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Click here for a Brief Personal Message updated 9-21-08:  only 1.5 min
Thanks, cp

 

CorePsychBlog Molts, New Skin Coming Soon

Image via CrunchBaseCorePsychBlog Will Dramatically Change, Tell Your Friends:     

1. Soon will be changing to a WordPress Skin, with more clarity, less busyness, and better navigation,
2. And this year CorePsychPodcast will be becoming more active with podcasting video blogs also linked to You Tube on hot topics for every day use  in the office - from ADHD to Brain Injury. These will be short videos filmed  here at my office in Va Beach.
3. Blog posts will find a cleaner home here.  I am transferring all of the archives, the whole magilla, over to the new WordPress platform, so all the links you have previously saved will remain operational.

Working to get all this done ASAP,

Please stay tuned for the next iteration, this missive may be delayed somewhat with the transfer of data-
cp

ADHD Medical Ambiguity: Medical Treatment Can Encourage Denial

Image by {Alicia} via FlickrADHD Denial is Pervasive:
Both The Public and Some Medical Treatment Contributes to ADHD Denial

Responding to an article on the pervasive issues with the public regarding denial of ADHD as a medical illness written recently by Bryan Hutchinson over at ADDerWorld I realized that several aspects of the current medical diagnostic and treatment grid can also contribute to ADHD denial.

Said another way, if this 'medical finding/result' isn't right, the denial/conclusion becomes: he/she couldn't have ADHD.

New Article Up on ADHD Denial

So, I took a few moments to organize some thoughts over at EzineArticles on ADHD denial challenges. The title and link for the article: ADHD Denial - Medical Ambiguity Creates Significant Problems These medical oversights walk into my office everyday from other sectors of the medical community. This article describes in detail medical and medication patters that often encourage missed diagnosis and missed opportunities for treatment - that can last an entire lifetime.

A reminder - this is not an article for finger pointing and counterproductive comparisons - it's a report of events that occur in the context of misinformation, and an evolving view of what it takes to actually manage those with ADHD in the current context of modern neuroscience.

What to do?
Do take a look at the article, download and distribute it as you wish,  and do send this specific note to your friends/colleagues, because this kind of discussion of the current sea of misinformation just might help that person in ADHD denial rethink their resistance to change. Notice the email link [and at the Green Share Button] at the bottom of the page here - your email, posting or notification could be helpful.

SPECT Functional Brain Imaging Is Not 'Mind Reading'

Image via WikipediaLet's Take the Woo Woo out of New Brain Science Discoveries
If you are interested in the science of brain imaging on any level you will be interested in just taking a moment over at CBS 60 Minutes from this past Sunday night.

In an interesting report on functional brain imaging Lesley Stahl graphically demonstrates [excellent video footage] some of the exciting progress with the actual brain 'pictures of thinking' - thinking about specific items: hammer, screwdriver etc. Dr Just at Carnegie Mellon is one of the interviewees - in this short report they put a 60 Minutes producer in the fMRI machine, took pictures of her brain activity, then demonstrated exactly what she was thinking whilst in the machine. Good Stuff!

With fMRI and SPECT the essential key word here is "functional" brain imaging - this MRI photo >> is simply an example of a static MRI picture, not functioning, not actually thinking in process, just anatomic structure. The 'brain action' is in the 'function.'

We have been talking about SPECT imaging here since we started, and posted on this controversy with SPECT imaging with Carlat and Amen in May '08. SPECT can be used very effectively in the context of good psychiatric practice.

In the comments that follow on the CBS site one can easily see how the 'Mind Reading' spin clearly terrified some folks, as the researchers indicated that we would soon have beams bouncing off our heads that would know our private thoughts. Not to worry, the benefit outweighs the risk - and the hype does a disservice to the message.

And if you are interested in SPECT applications in mental health office practice: Do sign up for notification of SPECT Training here at CorePsychBlog.

Take a look at 60 Minutes to see what's going on, and don't fret the hype.

Vitamin D3 - Easy to Measure and Important to Correct

Image via WikipediaDon't Know About The Importance of D3?: Start with these basics

At every first psychiatric interview, especially here in the middle of northern hemisphere winter, especially in the Northern US, Canada, Alaska, Russia, the Scandinavian Countries, and in China, - and if you or your client is African American always ask the SAD seasonal affective disorder question:

Do you become more depressed starting in the fall, around Halloween or Thanksgiving here in the US? Does it last until spring? Have you been chalking it up to the Holiday Blues?

I read about SAD for years, and yet didn't know about D3. Vit D3 is easily to measure in the laboratory, useful, and is attended by multiple specific peer reviewed literature. I first wrote about SAD and D3 Deficiency here at CorePsychBlog almost 2 years ago, and find the medical community has become much more informed since that first article. D3 is different than D2, and we should all know about those treatment implicatoins.

The Use of Vitamin D in Clinical Practice Download UseofVitDinClinicalPractice is a new, excellent 15 page white paper that includes a meta-analysis of 18 randomized control trials, and deals with everything from medical to legal implications of prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment of Vit D deficiency - with implications for "most of the diseases of civilization."  I have it loaded as well on my Useful References page here at CorePsychBlog with another Vit D overview article by the same lead author: JJ Cannell MD.

- Strongly recommended for your winter thinking!

Holidays, Sprituality, and Effective Boundary Negotiation in the Real World

Image by ex.libris via FlickrHome visit tools for the Holidays - Avoid Family Friction

This will be a short note, just a quick missive for all you loyal CorePsychBlog readers out there, a little useful Holiday present to brighten your family of origin interactions. [Also this piece applies to war, and corporate management, but those observations will be there for a later posting!]

I just completed an article over at EzineArticles [the title of this post], and because they have about a 7 day review period, it might not be published there before this weekend. I do hope you find time to read it before '09.

The seven basic boundary tips in this article will come up at the bottom of my page over at EzineArticles. The article reviews some easy tips to manage family of origin issues that seem so frequent over Holiday times - and these tips will last for the rest of your life!

Thanks so much for continuing to join me on these pages, I really appreciate the opportunity to 'speak' with so many interesting folks!

Have a great Holiday Season!

BTW: Whole new blog architecture coming out here in 09 - you will love it, less clutter, easier researching the details!
Best,
Chuck

The River, the RAPIDS, and Your Recovery Process: Life and Reality

Image via WikipediaRecovery is about running the RAPIDS - and getting unstuck.

If you are interested in the recovery process [drugs, alcohol, relationships, 'workaholism'] or if you simply are interested in adult development on any level, you may be interested to better understand your own life's river running, and your own reaction to ever changing reality.

I recently finished an article on river running - short form - from a RAPIDS chapter of my book Deep Recovery published in '92.  More in a minute-

Truth be known, I wrote Deep Recovery in the process of trying to figure myself out - after a very disappointing work experience with an insecure boss with a completely vertical management system: He lead meetings by repeatedly screaming "I'm the boss!!" Does that sound vertical?

Shortly after that debacle I found myself midst many drug addicts and and alcoholics [where I worked on the unit!] - with counselors who essentially shouted the same vertical management axioms - "You're nothing but an alcoholic!!" - 'spirituality' run amok.

You already know I hate reductionistic - time-bound labels as they encourage limited thinking - and no matter what else we do as professionals, we cannot suffer any health delivery process that bonds on reductionistic thinking, label madness. Yes, labels are helpful, but humans are more complex.

The article is over here at: Recovery, Living and Reality - Shooting the RAPIDS of Life

Enjoy,
cp