On October 28, 2015, Dr. Elizabeth Wassenaar, Lindner Center of HOPE Psychiatrist and Williams House Medical Director, joined Lon Woodbury on the Woodbury Report radio show. Their discussion focused on outlining the benefits of a residential assessment for mental health concerns in adolescents.
(Mason, OH, October 2, 2015) – Lindner Center of HOPE has joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide.
This year, all funds received by Lindner Center of HOPE as a result of #Giving Tuesday will be used to purchase needed items and equipment for Williams House (the Center’s adolescent diagnostic and treatment program). Items needed include:
“Williams House at Lindner Center of HOPE is a safe and secure place for adolescents to come and unpack what’s not working out in their lives due to mental health issues. These young people are here sharing traumas and challenges and working hard to develop skills that will help them manage their mental illnesses. Being able to take a break and play, have fun and let the brain relax and unwind is necessary,” Elizabeth Wassenaar, MD, says. “Our patients would truly benefit from donations made on #Giving Tuesday.”
To give now, click here.
Occurring this year on December 1, #GivingTuesday is held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday to kick-off the holiday giving season and inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities and to give back in impactful ways to the charities and causes they support.
About #GivingTuesday
#GivingTuesday is a movement to celebrate and provide incentives to give—the 2015 iteration will be held on December 1, 2015. This effort harnesses the collective power of a unique blend of partners—nonprofits, businesses and corporations as well as families and individuals—to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. #GivingTuesday inspires people to take collaborative action to improve their local communities, give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they celebrate and help create a better world. #GivingTuesday harnesses the power of social media to create a global moment dedicated to giving around the world.
To learn more about #GivingTuesday participants and activities or to join the celebration of giving, please visit:
Website: www.givingtuesday.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/GivingTuesday Twitter: twitter.com/GivingTues
About Lindner Center of HOPE
Lindner Center of HOPE provides excellent, patient-centered, scientifically-advanced care for individuals suffering with mental illness. A state-of-the-science, mental health center and charter member of the National Network of Depression Centers, the Center provides psychiatric hospitalization and partial hospitalization for individuals age 12-years-old and older, outpatient services for all ages, diagnostic and short-term residential services for adults and adolescents, intensive outpatient program for substance abuse and co-occurring disorders for adults and research. The Center is enhanced by its partnership with UC Health as its clinicians are ranked among the best providers locally, nationally and internationally. Together Lindner Center of HOPE and UC Health offer a true system of mental health care in the Greater Cincinnati area and across the country. The Center is also affiliated with the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine.
Ah, fall. For many it means a time for apples, visiting fall farms, enjoying the cooler respite from the days of Indian summer, and purchasing any pumpkin-spice-infused food or drink or scent that hits the consumer-driven market. It’s also the time of year when parents (who might have been holding their breath for the first few weeks of school) may grow concerned about their homework-resistant child and when interim reports and/or parent-teacher conferences provide knowledge about a child’s academic progress and behaviors at school. And for some families, notices and emails of concern from teachers arrive well before the parent-teacher conferences are even scheduled.
Fall. It is when parents wonder if their child might have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
ADHD takes on different forms, depending on the age of the child. Generally speaking, the younger the child, the more behavioral problems he or she has likely exhibited in the classroom. These can include anything from talking in class, interrupting the teacher, blurting out answers, pushing others as they form a line, invading others’ personal space, and needing continual reminders to sit in one’s chair. All these are symptoms of impulsivity and hyperactivity and are the most noticeable symptoms teachers observe in class, and they are the most “disruptive” to the process of teaching and learning. It is not uncommon for these children to start exhibiting these difficulties in preschool, when they first enter into a structured group environment with expectations of age-appropriate rules and directions.
Struggles with inattentiveness (without impulsivity or hyperactivity) may start being observed in children as early as the 2nd or 3rd grades, when the fundamentals of reading and math are already expected to have been sufficiently established. Many of these children are not exhibiting outward signs of problems, nor are they causing enough of a disturbance in the class for teachers to place on their radars. Instead, these children are ones who may struggle to complete their seatwork and are required to take it home to finish, make “simple” mistakes in their work, sometimes “stare into space,” forget to turn in their homework, become distracted by other tasks, and/or “do not seem to be performing up to their academic potential.” Due to the quiet nature of inattention, it is also not uncommon for children to first become identified as having ADHD in junior high or high school, when the demands for the academic work become increasingly more difficult. Sometimes, high intelligence in a child can mask underlying inattention and distractibility; the child may still grasp the academic work without showing any difficulties. The more complex the work in school becomes, though, the more opportunities there are for a highly intelligent child with ADHD to exhibit their underlying struggles.
