Daily Health and Medicine News

ADHD News and Treatment

Medical Minute: Vision Revision for ADHD Diagnosis

Once she starts reading, Katy Kluck can’t stop. So mom was puzzled when Katy started struggling with schoolwork.

“I couldn’t really focus because there were so many questions on the page,” says Katy.

“Once they heard that Katy could not focus immediately they said well, she has an A.D.D. problem,” says Katy’s mom, Ann Kluck.

Afraid of using meds, Ann did some research, which led her to an optometrist.

“One of the questions we ask parents is to decide whether it’s an organic attention problem or maybe more related to a vision problem,” says Daniel Press, OD., a developmental optometrist.

Exams found Katy’s eyes didn’t work well together, the words moved and turned blurry.

She kicked-off eight months of vision therapy. It’s a workout using computer gaming, training the brain to use both eyes together.

“One of the eyes sees the red target, the other one only sees the blue target so if you’re going to do this well you have to use both eyes well together,” says Daniel.

The American Academy of Pediatrics vision experts say 60-percent of kids labeled as problem learners, actually suffer from undetected vision problems. But some have doubts. The American Academy of Pediatrics says vision therapy may give parents and teachers a false sense of security that a child’s problems are being addressed.

Caroline Moore says vision therapy worked for her. “My grades skyrocketed back up!”

So did Katy’s. “It makes me feel good because I’m getting good grades.”

Lack of proof or legit solution? One mom found the answer in her child’s eyes.

Do homeopathic treatments for ADHD work?

Every weekday, a CNNHealth expert doctor answers a viewer question. On Tuesdays, it’s Dr. Charles Raison, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University, and an expert in the mind-body connection for health.

Question asked by Suzie

Our 8-year-old daughter was diagnosed with ADHD at age 6. We have tried several medications, stimulants and nonstimulants, and have not gotten good results. We are now looking at homeopathic treatment for our daughter, but the question is: Does it really work?

The short answer to your question appears to be no. Let’s talk about this short answer before we talk a little about a longer and more complicated answer.

Compared with studies in many thousands of children and adolescents – including studies lasting many years – as of 2007, the effects of homeopathy for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, had been studied with even minimal rigor in only four studies.

When researchers combined data from the 168 young people in these four studies, they found no evidence that homeopathic treatments were of benefit for ADHD. So at this point in time I think we have to conclude that by the standards used to assess Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, homeopathic treatments don’t work.

OK, that’s the short answer. The longer answer is that homeopathic approaches do not appear to work better than placebo treatments, so they don’t work in any specific way for ADHD. But placebos can have powerful beneficial effects for many health conditions, ranging from depression and chronic pain to Parkinson’s disease. Recent studies show clearly that when people believe they are taking an active medication but are receiving a placebo their brains activate in much the same way – but to a lesser degree – as their brains do in response to the active medication.

The internet is chock-full of treatments promising the sun, moon and stars for all sorts of medical problems. The vast majority of these have never been adequately tested.

Look for the last few lines of small print underneath all the gigantic claims made on internet sites for homeopathic ADHD treatments. You’ll always see something along the lines of “claims have not been scientifically established” or “treatment is not intended for medical purposes.” In psychiatry, we often say that a new medication works best just before it is approved for use, because its sheen has not been rubbed off by clinical experience.

Although homeopathy doesn’t work in formal studies, it does not mean it might not help certain individuals, and your child might be one of them. But I would strongly suggest that if multiple ADHD medications have failed it is possible that your daughter has been misdiagnosed and is being given medications that work for a condition she doesn’t have.

Before doing anything in terms of alternative treatments, I’d make sure you got your daughter the best mental health assessment you can find to make sure that she doesn’t have a condition such as bipolar disorder, which can often resemble ADHD in childhood but requires different types of medication.

Letter: ADHD detail

Regarding the prescription of drugs to children for ADHD which attracts the attention of health services (your report, 22 December) it is interesting to note that a strong motivator for parents to push for diagnosis and treatment is the enhancement of benefit payments they receive.
An appraisal of the proportion of families reliant on state benefit whose children are diagnosed in comparison with those not receiving benefit would be enlightening.

Parenting support in early years helps but there do appear to be parents out there who promote challenging behaviour in their children with the intention of obtaining increased benefit income from disability living allowance.

Perhaps someone has researched this or has figures to support or refute this observation.

Mental Health News

Nova Scotia to factor Hyde inquiry report into new mental health strategy

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s health minister says she will direct her department’s mental health policy working group to look at recommendations from a fatality inquiry into the jail cell death of Howard Hyde.

Maureen MacDonald says provincial court Judge Anne Derrick used some very specific language regarding mental health issues in her report on Howard Hyde’s death.

Hyde, a 45-year-old musician diagnosed with schizophrenia, died while in custody in a Halifax jail in November 2007 after he was restrained by guards.

MacDonald says she will review the directions she has already given department officials to make sure the parameters outlined by Derrick are covered.

She says a direct response to the concerns raised by Hyde’s death will follow shortly.
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MacDonald expects to deliver government’s new mental health strategy next year.

Secondhand smoke tied to childrens’ poor mental health

(Reuters Life!) – The evidence is piling up that parents who smoke really should quit — or at least not smoke at home, a study said.

Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to struggle with mental health problems, especially hyperactivity and “bad” behavior, according to the study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

While the findings add urgency to the push for parents to quit smoking or at least smoke outside the home, it remains unclear whether tobacco fumes actually take a toll on childrens’ brains or if something else is at play, said researchers led by Mark Hamer of University College London.

“We know that exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with a lot of physical health problems in children, although the mental health side has not been explored,” Hamer told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

In the United States, two of every three children between the ages of three and 11 are exposed to secondhand smoke. Meanwhile, one in five children aged nine to 17 have been diagnosed with some kind of mental or addictive disorder, according to the U.S. department of Health and Human Services.

Hamer and his colleagues studied 901 nonsmoking British children between the ages of 4 to 8, measuring levels of a byproduct of cigarette fumes in the childrens’ saliva to gauge smoke exposure and having parents fill out a questionnaire about the childrens’ emotional, behavioral and social problems.

The more secondhand smoke a child took in, on average, the poorer their mental health — particularly for hyperactivity and conduct disorder, or so-called “bad” behavior, the study said.

Overall, about three percent of all children received “abnormal” scores of 20 or more on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a 40-point scale with the highest scores representing the poorest mental health.

Compared to the 101 children who breathed in the least secondhand smoke, the 361 with the most exposure scored an average of 44 percent higher on the questionnaire — 9.2 versus 6.4. Children were most likely to breathe secondhand smoke in their own homes.

The gap remained after researchers accounted for other factors that could affect mental health such as asthma, physical activity and the families’ income and housing situations, although they noted that some unmeasured factor also couldn’t be ruled out.

