Mental Health

Mental Health is a person’s behavior with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being during an absence of mental illness. Mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. In India there are only 3 psychiatrists for every million people, compared to 124 psychiatrists per million people in the U.S.. In 2014, over 9 Million Adults aged 18 or older had serious mental illness. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.



Being able to accurately analyze yourself is not easy, especially when you have to use your mind to check your mind. If the instrument you're using isn't calibrated or educated enough, then you will not be accurate with your measurements. This is why we sometimes need professional help, so that someone can help us to analyze ourselves and find out if everything is OK upstairs. But in the 21st century, finding honest and practical professional guidance is difficult with todays drug filled treatments, treatments that are more driven by money then they are facts. Health seekers must beware. You need to educate yourself in order to help yourself. Knowledge is your best medicine, and your best hopes in receiving the best care possible. Sometimes only small adjustments need to be made in order to get back to normal, as long as you know what normal was or should be. Other times you have to make many adjustments and take many steps in order to improve your health and have control over your well being. And even sometimes, you have to start from the beginning because problems can start at an early age. But the good news is, you're not broken, you just have to find a trust worthy technician to help guide you through the processes that helps maintain optimum health.  "A Check Up from the Neck Up".

Know Your Baseline - Systems Check - Reality Check - Rebooting - Interventions - Alzheimer's
 

Counseling - Support - Therapies

Better Help is an affordable, private online counseling. Anytime, anywhere. Talk with a licensed, professional therapist online.

Behaviors

Behavior is the range of responses, reactions, mannerisms, movements or actions that are made by individuals, organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or with their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the (inanimate) physical environment. It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.

Most bad behaviors come from bad information and bad experiences. Good Information + Good Experiences = Good Behavior. Bad Information + Bad Experiences = Bad Behavior. Behavior is an expression of information that comes from learned experiences as well as from knowledge and information that's being processed in a particular way that influences a particular action to be expressed. People can act differently when they are in different environments. And when people have different information, people can act differently than other people. And not everyone knows how to translate information accurately or effectively. So a lot of people can become Lost in the Translation.

Habits - Addictions - Distractions - Intervention

Behaviorism is a systematic approach to the understanding of human and animal behavior. It assumes that all behavior are either reflexes produced by a response to certain stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual's history, including especially reinforcement and punishment, together with the individual's current motivational state and controlling stimuli. Thus, although behaviorists generally accept the important role of inheritance in determining behavior, they focus primarily on environmental factors, education, family and social settings. Observation Errors.

Behavioral Script are a sequence of expected behaviors for a given situation. Scripts include default standards for the actors, props, setting, and sequence of events that are expected to occur in a particular situation. Triggers.

Mentality is a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations. Mental ability. The Mind.

Passive Aggressive Behavior is the indirect expression of hostility, such as through procrastination, stubbornness, sullen behavior, or deliberate or repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible.

Applied Behavior Analysis - Anger Management

Toxic Masculinity is when society tends to promote a certain set of masculine behaviors that can be harmful to men, women, and society overall. gender roles idealizing toughness, dominance, self-reliance, and the restriction of emotion can begin as early as infancy. Includes dominance, devaluation of women, extreme self-reliance, the suppression of emotions, misogyny, homophobia, greed, and violent domination. Conformity with certain traits viewed as traditionally male, such as misogyny, homophobia, and violence, can be considered "toxic" due to harmful effects on others in society, while related traits, including self-reliance and the stifling of emotions, are correlated with harm to men themselves through psychological problems such as depression, increased stress, and substance abuse. Other traditionally masculine traits such as devotion to work, pride in excelling at sports, and providing for one's family, are not considered to be toxic. Toxic masculine norms are characteristic of the unspoken code of behavior among men in American prisons. The term toxic masculinity has also been used by some in the mythopoetic men's movement in contrast to a "real" or "deep" masculinity that they say men have lost touch with in modern society. Some behaviors may be a little extreme, but you need to define extreme. Toxic Leadership.

Behavioral Cusp is any behavior change that brings an organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have far-reaching consequences. A behavioral cusp is a special type of behavior change because it provides the learner with opportunities to access new reinforcers, new contingencies, new environments, new related behaviors (generativeness) and competition with archaic or problem behaviors. It affects the people around the learner, and these people agree to the behavior change and support its development after the intervention is removed.

Adaptive Behavior is a type of behavior that is used to adjust to another type of behavior or situation. This is often characterized as a kind of behavior that allows an individual to change a nonconstructive or disruptive behavior to something more constructive. These behaviors are most often social or personal behaviors. For example, a constant repetitive action could be re-focused on something that creates or builds something. In other words, the behavior can be adapted to something else. In contrast, maladaptive behavior is a type of behavior that is often used to reduce one's anxiety, but the result is dysfunctional and non-productive. For example, avoiding situations because you have unrealistic fears may initially reduce your anxiety, but it is non-productive in alleviating the actual problem in the long term. Maladaptive behavior is frequently used as an indicator of abnormality or mental dysfunction, since its assessment is relatively free from subjectivity. However, many behaviors considered moral can be maladaptive, such as dissent or abstinence. Adaptive behavior reflects an individual’s social and practical competence to meet the demands of everyday living. Behavior patterns change throughout a person's development, across life settings and social constructs, changes in personal values, and the expectations of others. It is important to assess adaptive behavior in order to determine how well an individual functions in daily life: vocationally, socially and educationally. Life Skills.

Intervene - Behavioral Interventions

Human Behavior refers to the array of every physical action and observable emotion associated with individuals, as well as the human race as a whole. While specific traits of one's personality and temperament may be more consistent, other behaviors will change as one moves from birth through adulthood. In addition to being dictated by age and genetics, behavior, driven in part by thoughts and feelings, is an insight into individual psyche, revealing among other things attitudes and values. Social behavior, a subset of human behavior, study the considerable influence of social interaction and culture. Additional influences include ethics, encircling, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion and coercion.

Human Behaviors - 41 Subcategories (wiki)

Behavioral Health is a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of mental illness. It is the "psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment". From the perspective of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.

Behavioral Neuroscience is a branch of psychology that analyzes how the brain and neurotransmitters influence our behaviors, thoughts and feelings. This field can be thought of as a combination of basic psychology and neuroscience. The application of the principles of biology to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in humans and other animals. Also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology.

Behavioural Sciences encompasses the various disciplines and interactions among organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behaviour through the study of the past, controlled and naturalistic observation of the present, and disciplined scientific experimentation. It attempts to accomplish legitimate, objective conclusions through rigorous formulations and observation. Examples of behavioural sciences include psychology, psychobiology, and cognitive science.

AIR is one of the world's largest behavioral and social science research and evaluation organizations.

Behavioral Neurology is a subspecialty of neurology that studies the neurological basis of behavior, memory, and cognition, the impact of neurological damage and disease upon these functions, and the treatment thereof.

Abnormal Behavior in the vivid sense of something deviating from the normal or differing from the typical (such as an aberration), is a subjectively defined behavioral characteristic, assigned to those with rare or dysfunctional conditions. Behavior is considered abnormal when it is atypical, out of the ordinary, causes some kind of impairment, or consists of undesirable behavior. Often what is abnormal, or what is not abnormal, is determined by an individual's culture. The definition of what abnormal behavior is a contentious issue in abnormal psychology. It is an assumption that abnormal behavior is a disorder that has a physical cause, specifically that it is related to the physical structure of the brain. A diagnosis of a mental disorder describes a patient who has a medical condition and the doctor makes a judgment that the patient is exhibiting abnormal behavior. The distinction being that mental disorders describe processes, not people.

Idiosyncrasy is mode of behavior or way of thought peculiar to an individual. Considerable deviation from what is normal or customary. A strange or unusual habit or way of behaving. Not their usual self. Mannerism.

Interventions - Intervene

Intervention is a plan that is organized by one or more people with the goal of offering assistance and support to someone who is struggling with a problem and may need to seek professional help in order to effectively deal with a particular problem. The goal is to give and get someone assistance and support that would help them to get through some kind of traumatic event or crisis, or help them with other serious problems like addiction to drugs or other things, or being controlled and brain washed by a cult. Intervention can also refer to the act of using a similar technique within a therapy session. Interventions have been used to address serious personal problems, including alcoholism, compulsive gambling, compulsive lying, corruption, drug abuse, compulsive eating or other eating disorders, self harm and being the victim of abuse, like bullying or negligence.

Intervene is to get involved in a situation, so as to alter or hinder a harmful action using either physical force, the threat of force or diplomacy. To step in and come in between a problem in order to offer a solution. Bystander Effect.

