"How do I … deal with seasonal affective disorder?"By Phil MaynardFrom TheGuardian.comGiven the upcoming end of daylight savings time this Sunday in the United States, I thought this article would be useful and timely. The article mentions a few tips for coping and also links to another article (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/nov/17/health.lifeandhealth3) that provides a more complete list of treatment options, including CBT.As with any disorder, the earlier you intervene, the better off you will be. The symptoms can affect your motivation so as they become more severe it becomes progressively more difficult to apply many of the treatment recommendations.Adults with ADHD also tend to have difficulty maintaining a regular sleep schedule, so when the clock "falls back" Sunday, it's extra important to use good sleep hygiene to stay on track.
And the Secret to Happiness Is…
CNN: “And the Secret to Happiness Is…”by Sanjay Gupta, MD2 min, 0 secDr. Gupta makes a number of interesting points in this video.
- Happiness can help you live a longer and happier life.*
- Much of our happiness is related to our social connections. So having no social connections is correlated with less happiness and a shorter lifespan.
- Telomeres are the caps on our DNA chromosomes that measure our cellular age. The older we get, the shorter the telomeres. Someone without any close social ties will have shorter telomeres than someone of the same age with at least one close friend.
- People who tend to have a lot of negative thoughts are three times as likely to develop health problems as they age. But research indicates that even just pretending to be an optimist can help reverse this trend. In addition, changing the habitual way we think is one of the core skills that you develop in cognitive behavior therapy.
* Those of you familiar with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy will understand that happiness is not as straightforward of a concept as it may seem and being fixated on being happy actually make you miserable. But that's a whole other discussion. But a very interesting topic. If you'd like to read more you can check out Russ Harris's book "The Happiness Trap."
NY Times: "Exercising the Mind to Treat Attention Deficits"
Exercising the Mind to Treat Attention DeficitsBy Daniel Goleman, New York Times, May 12, 2014This article published in the New York Times earlier this month has gotten a lot of attention from my patients and colleagues. I have provided a few quotes below but you can find the full article here."Poor planning, wandering attention and trouble inhibiting impulses all signify lapses in cognitive control. Now a growing stream of research suggests that strengthening this mental muscle, usually with exercises in so-called mindfulness, may help children and adults cope with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder""According to a recent report in Clinical Neurophysiology, adults with A.D.D. were shown to benefit from mindfulness training combined with cognitive therapy; their improvements in mental performance were comparable to those achieved by subjects taking medications.""Mindfulness seems to flex the brain circuitry for sustaining attention, an indicator of cognitive control, according to research by Wendy Hasenkamp and Lawrence Barsalou at Emory University."But if medications also work, why bother with mindfulness?"In a large study published last year in The Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, researchers reported that while most young people with A.D.H.D. benefit from medications in the first year, these effects generally wane by the third year, if not sooner.'There are no long-term, lasting benefits from taking A.D.H.D. medications,' said James M. Swanson, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, and an author of the study. 'But mindfulness seems to be training the same areas of the brain that have reduced activity in A.D.H.D.'"
"Head line": Botox for depression?
Scientific American reports on a depression treatment study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. The “head line” was that injecting Botox into facial muscles involved that are in frowning decreased depressive symptoms by 47% compared to a 9% decrease in the placebo group. But don’t go to your psychiatrist asking for Botox just yet. The results would need to be replicated and the treatment would undergo a rigorous process before it could be approved by the FDA.However it is an intriguing, if not surprising, result. Our emotions are not just how we feel subjectively. They are composed of our thoughts, physiological response, action urges, facial expression, and more. Changing one part of the system feeds into the rest of the system, changing the emotional experience. It is the idea behind cognitive therapy. If you can change the way you think, it can change the way you feel.Read the article here.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps reverse the negativity that torments adults with ADD — and prevents them from reaching goals.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps reverse the negativity that torments adults with ADD — and prevents them from reaching goals.by Carl Sherman, Ph.D. on ADDitudemag.comThis article describes how CBT can help treat adult ADHD, however it leaves out a crucial piece of the therapy. CBT for ADHD includes the standard skills they described but it is also teaches skills specific to ADHD symptoms. Tools for time management, organization, and reducing distractibility to name a few. This is why it is important to work with a therapist who has experience with these ADHD specific tools.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: An Interview with Dr. Fazzari
Associated Content published May 24, 2010Associated Content writer Jaleh Donaldson interviews Dr. Fazzari about the symptoms and treatment of adult ADHD. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/3011352/attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder.html?cat=41
ADHD and Executive Function explained by Dr. Barkley
ADHD and Executive Function (3 min, 10 seconds)An excellent video featuring ADHD researcher Russell Barkley, PhD. You have probably heard the phrase "executive functions" referred to when discussing ADHD. Dr. Barkley provides and nice, succinct description of what they are in this clip. http://youtu.be/GR1IZJXc6d8
Development of a Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Adult ADHD
Development of a Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Adult ADHDMary V. Solanto, Ph.D., David J. Marks, Ph.D., Jeanette Wasserstein, Ph.D.Dr. Solanto et al discuss the growing body of research supporting the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral treatment of ADHD.As stated in the conclusion: "As demonstrated by the above studies, cognitive-behavioral treatment, delivered in individual or group modalities, in the presence or absence of psychopharmacological intervention, can help to mitigate the core features of ADHD (i.e., inattention) and associated impairments in executive skills (e.g., time-management, organization and planning skills)."
Memory Training Unlikely to Help in Treating ADHD, Boosting IQ
Memory Training Unlikely to Help in Treating ADHD, Boosting IQAmerican Psychological Association, May 31, 2012"No evidence that working memory training programs improve general cognitive performance, research analysis shows"This press brief describes the results of a recent meta-analysis examining 23 previous peer-reviewed studies on the efficacy of working memory training as a treatment for ADHD and other cognitive disorders. As the title indicates, buyer beware. The studies so far do not seem to back up the advertised claims. The press release can be found here and the full journal article can be found here.On the other hand there is growing evidence for the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) as a treatment for adult ADHD. One such study can be found here.