It also isn’t yet clear how secondhand smoke might trigger mental troubles, though researchers suggested it could be due to genetics or possibly related to smoke’s effects on chemicals in the brain such as dopamine, and Hamer noted further research is needed.

But Michael Weitzman at New York University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, said the results strengthen the evidence that secondhand smoke, and possibly prenatal exposure to tobacco, causes mental health problems in children.

“Many people now recognize that childrens’ secondhand smoke exposure increases their risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, ear infections and asthma,” he told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

“But secondhand smoke also poses a huge burden on the quality of life of children, their families and the larger society due to increased child mental health problems.”

SOURCE: http:/link.reuters.com/xev29q

(Reporting by Lynne Peeples at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

Report: Growing mental health problems in military

Washington (CNN) — Mental problems send more men in the U.S. military to the hospital than any other cause, according to a new Pentagon report.

And they are the second highest reason for hospitalization of women military personnel, behind conditions related to pregnancy.

The Defense Department’s Medical Surveillance report from November examines “a large, widespread, and growing mental health problem among U.S. military members.”

The 31-page report says mental disorders are a problem for the entire U.S. population, but that sharp increases for active duty military reflect the psychological toll of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Most notably in this regard, the rate of incident diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increased nearly six-fold from 2003 to 2008,” the report says.

And new outreach and screening, as well as the military’s efforts to reduce the stigma attached to seeking treatment also contributed to higher numbers, according to the report.

The Army was hit hardest by the most common and long-lasting problems — post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, bipolar disorder, alcohol dependence and substance dependence, according to the report.

“The Army was relatively most affected (based on lost duty time) by mental disorder-related hospitalizations overall; and in 2009, the loss of manpower to the Army was more than twice that to the Marine Corps and more than three times that to the other Services,” the report says.

“The Army has had many more deployers to Afghanistan and Iraq and many more combat-specific casualties; it is not surprising, therefore, that the Army has endured more mental disorder-related casualties and larger manpower losses than the other services.”

While most new diagnoses of mental illness were in the Army, the fewest were in the Air Force.

“The only exceptions to this observation were in 2007, 2008, and the first two quarters of 2010 when the incidence rates of new diagnoses of alcohol dependence in the Marine Corps were the highest of all the Services,” the report said.

But overall, the Marines were found to have fewer overall mental problems than the Army, Air Force and Navy with 4.3 percent of Marines versus 6.4-percent of the overall pool of active duty military.

Researchers call for additional study, and admit that tracking mental problems can be a moving target, as treatment and attitudes change.

“There are real and perceived barriers to seeking and accessing care for mental health disorders among military members. These barriers include shortages of mental health professionals in some areas and the social and military stigmas associated with seeking or receiving mental health care,” the report says. “The nature and effects of these barriers to care have likely changed.”

Anxiety News and Treatment

Pumpkin Pie Can Get You in the Mood, Study Shows

This Thanksgiving, if you want to get your lover in the mood, serve him some pumpkin pie.

A study published in Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, showed the smell of pumpkin pie aroused men by enhancing penile blood flow, WPBF-TV reported.

Also topping the charts as a fragrance turn-on for men was the smell of lavender.

“Maybe the odors acted to reduce anxiety,” said Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of Chicago’s Smell and Taste Treatment Center. “By reducing anxiety, it acted to reduce inhibitions.”

However, men with erectile dysfunction could also benefit from eating pumpkin seeds, health experts say.

Pumpkin seeds are rich in zinc, which can increase testosterone and sexual desire, said Dr. Ralph Monserrat, who specializes in alternative medicine in Palm Beach, Fla.

Coalition helps moms with anxiety and mood disorders

Elizabeth “Liz” Beachy was diagnosed with perinatal mood disorder about one month before giving birth to her second child, who was born Sept. 30.

“I just began to feel very anxious and my mind couldn’t think clearly,” the 26-year-old said. “I began to withdraw and I began crying at the drop of a hat.”

She eventually sought help but before the medicine could take effect, Beachy felt completely overwhelmed and was not able to function normally or take care of her 3-year-old daughter, Lena Beachy. She had to move in with her mother for about a week.

“I would stand in front of the fridge and just cry and not be able to put something together for lunch,” said Beachy, a former Lafayette resident who just moved to Kokomo. “There would be times I could not get up from the chair.”

To help women such as Beachy, local health care providers have formed the Lafayette Coalition for Community Awareness of Perinatal Anxiety and Mood Disorders. The coalition consists of representatives from Clarian Arnett Health, Riggs Community Health Center, St. Elizabeth Regional Health and local independent therapists.

The group started meeting about one year ago and held its first support group this summer at the Kathryn Weil Center for Education in Lafayette.

Marcia Daehler, a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist with St. Elizabeth Regional Health, said the coalition aims to increase physician awareness by providing education, creating a support group for women and men and identifying physicians and therapists who are skilled in treating postpartum depression and perinatal mood disorders.

Pam Smith, a registered nurse with St. Elizabeth Regional Health, said these disorders include postpartum anxiety disorder, where women experience extreme worry or fear about the health of their baby.

This disorder can cause panic attacks, shortness of breath and chest pain. Another perinatal (the period immediately before and after birth) mood and anxiety disorder is pregnancy postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder, where women have repetitive, upsetting and unwanted thoughts or mental images.

Smith said the thoughts can be scary and unusual, but the women are unlikely to act upon them. However, they should seek clinical help if they are experiencing these symptoms. Other disorders include postpartum traumatic stress disorder, which is caused by a traumatic or frightening birth and postpartum psychosis, where the women see images or hear voices that others cannot.

Given the nature of these disorders, many women do not seek help because they fear removal of their baby.

However, these women can get better if they seek treatment, Smith said.

Now life is looking better for Beachy. Through medication and seeing a therapist, she is more equipped to manage her symptoms.

Also, making lifestyle changes such as moving from Lafayette to Kokomo to be closer to family, has helped remove stress.

“As long as I can keep things even keel, it’s fine,” she said. “Through lots of prayer, the support of my husband, family and friends, I am able to get back on track.”

Autism News and Studies

Study: Chromosome change points to autism

People who possess a specific change in one of their chromosomes are nearly 14 times more likely to develop an autism spectrum disorder or schizophrenia than those without this change, according to a new study.

The change, which is called a deletion, happens when a section of chromosome 17 is missing. The deletion is found only in people who have an autism spectrum disorder, a developmental delay or schizophrenia, said study researcher David H. Ledbetter, a genetics professor at Emory University.

“This is just adding one more to that rapidly growing list of genetic mutations” associated with autism that doctors could use to measure autism and schizophrenia risk in children, Ledbetter told MyHealthNewsDaily.