Interfere is to come in between two things so as to be a hindrance or an obstacle to a problem that is getting worse.

Countermeasure is an action taken to counteract a danger or a threat. To oppose and mitigate the effects of something and make it less severe, less harsh or to lessen the seriousness or the extent of a problem.

Medical Interventions are measures to improve health or alter the course of an illness and can be used to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. Crisis Intervention. Can oxytocin be used as an intervention drug?

How do you help someone without enabling them? How do you help someone who can't admit they have a problem? To let them be, or to intervene? To let them fail, or to help them succeed? To leave them alone, or to bring them home? Or maybe not do anything at all and just hope that they will figure things out on their own, and not be left to their own demise.

Fall through the Cracks is an expression that is defined as someone or something that has been overlooked or unnoticed for so long that they have become worse and are now harder to repair and harder to help. When someone or something falls through a weakness in the system, it's like something falling through a crack, it goes below the surface where it can't be seen, but you know they're there, because you can hear them scream.

Health Care Intervention: Treating high-need, high-cost patients. Study found focusing on patients' values instead of problems offered better results. Patients with complex needs -- serious mental and physical health problems and substance use disorders -- flock to emergency rooms costing the health care system billions every year. A new study suggests a nontraditional approach to these patients can significantly improve their daily functioning and health outcomes. The diagnostic-based approach -- telling patients what's wrong and here's how to fix it before sending them on their way -- coupled with a lack of information about where they've been, has worked spectacularly badly for underserved populations who already have reason not to trust us. Instead of focusing on their problems, we focus on their values and goals. Instead of the push and pull of doctors telling patients not to do something for the sake of their health, we look at who and what is most important to the client, trust building and a way to reach the root of the problem. Instead of just demanding someone to get on their meds, we discussed what was not working for them. Instead of getting in the medical zone, we would go back to the dog. He didn't like leaving his best friend behind. We would ask what was getting in the way of his value to be good to his dog. He identified his need to get primary care for his chronic illnesses rather than acute crisis care. This approach gives people the power to decide how they need to behave instead of being told. Process Evaluation of Intervention Implementation.

Interventionism in medicine is when patients are viewed as passive recipients receiving external treatments provided by the physician that have the effect of prolonging life, or at least of providing a subjective sense of doing everything possible. Interventionism is commonly encouraged by terminally ill patients and their family members when they are emotionally unprepared to acknowledge that the patient is going to die. Most healthcare providers are uncomfortable telling people that further cure-oriented or life-extending treatment is futile medical care, and patients and families are frequently angry with the provider or feel rejected by the provider when they are given accurate, but negative, information about the patient's prospects. In nearly all cases, "something" can be done for the patient, and families often reward and encourage a provider who proposes a string of useless and often directly harmful treatments; as a result, it is easier for providers to substitute worthless and expensive activity than to honestly admit that nothing will extend the patient's life. Interventionism is related to optimism bias. This is the belief that the patient will beat the odds, no matter how unlikely this might be. Optimism bias encourages patients to undertake treatments that have only tiny chances of success, in the erroneous and irrational belief that they will be part of the tiny minority that is successful, rather than part of the vast majority who are not. With terminally ill patients, the attitude of interventionism prevents providers and patients from taking full advantage of palliative care options. The primary focus for palliative care is improving the patient's immediate, daily life through better management of medications, practical assistance, planning for possible complications, and other services. Patients who use palliative care services usually live longer, have fewer disruptive medical crises, incur fewer medical expenses, and have significantly higher quality of life.

Values-Based and Acceptance-Based Intervention to promote adoption and maintenance of habitual physical activity among inactive adults with overweight/obesity: a study protocol for an open trial. Despite the importance of regular moderate-intensity to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) for health benefits and long-term weight management, current comprehensive lifestyle interventions have focused on providing MVPA prescriptions and goals but with only minimal and intermittent focus on psychosocial theoretical constructs and novel strategies, perhaps explaining the often modest impact on adoption and maintenance of higher levels of MVPA. An intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) targeting the increase of values-based autonomous motivation could improve the adoption and maintenance of habitual MVPA among insufficiently active overweight or obese adults in a brief intervention format.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is an empirically-based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility.

Intercession is the action of intervening on someone's behalf. The act of intervening as to mediate a dispute, etc.. A prayer to God on behalf of another person.

Knowledge Intervention - All interventions should be about informing people, and not about giving people other drugs to be addicted too, or ignoring the fact that people need help and education. Dosage needs to be accurately calculated. As well as the dosage of knowledge and information that the patient needs. We will help you transition, just as long as you agree to educate yourself. We will give you all the incentives that you need, just as long as you agree to strive for independence and freedom. A persons personality can change.

The hardest person to save is the person that needs to be saved from themselves. Saving someone from themself is incredibly difficult. Some people are their own worst enemy. Some people can't face the challenges in their life, or make an attempt to solve a problem or try to better understand something. People find it easier to run away from challenges and to live in denial than it is to face the truth, or to admit that their reality has some flaws. This type of learning disability is common with adults. Some people pretend to know enough about life, so they ignore good advice and they take learning for granted. And some people don't know the right questions to ask and when to ask them, so sometimes you have to help them. And sometimes they don't want to hear it from you, so you better find someone else they will listen to. And you have to be very careful with what you say and how you say it. Don't be condescending and choose your words very carefully and make sure the things you say are relevant. And you have to remind the person that you don't read minds, so it's their responsibility to talk and express themselves clearly and honestly without playing any games, especially games that no one can win. Building trust is extremely important. For some people it's hard to relinquish control to someone else when they believe that they are in control or believe that they have everything under control. Knowing when things are out of control is never that obvious to a person who believes that nothing is wrong and that everything is just fine, or everything is cool or good. Sometimes people want to blame other people for their troubles, so they expect others to change instead of them learning how to change. You can offer to help someone, but how do you help a person who doesn't want to help themselves? People can have all kinds of reasons for not wanting help, like the Fear of being stigmatized. So helping someone can be like solving a complex puzzle, some pieces don't want to fit, so you have to work on the pieces that do fit. There is always a way to get through to someone. You have to get to know the person. You have to investigate subjectively. You have to do the research. And you have to take your work seriously. And some people need a lot of work. And people will test your patience and tolerance. So it will be challenging and it will be risky. But what would life be without these challenges and risks? The goal is to learn as much as you can. Saving just one person can end up saving hundreds if not thousands of other people, and you may even save yourself in the process.

Most people do care about themselves, but most people don't know how to care about themselves. Most people don't understand how to effectively maintain a healthy mind and body. When people wait for a disease to manifest itself, it's usually too late. It's better to prevent bad things from happening than it is to try to make repairs after a disaster has struck. And prevention comes learning and having access to valuable knowledge and information. When we can correctly incentivize learning, then we will solve almost every problem in the world.

Reach Out to Someone means to make an effort to communicate with someone or to give them your support.

RIGAAR stands for: Rapport building. Information gathering. Goal setting. Accessing resources. Agreeing strategies. Rehearsing success. Emotional Intelligence - Cognitive Reframing.

Research provides tools for achieving the 'how' of well-being in daily life. Organizations and communities are looking for practical tools to support mental health amidst this growing crisis, which is taking place alongside ongoing social and racial unrest. The framework is based on scientific evidence that suggests well-being can be cultivated through practice in daily life. The framework focuses on four pillars that have been studied in the lab and have been shown to improve with training: awareness, or attentiveness to one's environment and internal cues such as bodily sensations, thoughts and feelings; connection, or appreciation, kindness and compassion; insight, which refers to fostering curiosity and self-knowledge; and purpose, understanding your values and motivations. For instance, awareness -- and in particular meta-awareness (being aware that you're aware) -- appears to decrease stress, increase positive emotions, and can be strengthened through mental training practices like meditation. Awareness helps curb some of the harmful effects of distraction, which is shown to impair cognitive function and increase stress-related responses in the body related to inflammation and aging. Another example is a trait like purpose in life, which is a personally meaningful aim that people can apply to daily life. Purpose is associated with positive biological and physical health outcomes. There are qualities of a healthy mind that many people don't know are even trainable. The new framework provides evidence that people can weather life's ups and downs with resilience, and that the brain and body can change and adapt. Rather than replacing other views of well-being, researchers say the framework complements other models by focusing specifically on scientific evidence for dimensions of well-being that are trainable and can be learned so that people flourish.

