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This is a new topic where I am just throwing things that have to do with a person's relationships and mental health.

Contents:
Activities for Improving Mental Health
Ailments - Classification:
  International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
  American Psychiatric Association
Depression
Psychotherapy
People (Freud, Jung, Piaget, Maslow, ...
Personality - Consciousness -Emotional Intelligence


See other links below.


Activities To Improve Mental Health

Feel Good Brain Chemicals And Activities To Produce Them
Meditation
Mindfulness
Feel Good Brain Chemicals And Activities To Produce Them

Ailments - Treatment

Mental Illness can be classified as:
neurosis, a mild disorder that causes distress but does not interfere greatly with a person's everyday activities (e.g. anxiety and personality disorders) and
psychosis, a severe mental disorder that prevents the individual form functioning in a normal manner (e.g. Schizophrenia and manic-depressive disorder).
In any year, 10 percent of Americans--some 17 million people--suffer episodes of major depression.

American Psychiatric Association (APA) Diagnostic Classification - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)- Fourth Revision

See: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) at PSYweb.com
See also Mental and behavioural disorders at the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

Other diseases/disorders related to the brain:


These are not categorized as mental illness, but are either caused by problems in the brain and nervous system or may have symptoms similar to other problems associated with mental illness.
Many are under
Diseases of the nervous system (G00) in The International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
Major Nervous System Diseases
Disease Number of Cases Cost per year
Chronic Pain 97,000,000 $100 billion
Hearing Loss 28,000,000 $56 billion
Depression Disorders 20,500,000 $44 billion
Alzheimer's Disease 4,500,000 $100 billion
Stroke 4,700,000 $51 billion
Epilepsy 2,500,000 $3.5 billion
Traumatic Head Injury 5,000,000 $56.3 billion
Huntington's Disease 30,000 $2 billion
Schizophrenia 2,000,000 $32.5 billion
Parkinson's Disease 1,000,000 to
2,000,000
$25 billion
Multiple Sclerosis 2,500,000 $9.5 billion
Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury 250,000 $10 billion
Reference: Brain Facts, Washington D.C.: Society for Neuroscience, 2005.
See: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for others.

Books:
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), by the American Psychiatric Association

See:
National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI)
Mental illness at wikipedia.org
Information on Brain Disorders and Brain Diseases
International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) at World Health Organization (WHO)
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.
Mental Illness at wikipedia.org

Famous Mental Health Consumers.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a treatment option for a number of mental disorders, including depression, dissociative identity disorder, eating disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, hypochondriasis, insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorderwithout agoraphobia.

Treatments

Treatments include:

Psychotherapy

Psychodynamic psychotherapy:
The psychoanalytic method of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), focuses on unconscious mental processes and their roots in the past.
See: Types of Psychological Treatment at GuideToPsychology.com

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) 1980
Since the 1980s, many therapists have begun to use cognitive-behavioral therapy to change clients' unhealthy behavior by replacing negative or self-defeating thought patterns with more positive ones. They do not deny that problems may be rooted in the past but treat them differently.

Psychodynamic theories presume that the maladaptive cognitions arise from specific internal needs (such as the need for affection, acceptance, sexual gratification, etc.), or from unresolved developmental conflicts from childhood. The cognitive therapists presume that the maladaptive cognitions may arise from faulty social learning, or from a lack of experiences that would allow adaptive learning (such as the development of coping skills) to occur, or from dysfunctional family experiences, or from traumatic events, etc. In other words, psychologists using a cognitive therapy approach recognize that psychological problems such as depression can develop from a variety of life experiences, depending on the individual.

Cognitive therapy was developed by Aaron Beck developed cognitive therapy in the 1960s.
The treatment is based on the principle that maladaptive behavior (ineffective, self-defeating behavior) is triggered by inappropriate or irrational thinking patterns, called automatic thoughts. Instead of reacting to the reality of a situation, an individual automatically reacts to his or her own distorted view of the situation. Cognitive therapy strives to change these thought patterns (also known as cognitive distortions), by examining the rationality and validity of the assumptions behind them. This process is termed cognitive restructuring.

Behavior therapy focuses on observable behavior and its modification in the present, in contrast to the Freudian Psychoanalytic method.
The therapy drew on a variety of theories and research, including the classical conditioning principles of the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), the work of American B. F. Skinner (1904-1990), and the work of psychiatrist Joesph Wolpe (1915-1997).

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) 1980 A psychological method developed by Marsha M. Linehan, a psychology researcher at the University of Washington, to treat persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD). DBT combines standard cognitive-behavioral techniques for emotion regulation and reality-testing with concepts of mindful awareness, distress tolerance, and acceptance largely derived from Buddhist meditative practice. DBT is the first therapy that has been experimentally demonstrated to be effective for treating BPD. Research indicates that DBT is also effective in treating patients who represent varied symptoms and behaviors associated with spectrum mood disorders.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) 2005
A unique intervention approach based on Relational Frame Theory (RFT) that illuminates the ways that language entangles us into futile attempts to wage war against our own inner lives.
Through metaphor, paradox, and experiential exercises clients learn how to make healthy contact with thoughts, feelings, memories, and physical sensations that have been feared and avoided. Clients gain the skills to recontextualize and accept these private events, develop greater clarity about personal values, and commit to needed behavior change.

See: ACT at ContextualPsychology.org


Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT):
ECT has improved greatly over the years with medications given before the treatment that alleviates the effects of a severe seizure.

ECT is an effective form of treatment for people with depressions and other mood disorders. ECT may be used when a severely depressed patient has not responded to antidepressants, is unable to tolerate the side effects of antidepressants, or must improve rapidly.

The patient is given medications to induce sleep, relax the muscles. An electrical stimulus is administered through electrodes to the head. The electrical stimulus produces brain wave (EEG) changes that are characteristic of a grand mal seizure.