Not all people with autism, a developmental delay or schizophrenia have this deletion. But all people who have the chromosome change will develop some form of the disorders, whether it’s mild or strong enough for a diagnosis, he said.
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Schizophrenia and autism are separate disorders, but other recent research has also shown the two have genetic similarities.

“At least in a subset of autism and a subset of schizophrenia, the same [genetic changes] play a major role in both,” Ledbetter said. “It will be interesting in the future, because we’ll have the ability to identify this type of deletion in young children, and follow them to figure out why some of them do develop autism and some don’t.”

The new study was published today (Nov. 4) in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Detecting the deletion

Researchers looked in a genetic database of 15,749 people with a developmental delay, intellectual disability or an autism spectrum disorder.

They found 18 of these people had the deletion on chromosome 17. But not one of the 4,519 healthy people tested had the deletion, according to the study.

Researchers tracked down nine of the 18 people in the database with the genetic deletion. All nine had cognitive impairments, and six of them had autism, the study said.

To confirm these findings, researchers looked at two other databases that had genetic information for 7,522 people with autism or schizophrenia. They found the same deletion in two people with an autism spectrum disorder or cognitive impairment, and four adults with schizophrenia. None of the 43,076 healthy people tested had the deletion.

“That means the deletion has a major phenotypic effect,” Ledbetter said. “It can manifest as developmental delay, intellectual disability or autism, or it may not be diagnosed and recognized until adulthood when there are psychiatric manifestations that lead to a diagnosis of schizophrenia.”

New Study Will Test Theory That Enzyme Contributes to Autism

The debate rages on both the causes and “cures” for autism. There is the mercury-vaccination contingent, the gluten-free, casein-free diet supporters, those that believe genetics play a role, and the list goes on. There may very well be multiple etiologies for this developmental disorder, and research continues throughout the world to determine, definitively and finally, what that is.

One of the newest clinical trials is just beginning across the country, at fifteen institutions, including the University of California at San Francisco. Funded by Curemark, a New York-based drug company, this Phase III clinical trial for CM-AT autism treatment, has been granted fast track status by the FDA. Researchers will be testing whether certain children with autism can benefit from regular doses of an enzyme to help them digest proteins, which may in turn improve their brain function and ease some symptoms of autism.

The trial is not without its naysayers. There is very little research to support the premise that a missing enzyme is a factor in the cause of autism. There are those studies which have shown that a small subset of children diagnosed with autism have enzyme deficiencies, but there is debate as to whether it is a causation or a symptom of the disorder. But with a new case of autism being diagnosed every 20 minutes in America, it is imperative that research such as this be conducted. Sometimes, with a bit of persistence and creative thinking, you do find that needle in a haystack.

The trial will involve 170 children, ages three to eight, over a 90-day period. Half of the participants will be a control group and receive a placebo, while the other half will receive three enzyme treatments per day (a tasteless powder sprinkled over food). At the end of the 90 days, parents can remove their children entirely from the project or choose to continue for one year on the enzyme regimen.

“The treatment is enormously simple, but finding it out wasn’t simple at all,” said Joan Fallon, chief executive of Curemark. “Is it theoretical? Yes. But we hope the trials will give some benefit to a subgroup of children. And we hope our trials will make other researchers look at the physiology of the disorder.”

Curemark has identified a series of biomarkers that determine which children with autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) may have digestive deficiencies underlying or as a major component of their disease. Research by Dr. Fallon showed enzyme deficiencies in children with autism, resulting in an inability to digest protein. The inability to digest protein affects the production of amino acids, the building blocks of chemicals essential for brain function.

Autism is a neurological and biological disorder which typically affects children ages 18 months to 5 years of age. It knows no racial, ethnic or social boundaries. A child’s chances of having autism are not determined by their family’s lifestyle, education or income.

Local author tells of journey with Autism

The average 2-year-old can speak more than 100 words. By 3, that number jumps to anywhere from 200 to 1,000. Michael Swaner never hit those milestones. In 32 years he has never spoken a word.

As an infant, Michael was diagnosed with severe low-functioning autism, a neurological disorder that impedes brain development. More than one million people in the United States are affected by autism, though only a small percentage of those cases are as severe as Michael’s.

“If there’s one thing you don’t get enough of with autism, it’s affection,” said Michael’s mother Ruth Swaner, USU graduate and author of the book “Words Born of Silence.”

The book, Swaner’s third, is about her personal journey in dealing with the anger, denial, acceptance and what she likes to call “over-dedication” of autism.

“One day my oldest son came up to me and said ‘We’re tired of helping you take care of Michael,'” she said. This was a turning point. She realized that she was so caught up in Michael’s needs that she wasn’t meeting the needs of her family or herself.

“She’s been through a lot with her son,” said Margaret Jacobs, a friend of Swaner’s who has worked with autistic children in the Netherlands. “She’s gotten through it with faith and friends.”

In his childhood, caring for Michael was a 24-hour-a-day task. Swaner said often one of the most pronounced symptoms of autism is a bizarre obsession with certain items. Unfortunately for Swaner, Michael’s childhood fixations were with water, dirt, and his own feces.

One night, she woke up and he had smeared his feces all over the wall. Another time, when the Swaners were remodeling their current home in Smithfield, she left Michael in the living room while she went to change her clothes.

Hearing some unusual noise, she walked down the stairs to find that Michael had taken all of the dirt out of her flower pots, mixed it with water and coated the walls in mud.

“I simply cried,” she said. “He didn’t know the difference between right and wrong, he just liked the texture.” Not knowing what to do, she called her new neighbor Christina Greene, who she had never met.

Christina had a son named Luke who, like Michael, suffered from severe autism. Even at the prompting of close friends, Swaner had resisted meeting her.

“If she hadn’t fallen apart like I had, I didn’t want to meet her,” Swaner said. Christina immediately came to her aid, gathering neighbors to help clean up the mess.

By the time Swaner came back down the stairs, the mess was clean, Michael was being watched by a neighbor, and there was a fresh loaf of bread sitting on the counter.

It was the start of a 25-year friendship, or as Swaner puts it. “a 25-year journey helping autistic children.”

“I learned I didn’t have to be a perfect Mormon mother,” Swaner said. “I learned to ask for help.”

Michael’s autism was severe enough that at age 13 he was placed in a group home that could meet his needs. However, there are many autism-diagnosed students who live fully functional lives and attend school full time. For students whose needs may often fly under the radar, there are resources all over Cache Valley and at USU.

Diane Baum, director of the Disability Resource Center, said the center is open to any student that needs help. This includes those who have any form of autism.

“We look at every individual case,” Baum said. “We’ve even had graduate students with autism.” Students may qualify for extra time on tests, or a private exam room. It all depends on their needs, she said.