Roughly 5 percent of patients in the U.S. who account for half the nation's health care costs. Hotspotting is when providers identify very high-cost patients or superutilizers and attempt to reduce their medical spending while improving care. Hotspotting consists of programs that give at-risk patients sustained contact with doctors, other caregivers, and social service providers, in an attempt to prevent rehospitalizations and other intensive, expensive forms of care. A study shows that while the overall number of people in hotspotting programs who need rehospitalization declines over the course of the program, it does not decline by a larger amount than it would if those people were outside the program's reach. Significantly, the new study was a randomized, controlled trial, in which two otherwise similar groups of patients in Camden were separated by one large factor: Some were randomly selected to be part of the hotspotting program, and an equal number of randomly selected patients were not. The two groups generated virtually the same results over time. If you just look at the individuals in the intervention group, it would look like the program caused a huge reduction in readmissions. But when you look at the individuals in the control group -- who were eligible for the program but were not randomly selected to get it -- you see the exact same pattern. Overall, the study found that the 180-day hospital readmission rate was 62.3 percent for people in the program and 61.7 percent for people not in the program. In short, people in hotspotting programs require fewer rehospitalizations because any group of patients currently using a lot of health care resources will tend to have lower health care use in the future. Previous reports about hotspotting programs had focused on the roughly 40 percent decline in six-month hospital readmissions -- while not comparing that to the rate for comparable patient groups outside such programs. Evidence Based Care.

Diplomacy - When a Baby Cries - Spoiled - Alarm Fatigue.

Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets provides mobile crisis intervention 24/7 in the Eugene-Springfield Metro area. CAHOOTS is dispatched through the Eugene police-fire-ambulance communications center, and within the Springfield urban growth boundary, dispatched through the Springfield non-emergency number. Each team consists of a medic (either a nurse or an EMT) & a crisis worker (who has at least several years experience in the mental health field). CAHOOTS provides immediate stabilization in case of urgent medical need or psychological crisis, assessment, information, referral, advocacy & (in some cases) transportation to the next step in treatment. CAHOOTS offers a broad range of services, including but not limited to: Crisis Counseling, Suicide Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention, Conflict Resolution and Mediation, Grief and loss, Substance Abuse, Housing Crisis, First Aid and Non-Emergency Medical Care, Resource Connection and Referrals, Transportation to Services.

Baker Act is a Florida law that enables families and loved ones to provide emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people who are impaired because of their mental illness, and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment. Florida Mental Health Act commonly known as the "Baker Act," allows the involuntary institutionalization and examination of an individual.

Be very aware that there are treatments that work, but rehab facilities don’t have to use them. Some treatment facilities reject evidence-based treatments and practice, like cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and contingency management, which can be used alone or in combination with medications. Patients and families can’t tell good from bad treatment and some rehabs often follow strict one-size-fits-all approaches. About 70 percent of addiction treatment facilities use the 12 steps and don't consider better alternatives. Insurance Fraud.

Mind and Body Interventions are practices that "employ a variety of techniques designed to facilitate the mind's capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms", and include guided imagery, guided meditation and forms of meditative praxis, hypnosis and hypnotherapy, prayer, as well as art therapy, music therapy, and dance therapy. All mind–body interventions focus on the interaction between the brain, body, and behavior and are practiced with intention to use the mind to alter physical function and promote overall health and well-being.

Cognitive Reframing consists of identifying and then disputing irrational or maladaptive thoughts. Reframing is a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, concepts and emotions to find more positive alternatives.

Cognitive Restructuring is a process of learning to identify and dispute irrational or maladaptive thoughts known as cognitive distortions. Cognitive restructuring involves four steps: Identification of problematic cognitions known as "automatic thoughts" (ATs) which are dysfunctional or negative views of the self, world, or future based upon already existing beliefs about oneself, the world, or the future. Identification of the cognitive distortions in the ATs. Rational disputation of ATs with the Socratic method. Development of a rational rebuttal to the ATs. There are six types of automatic thoughts: Self-evaluated thoughts. Thoughts about the evaluations of others. Evaluative thoughts about the other person with whom they are interacting. Thoughts about coping strategies and behavioral plans. Thoughts of avoidance. Any other thoughts that were not categorized.

Behavior Intervention is a plan that's designed to teach and reward positive behaviors, but rewards and punishments can do more harm than good. You have to fully explain to a person all the negative consequences and the bad side effects that comes from bad behaviors. And you also have to thoroughly explain all the benefits that comes from good behaviors and why good behavior is important. You want to encourage freedom of expression, but you have to specify the responsibilities that comes with having freedom. Some people can't be left to their own devices, especially when they don't have enough knowledge and information that would help them to clearly understand themselves and clearly understand the world around them. Reinforcement and feedback are two of the most effective behavioral intervention techniques. Behavioral Interventions - Behavioral Interventions.

Behavior Modification is a type of behavior that is used to adjust to another type of behavior or situation. This is often characterized as a kind of behavior that allows an individual to change a non-constructive or disruptive behavior to something more constructive. These behaviors are most often social or personal behaviors. For example, a constant repetitive action could be re-focused on something that creates or builds something. In other words, the behavior can be adapted to something else.

Sustainable Behavior (pdf)

Behavioural Change Theories are attempts to explain why behaviours change. These theories cite environmental, personal, and behavioural characteristics as the major factors in behavioural determination. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the application of these theories in the areas of health, education, criminology, energy and international development with the hope that understanding behavioural change will improve the services offered in these areas. PDF.

Interventionist is someone favoring intervention, especially by a government in its domestic economy or by one country in the affairs of another.

Interventionism in politics is a significant activity undertaken by a state to influence something not directly under its control. CODAC - Social Services.

Economic Interventionism is an economic policy perspective favoring government intervention in the market process to correct market failures and promote the general welfare of the people. An economic intervention is an action taken by a government or international institution in a market economy in an effort to impact the economy beyond the basic regulation of fraud and enforcement of contracts and provision of public goods. Economic intervention can be aimed at a variety of political or economic objectives, such as promoting economic growth, increasing employment, raising wages, raising or reducing prices, promoting income equality, managing the money supply and interest rates, increasing profits, or addressing market failures. The term intervention assumes on a philosophical level that the state and economy should be inherently separated from each other; therefore the terminology applies to capitalist market-based economies where government action interrupts the market forces at play through regulations, economic policies or subsidies (state-owned enterprises that operate in the market do not constitute an intervention). The term intervention is typically used by advocates of laissez-faire and free markets. Capitalist market economies that feature high degrees of state intervention are often referred to as mixed economies.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a form of counseling and a branch of clinical behavior analysis. It is an empirically-based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility.

Better Analysis of Psychological Flexibility. Psychological flexibility -- the bedrock of a much-used psychological therapy. Increasing numbers of people of all ages experiencing some form of psychological distress are well-documented and reported in the media. A key therapeutic resource for clinicians and their clients is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), where difficult feelings are not eliminated but rather accepted by clients so that they can commit to move towards behaviour and goals in line with their chosen values.

Deprogramming refers to measures that claim to assist a person who holds a controversial belief system in changing those beliefs and abandon allegiance to the religious, political, economic, or social group associated with the belief system. The dictionary definition of deprogramming is "to free" or "to retrain" someone from specific beliefs, some controversial methods and practices of self-identified "deprogrammers" have involved kidnapping, false imprisonment, and coercion, which have sometimes resulted in criminal convictions of the deprogrammers. Some deprogramming regimens are designed for individuals taken against their will, which has led to controversies over freedom of religion, kidnapping, and civil rights, as well as the violence which is sometimes involved.

Behavior Change Method is a theory-based method for changing one or several psychological determinants of behavior such as a person's attitude or self-efficacy. Such behavior change methods are used in behavior change interventions. Although of course attempts to influence people's attitude and other psychological determinants were much older, especially the definition developed in the late nineties yielded useful insights, in particular four important benefits: It developed a generic, abstract vocabulary that facilitated discussion of the active ingredients of an intervention. It emphasized the distinction between behavior change methods and practical applications of these methods. It included the concept of 'parameters for effectiveness', important conditions for effectiveness often neglected. It drew attention to the fact that behavior change methods are influence specific determinants (when developing an intervention, one first has to identify the relevant determinant, and then, identify matching behavior change methods, see also the steps in intervention mapping). Traditionally, reports of evaluations of behavior change interventions barely described the actual intervention, making it very difficult to identify the most effective methods. This was increasingly recognized in the late nineties and early twenty-first century, where behavior change methods gained increasing popularity, and another taxonomy was developed and subsequently gained popularity that enabled coding previously published interventions.

