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Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that infects mice and makes them less afraid of cats. The fearless mice are more likely to be eaten by cats, and the parasite reproduces in the cats' digestive tract. Toxoplasma's ability to alter mouse behavior has led to a bit of evidence and a lot of theories about how human brains might be affected by the parasite. Since about a third of adult humans worldwide have toxoplasmosis, this is a pretty important question.

The most obvious starting point is behavior driven by fear or fearlessness. According to Stanford researcher Robert Sapolsky, "Two different groups independently have reported that people who are Toxo-infected have three to four times the likelihood of being killed in car accidents involving reckless speeding." Patrick House of Slate observes that countries where rates of toxoplasmosis are higher have better soccer teams. Less obvious but perhaps more intriguing is a possible link between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia. According to Physorg:

Evidence that T. gondii infections may be a cause of schizophrenia, while not yet conclusive, is growing, [Johns Hopkins researcher] Yolken said. A review of past studies, published last year by Yolken and Torrey, collected a variety of intriguing correlations. For example: People with schizophrenia have a higher prevalence of T. gondii antibodies in their blood. There are unusually low rates of schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis in countries where cats are rare, and unusually high rates in places where eating uncooked meat is customary. And some adults with toxoplasmosis show psychotic symptoms similar to schizophrenia.

Studies have linked a history of toxoplasmosis with increased rates of other mental changes, too, including bipolar disorders and depression. A 2002 study in the Czech Republic noted slowed reflexes in Toxoplasma-positive people and found links between the infection and increased rates of auto accidents.

A University of Maryland study last year found that people with mood disorders who attempt suicide had higher levels of T. gondii antibodies than those who don't try to take their own lives. Still, the links between schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis are not simple. For example, most people infected with T. gondii never become schizophrenic. And not all schizophrenics have been exposed to Toxoplasma.

Even seemingly clear-cut research results are open to interpretation: witness Sapolsky talking about recklessness while the Physorg article connects the auto accidents to slow reflexes. The practical question of whether the symptoms of schizophrenia can be effectively and efficiently reduced by treating toxoplasmosis--which is itself a difficult task due to T. gondii's talent for hiding and protecting itself--remains to be answered. Nonetheless, it's always interesting to see physical causes suggested for mental illness, even as we stay wary of anyone offering a simple cure.

Can Toxoplasmosis Cause Schizophrenia? originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 15:25:35.

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May is Mental Health Month

May is Mental Health Month.

Across the country the National Alliance on Mental Illness will be hosting walks and other events to address the need for an improved mental health treatment program.

Date	Walk Site	Location
May 1, 2010	NAMI Fresno	Fresno, CA
May 1, 2010	NAMIWALKS Ventura County	Ventura, CA
May 1, 2010	NAMI Delaware	Wilmington, DE
May 1, 2010	NAMI Greater Orlando	Maitland, FL
May 1, 2010	NAMI Kansas	Topeka, KS
May 1, 2010	NAMI Metropolitan Baltimore	Baltimore, MD
May 1, 2010	NAMI Maryland	College Park, MD
May 1, 2010	NAMI North Carolina	Raleigh, NC
May 1, 2010	NAMI New Mexico	Albuquerque, NM
May 1, 2010	NAMI Greenville	Greenville, SC
May 1, 2010	NAMI Dallas, Inc.	Dallas, TX
May 1, 2010	NAMI Metropolitan Houston	Houston, TX
May 2, 2010	Greater Philadelphia NAMIWalk	Blue Bell, PA
May 8, 2010	NAMI Johnson County	Iowa City, IA
May 8, 2010	NAMI Maine	Portland, ME
May 8, 2010	NAMI New York City Metro	New York, NY
May 8, 2010	NAMI Hamilton County	Cincinnati, OH
May 15, 2010	NAMI Colorado	Denver, CO
May 15, 2010	NAMI Connecticut	Hartford, CT
May 15, 2010	NAMI Massachusetts	Boston, MA
May 15, 2010	NAMI Berkshire County	Pittsfield, MA
May 15, 2010	NAMI South Dakota	Sioux Falls, SD
May 15, 2010	NAMI San Antonio	San Antonio, TX
May 15, 2010	NAMI Washington State Walk - May 15, 2010	Seattle, WA
May 15, 2010	NAMI Greater Milwaukee	Milwaukee, WI
May 22, 2010	NAMIWalk San Francisco Bay Area	San Francisco, CA
May 22, 2010	NAMI Mercer NJ	Titusville, NJ
May 22, 2010	NAMIWALKS Oklahoma	Oklahoma City, OK
May 22, 2010	NAMI Waukesha	Waukesha, WI
May 23, 2010	NAMI Long Island/Queens Area Walk	Wantagh, NY
May 23, 2010	NAMI Northwest Walk	Portland, OR
May 29, 2010	NAMI Arkansas	North Little Rock, AR
May 29, 2010	NAMI St. Louis	St. Louis, MO

For more information on NAMI and the walks this month, visit the NAMI Website.

May is Mental Health Month originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 14:31:50.

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Shootings at Fort Hood; alleged gunman is mental health worker

Thirteen people were killed and several more wounded in a shooting in Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday.

The alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist at Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, has been taken into custody.

Hasan is a licensed psychiatrist and has treated soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder. Military officials say Hasan had recently received orders to deploy to Afghanistan.

For updates, see CNN.com.