Even though Michael is no longer living at home, his journey is far from over. He still visits his parents on occasion, and comes home for family holidays. Now that Ruth and her husband are in their 60s, bringing him home is a challenge.

“The home can do fun things for him that we couldn’t do like shopping, movies, and going to fairs,” she said.

Although it has been a long road, Swaner said she wouldn’t change what she’s been through. She says it’s because of Michael that she discovered her ability to write.

Although at first she wrote only therapeutically in journals, with friends’ encouragement she sent a selection of her writing to The Deseret News. From there, she went on to write for many publications and became president of the Utah League of Writers.

“He’s given me this gift,” she said. “I would have never known that I could be a professional writer without him.”

The greatest lesson Swaner has learned through her journey is that accepting service from others is a keystone in life, and that nobody is perfect.

“You do what you can do with the opportunities you have at hand,” she said. “No woman with autistic children should do this without help. You don’t have to bear this alone.”

Copies of Swaner’s book can be found online at Amazon, IUniverse and Borders. They can also be found at The Book Table and Lee’s Marketplace in Smithfield. She will have a book signing hosted by The Book Table Dec. 3 from 6 p.m. to 12 p.m.

Anxiety Today

Voters carry anxiety, disappointment to the polls

The millions of Americans voting in midterm elections Tuesday were not always sure what they wanted, or even whom. But many knew they were unhappy — uneasy about the economy, frustrated with the direction of the country and dissatisfied with politics.

On an Election Day that seemed a long way from 2008, disappointment was the theme.

“I’d like to find somebody to blame,” said Kimberly Abrudan, a customer service manager who had voted at a Delaware charter school for Democrat Chris Coons for Senate. “It would make things a lot easier. But I’m not convinced that it’s any one man.”

Abrudan said she voted for Barack Obama and felt let down that he had not been able to bridge the partisan divide and bring Americans together. If she could speak to the president in private, she conceded, “I might shake him around a bit.”

The sentiment was not hard to find across the country in an election that took place against a backdrop of persistently high unemployment, no sign of real improvement in the economy and politics roiled by division.

Vicki Goode of Boyle County, Ky., had voted for Obama as well, and said she felt disappointed by his first two years in office and by what she characterized as a legislative logjam in Washington.

“I expected more sweeping change,” she said after voting for Jack Conway, the Democratic candidate for Senate, over tea party-backed Republican Rand Paul.

Goode owns a gift store called Magnolia Cottage. Fewer people are buying gifts than they did two years ago, and those who come in aren’t browsing as much — just finding what they want and buying that one thing. Her husband was out of work for 16 months.

Just about everywhere, this election felt far removed from the last. Two years ago, after all, there was no tea party. Now it’s a force in American politics. Two years ago, the nation was in financial shock. Now hard times are all too familiar.

“You still have a lot of people out of work,” said James Price, a lawyer in Indianapolis who voted a straight Republican ticket. “We’re losing a lot of jobs. We have massive amounts of debt.”

In Denver, there were those like Josie Hart-Genter, who said the administration had done exactly what it promised to — expand health care and pass an economic stimulus bill — and were proud. And those like Javier Flores, who wished Obama had been more aggressive on gay rights.

Just after sunrise, voters trickled into the elections office in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., a city dotted with boarded-up storefronts and “For Sale” signs on empty homes.

Alan Satterwhite, a technology executive, said he was not worried about his own job but was concerned about the broader economy and blamed Congress for it. He voted for conservative candidates but said he was frustrated with both parties.

“No one is stepping forward with collaboration, and that needs to change,” he said.

Change from the change: It was another demand voiced by voters around the nation Tuesday, even some who had embraced Obama’s call for “Change We Can Believe In.”

In the intervening two years, American politics was buffeted by turmoil — town hall meetings that devolved into shouting matches, persistent questions about the motives of leaders on both sides. Enough to spawn an entire rally in the name of restoring sanity.

Charles Voirin, who lives in St. Petersburg and is close to retirement, had seen enough.

He was frustrated that the president had not been more assertive during his first two years. But then he was disappointed in the crop of candidates all around this year. He said he wants more moderates.

“There are more extremes on both sides,” he said. “We’re getting nothing done.”

Others were more blunt in assigning blame, pointing fingers at the top.

“He’s going to bankrupt this country,” said Paul Edwards, a retired naval engineer in Indianapolis. He was angry that his health care costs are rising and said he disliked Obama’s overhaul. The president says it will reduce costs in the long term, but Edwards is having none of it.

“I worked hard for 30 years, and all I see is my money being eaten up by somebody who thinks he knows how to spend it better than me,” Edwards said.

Obama had plenty of supporters.

“I think it took a long time for us to get into the situation that we are,” said LaVeeda Garlington, an attorney who voted a straight ticket in Silver Spring, Md., for Democrats, including Gov. Martin O’Malley. “It’s going to take a long time to get out.”

While she said she didn’t agree with all the decisions the White House had made in two years, “it was a pretty full plate that the current administration inherited, and I think they need time to try to work it through.”

Bill Gray, a registered Republican in San Francisco, put it in fewer words: “This poor guy. He just got stuck with it.”

And then there was Benzo Jones of Las Vegas, who called himself a case study for what’s wrong with the world right now: He is renegotiating his home loan, has neighbors struggling to keep jobs and is trying, so far without success, to get a small business loan for the Web design business he runs with his wife.

“But I don’t blame Obama for that,” said Jones, who was voting for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid over his Republican challenger, Sharron Angle. “I blame the banks, and I blame their greedy nature in terms of not opening up their lines on small business.”

Jim Krostoski of New Britain, Conn., was ready to give someone else a try. He voted for Linda McMahon, the former professional wrestling executive running as a Republican for Senate, because he believed business people might have a better shot at getting it right than career politicians.

McMahon was never a darling of tea party voters — she beat their candidate in the Republican primary — but generally has their support. Krostoski said he thought the tea party had a chance to make a real difference in politics.

“They are angry voters and people who maybe want a change, so if they see someone different, let’s give them a shot,” he said. “I mean, these guys now can’t get it right. Maybe somebody can.”

Anxiety over Enahoro’s health

The state of health of Anthony Enahoro, the nation’s foremost nationalist, yesterday aroused concern as he was reported to be ill and taken to the hospital.

The 87-year-old First Republic lawmaker who moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence in 1957 was reported to have been rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH)for medical care. The nature of the ailment was, however, not disclosed.

A source close to the family told NEXT yesterday that there is no problem with Mr. Enahoro’s health.

“Nothing is happening. No problem at all. Oga is okay”, the source said.

However, another source, an official at the Edo State Government House, who asked not to be named, said the elder statesman was taken to UBTH for medical attention.