Nudge Theory proposes positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions as ways to influence the behavior and decision making of groups or individuals. Nudging contrasts with other ways to achieve compliance, such as education, legislation or enforcement. A nudge makes it more likely that an individual will make a particular choice, or behave in a particular way, by altering the environment so that automatic cognitive processes are triggered to favour the desired outcome. An individual’s behaviour is not always in alignment with their intentions (termed a value-action gap).

Value-Action Gap is the space that occurs when the values (personal and cultural) or attitudes of an individual do not correlate to their actions. More generally, it is the difference between what people say and what people do. Research suggests that there are many internal and external factors that affect behavior and the reasons behind consumer choices. Theories regarding reasoned action state how attitudes shape and influence behavioral intention, which in term shape actions.

Theory of Reasoned Action aims to explain the relationship between attitudes and behaviours within human action. It is mainly used to predict how individuals will behave based on their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral intentions. An individual's decision to engage in a particular behavior is based on the outcomes the individual expects will come as a result of performing the behavior.

Reasoned Action Approach is an integrative framework for the prediction (and change) of human social behavior. The reasoned-action approach states that attitudes towards the behavior, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control determine people's intentions, while people's intentions predict their behaviors.

Social and Behavior Change Communication is an interactive process of any intervention with individuals, group or community (as integrated with an overall program) to develop communication strategies to promote positive behaviors which are appropriate to their settings and there by solve world's most pressing health problems. This in turn provides a supportive environment which will enable people to initiate, sustain and maintain positive and desirable behavior outcomes.

Lifestyle Medicine is a branch of medicine dealing with research, prevention and treatment of disorders caused by lifestyle factors such as nutrition, physical inactivity, and chronic stress. In the clinic, major barriers to lifestyle counseling are that physicians feel ill-prepared and are skeptical about their patients' receptivity. Poor lifestyle choices like dietary patterns, physical inactivity, tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption, as well as psychosocial factors, e.g. chronic stress and lack of social support and community, contribute to chronic disease. Coaching and supporting people how to cook healthy food at home can be part of a lifestyle-oriented medical practice.

Behavioural Design is a sub-category of design, which is concerned with how design can shape, or be used to influence human behaviour. All approaches of design for behaviour change acknowledge that artefacts have an important influence on human behaviour and/or behavioural decisions. They strongly draw on theories of behavioural change, including the division into personal, behavioural, and environmental characteristics as drivers for behaviour change. Areas in which design for behaviour change has been most commonly applied include health and wellbeing, sustainability, safety and social context, as well as crime prevention.

Behavior Modification relies on the following: Reinforcement (positive and negative). Punishment (positive and negative). Extinction. Shaping. Fading. Chaining.

Attitude Change are associated beliefs and behaviors towards some object. They are not stable, and because of the communication and behavior of other people, are subject to change by social influences, as well as by the individual's motivation to maintain cognitive consistency when cognitive dissonance occurs—when two attitudes or attitude and behavior conflict. Attitudes and attitude objects are functions of affective and cognitive components. It has been suggested that the inter-structural composition of an associative network can be altered by the activation of a single node. Thus, by activating an affective or emotional node, attitude change may be possible, though affective and cognitive components tend to be intertwined.

Behavior Change in context of public health, refers to efforts put in place to change people's personal habits and attitudes, to prevent disease. Behavior change in public health is also known as social and behavior change communication (SBCC). More and more, efforts focus on prevention of disease to save healthcare care costs. This is particularly important in low and middle income countries, such as Ghana, where health interventions have come under increased scrutiny because of the cost. Individual and interpersonal. Health belief model: It is a psychological model attempting to provide an explanation and prediction of health behaviors through a focus on the attitudes and beliefs of individuals. Based on the belief that the perception an individual has determines their success in taking on that behavior change. Factors: perceived. susceptibility/severity/benefits/barriers, readiness to act, cues to action, and self-efficacy. Protection motivation theory: Focuses on understanding the fear appeal that mediates behavior change and describes how threat/coping appraisal is related to how adaptive or maladaptive when coping with a health threat. Factors: perceived severity, vulnerability, response efficacy. Transtheoretical model: This theory uses "stages of change" to create a nexus between powerful principles and processes of behavior change derived from leading theories of behavior change. Incorporates aspects of the integrative biopsychosocial model (CITE). Self-regulation theory: Embodies the belief that people have control over their own behavior change journey, as long as they have the resources and understanding to do so. Aims to create long-term effects for particular situations and contexts. Mainly focuses on stopping negative behaviors. Relapse prevention model: Focuses on immediate determinants and underhanded antecedent behaviors/factors that contribute and/or lead to relapse. Aims to identify high-risk situations and work with participants to cope with such conditions. Factors: self-efficacy, stimulus control. Behaviorist learning theory: Aims to understand prior context of behavior development that leads to certain consequences. Social cognitive theory: Explains behavior learning through observation and social contexts. Centered on the belief that behavior is a context of the environment through psychological processes. Factors: self-efficacy, knowledge, behavioral capability, goal setting, outcome expectations, observational learning, reciprocal determinism, reinforcement. Self-determination theory: Centers around support for natural and/or intrinsic tendencies with behavior and provides participants with healthy and effective ways to work with those. Factors: autonomy, competence, and skills. Theory of planned behavior: Aims to predict the specific plan of an individual to engage in a behavior (time and place), and apply to behaviors over which people have the ability to enact self-control over. Factors: behavioral intent, evaluation of risks and behavior. Community. Community-based participatory research (CBPR): Utilizes community researcher partnership and collaboration. People in the designated community work with the researcher to play an active role as well as being the subjects of the study. Diffusion of innovations: Seeks to explain how new ideas and behaviors are communicated and spread throughout groups. Factors: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trial-ability, observability.

Person-Situation Debate in personality psychology refers to the controversy concerning whether the person or the situation is more influential in determining a person's behavior. Personality trait psychologists believe that a person's personality is relatively consistent across situations. Situationists, opponents of the trait approach, argue that people are not consistent enough from situation to situation to be characterized by broad personality traits. The debate is also an important discussion when studying social psychology, as both topics address the various ways a person could react to a given situation.

Exit Counseling assures the subject of the freedom to leave at any time. Deprogramming entails coercion and confinement.

Inhibition - Programming - Brain Washing

Drug Interventions Programme is for addiction treatment and other support, thereby reducing drug-related harm and reducing offending behaviour.

Community reinforcement approach and family training is a behavior therapy approach for treating addiction that uses operant conditioning to help people learn to reduce the power of their addictions and enjoy healthy life. CRAFT combines CRA with family training, which equips family and friends with supportive techniques to encourage their loved ones to begin and continue treatment, and provides defenses against addiction's damaging effects on loved ones.

Learn2cope is a peer-led support network for families dealing with addiction and recovery.

Grayken Addiction Support support and information they need to help address a child’s substance use, whether your son or daughter is a teenager living at home or a young adult living independently.

Emergency Psychiatry Interventions is the clinical application of psychiatry in emergency settings. Conditions requiring psychiatric interventions may include attempted suicide, substance abuse, depression, psychosis, violence or other rapid changes in behavior. Psychiatric emergency services are rendered by professionals in the fields of medicine, nursing, psychology and social work. The demand for emergency psychiatric services has rapidly increased throughout the world since the 1960s, especially in urban areas. Care for patients in situations involving emergency psychiatry is complex. Individuals may arrive in psychiatric emergency service settings through their own voluntary request, a referral from another health professional, or through involuntary commitment. Care of patients requiring psychiatric intervention usually encompasses crisis stabilization of many serious and potentially life-threatening conditions which could include acute or chronic mental disorders or symptoms similar to those conditions.

Involuntary Psychiatric Hold (5250) allows a qualified officer or clinician to involuntarily confine a person deemed to have certain mental disorders for up to 14 days, following being involuntarily held for 72 hours under a Section 5150 hold.

Involuntary Psychiatric Hold (5150) concerns the involuntary civil commitment to a mental health institution in the State of California. To end the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of mentally disordered persons, people with developmental disabilities, and persons impaired by chronic alcoholism, and to eliminate legal disabilities; To provide prompt evaluation and treatment of persons with serious mental disorders or impaired by chronic alcoholism; To guarantee and protect public safety; To safeguard individual rights through judicial review; To provide individualized treatment, supervision, and placement services by a conservatorship program for gravely disabled persons; To encourage the full use of all existing agencies, professional personnel and public funds to accomplish these objectives and to prevent duplication of services and unnecessary expenditures; To protect mentally disordered persons and developmentally disabled persons from criminal acts.

