, two people are typically viewed back and forth in their situation, their own point of view of their behavior, and the beginning of potential change. Some people have therapists helping them through, some have professional organizers. A repeated emphasis is how potentially dire the situation is regarding living circumstances (many threats of eviction and child removal). The anguish is clear on the faces of those undergoing the changes needed to create less clutter in their lives. What is not always clear is the underlying factors that led to the creation.

My view is that the portions of the shows I have seen are excellent for illustrating what these disorders look like. I've not seen enough to comment on the therapeutic value shown.

Intervention is on Mondays at 9/8C
Hoarders is on Monday nights at 10/9C
Check listings for Obsessed

As with all shows now, there is much in the way of web-only content for more details.

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Mental-new show on Fox

I watch quite a bit of television, but I try to find shows that can assist me in illustrating concepts in my psychology classes. Of course, this last spring, "Lie to Me" was my new favorite.

I have a new summer favorite, "Mental" on Fox (Tuesday nights). It is an hour-long drama that deals with the life and in-hospital exploits of an unusual therapist who changes things up and questions the status quo for treatments as the new director in a psychiatric ward (who has a schizophrenic sister). You can watch episodes at: http://www.fox.com/mental/

In the first four episodes, he deals with grief-induced catatonia, schizophrenia, fictitious pregnancy (by proxy), childhood bipolar disorder, along with a variety of treatments to assist patients-while avoiding psychopharmaceuticals. While I agree that this is modeled after House, M.D., I still like it--the main character is engaging and tries to get into the heads of his patients, rather than treating them as a diagnosis and then letting the psych techs deal with them. Very Humanistic in his treatment style. There are episodes available online at the Fox.com site as well as imdb.com.

No, I am not getting kickbacks from Fox on this one :-D
I just really like the show.

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