The source added that although details of his health were sketchy, Mr. Enahoro’s situation worried the state’s governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who was planning to visit the statesman’s family as at press time.

Texting in Bed Can Cause Anxiety, Lost Sleep

When I was 12 and couldn’t sleep, I would sneak out of my room, tiptoe down the hall, and slip into the guest room, where the desktop computer my family shared sat. There I would scroll through Internet message boards and read fanfiction until I got tired. Now, it’s the reverse situation. The smaller technology gets, the easier it is to take into the bedroom–and those nighttime activities, hidden from parents, are messing up teens’ sleep patterns.

Doctors at New Jersey’s JFK Sleep Disorders Center surveyed 40 of their young patients and found that on average these kids sent 34 texts a night. In addition, many reported sleeping with their cell phones beside them, only to be woken up by a new text. It’s not difficult to link this to lost sleep and the subsequent irritability.

But it’s not just something that teens do. I know plenty of adults (myself included) who use their phones as alarms, and so then get woken up by a late-night text. The same goes for laptops and iPads; keeping them too close at hand will give you a case of sore eyes from staring at that bright, pulsing screen. Also, texting in your sleep is almost as hilarious (for the recipients) as drunk texting.

Do you think that there’s a time and place for turning off computers and phones, or is it simply a matter of self-control?

Mental Health News

Email about Williams’s mental health questioned

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is questioning the judgment of the new communications director of the Opposition Liberal Party.

On Wednesday the government released an email that Craig Westcott wrote to the premier’s office in 2009 asking whether Danny Williams had any illness that was affecting behaviour.

Westcott, a journalist at that time, questioned if Williams was either mentally ill or in the later stages of syphilis.

“A growing number of intelligent and observant people were growing concerned [about the premier’s actions],” wrote Westcott.

The email was written in February 2009 when Westcott was editor of Business Post magazine.

“Please excuse the nature of this question … but it may be germane given the premier’s behaviour,” wrote Westcott. “It has been suggested to me that Mr. Williams is bipolar. Another person has suggested to me that he acts as if he is suffering in the later stages of syphilis.

“Is the premier being treated for a mental illness, or any illness that might influence his behaviour and the handling of his office? I realize that normally this would be a private matter. However, he is the premier of the province, and if his behaviour is the result of an illness, the subject is relevant to the public welfare.”

Westcott became the provincial Liberal Party’s communications director last week.

The premier’s office never responded to the email, but government sources said Wednesday that now that Westcott is in politics, it was fair game to release the email.

In an interview with CBC News Wednesday, the acting leader of the provincial Liberals said the email was meant to be a joke.

“[The government] obviously must feel threatened that we’ve hired someone who doesn’t always agree with the premier,” said Kelvin Parsons. “It was a joke. It was a lark by Mr. Westcott.”

Mental Health Units Providing ‘Poor’ Care

Patients treated in some mental health units are being failed by ‘poor and unacceptable’ practices, according to a new report.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found many patients who entered units voluntarily were being locked in wards.

It says it also uncovered cases where patients’ human rights were at risk of being breached.

CQC chief executive, Cynthia Bower, said: “More hospitals are keeping psychiatric wards locked at all times, even though they often accommodate voluntary as well as detained patients.

“In some places there are blanket bans on mobile phones and internet access.

“These sorts of measures could compromise patients’ privacy or dignity, hold back their progress and even breach their human rights.”

The CQC’s report, which covers the private sector and NHS services in England, also raises concerns that many severely-ill patients are being sent home or refused re-admission into a ward because of a shortage of beds.

It found 29% of wards visited in 2009/2010 had occupancy rates of over 100%.

Other issues raised by the report included keeping children and adolescents in mixed-sex units, which it said was “putting young people’s dignity and sexual safety at risk”.

Commissioners also found some patients had been recorded as giving consent for certain treatments when in fact they lacked the ability to do so or had refused them.

Report chairwoman Jo Williams said: “Detention must be a justified, therapeutic experience that promotes the recovery of the men, women and children involved.

“Too often, we came across patients whose experience fell short of this.”

The CQC which took over the responsibilities of the former Mental Health Act Commission in April 2009 spoke to more than 5,000 detained patients in 1,700 hospitals about their experiences.

Care services minister, Paul Burstow told Sky News: “This report demonstrates that the Coalition Government has inherited some serious challenges in mental health.

“Anyone with a mental health problem should receive care and treatment that minimises their distress and ensures a faster recovery.”

Mental Health Issues Differ for U.S. Male, Female Vets

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) –Mental health issues confronted by U.S. veterans returning from the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan differ by gender, new research suggests.

Female veterans are more likely to have a diagnosis of depression than are their male counterparts, according to a study of nearly 330,000 veterans who received health care from the Veterans Administration from 2002 to 2008. They are also generally younger than their male counterparts and more likely to be black.

In contrast, male veterans were found to be more prone than their female peers to post-traumatic stress disorder and/or alcohol abuse.

The analysis was led by study author Shira Maguen of the San Francisco VA Medical Center. She and her colleagues reviewed data on more than 329,000 veterans of “Operation Enduring Freedom” and “Operation Iraqi Freedom” obtained from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“In an era in which a greater proportion of women have served in the U.S. military in a much wider variety of military occupational specialties than ever before, our results contribute to a better understanding of the characteristics of women seeking VA health care,” the study team noted in a news release.

The authors also said it was important to understand how differences between men and women might affect mental health outcomes. “Gender differences are important to consider as the Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense continue to expand and strengthen programs to evaluate and provide care for a new generation of returning veterans,” they added.

Maguen and her colleagues report their observations in the Oct. 21 online issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Autism News

Autism Prevalence Rising Rapidly in Some Schools

In Wisconsin, the number of children with autism is increasing in school districts with low baseline prevalence, while other school districts are seeing a leveling off in their numbers, according to research published online Oct. 25 in Pediatrics.

MONDAY, Oct. 25 (HealthDay News) — In Wisconsin, the number of children with autism is increasing in school districts with low baseline prevalence, while other school districts are seeing a leveling off in their numbers, according to research published online Oct. 25 in Pediatrics.

Matthew J. Maenner, and Maureen S. Durkin, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, looked at special education enrollment counts in all elementary school districts in Wisconsin from 2002 through 2008 to calculate the prevalence of children with autism. Districts were grouped into eight categories (octiles) according to their baseline prevalence.

The researchers found that, during the study period, the overall prevalence of autism increased from 4.9 to 9.0 cases per 1,000 children. Districts in the lowest octile of autism prevalence in 2002 tended to have rapid increases in prevalence over the study period, while the districts in the highest octile of autism prevalence in 2002 did not see significant increases. The highest octile/lowest octile ratio fell from 24.6 in 2002 to 1.8 in 2008.