Ventura Early Intervention Prevention Services.

The brain structure that controls our behaviour. Using a unique medical case, researchers have clearly identified the region of the brain that controls so-called executive functions.

Behaviour Therapy referring to psychotherapy, behaviour analytical, or a combination of the two therapies. In its broadest sense, the methods focus on either just behaviours or in combination with thoughts and feelings that might be causing them. Those who practice behaviour therapy tend to look more at specific, learned behaviours and how the environment influences those behaviours. Those who practice behaviour therapy are called behaviourists. They tend to look for treatment outcomes that are objectively measurable. Behaviour therapy does not involve one specific method but it has a wide range of techniques that can be used to treat a person's psychological problems. Behaviour therapy breaks down into four disciplines: applied behaviour analysis (ABA), the Teaching Family Model (TFM), Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). ABA focuses on the application of learning theory to assess potential behaviour-change procedures and CBT focuses on the thoughts and feelings behind mental health conditions with treatment plans in psychotherapy to lessen the issue.

Applied Behavior Analysis is a scientific discipline concerned with analyzing the principles of learning theory and systematically applying this technology to change behavior of social significance. It is the applied form of behavior analysis; the other two forms are radical behaviorism (or the philosophy of the science) and the experimental analysis of behavior (or experimental research). Assessments.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a psychosocial Behavior Intervention that is the most widely used evidence-based practice for treating mental disorders. Guided by empirical research, CBT focuses on the development of personal coping strategies that target solving current problems and changing unhelpful patterns in cognitions (e.g., thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes), behaviors, and emotional regulation. It was originally designed to treat depression, and is now used for a number of mental health conditions.

Cognitive Emotional Brain (pdf)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a Therapy designed to help people suffering from mood disorders as well as those who need to change patterns of behavior that are not helpful, such as self-harm, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse. This approach works towards helping people increase their emotional and cognitive regulation by learning about the triggers that lead to reactive states and helping to assess which coping skills to apply in the sequence of events, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to help avoid undesired reactions. DBT assumes that people are doing their best but lack the skills needed to succeed, or are influenced by positive or negative reinforcement that interferes with their ability to function appropriately.

Resources for Behavioral Health Problems
Advanced Behavioral Health
Behaviorology 
National Council for Behavioral Health
Ideas 42
Behavior Advisor
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
Behavioral Health Resources
ACT Engage Behavior Assessment
How Epigenetics Can Affect Ants’ Behavior (youtube)
Behavioral Medicine Research
UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture
Behavior
My Childs Behavior 

Related Subjects - Behavioral Addiction - Addictions - Anxiety - Trauma - Introvert - Extrovert - Assessments - Punishment - Placebos - Toxoplasmosis - Hormones - Epigenetics - Programing - Modify - Learning Methods - Learned Behavior - Smart Drugs - Self Smart - Interpersonal intelligence - Child Development.

Quantitative Analysis of Behavior uses quantitative models in the experimental analysis of behavior.

Behavioural Despair Test is a test, centered on a rodent's response to the threat of drowning, whose result has been interpreted as measuring susceptibility to negative mood. It is commonly used to measure the effectiveness of antidepressants, although significant criticisms of its interpretation have been made.

Developmental-Behavioral Screening and Surveillance is early detection of children with developmental-behavioral delays and disabilities to make sure that those with difficulties receive the benefits of early intervention.

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is a health survey that looks at behavioral risk factors.

Four Noble Truths are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.

Presenting Problem. The chief complaint is a concise statement describing the symptom, problem, condition, diagnosis, physician-recommended return, or other reason for a medical encounter. In some instances, the nature of a patient's chief complaint may determine if services are covered by insurance. When obtaining the chief complaint, medical students are advised to use open-ended questions. Once the presenting problem is elucidated, a history of present illness can be done using acronyms such as SOCRATES or OPQRST to further analyze the severity, onset and nature of the presenting problem. The patient's initial comments to a physician, nurse, or other health care professionals are important for formulating differential diagnoses. (reason for encounter, problem on admission or reason for presenting).

Alzheimer's - Neurodegenerative Disease

Alzheimer's Association 2016 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimer's disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's. Every 66 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer's disease. More than 3 million US cases per year. Nearly half of care contributors -- those who are caregivers of someone with Alzheimer's and/or contribute financially to their care -- cut back on their own expenses (including food, transportation and medical care) to pay for dementia-related care of a family member or friend. In 2015, 15.9 million caregivers provided an estimated 18.1 billion hours of unpaid care valued at more than $221 billion. Alzheimer's is the only cause of death among the top 10 in America that cannot be prevented, cured, or even slowed. There are approximately 700,000 people dying each year because they have Alzheimer's. 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia. Deaths from Alzheimer's disease rose by 55 percent over the last 15 years.

Alzheimer's Association - Alzheimer's Foundation

5.8 Million People is the estimated number of people in the United States with Alzheimer’s disease. 13.8 million People are expected to have Alzheimer’s disease in the United States by 2050.

Support for Older Adults with Memory Loss and their Families

Alanna Shaikh (video and interactive text)
Samuel Chen: Alzheimer can be Cured (video and interactive text)

Alzheimer Disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and worsens over time. It is the cause of 60% to 70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events (short-term memory loss). As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation (including easily getting lost), mood swings, loss of motivation, not managing self care, and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. Although the speed of progression can vary, the average life expectancy following diagnosis is three to nine years.

Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease

Beta Amyloid denotes peptides of 36–43 amino acids that are crucially involved in Alzheimer's disease as the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer patients. Sleep Disorders.

Inhibition of amyloid-β aggregation in Alzheimer's disease. The assembly of naturally occurring amyloid peptides into cytotoxic oligomeric and fibrillar aggregates is believed to be a major pathologic event in over 25 human diseases. Blocking of or interfering with the aggregation of amyloid peptides such as amyloid-β (Aβ) using small organic molecules, peptides and peptidomimetics, and nanoparticles that selectively bind or inhibit Aβ aggregates is a promising strategy for the development of novel pharmaceutical approaches and agents to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD). In a broad sense, considering many common features in structure, kinetics, and biological activity of amyloid peptides, potent inhibitors and associated inhibition strategies that are developed for targeting Aβ aggregation could also be generally applied to other amyloid-forming peptides in "protein-aggregation diseases". Due to the complex nature of Aβ self-assembly process, increasing knowledge in high-resolution structures of Aβ oligomers, atomic-level Aβ-inhibitor binding information, and cost-effective high-throughput screening method will improve our fundamental understanding of amyloid formation and inhibition mechanisms, as well as practical design of pharmaceutical strategies and drugs to treat AD. This review summarizes major findings, recent advances, and future challenges for the development of new Aβ-aggregation inhibitors, mainly focusing on three major classes of Aβ inhibitors with associated inhibition mechanisms and practical. examples.

Amyloid Plaques - Plaques - Tangles

Amyloid Plaques must be Cleared Away - Sleeping

Newly identified cellular trash removal program helps create new neurons. New research reveals how a cellular filament helps neural stem cells clear damaged and clumped proteins, an important step in eventually producing new neurons. In a mouse model, the team identified a cellular filament known as vimentin as a key component of neural stem cells' protein-management system. They found that vimentin brings proteasomes -- molecular garbage disposals that can digest targeted proteins -- to clumps of damaged proteins that must be removed for cells to function properly. Neural stem cells accumulate damaged proteins during the aging process, or when they are dormant or exposed to toxic chemicals.

Blood Brain Barrier

Unique case of disease resistance reveals possible Alzheimer's treatment. Study identifies gene variant as potential drug target. The research focused on the case of a woman who carried a gene mutation known to cause early-onset Alzheimer's. However, she did not develop signs of the disease until her seventies, nearly three decades after her expected age of onset. The researchers suspect that she may have been protected because in addition to the gene mutation causing early-onset Alzheimer's in her family, she also had two copies of the APOE3 Christchurch (APOE3ch) gene variant. Findings of this case study as published in Nature Medicine suggest that two copies of the APOE3ch variant, named after Christchurch, New Zealand where it was first identified, may protect against Alzheimer's.

Senile Plaques are extracellular deposits of amyloid beta in the grey matter of the brain. Degenerative neural structures and an abundance of microglia and astrocytes can be associated with senile plaque deposits. These deposits can also be a byproduct of senescence (ageing). However, large numbers of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are characteristic features of Alzheimer's disease. Abnormal neurites in senile plaques are composed primarily of paired helical filaments, a component of neurofibrillary tangles. The plaques are variable in shape and size, but are on average 50 µm in size. In Alzheimer's disease they are primarily composed of amyloid beta peptides. These polypeptides tend to aggregate and are believed to be neurotoxic.