Shootings at Fort Hood; alleged gunman is mental health worker originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 11:53:33.

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Trauma Therapy from the Client's Perspective

Bonnie Burton is a trauma survivor who writes about therapy from the inside. As a gifted writer, she conveys some essential truths about the process of therapy, and shatters some stereotypes along the way. Her experiences with good therapists and not-so-good therapists are essential reading for client and therapist alike.

Ms. Burton's own experience of therapy convinces her, for example, that trauma survivors don't always make the best trauma therapists. This is especially true if they never completed their own therapy. She has seen them react with fear and dissociation in response to traumatic material or negative emotions expressed in a session.

While we don't learn who her current therapist is, it is clear that they are working together toward healing. She writes with clarity and maturity; and without a chip on her shoulder. It is a privilege to publish an article from a guest author who is such an articulate therapy client. This article will help me be a better therapist.

Read Bonnie Burton's insightful article.

Trauma Therapy from the Client's Perspective originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 06:26:48.

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Resilience
©Jupiter Media Why do some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder after a trauma and others remain symptom free? We are still trying to understand resilience, one characteristic of good mental health.

Researchers studying survivors of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack have been surprised to find many of them to be free of PTSD symptoms. Resilience was less common among people who were actually in the buildings or in the immediate area, but the researchers report that even for "highly exposed individuals" the frequency of resilience never fell below one third.

Resilience originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 06:33:45.

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Sustained Release Schizophrenia Drug may be available Soon
AstraZeneca announced last week that they have submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA for a sustained release version of their antipsychotic medication Seroquel (quetiapine). The company reports the new medication has a "short titration period" - meaning that patients may receive a therapeutically effective dose of the medication as soon as the second day of treatment.

Drug companies come out with new versions of their medications just before the patent on the existing version expires, but Seroquel's patent does not expire until 2011. Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals filed an FDA request to produce a generic version of quetiapine last year and they were promptly sued by AstraZenica. Was this a factor in the early request for a sustained-release version? Read more...

Sustained Release Schizophrenia Drug may be available Soon originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Monday, July 24th, 2006 at 06:26:03.

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FDA issues an advisory on the Use of Triptans and Antidepressants

The U.S.Food and Drug Administration has issued a public health advisory about potential risks of taking certain migraine medications - triptans - together with certain antidepressants. The advisory states, "A life-threatening condition called serotonin syndrome may occur when triptans are used together with a SSRI or a SNRI."

Serotonin syndrome occurs when the body has too much of serotonin, a chemical found in the nervous system. Serotonin syndrome may be more likely to occur when starting or increasing the dose of a triptan, SSRI or SNRI. Symptoms of serotonin syndrome may include:

restlessness
hallucinations
loss of coordination
fast heart beat
rapid changes in blood pressure
increased body temperature
overactive reflexes
nausea
vomiting
diarrhea

FDA issues an advisory on the Use of Triptans and Antidepressants originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, July 21st, 2006 at 06:47:55.

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Make Better Decisions
used by permission - Jupiter Media Good decisions are made "with the head and the heart". We actually make better decisions when we use our conscious mind together with our unconscious mind. Researchers in Denmark studied decisions made by people when they were allowed to think about their choices and compared this to decisions made when they were distracted and not allowed to consciously think about their problems. People made better decisions when they had been distracted - when the decision was heavily influenced by their unconscious mind.

We seem to be better able to hold multiple options in our unconscious mind and process them "in the background." Our consious mind can only attend to one or two things at a time.

Follow these steps if you are faced with a major decision in your life.

Source: Source: Dijksterhuis, A. and Nordgren, L. "A Theory of Unconscious Thought". Perspectives on Psychological Science, June 2006.

Make Better Decisions originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 at 06:01:02.

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Depression Treatment can be Expensive
Unlike most develped countries, the United States does not have universal health care. A new study by NAMI (The National Alliance on Mental Illness) has found that the cost for treating depression is three times higher in U.S. citizens with limited access to treatment. The annual "out-of-pocket costs" for medication, psychotherapy and other treatment costs averaged $4,312 for those with restricted access versus $1,496 for those with good health insurance.

The irony is that those with limited access to treatment are often those with lower incomes. In effect lower income people pay more for their depression treatment. The study also found that:

People with depression are not being fully diagnosed
Only a small minority of people with depression are receiving dual therapy (prescription medication and talk therapy)
The shortage of mental health care professionals is impacting care
People with depression who live in states with no mental health parity law may have more limited access to treatment
Self-reported depression among minority groups may be on the rise

Together these findings suggest that changes are needed in health care coverage for Americans. At the very least mental disorders need to be covered at the same level as physical disorders in health insurance plans. The study is also a persuasive argument for universal health coverage. Read more...

Depression Treatment can be Expensive originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Monday, July 17th, 2006 at 06:18:34.

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A Nicotine-like Drug for Schizophrenia?
Used by permission Jupiter Media Numerous studies have found that people diagnosed with mental illnesses smoke more than people without such a diagnosis. Up to 80% of patients with schizophreia smoke cigarettes. It seems that nicotine actually treats some of their symptoms. Some have gone as far as to suggest that teen smoking may help prevent schzophrenia.

Researchers are studying a potential new drug that works on the same pathway as nicotine. The drug may improve these patients' ability to think clearly, a symptom poorly treated by existing medications. Will it also help them stop smoking?

AllCare Behavioral Health Services, Inc.

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