“The prevalence of autism is expressed popularly as single point estimates for relatively large regions, such as countries or states. The findings presented here demonstrate that variability of trends within smaller areas offers additional insights into the increasing prevalence of autism in special education, and they reveal heterogeneous trends within a population,” the authors write.

Family of autistic boy searches for stolen van, wheelchair

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A St. Paul mother is hoping someone will return the family van she uses to bring her autistic son to doctors appointments.

On Sunday morning, Sue Klingenberg planned to take her son for a drive to see fall colors.

“One of the joys of his life is riding in the car,” says Sue.

The plan changed when Sue walked outside and noticed the family van was missing. It was stolen, Sue says, from where it was parked right next to the house.

“I went into shock and my main concern was how do I transport Mike. How do I get him anywhere,” says Sue.

Now for most of us, our cars get us from point a to point b.

But for Sue and Michael their 1983 Chevy Vandura was a lifeline.

18-year-old Michael has severe autism and a lot of difficulty getting around. Sue needed the van to get him to doctor’s appointments. But it was also a way to experience the world for a kid who’s had a tough ride.

“There is not a lot that he can do so the few things that he can do we want to keep in place for him,” says Sue.

Police say someone stole the van between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday morning from Tatum and Minnehaha in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood.

“We’re asking the public to pay special attention to be on the lookout for this van. It has some unique features that would stand out,” says Officer John Keating with the St. Paul Police Department.

Michael’s wheelchair was also in the van. It’s gone too, along with several other personal items.

“That car was everything to us. I have done a lot of things to the car to make it perfect for Michael and with autism it’s important to keep things the same.”

“They took something away from a disabled child who already has enough difficulty in his life and we simply would like someone to return the car.”

Sue tells KARE 11 that children with autism often are creatures of habit so it will be very difficult she says for Michael to understand that the van is gone and why.

And his family is also very concerned as winter approaches about how they will get around.

Michael recently started having seizures and has many upcoming doctors’ appointments.

The van is a 1983 Chevy Vandura – Minnesota license plate M-H-U-8-7-6 it’s blue and white.

Anyone with information should call 911.

National Autism Association Applauds Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee’s Formation of Safety Subcommittee

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The National Autism Association (NAA) is applauding the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) today following the Committee’s decision late Friday to instate a subcommittee dedicated to safety issues within the autism community. Members voted unanimously to establish the subcommittee that will work to address the rising number of fatalities and injuries associated with autism-related wandering. Other safety issues that may be addressed include restraint and seclusion in schools, bullying, victimization and domestic crises.

The Committee’s decision came following a presentation by NAA Board Chair Lori McIlwain and President Wendy Fournier, who provided information to the IACC about a spate of recent fatalities associated with autism-related wandering. Their request for the formation of a safety subcommittee was combined with recommendations outlining the need for medical coding specific to autism-related wandering, data collection, greater access to tracking technology, first-responder training, and federally-backed safety information for families.

The absence of an emergency broadcast alert system for minors with cognitive impairments was also addressed by NAA. Federal guidelines established for AMBER Alert criteria currently do not include at-risk minors prone to wandering as a result of brain injury, disability or other cognitive impairment. States that have adopted the “Silver Alert” Emergency Broadcast Alert System for at-risk seniors with dementia oftentimes do not allow minors with cognitive impairments into its criteria.

The Committee’s vote to form a safety subcommittee had parents and advocates applauding in the background as IACC members spoke about the urgent need for action, preventative measures and emergency response that would work to reduce and prevent fatalities and injuries among those with autism spectrum disorders.

“We are extremely grateful for the IACC’s decision to take immediate action in addressing these critical safety issues within the autism community,” stated Wendy Fournier. “We also extend our thanks to Sheila Medlam, who bravely spoke during the public comment period about the recent loss of her 5-year-old son Mason in a tragic wandering incident.”

NAA was most encouraged by the possibility of getting a medical diagnosis code established for autism-related wandering. According to Board Chair Lori McIlwain, “Children and adults within the autism community need for wandering to be recognized as a medical condition. Diagnostic coding for autism elopement will be useful in prompting critical discussions between physicians and caregivers – it will also raise the seriousness level of the condition among first responders and school administrators, and possibly provide greater caregiver access to tracking technology.”

Phobias & Mental Health News

Anxiety, Phobias and Kids: When to Seek Help

According to Dr. Paul Ballas, a child psychiatrist and the medical director at the Green Tree School for children with special needs in Germantown, Penn., anxiety, phobias and mood disorders are common problems for young children and adolescents.
Such anxieties often surface during the fall, when children return to school and experience changes in sleep patterns, stress levels and routines. Environmental factors such as high allergen levels have also been shown to be associated with higher rates of anxiety, Ballas said.

“This time of year is a very anxiety-producing time for many kids,” he said.
The first step in determining whether a child is suffering from a phobia or anxiety disorder is to identify whether the fear is rational. Ordinary anxiety takes place in the context of a situation, or stimulus, such as watching a scary movie or taking a test. On the other hand, phobias and anxiety disorders are characterized as fear without the stimulus, and can cause long-lasting psychological distress. Anxiety disorders often disrupt normal day-to-day function.
The main distinction between adults, adolescents and children is that adults and adolescents often recognize that the fear is irrational. An adult with a phobia of elevators may understand that riding an elevator is safe but still refuse to get on. A child with that same phobia may not understand that the fear is unreasonable or excessive and develop an excuse to not get on the elevator. Young children often confuse anxiety for physical pain and say they have a stomachache or headache to avoid situations that cause anxiety.
Ballas said that parents can help their kids through times of anxiety by first ensuring that their basic needs — adequate sleep, a healthy diet and physical activity — are met.
“You’d be amazed how much of a problem sleep deprivation is for young kids,” Ballas said. “If they get enough sleep, their anxiety might go away.”
In cases where treatment is needed to address the child’s anxiety, therapists may gradually sensitize children to the object of their fear in a controlled setting. An alternative tactic that is generally not recommended for children is known as “flooding,” which means confronting the person with the object of their fear at its worst. For example, if a child is afraid of riding the bus, he would be placed on the bus and forced to deal with it.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a recognized short-term treatment in which a therapist identifies the cognitive distortions the child is experiencing and appeals to the child’s sense of reason as to why his fears do not make sense. This approach typically works well for children ages 5 and older, Ballas said.
Six categories of phobias common in children include:
Animal phobias: fear of insects, sharks, other animals.
Natural environment phobias: fear of storms, heights, water.
Blood, injections and injury phobias: fear of vaccinations, doctors’ offices.
Situational phobias: fear of flying, riding over bridges.
Social phobias: fear of social situations, public speaking, judgment or criticism from others.
Other phobias: any other specific phobia such as fear of choking or characters in costume.