Neurofibrillary Tangle are aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau protein that are most commonly known as a primary marker of Alzheimer's disease. Their presence is also found in numerous other diseases known as tauopathies. Little is known about their exact relationship to the different pathologies.

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is a class of proteins involved in the metabolism of fats in the body. It is important in Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease. Lipoproteins are molecules composed of fats and proteins. Apolipoprotein E is a fat-binding protein (apolipoprotein) that is part of the chylomicron and intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDLs). These are essential for the normal processing (catabolism) of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. In peripheral tissues, ApoE is primarily produced by the liver and macrophages, and mediates cholesterol metabolism. In the central nervous system, ApoE is mainly produced by astrocytes and transports cholesterol to neurons via ApoE receptors, which are members of the low density lipoprotein receptor gene family. ApoE is the principal cholesterol carrier in the brain.

A woman in a Alzheimer afflicted family somehow fended off the disease carried the same mutation that usually guarantees dementia. Her brain was filled with plaques formed by a sticky protein called amyloid. Many scientists view that accumulation as one of the earliest signs of the disease. Yet she stayed sharp until her 70s. Researchers were stumped, until they discovered that the woman also carried another, extremely rare genetic mutation that seemed to be protecting her from the effects of the first one. This second mutation, in a different Alzheimer’s-related gene called APOE, seemed to slow the disease down by decades.

Female chromosomes offer resilience to Alzheimer's. Study reveals that females' second X chromosome confers protection. While much of a female's second X chromosome is "silenced" by an outer layer of non-coding RNA, a small number of genes escape this process, in both mice and humans, giving females twice the dose of the proteins coded for by those genes. The researchers zeroed in on one of these active genes, KDM6A, which is already known to be involved in learning and cognition: when this gene malfunctions, it causes Kabuki syndrome, characterized by developmental delay and mild to severe intellectual disability.

Insulin-Degrading Enzyme also known alternatively as insulysin or insulin protease, IDE is a large zinc-binding protease of the M16A metalloprotease subfamily known to cleave multiple short polypeptides that vary considerably in sequence.

Clearing clumps of protein in aging neural stem cells boosts their activity. Young, resting neural stem cells in the brains of mice store large clumps of proteins in specialized cellular trash compartments known as lysosomes, researchers have found. As the cells age, they become less proficient at disposing of these protein aggregates, and their ability to respond readily to "make new neurons" signals wanes. Restoring the ability of the lysosomes to function normally rejuvenates the cells' ability to activate, the researchers found.

Sorting Protein in neurons defends against Neurodegenerative Disease. A molecule known as VPS35 detects and removes defective proteins from neurons. Researchers show for the first time that VPS35 clears the brain of a potentially harmful protein called tau, which otherwise accumulates and contributes to neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease.

PH imbalance in brain cells may contribute to Alzheimer's disease. Study identifies potential drug targets to reverse problem found in tiny organelles in astrocytes. PH.

Tauopathy belongs to a class of neurodegenerative diseases associated with the pathological aggregation of tau protein in neurofibrillary or gliofibrillary tangles in the human brain. Tangles are formed by hyperphosphorylation of a microtubule-associated protein known as tau, causing it to aggregate in an insoluble form. (These aggregations of hyperphosphorylated tau protein are also referred to as paired helical filaments). The precise mechanism of tangle formation is not completely understood, and it is still controversial as to whether tangles are a primary causative factor in the disease or play a more peripheral role.
Tau Imaging.

Two new genes linked to Alzheimer's disease discovered. Study of gene expression in the hippocampus also identified hippocampus-related disease pathways. Hippocampal transcriptome-wide association study and neurobiological pathway analysis for Alzheimer’s disease.

Zombie Cells are cells that can't die and are unable to perform the functions of a normal cell and can broadcast inflammatory signals to the cells around them. These zombie or senescent cells are implicated in a number of age-related diseases including osteoarthritis; atherosclerosis; and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. By preventing the accumulation of these cells, they were able to diminish tau protein aggregation, neuronal death and memory loss.

Senescence is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics. The word senescence can refer either to cellular senescence or to senescence of the whole organism. Organismal senescence involves an increase in death rates and/or a decrease in fecundity with increasing age, at least in the later part of an organism's life cycle. Cellular Senescence.

Delirium is an organically caused decline from a previously baseline level of mental function. It often has a fluctuating course, attentional deficits, and disorganization of behavior. It typically involves other cognitive deficits, changes in arousal (hyperactive, hypoactive, or mixed), perceptual deficits, altered sleep-wake cycle, and psychotic features such as hallucinations and delusions. Delirium itself is not a disease, but rather a set of symptoms.

Dementia is a broad category of brain diseases that cause a long term and often gradual decrease in the ability to think and remember that is great enough to affect a person's daily functioning. Other common symptoms include emotional problems, problems with language, and a decrease in motivation. A person's consciousness is usually not affected. A dementia diagnosis requires a change from a person's usual mental functioning and a greater decline than one would expect due to aging. These diseases also have a significant effect on a person's caregivers. Dementia is to die but not be dead, a living death.

Frontotemporal Dementia is the clinical presentation of frontotemporal lobar degeneration, which is characterized by progressive neuronal loss predominantly involving the frontal or temporal lobes, and typical loss of over 70% of spindle neurons, while other neuron types remain intact.

Researchers Successfully Reverse Cognitive Impairments in Mice with Dementia

Treating dementia with the healing waves of sound. Ultrasound applied to brain could help treat patients with dementia.

Leukotriene are a family of eicosanoid inflammatory mediators produced in leukocytes by the oxidation of arachidonic acid (AA) and the essential fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) by the enzyme arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase. Leukotrienes use lipid signaling to convey information to either the cell producing them (autocrine signaling) or neighboring cells (paracrine signaling) in order to regulate immune responses. The production of leukotrienes is usually accompanied by the production of histamine and prostaglandins, which also act as inflammatory mediators. One of their roles (specifically, leukotriene D4) is to trigger contractions in the smooth muscles lining the bronchioles; their overproduction is a major cause of inflammation in asthma and allergic rhinitis.Leukotriene antagonists are used to treat these disorders by inhibiting the production or activity of leukotrienes.

Arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase transforms essential fatty acids (EFA) substrates into leukotrienes as well as a wide range of other biologically active products.

Frontal Lobe Disorder is an impairment of the frontal lobe that occurs due to disease or head trauma.

Benadryl is Linked to Higher Dementia Risk
Nonprescription Diphenhydramine

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as Lou Gehrig's disease and motor neurone disease (MND), is a specific disease that causes the death of neurons which control voluntary muscles. Some also use the term motor neuron disease for a group of conditions of which ALS is the most common. ALS is characterized by stiff muscles, muscle twitching, and gradually worsening weakness due to muscles decreasing in size. This results in difficulty speaking, swallowing, and eventually breathing. The cause is not known in 90% to 95% of cases. About 5–10% of cases are inherited from a person's parents. About half of these genetic cases are due to one of two specific genes. The diagnosis is based on a person's signs and symptoms with testing done to rule out other potential causes. No cure for ALS is known.

Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which abnormal protein, known as amyloid fibrils, builds up in tissue. Symptoms depend on the type and are often variable. They may include diarrhea, weight loss, feeling tired, enlargement of the tongue, bleeding, numbness, feeling faint with standing, swelling of the legs, or enlargement of the spleen. There are about 30 different type of amyloidosis, each due to a specific protein misfolding. Some are genetic while others are acquired. They are grouped into localized and systemic forms. The four most common types of systemic disease are light chain (AL), inflammation (AA), dialysis (Aβ2M), and hereditary and old age (ATTR). Diagnosis may be suspected when protein is found in the urine, organ enlargement is present, or problems are found with multiple peripheral nerves and it is unclear why. Diagnosis is confirmed by tissue biopsy. Due to the variable presentation, a diagnosis can often take some time to reach. Treatment is geared towards decreasing the amount of the involved protein. This may sometimes be achieved by determining and treating the underlying cause. AL amyloidosis occurs in about 3–13 per million people per year and AA amyloidosis in about 2 per million people per year. The usual age of onset of these two types is 55 to 60 years old. Without treatment life expectancy is between half and four years. In the developed world about 1 per 1,000 people die from amyloidosis. Amyloidosis has been described since at least 163.

Secreted Amyloid Precursor Protein-Alpha is a neuroprotective and neurotrophic protein, derived from the same parent protein as neurotoxic amyloid-ß. The levels of endogenous sAPPα are reduced in neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease.