Other:
Psychosurgery
Paranormal
Aging and Happiness

Personality - Consciousness -Emotional Intelligence


Emotional Intelligence - Maturity - Well-being
Teen Stress
Cognitive Dissonance
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)
Multitasking
Perfectionism
Brain Exercises
Intelligence and Age
Stress
Love
Marriage
Spirituality, Mindfulness, Personal Growth... references under Religion
Consciousness Models
We are Not Rational
  Wilber's AQAL (all-quadrant, all-level) model in his "Theory of Everything".
  Moral development and Conscience
  Maslow's hierarchy of needs
  Spiral Dynamics
Nature Nurture Issues - How much of abilities, behavior, ... is genetic vs environment.
See Personality - Success - Character on the society page

Personality
I am not a psychologist, but was always intrigued by the subject, trying to understand while some intelligent friends seemed to act or react in ways I found irrational.
Having been trained as a mathematician (I still remember how to prove that 1 + = 2) the fuzzy logic in these things are still perplexing to me.
Have all these theories helped us to get along better. I don't think so.

Greeks believed people fall into four temperamental categories - choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine and melancholic.
In the mid 20th century the British-born psychologist Raymond Cattell devised a personality test based on the idea that there are 16 personality factors including guilt-proneness and shrewdness.
Contemporary psychology has now settled on the idea there are in fact five main factors to personality, knows as the Five Factor Model (FFM) - extroversion, neuroticism (associated with anxiety and apprehension), conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness (associated with creativity and insight). We all have a certain amount of each of these, more of some than others.
The NEO Personality Inventory-Revised | NEO PI-R questionnaire is an assessment of these.

See my Nature/Nurture - Genes vs Environment page for more on how these things get shaped in one's mind.


Psychometric Assessment:
Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator
The personality type I was first exposed to was the Myers Briggs model, having been tested in corporate mamagement training sessions and a Church leadership seminar.

- Where you focus your attention - Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)
- The way you take in information - Sensing (S) or INtuition (N)
- How you make decisions - Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
- How you deal with the world - Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

Isabel Briggs Myers' personality type theory is based on C. G. Jung's theory of psychological types.
Free Personality Test | 16Personalities

DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness) is another personality type assessment similar to Myers Briggs which has become popular recently.

The Core Values Index (CVI) is another popular one.
The key to the CVI is its Repeat Score Reliability of 94.5%. This means if you took the CVI 5 year ago or 10 years from now, your CVI score will be virtually the same 95% of the time.
See:
Take CVI | Taylor Protocols Core Values Index Assessment | MillennialCoaching.ca

Personality type A/B
Personality type is a modified version of the Jenkins Activity Survey originally designed to detect behaviors which lead to heart attacks.

Take a test at the Univ. of N. Carolina

See: Personaliy Theories by Dr. C. George Boeree, Psychology Department, Shippensburg University

Enneagram:

Enneagram - How the System Works -- The Enneagram Institute
Eclectic Energies Enneagram Tests
Wiltse and Palmer have suggested that similar ideas to the Enneagram of Personality are found in the work of Evagrius Ponticus, a Christian mystic who lived in 4th century Alexandria.
G. I. Gurdjieff is credited with making the enneagram figure commonly known.


Brain Exercises:
Recent studies have shown that you can improve your brain or forestal problems associated with aging by exercising your brain. Such techniques are called "brain fitness" or "cognitive training".

Some resources:
sharpbrains.com | fitbrains.com | lumosity.com | cognifit.com
A gym in San Francisco (www.vibrantbrains.com), describes itself as a "health club for your brain" .

People:

Psychology
Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939)
"The Interpretation of Dreams"
Id - What we want to do
Superego - What we are told by society and parents that we should do
Ego - Resolve conflict between above
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
The first well-known dissenter from Freud's school of thought. Adler became the father of what he called "individual psychology." He shifted the motivational emphasis from biological instincts to social relationships. (Adler is also considered a humanist.)
Jung, Carl (1875-1961)
He submitted that attention must be given to man's religious, aesthetic, and other such needs. (the seeds of modern day existentialism). He is also noted for his work with the concepts of introversion/extroversion and archetypes.
Binet, Alfred (1857-1911)
He is most widely known for his contributions to intelligence.
Horney, Karen (1885 - 1952)
Goodenough, Florence (1886-1959)
Draw-A-Man Man Test (1926).
A pioneer in psychology and the study of gifted children.

Piaget, Jean (1896 - 1980)
Genetic epistemology, meaning the study of the development of knowledge.
Maslow, Abraham (1908-1970)
Fromm, Erich (1900 - 1980)
Erikson, Erik H. (1902-1994)
Skinner, B. F. (1904 - 1990)
Indiana U. and Harvard.
System is based on operant conditioning. A reinforcing stimulus following an action creates tendency to repeat the behavior in the future.

Directories
Mental Health at: Google, Yahoo.
Relationships at: Google, Yahoo

See also: History of Neuroscience including Nobel Prize winners.


Other Links:
Philosophy - Intellect - The Mind and Ideas
Personal Characteristics
Nature/Nurture - Genes vs Environment
mental-health-matters
Meditation
Feel Good Brain Chemicals And Activities To Produce Them
Neuroscience
Metaphysics for Dummies
Religion and the human psyche or brain
Perceived Christian Hypocrisy
Nature-Deficit Disorder
Glossary by Thomas Hübl - Spiritual Teacher - Academy of Inner Science
Empty - Cluttered Desk
Procrastination
Architecture Mood Creativity
Ways Your Mate Can Affect Your Health
Depression and Anxiety Drugs
Return to Don's Home.
last updated 19 Mar 2006