Many people only focus on struggles with inattentiveness, distractibility, impulsivity and/or hyperactivity when wondering if a child has ADHD. The less obvious (and yet very important) areas to consider are those of executive functioning. These are higher-order cognitive abilities “housed” within the frontal lobe of the brain, which is the last lobe of the brain to develop and is not fully formed until one’s mid-to-late 20’s. These skills involve planning, organizing, inhibiting (or, controlling) one’s impulses or behaviors, and other complex skills. We can easily observe how behavioral disinhibition (i.e., dyscontrol) is represented by impulsive acts. Two other areas of executive functioning that are especially noteworthy to consider when wondering about ADHD (and how impairments are observed) include:
Poor time management: procrastination; conceptually minimizing the time it actually takes to complete a project or an activity; rushing; arriving late most of the time; not utilizing one’s time most effectively; taking longer to complete homework than is expected
Disorganization: having a messy backpack; keeping a messy bedroom or other areas of personal space; being unprepared; losing or misplacing belongings; difficulty knowing how to prioritize tasks in terms of importance; problems completing tasks or projects; forgetting assignments, due dates, appointments, or other tasks
Many parents question whether their child is just “not motivated enough” to complete their work. This is certainly of note to consider. It is important to understand, though, that for individuals with ADHD, it is much less about internal motivation to complete a task and much more about the desire to avoid the difficult work one faces with having to sit for a seemingly long duration, sustain one’s attention, organize one’s thoughts, and minimize distractions. We have a natural tendency to avoid what we find difficult; so, of course, individuals with ADHD try to put off tasks that require significant mental effort.
Besides medication, strategies to help improve attention, inhibitory control, organization, and time management involve implementing structure and routine. Limits and expectations, especially for house rules such as not allowing leisure or “screen” time until homework is completed, are helpful. Reminding children about the differences between tasks that are required (i.e., homework) versus optional (i.e., play time) can also be helpful. Using multiple forms of scheduling items also is recommended, such as a daily agenda, a week-in-view planner, and a month-in-view calendar help to prioritize activities and time so as to accomplish tasks.
Of course, the struggles discussed here may also represent other underlying issues beyond ADHD. For instance, problems with impulsivity, inattentiveness, behavioral disruption, and physical restlessness could be accounted for by an underlying medical condition (e.g., hyper- or hypo-thyroidism), insufficient or poor quality of sleep, adjustment to significant changes in one’s life (e.g., a move or a parents’ divorce), affective or mood states (e.g., anxiety or depression), a behavioral disorder (e.g., Oppositional-Defiant Disorder), or other possible contributions. These must always be considered when assessing whether one has ADHD. Regardless of the underlying cause of such struggles, the recommendations used for improving structure, time management, and organization are helpful for most children, anyway.
For more than two decades, Screening for Mental Health has developed programs to educate, raise awareness, and screen individuals for common behavioral and mental health disorders and suicide.The vision is a world where mental health is viewed and treated with the same gravity as physical health, and the public’s participation in National Depression Screening Day helps make that vision a reality.
National Depression Screening Day, held annually on the Thursday of the first full week in October, is an education and screening event conducted by hospitals, clinics, colleges, and community groups nationwide. Much like the medical community screens for diabetes and high blood pressure, the goal is to offer large-scale mood disorder screenings for the public. The program provides free, anonymous screenings for depression, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder, as well as referral to treatment resources if warranted.
This year, October 8th, will mark 25 years of this revolutionary event.
Please participate in this milestone National Depression Screening Day and help spread the word to increase awareness of mental health. Take a screening now at http://screening.mentalhealthscreening.org/#/lindner-center-of-hope and encourage your family, friends and colleagues to do the same.
General
Global
United States
Physical & Mental Health Connection
Depression is a treatable mental health disorder that causes persistent sadness and loss of interest. Some of the most common signs and symptoms include:
For a complete list visit: NAMI.org
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a treatable illness defined by extreme changes in mood, thought, energy and behavior. These changes are categorized into manic (high) and depressive (low) episodes, ranging from bursts of energy to deep despair. Some of the most common symptoms include:
Mania Symptoms
Depressive Symptoms
For a complete list visit: dbsalliance.org
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder that involves chronic worrying, nervousness, and tension. Some of the most common symptoms include:
For a complete list visit: helpguide.org
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. Some common symptoms include:
For a complete list visit: helpguide.org