Top of Mind

Is the opposite of addiction really sobriety?

By Chris Tuell, Ed.D., LPCC-S, LICDC-CS Lindner Center of HOPE Clinical Director of Addiction Services   In April of 1975, the Viet Nam War came to an end. During this 10 years of military strife, 58,220 U.S. soldiers lost their lives.  However, the end of the war also brought another difficult issue to light.  A […]

A Drumming Technology: The Object of Meditative Drumming

By Michael O’Hearn, MSW, LISW-S The drum is one of the oldest musical instruments. An interesting paradox of medical and cognitive neuroscience is how a range of intra- and inter-personal stress mediation, self-regulation, and mind-body continuity interventions are accomplished through ancient traditions of meditation (mental training) (Davidson & McEwen, 2012; Khalsa, Rudrauf, Davidson, & Tranel, […]

Are apps for mental health good or evil? Making an informed decision.

        By Nicole Mori, RN, MSN, APRN-BC, Research Advanced Practice Nurse Medical mobile phone apps are changing the doctor-patient relationship by promising patients greater control over their care, lower costs, improved safety and convenience.  Patient demand for apps is increasing with an estimated 50% of smartphone users having a medical app by […]

Dietary supplements for depression: Risks and potential benefits

    By Nicole Mori, RN, MSN, APRN-BC, Research Advanced Practice Nurse Use of dietary supplements for the treatment of depressive symptoms is increasingly common among patients.    Factors driving this trend include unsatisfactory response with standard treatments, adverse drug events, skepticism about psychiatric medications and the perception of dietary supplements as “natural” and safe. […]

Sexual Orientation Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (SO-OCD)

By Nicole Bosse, PsyD, Lindner Center of HOPE, Staff Psychologist Kyle has been happily married to his wife Joanne for 5 years. One night while watching a movie together, he notices the thought in his mind, “Gee, that Matt Damon is a good looking guy!” He then is suddenly flooded with a wave of panic […]

Sleep Hygiene and The Need For Zzzzzz’s

By Anna I. Guerdjikova, PhD, LISW, CCRC Director of Administrative Services, Harold C. Schott Foundation Eating Disorders Program University of Cincinnati, Department of Psychiatry, Research Assistant Professor We spend about one third of our lives sleeping, yet more than one third of Americans do not get enough sleep. Adults, ages 18-60, are recommended to get […]

Advantages of Adolescent Psychiatric Residential Treatment

By Jennifer L. Shoenfelt, MD Board Certified Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist, Lindner Center of HOPE Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience Assistant Professor, Wright State University, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry There are several levels of psychiatric care for children and adolescents. These are […]

Integrative Mental Health: Can health occur without mental health? By Chris J. Tuell, EdD, LPCC-S, LICDC-CS, Lindner Center of HOPE Clinical Director of Addiction Services

Integrative mental health (IMH) combines conventional biological psychiatry and psychological interventions with traditional and complementary alternative medicine (CAM) to provide holistic patient-centered care. Using non-hierarchical interdisciplinary teamwork, the patient and practitioner are able to explore psychological paradigms involving biological, cultural and spiritual dimensions of health and illness. Kindness, avoidance of harm and informed consent are […]

Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Substance Use Disorders

Charles F. Brady, PhD, ABPP, Lindner Center of HOPE, Clinical Director of Outpatient Services and Staff Psychologist, OCD/CBT Psychotherapist, Associate Professor, University of Cincinnati’s Department of Psychiatry In today’s culture the terms “obsessive” and “compulsive” have been adopted to refer to excessively repetitive thoughts and hard to resist behaviors.  In clinical situations this overly broad […]

Addressing Obesity in Psychiatric Patients

Nicole Mori, RN, MSN, APRN-BC Research Advanced Practice Nurse, Research Institute at Lindner Center of HOPE Obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥30 mg/kg, remains one of the main contributors to preventable disease and health care costs. It is also associated with increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers, […]

Mental illness, Addiction and Digital Infidelity

By: Chris Tuell Ed.D., LPCC-S, LICDC-CS Clinical Director of Addiction Services Lindner Center of HOPE Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Fifty years ago, I was six years old.  My family, like many families of the day, subscribed to Life magazine.  On the cover of the magazine […]

Summer and the Value of Structure

By: Jennifer Farley Psy.D. If you’re on social media, you may have chuckled at recent posts depicting the difference between teachers and students at the beginning versus the end of the school year – with all of them involving anticipation for summer’s reign to begin. Summer is The Quintessential Break for our kids and their […]

How to manage school avoidance

BY: Elizabeth Wassenaar, MS, MD, Lindner Center of HOPE, Staff Psychiatrist and Medical Director of Williams House   Life can be overwhelming and we all would like to take a day off every once in a while. Likely, as helping professionals, we don’t take mental health days as often as we could actually benefit from […]

The Benefits of Residential Assessment.

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. Click here to listen.

ADHD and Kids

By: Jennifer Bellman, Psy.D. 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 […]

Intermittent Explosive Disorder: An Important but Under-Recognized Medical Disorder

Susan L. McElroy, MD Lindner Center of HOPE, Chief Research OfficerUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) is a common and serious disorder that is often unrecognized and untreated. People with IED are periodically unable to restrain impulses that result in verbal and physical aggression. The aggressive […]

The Function of the Anorexic Brain: A Neurobiological Perspective

By Scott Bullock, MSW, LISW-S Lindner Center of HOPE, Clinical Director and Family Therapist Child/Adolescent Services, Harold C. Schott Foundation Eating Disorders Program Clinical Consultant, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center at The Lindner Center of HOPE University of Cincinnati, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Adjunct Instructor Despite numerous recent advances in the field […]

Manage stress, do not eliminate it

By Dr. Robin Arthur, Chief of Psychology, Lindner Center of HOPE   What are the top five stressors in your life right now? Write them down and set them aside. So what is stress? Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual […]

Addressing Mental Health Before Stage 4 (#B4Stage4)

When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don’t wait years to treat them. We start before Stage4—we begin with prevention. When people are in the first stage of those diseases, and are beginning to show signs of symptoms like a persistent cough, high blood pressure, or high blood sugar, we try immediately […]