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A study published by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research suggests that there may be a link between schizophrenia and autism. By examining a variety published research, Annemie Ploeger, found that a disruption within the first 20-40 days of pregnancy seems to be related to the development either autism or schizophrenia. Her hypothesis is backed up by some of the similar specifics in the bodies of people dealing with autism or schizophrenia. For instance, both people with autism and people with schizophrenia typically have larger than average heads and ears. Further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis, but changes in womens’ behavioral health is one of the natural outgrowths of such hypotheses. The link between smoking and an increased risk for autism or schizophrenia was already well established. However, it is the hypothesis that the risk for abnormalities can occur so early in pregnancy highlights the importance of healthy behaviors even before a woman knows that she is pregnant.
NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) (2008, December 18). Autism And Schizophrenia Share Common Origin, Review Suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 29, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/12/081216114746.htm
Holcomb House, the residential treatment program I work at, has a connection with St Paul Radiology where they donate all of the holiday presents for the kids we work with and they, in exchange, get to come and help us decorate for the holiday season. Last Wednesday they came to help decorate and one the women there was so touched by our program, that she invited her grandmother, Gloria Frias of West St Paul’s Boca Chica Restaurante to cater dinner for us tonight. The generosity of her gift floored me. One of the most basic ways to nurture and care for children is by feeding them tasty and wholesome food. That basic nurturance was provided tonight for Holcomb’s kids and I am so thankful for the gift.
If any of you reading this are in the St Paul, MN metro area, I highly encourage you to patronize Boca Chica. The food was absolutely delicious. I had three fried tacos, three enchaladas and multiple helpings of rice and beans. I don’t regret a single bite.
You should eat here!
A friend of mine passed a literature review to me recently on effective psychotherapists and what affects their client outcomes the most. Surprisingly, factors like client diagnosis, age, level of impairment and therapist licensure, theoretical orientation, and experience were not found to be the statistically significant in client success. More than anything else, including psychotropic interventions, the relationship the therapist shared with the client was the number one catalysis for change. The therapists who are able to form those sort of relationships with clients are not born, but are created, through constantly looking for feedback from their clients, establishing the baseline for their success, and using focused practice to improve specific skills. Because the high learning curve at the beginning of working as a mental health professional, many workers experience a high learning curve at the beginning of their careers, but then plateau. Unfortunately, most mental health professionals then consider time in the field, as opposed to measurable client success and satisfaction rates, makes them successful clinicians. Their tell their clients their baseline, and through that honest exposure, open themselves up for feedback and lower the rate of client dropouts. Many “supershrinks” are intuitive about the areas that they need to improve, but tools do exist to measure client success and establish a baseline. One of the tools mentioned in the article was MyOutComes.com a web page for behavioral health professionals to input their data and find out their baseline.
I thought this article was interesting for a number of different reasons, but notably the statistical insignificance that various interventions played in client success. It would be so easy if all we needed to do was find the square shaped peg to fill the square shaped hole caused by some particular mental illness. However, this article seems to point out that there is no particular peg to fill a particular hole. In fact, it seems to be the very permeable and changing factor of relationship that not only empowers, but also pushes, change.
Miller M., Hubble M., and Duncan B. (2007). Supershrinks What’s the secret of their success? Retrieved December 8th, 2008 from Psychotherapy Networker Website: http://www.psychotherapynetworker.org/component/content/article/85-2007-novemberdecember/175-supershrinks
An article from Science Daily today talks about an increase in depression rates among medical students especially for females during the internship years. Depressive symptoms were most common in the affective and cognitive domains, with somatic being the third possible. Having a family member who was a doctor was found to mitagate some of the effects of depression and generally lower the risk.
Some of the questions this article raises for me include:
- Do initiates of other high stress careers experience similarly high rates of depression? What about anxiety?
- What sort of personality factors affect depression rates and longevity among medical students and doctors?
- How does this increase in rates of depression affect patient care in teaching hospitals?
- Would it be possible to affect the Resident-Intern relationship to make it more of a mentoring relationship?
- What sort of mental health services are generally available to new doctors?
BMC Medical Education (2008, December 4). Depression Rife Among Medical Students. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 5, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/12/081205094515.htm