Brain Maintenance - Brain Food - Exercise - Learning - Laptops for Seniors - Memory

Gum Bacteria implicated in Alzheimer's and other diseases. The bacterium, Porphyromonas gingivalis, is the bad actor involved in periodontitis, the most serious form of gum disease that can travel throughout the body.

Influence of Education and Occupation on the incidence of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia are declining for people who are more educated.

Educated people are healthier overall, so keep learning, especially new and valuable knowledge and information.

Non-invasive Ultrasound Restores Memory

Alzheimer's Insulin Nose Spray

Donepezil is a medication used in the palliative treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

The Brain is directly connected to the immune system by meningeal lymphatic vessels. Every neurological disease has an immune component. Lymphatic System

Brain Inflammation

Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease is an incurable and universally fatal neurodegenerative disease. CJD is at times called a human form of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE). However, given that BSE is believed to be the cause of Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans, the two are often confused. CJD is caused by an infectious agent called a prion. Prions are misfolded proteins that replicate by converting their properly folded counterparts, in their host, to the same misfolded structure they possess. CJD causes the brain tissue to degenerate rapidly, and as the disease destroys the brain, the brain develops holes and the texture changes to resemble that of a kitchen sponge.

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy commonly known as mad cow disease, is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy and fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that may be passed to humans who have eaten infected flesh. BSE causes a spongiform degeneration of the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, of 2.5 to 5 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of four to five years. BSE is caused by a misfolded protein—a prion. In the United Kingdom, the country worst affected by an epidemic in 1986–1998, more than 180,000 cattle were infected and 4.4 million slaughtered during the eradication program.

Researchers unravel how acidic conditions favor protein misfolding in deadly diseases. - PH

Serum Amyloid A proteins are a family of apolipoproteins associated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in plasma. Different isoforms of SAA are expressed constitutively (constitutive SAAs) at different levels or in response to inflammatory stimuli (acute phase SAAs). These proteins are produced predominantly by the liver. Lipids.

Prion is an infectious agent composed entirely of Protein material, called PrP (short for prion protein), that can fold in multiple, structurally distinct ways, at least one of which is transmissible to other prion proteins, leading to disease that is similar to viral infection. They are suspected to be the cause of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) among other diseases.

Human Enzyme known as cyclophilin 40 or CyP40, was found to preserve brain neurons and rescued cognitive deficits in a mouse model.

Klotho in biology is an Enzyme that in humans is encoded by the KL gene. This gene encodes a type-I membrane protein that is related to β-glucuronidases. Reduced production of this protein has been observed in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF), and this may be one of the factors underlying the degenerative processes (e.g., arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, and skin atrophy) seen in CRF. Also, mutations within this protein have been associated with ageing, bone loss and alcohol consumption. Transgenic mice that overexpress Klotho live longer than wild-type mice.

Beta-Secretase 1 is an Enzyme that in humans is encoded by the BACE1 gene. BACE1 is an aspartic-acid protease important in the formation of myelin sheaths in peripheral nerve cells. The transmembrane protein contains two active site aspartate residues in its extracellular protein domain and may function as a dimer.

Researchers have found that gradually depleting an enzyme called BACE1 completely reverses the formation of amyloid plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer's disease.

BACE1 deletion in the adult mouse reverses preformed amyloid deposition and improves cognitive functions.

Human cyclophilin 40 is a heat shock protein that exhibits altered intracellular localization following heat shock.

Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide is a coenzyme found in all living cells. The compound is a dinucleotide, because it consists of two nucleotides joined through their phosphate groups. One nucleotide contains an adenine base and the other nicotinamide. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide exists in two forms, an oxidized and reduced form abbreviated as NAD+ and NADH respectively. In metabolism, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide is involved in redox reactions, carrying electrons from one reaction to another. The coenzyme is, therefore, found in two forms in cells: NAD+ is an oxidizing agent – it accepts electrons from other molecules and becomes reduced. This reaction forms NADH, which can then be used as a reducing agent to donate electrons. These electron transfer reactions are the main function of NAD. However, it is also used in other cellular processes, the most notable one being a substrate of enzymes that add or remove chemical groups from proteins, in posttranslational modifications. Because of the importance of these functions, the enzymes involved in NAD metabolism are targets for drug discovery. In organisms, NAD can be synthesized from simple building-blocks (de novo) from the amino acids tryptophan or aspartic acid. In an alternative fashion, more complex components of the coenzymes are taken up from food as the vitamin called niacin. Similar compounds are released by reactions that break down the structure of NAD. These preformed components then pass through a salvage pathway that recycles them back into the active form. Some NAD is also converted into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP); the chemistry of this related coenzyme is similar to that of NAD, but it has different roles in metabolism. Although NAD+ is written with a superscript plus sign because of the formal charge on a particular nitrogen atom, at physiological pH for the most part it is actually a singly charged anion (charge of minus 1), while NADH is a doubly charged anion.

Age-Associated Increase in BMP Signaling inhibits Hippocampal Neurogenesis

Cell therapy could improve brain function for Alzheimer's disease. Transplanting a special type of inhibitory interneuron into the brain restores cognitive functions in Alzheimer's models, shows a new study. Nav1.1 is a protein which in humans is encoded by the SCN1A gene.

Alzheimer's Caregiver Buddy help caregivers manage their personal stress, navigate family conflict and reach a 24/7 helpline.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease.

Hyperbaric Medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, and therapeutic recompression for decompression illness, intended to reduce the injurious effects of systemic gas bubbles by physically reducing their size and providing improved conditions for elimination of bubbles and excess dissolved gas. The equipment required for hyperbaric oxygen treatment consists of a pressure chamber, which may be of rigid or flexible construction, and a means of delivering 100% oxygen. Operation is performed to a predetermined schedule by trained personnel who monitor the patient and may adjust the schedule as required. HBOT found early use in the treatment of decompression sickness, and has also shown great effectiveness in treating conditions such as gas gangrene and carbon monoxide poisoning. More recent research has examined the possibility that it may also have value for other conditions such as cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis, but no significant evidence has been found. Therapeutic recompression is usually also provided in a hyperbaric chamber. It is the definitive treatment for decompression sickness and may also be used to treat arterial gas embolism caused by pulmonary barotrauma of ascent. In emergencies divers may sometimes be treated by in-water recompression if a chamber is not available and suitable diving equipment to reasonably secure the airway is available. A number of hyperbaric treatment schedules have been published over the years for both therapeutic recompression and hyperbaric oxygen therapy for other conditions.

Diabetes drug reverses Alzheimer’s and could be available in five years. Enhanced levels of a brain growth factor which protects nerve cell functioning, reduced the amount of amyloid plaques in the brain linked with Alzheimer's, reduced both chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, slowed down the rate of nerve cell loss.

Prosthetic Memory System successful in humans. A prosthetic system that uses a person's own memory patterns to facilitate the brain's ability to encode and recall memory. The study focused on improving episodic memory, which is the most common type of memory loss in people with Alzheimer's disease, stroke and head injury.

Blocking CD22 protein's activity with antibodies, investigators were able to improve cognitive behavior in aging mice.

Mental Health Questions

Memory loss reversed or abated in those with cognitive decline. Researchers sought to determine whether a comprehensive and personalized program, designed to mitigate risk factors of Alzheimer's disease could improve cognitive and metabolic function in individuals experiencing cognitive decline. Findings provided evidence that this approach can improve risk factor scores and stabilize cognitive function.

Arts and Minds improving quality of life for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias through engagement with art.

Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's Disease is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms generally come on slowly over time. Early in the disease, the most obvious are shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement, and difficulty with walking. Thinking and behavioral problems may also occur. Dementia becomes common in the advanced stages of the disease. Depression and anxiety are also common, occurring in more than a third of people with PD. Other symptoms include sensory, sleep, and emotional problems. Gut Microbes - Constipation.

Parkinson's disease may start in the gut. Cells from the gut's nervous system are involved in Parkinson's disease, indicating that the disease may start there. The nervous system is composed of hundreds of different cell types with very different functions. A type of support cell in the brain called oligodendrocytes were found to be affected early on, suggesting that they play a key role in the early stages of the disease. The oligodendrocytes appear to be affected even before the loss of dopaminergic neurons.

Treatment for Parkinson's Disease. Investigators have pinpointed a molecular defect that seems almost universal among patients with Parkinson's disease and those at a high risk of acquiring it. Parkinson's, the second most common neurodegenerative disease, affects 35 million people worldwide. Whereas 5%-10% of cases are familial -- the inherited result of known genetic mutations -- the vast majority are sporadic, involving complex interactions of multiple unknown genes and environmental factors.