Virtual Revulsion Therapy: Pixelated Pests Help Treat Cockroach Phobia

For people with katsaridaphobia, or the fear of cockroaches, the common pests are more than nuisances—they are the stuff of nightmares. When some phobics spot one of the skittering beasts they start sobbing uncontrollably, whereas others who have seen them in their homes seriously consider moving. Psychologists can treat such disruptive fears with exposure therapy, in which a therapist gradually presents the feared stimulus to the patient in increasingly intimate scenarios. Recently, some psychologists have successfully combined exposure therapy and virtual reality to treat fears of flying, heights and spiders, asking patients to interact with simulated environments that guarantee their safety.

Now, a team of psychologists has completed the first clinical trial testing the treatment of cockroach phobia with augmented reality—a younger cousin of virtual reality that layers digital animations over video or photos of a real-world environment. The new study, published in the September issue of Behavior Therapy, is the most recent and most significant step toward bringing augmented reality therapy out of the lab and into common clinical practice.

“I am thrilled with the research,” says Stéphane Bouchard, a psychologist at the University of Québec in Outaouais who has studied virtual reality therapy, but was not involved in the new study. “This study shows reliably the feasibility of augmented reality to treat specific phobias.”
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In the study psychologist Cristina Botella of the University of Jaume I in Spain and her colleagues treated six women diagnosed with cockroach phobia, according to criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV. The women wore an enclosed helmet comprising a camera and a monitor that allowed them to view their surrounding environment sprinkled with a few digital embellishments—incredibly realistic animated cockroaches, which the therapist could shrink, enlarge, multiply or vanish at will.

“With augmented reality you can modulate the exposure in ways you never could in real life,” says Soledad Quero, Botella’s colleague and a co-author of the paper. “It really shows the potential of new technologies to help people with psychological problems.”

Staring into the helmet viewer, the participants saw cockroaches scrabbling on the floor, encroaching on their personal belongings or crawling all over their fingers. The experimenters asked the phobics to keep the helmet on until their anxiety subsided by two or three subjective units of discomfort, as measured by a standard eight-point, self-reported Likert scale.

After treatment that lasted just under two hours on average all the participants demonstrated a significant reduction in their anxieties. They also reported a lessening of their condition’s severity and its ability to disrupt daily life, which the experimenters measured using similar standard scales. Most participants showed a reduction from a score of 7 or 8 to a score of 1 or 2. At a checkup 12 months later, most participants maintained these drops in angst. Directly after the therapy all the participants had been able to approach a jar containing a live cockroach, open it and place their hands inside for a few seconds. Before the procedure none could bring themselves to even touch the jar. During the checkup all but two participants successfully completed a repeat of the jar test, and three participants each killed cockroaches near their feet with a fly swatter.

“The most important finding is that the patients improve, but not only in reporting that they feel better—the changes affected what they could do in their real lives, too,” Quero says.

The trial’s small size makes it difficult to draw general conclusions about the efficacy of augmented reality therapy, but Bouchard says the results are robust enough to validate further larger studies—especially studies that specifically compare augmented reality therapy with alternative treatments, like virtual reality therapy and the most common technique, in vivo exposure, in which patients confront their fears in reality, whether it be living spiders or standing on the top floor of a skyscraper.

Successfully completed in vivo exposure therapy is usually quite effective, but nearly one quarter of patients drop out because of its intensity. In the new paper the researchers note—and Bouchard confirms—that augmented reality is not only more appealing for many patients, it should cost less than virtual reality therapy because the former involves simulating only the feared stimulus rather than an entire environment. Quero even envisions giving patients “augmented reality” homework to complete on mobile devices: Imagine, for example, using an iPhone or Droid to create the illusion of creeping cockroaches on the kitchen table.

So far, augmented reality therapy only exists in the lab, but Bouchard is encouraged by Botella’s study. “This is a pioneering application,” he says. “I can imagine we will see a diffusion of augmented reality into therapeutic settings just as we have seen with virtual reality.”

Physical illness may affect mental health

MUMBAI: As Sunday marked World Mental Health Day, doctors in the city cautioned Mumbaikars to watch out for those tell-tale signs triggered by minor illnesses. You may have wondered how a small bout of fever can cause extreme sadness, or why even the slightest noise can jar your nerves when you have a cold or a headache. Doctors have the answer-physical illness can lead to psychological problems in patients.

Doctors across specializations say that patients suffering from an illness, especially chronic, tend to develop not just minor mental problems like distress and anxiety, but also major ones like depression, phobias and even sexual dysfunction. About 14-20% of chronically ill patients have psychological problems, apart from minor distress and anxiety, say doctors.

Dr Ganesh Kumar, head of cardiology at L H Hiranandani Hospital, says that at least one in three patients is suffers from mental problems, including anxiety. “Patients suffering from a heart failure or an attack, especially younger ones, develop severe mental problems. First of all, the patients do not want to accept the fact that they are chronically ill. And when they do, they directly start fearing death,” he said. “Many young patients also start believing that having sex will stress out on their heart, which might lead to another attack. This causes sexual dysfunction and frustration in the patient as well as the spouse,” he added.

Dr Ashok Mahasur, chest physician with Hinduja Hospital, says that respiratory problems tend to make patients even more psychologically conscious. “Problems like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, drug-resistant TB and lung fibrosis can are the ones which cause a lot of distress in the patient. As these are long-term problems, the patient’s thinking gets negative,” he said, adding that mental problems are rampant in 60-70% of patients suffering from respiratory illnesses. “Only around 20% of people-those who are not well educated or those who do not know much about the disease-have little anxiety,” Dr Mahasur added.

It is not just those suffering from cardio or respiratory problems who get worried, but also those with chronic kidney ailments. “Patients suffering from end-stage kidney disease who cannot find a donor, especially those who have to go for dialysis regularly, undergo great trauma. They cannot carry out their regular functions, feel unproductive and believe that they are a burden on the family. Most of the time, affordability of the treatment is also becomes a problem,” said Dr Bharat Shah, nephrologist, Lilavati Hospital.

Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, however believes that depression in the chronically ill is generally misunderstood as anxiety. “If a person is suffering from diabetes and goes into depression, the family thinks it is because of erratic sugar levels. If symptoms of mental problems are taken care of along with the treatment for the physical illness, patients tend to recover sooner,” he said.

Phobias News

Are Social Media Phobias Holding Advisors Back?

By Howard J. Stock
September 21, 2010

Brokerage firms continue to talk a good game when it comes to social media, but few are actually doing anything about it, and that may turn out to be a mistake.

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According to a report by Corporate Insight, almost all full-service brokerage firms expect the quality and content of social media outreach to improve, but James McGovern, the firm’s vice president of consulting services in New York, says few are willing to make the first move.