One-time treatment generates new neurons, eliminates Parkinson's disease in mice. Inhibiting a single gene converts many cell types directly into dopamine-producing neurons. Researchers have discovered that a single treatment to inhibit a gene called PTB in mice converts native astrocytes, brain support cells, into neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. As a result, the mice's Parkinson's disease symptoms disappear. The treatment works like this: The researchers developed a noninfectious virus that carries an antisense oligonucleotide sequence -- an artificial piece of DNA designed to specifically bind the RNA coding for PTB, thus degrading it, preventing it from being translated into a functional protein and stimulating neuron development.Antisense oligonucleotides, also known as designer DNA drugs, are a proven approach for neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases. The researchers administered the PTB antisense oligonucleotide treatment directly to the mouse's midbrain, which is responsible for regulating motor control and reward behaviors, and the part of the brain that typically loses dopamine-producing neurons in Parkinson's disease. A control group of mice received mock treatment with an empty virus or an irrelevant antisense sequence. In the treated mice, a small subset of astrocytes converted to neurons, increasing the number of neurons by approximately 30 percent. Dopamine levels were restored to a level comparable to that in normal mice. What's more, the neurons grew and sent their processes into other parts of brain. There was no change in the control mice. By two different measures of limb movement and response, the treated mice returned to normal within three months after a single treatment, and remained completely free from symptoms of Parkinson's disease for the rest of their lives. In contrast, the control mice showed no improvement.

Beware - Don't Believe Everything that you Hear

When seeking help always get a second or third opinion from a professional source or a very intelligent well trusted friend or family member. There's a lot of fraud, false medical claims and Doctors over prescribing medications. So please do your homework especially with medications and treatment alternatives. Be positive and be hopeful but don't be Gullible. Not all Doctors are Honest or Educated so its not just about who you can trust. Media Literacy (propaganda).

Alert is to warn or arouse to a sense of danger or call to a state of preparedness. Engaged in or accustomed to close observation. Mentally perceptive and responsive. Condition of heightened watchfulness or preparation for action.

The National Council Against Health Fraud

Quack Watch - Skeptic

Pseudoscientific - Research Fraud

Skepticism - Questioning


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Lyme Disease

Lyme Disease is an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the Borrelia type. The most common sign of infection is an expanding area of redness, known as erythema migrans, that begins at the site of a tick bite about a week after it has occurred. The rash is typically neither itchy nor painful. Approximately 25–50% of infected people do not develop a rash. Other early symptoms may include fever, headache and feeling tired. If untreated, symptoms may include loss of the ability to move one or both sides of the face, joint pains, severe headaches with neck stiffness, or heart palpitations, among others. Months to years later, repeated episodes of joint pain and swelling may occur. Occasionally, people develop shooting pains or tingling in their arms and legs. Despite appropriate treatment, about 10 to 20% of people develop joint pains, memory problems, and feel tired for at least six months. Lyme disease is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks of the Ixodes genus. Usually, the tick must be attached for 36 to 48 hours before the bacteria can spread. In North America, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto and Borrelia mayonii are the cause. In Europe and Asia, the bacteria Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii are also causes of the disease. The disease does not appear to be transmissible between people, by other animals, or through food. Diagnosis is based upon a combination of symptoms, history of tick exposure, and possibly testing for specific antibodies in the blood. Blood tests are often negative in the early stages of the disease. Testing of individual ticks is not typically useful. Prevention includes efforts to prevent tick bites such as by wearing long pants and using DEET. Using pesticides to reduce tick numbers may also be effective. Ticks can be removed using tweezers. If the removed tick was full of blood, a single dose of doxycycline may be used to prevent development of infection, but is not generally recommended since development of infection is rare. If an infection develops, a number of antibiotics are effective, including doxycycline, amoxicillin, and cefuroxime. Treatment is usually for two or three weeks.Some people develop a fever and muscle and joint pains from treatment which may last for one or two days. In those who develop persistent symptoms, long-term antibiotic therapy has not been found to be useful. Lyme disease is the most common disease spread by ticks in the Northern Hemisphere. It is estimated to affect 300,000 people a year in the United States and 65,000 people a year in Europe. Infections are most common in the spring and early summer. Lyme disease was diagnosed as a separate condition for the first time in 1975 in Old Lyme, Connecticut. It was originally mistaken for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The bacterium involved was first described in 1981 by Willy Burgdorfer. Chronic symptoms are well described and are known as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, although it is often called chronic Lyme disease. Some healthcare providers claim that it is due to ongoing infection; however, this is not believed to be true. A previous vaccine is no longer available. Research is ongoing to develop new vaccines.

Ticks are small arachnids, part of the order Parasitiformes. Along with mites, they constitute the subclass Acari. Ticks are ectoparasites (external parasites), living by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. Ticks had evolved by the Cretaceous period, the most common form of fossilisation being immersed in amber. Ticks are widely distributed around the world, especially in warm, humid climates. Insects.

75% of all Tick Bites happen around the Home. Cleaning up the edge of your property can reduce the number of ticks coming in the lawn by as much as 70 percent. Remove brush, plants, tall grass and leaf litter around your home, aiming for at least a 6-inch-wide clean area. Place a 3-ft wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas to restrict tick migration into recreational areas.

Protection Against Ticks. Some Ticks may carry Lyme disease and other diseases so here are some useful tips. Wear light colored clothing so the ticks can be easily spotted. If is hunting season, then of course it’s a good idea to wear orange. Apply insect repellent to skin and clothing and tuck pants into socks. Examine clothing and skin for ticks often. Make sure your pet has a good flea collar too. Remove them immediately with tweezers near to the ticks head close to the skin. Do not use flammable liquid or matches to remove ticks. After removing tick disinfect with soap and water, rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Record date and location of tick bite and if flu like conditions appear please see a doctor. Risk of disease is reduced if tick is removed in 36 hours.

Guinea Fowl are a wonderful Tick Predator, especially for larger properties (that are zoned for poultry) where they can roam free. Also called guinea hens, these birds eat ticks along with any other insect they can find on the ground.

Insectary Plant are plants that attract insects. Farming Tips.

Biological Pest Control is a method of controlling pests such as insects, mites, weeds and plant diseases using other organisms.

Pesticides. Acaricide are pesticides that kill members of the arachnid subclass Acari, which includes ticks and mites. Acaricides are used both in medicine and agriculture, although the desired selective toxicity differs between the two fields. Organic Pesticides.

Permethrin is sold under the brand name Nix among others, is a medication and insecticide. As a medication, it is used to treat scabies and lice. It is applied to the skin as a cream or lotion. As an insecticide, it can be sprayed on clothing or mosquito nets such that the insects that touch them die. Side effects include rash and irritation at the area of use. Use during pregnancy appears to be safe. It is approved for use in people over the age of two months. Permethrin is in the pyrethroid family of medications. It works by disrupting the function of the neurons of lice and scabies mites.

American Lyme Disease Foundation - Lyme Ticks

Powassan Virus is a virus transmitted by ticks. The disease it causes is named after the town of Powassan, Ontario, where it was identified in a young boy who eventually died from it.

New synthetic DNA vaccine against Powassan virus. Vaccine protects animals against tick-borne Powassan virus, an emerging infectious disease. Scientists at The Wistar Institute have designed and tested the first-of-its-kind synthetic DNA vaccine against Powassan virus (POWV), targeting portions of the virus envelope protein. A rapidly reemerging tick-borne disease, POWV has been reported to be fatal in 10% of infected people with detrimental neurological consequences including encephalitis and meningitis. This new POWV vaccine candidate, described in a paper published today in PLOS Neglected Infectious Diseases, is one of many emerging infectious disease DNA vaccine discoveries being advanced by the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at The Wistar Institute.

A man in his 40s was infected with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) this summer through contact with his pet dog who had passed SFTS onto him. The man became infected with the disease after stroking and massaging his dog, which had previously been bitten by an ixodid tick -- an arachnid that spreads SFTS.

Since the early '90s, reported cases of Lyme disease have tripled, to about 30,000 cases each year. And the CDC thinks the actual number is 10 times higher.



Under our Skin (hulu) - A great documentary about Lyme Disease that shows how incompetent and corrupt some doctors are. So you are actually fighting two diseases instead of just one. Creating two types of Biofilms.

When Anti-trust becomes Anti-human, Disinformation becomes the biggest cause of cancer.