“There’s a lot of intent,” he says, citing 2008 data. “But there hasn’t been much by way of an embrace.”

Ironically, mutual funds, which were by far the most conservative of the financial services firms when it came to social media two years ago, have picked up the ball and run with it. Vanguard, for instance, has a corporate blog through which is offers commentary on various subjects and it has its own Facebook page.

In general, “asset management firms are at least leveraging their intellectual capital,” McGovern says.

Full service firms, by comparison, remain hobbled by vague rules from FINRA and onerous requirements where the rules are clear. “Archiving Facebook communications for six years is a pain, plus the rules are not yet crystal-clear to the attorneys charged with protecting these firms,” he says.

Advisors are taking baby steps. McGovern says that anecdotally, around 100,000 financial advisors have page on LinkedIn. “They’re creating profiles and connecting with their existing clients,” he says. At the very least, the site allows advisors an easy opportunity to keep up to date with what’s going on in their clients’ lives.

McGovern doubts that compliant sites such as Linked FA, while they keep advisors the right side of the law, are likely to catch on. “It sounds like the technology is great, but how are you going to get clients to sign up?” he points out. “It’s a lot easier to swap emails or to pick up the phone every six months.”

Full service firms’ reticence is a problem because both advisors and their clients are now used to using social media: “You need to be where the action is,” McGovern says.

Mitchell Kauffman, an independent advisor with Raymond James in Pasadena, Calif., is comfortably walking what the full service firms still see as a tightrope, using LinkedIn and, soon, Twitter and Facebook to disseminate pre-approved white papers he’s written on the market. Kauffman is also setting up a YouTube account to post videos of him discussing economic conditions. It’s all compliant, and the advisor hopes the content will lead to clients and prospects to sign up for more. “In an economic downturn, people are looking for more meaningful connections,” he says. “Regulators’ narrow approach is missing an opportunity to serve investors.”

Kauffman says that while he has received a few inquiries from prospective clients who found him through his social media outreach, that aspect of the strategy is still in its infancy. “Networking is not about hunting, it’s about farming,” he says. “I’m making myself available as a resource and feedback is positive, but I can’t say it’s opened the floodgates of new business, although that may come at some point.”

Rather, “this is something that can really help build close relationships, reassure clients and help enhance my search presence,” on the internet.

Most advisors, though, are still on the sidelines, and that’s a problem. While full-service firms are dragging their feet, other firms are leaping in. Charles Schwab, for instance, uses Twitter for customer service and it has created customer communities. And self-service firms Zecco and TradeKing have both made social media the focus of their business, with investment forums that are open to anyone who wants to join, the goal being “to drive traffic and turn investors into customers,” McGovern says.

Even banks are trying it. Wells Fargo stands out for launching a blog the day after its acquisition of Wachovia to update customers on its integration. It was also one of the first banks to use Twitter, reaching out to users—those with a significant number of followers at least—who were complaining about fees of service.

McGovern doesn’t expect full-service firms to hold out much longer—the competition is simply too great. “Once these firms work out the data monitoring and retention issues, and their advisors understand what they can and can’t talk about, we’ll see some interesting developments,” he says. “It’s inevitable; it’s the way the world is going.”

Funny phobias cause concern

Going to the beach, passing a piercing parlor or watching a Britney Spears music video causes little distress for most. For sufferers of omphalophobia, or the fear of belly buttons, these incidents could cause serious reactions.

A phobia is a severe and illogical fear of an object or situation. About 8.7 percent of American adults have at least one phobia, according to a 2005 study from the National Institute of Mental Health.

“To be a phobia it has to be something that doesn’t pose a threat,” said Sarah Burger, graduate student researcher in the Anxiety Research Group and clinical psychology doctoral candidate. “If you’re afraid of something actually dangerous, that’s called rational thinking.”

Many people have strong fears or dislikes that may not technically be phobias.

“OK, well, I really don’t like it when people rub carpet,” said nutrition freshman Kelli Kostizak. “It makes my stomach knot up.”

Undecided freshman Sarah Brody said she knew a person with a “weird” fear.

“I had someone who said they’re really afraid of moss,” Brody said.

Unlike general, everyday fears, phobias can cause distress through anticipation, by either thinking about a situation or coming into contact with a certain object.

“The phobia is kind of where the fear has reinforced itself,” said Michael Strangstalien, mental health clinician for Counseling and Psychological Services. “It doesn’t even need to necessarily happen.”

Burger’s research compares how those with phobias predict they will react upon encountering their phobia with their actual reaction.

Burger asked participants to predict their reaction to encountering the object of their phobia in different situations such as reading about it, seeing it in a movie or finding it in their room.

“Now we’re actually having them test their predictions,” Burger said.

People with arachnophobia are monitored while being approached by a virtual tarantula, a robotic tarantula and a living tarantula. Some reactions to the object of the phobia include panic attacks, increased heart rate and nausea, according to Burger.

Strangstalien described a phobia as a “psychological jail” in which those affected will rearrange their lives to avoid all contact.

Phobias range from the fear of snakes, ophidiophobia, to the more obscure gnosiophobia, which is the fear of knowledge.

“My favorite phobia is ponophobia,” Strangstalien said. “Ponophobia is the fear of hard work.”

Strangstalien said it is common to disregard unusual phobias as unreasonable, which can lead to the stigmatization of those who suffer from them.

“(People) think some of these phobias are crazy,” Strangstalien said. “To the person who is terrified of having to work, that’s real in their mind.”

The most common phobias at the UA are the fear of blood injections and social phobias, according to Strangstalien.

“I have both of those,” Brody said. “I hate when I get my blood drawn, and I get shaky when I talk publicly.”

Many people suffer from phobias regarding public speaking or social situations.

“Usually people will actually get visceral, somatic symptoms,” Strangstalien said. “They’ll get physically sick.”

Strangstalien said he does not treat a large number of phobic students at the UA.

“These things get noticed in high school or earlier years,” Strangstalien said. “It’s been treated.”

For those whose phobias dictate their lives, professional help is available.

“It’s not enough to say ‘It’s all in your head,'” Strangstalien said.

Scientists still do not know exactly what causes phobias. But Burger said many theories predict phobias stem from people having an association of the object of their phobia with “something that actually is scary.”

Many people cannot remember the specific instance that started their phobia.

“A lot of people say, ‘I don’t know. I’ve been afraid as long as I can remember,'” Burger said.

Some theories suggest people learn these associations as infants before their memories are fully formed.

The biological preparedness theory attempts to explain why humans are more likely to be afraid of spiders than string. Phobias may have acted as a natural preservation mechanism in the past.

“We’re sort of keyed up to be fearful,” Burger said.