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http://springhillgroupcounselling.com/2013/10/07/mental-health-services-usage-people-depression/ A new study has found more than half the people in Ontario who reported they had major depression did not use physician-based mental health services in the following year. "It's concerning to us that many Ontarians with mental health needs are not accessing clinician-based care," said Katherine Smith, the lead author and epidemiologist in the Centre for Research on Inner City Health of St. Michael's Hospital. "Some people may seek non-medical types of support or care, such as clergy, alternative medicine, psychologists or social workers. But we don't know for sure, so the gap remains of concern." The study used OHIP data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. The findings appear in the journal Health. A predictable one in four people undergo at one point in their lives from depression, which lessens quality of life, is linked with amplified disability and lower productivity at work. More than twice as often as men women are diagnosed with depression. Smith had set out to see whether gender plays a role in seeking mental health care. As a general rule, about 10 per cent more than men women use mental health services, showing the fact they use health care services overall as much as than men. More than half - 55.3 per cent - of people in Ontario with self-reported major depression had no contact with physicians for mental health reasons in the following year. Additional research is needed to understand why, Smith said. She said some ethnic groups may not be comfortable accessing physician-based mental health services or may prefer to use non-medical services. Stigma around mental illness may also deter some people, she said. Men, as compared to women, have the tendency t

Shadow health secretary highlights cuts and 'biggest unaddressed health challenge' as he pledges Labour solution A Labour government will preserve the right to counseling for mental health problems in the NHS constitution, same goes with people have a right to drugs and treatment for mental illness, Andy Burnham promise October this year. Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said at a conference on mental health and wellbeing in Shrewsbury, that mental health is the biggest unaddressed health challenge of the age, costing business £71m a day, or £26bn a year. He laid blame on and accused the government of lessening the mental health budget and abandoning the national survey of investment in adult mental health services, which showed how much was spent yearly. "There is growing evidence of highly vulnerable people being held in police cells and sleeping on camp beds in office space because no crisis beds are available," he will say. "The cost of living crisis is tipping many people over the edge and concerns have been raised over the suicide rate. It is imperative that the openness and transparency the secretary of state speaks of are brought urgently to mental health services so parliament can have a proper debate on what's happening to vulnerable people." http://inthenews.springhillgroupcounselling.com/2013/12/12/burnham-mental-health-counseling-on-nhs-will-be-a-right/

It can sometimes feel as if South Korea, overworked, overstressed and ever anxious, is on the verge of a national nervous breakdown, with a rising divorce rate, students who feel suffocated by academic pressures, a suicide rate among the highest in the world and a macho corporate culture that still encourages blackout drinking sessions after work. More than 30 South Koreans kill themselves every day, and the suicides of entertainers, politicians, athletes and business leaders have become almost commonplace. The recent suicides of four students and a professor at Korea's leading university shocked the nation, and in recent weeks a TV baseball announcer, two professional soccer players, a university president and the former lead singer in a popular boy band killed themselves. And yet Koreans - while almost obsessively embracing Western innovations ranging from smartphones to the Internet to cosmetic surgery - have largely resisted Western psychotherapy for their growing anxieties, depression and stress. Talk-therapy modalities with psychiatrists, psychologists and other types of trained counselors are only slowly being accepted, according to mental health experts here. "Talking openly about emotional problems is still taboo," said Dr. Kim Hyong-soo, a psychologist and professor at Chosun University in Kwangju. "With depression, the inclination for Koreans is to just bear with it and get over it," he said. "If someone goes to a psychoanalyst, they know they'll be stigmatized for the rest of their life. So they don't go." Mental health experts said many troubled South Koreans seek help from private psychiatric clinics (and pay their bills in cash) so their government-insurance records do not carry the stigma of a "Code F," signifying someone who has received reimbursement for such care. Even when Koreans do seek out counseling, the learning curve can be steep. A prominent psychiatrist with a practice in Seoul, Jin-seng Park, said it was not unc

According to a study conducted at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, among teens with substance use disorders, those who also have social anxiety disorder begin using marijuana at a mean age of 10.6 years - an average of 2.2 years earlier than teens without anxiety. "This finding surprised us," said principal investigator Alexandra Wang, a third-year medical student at the university. "It shows we need to start earlier with prevention of drug and alcohol use and treatment of social phobia [in children]." The study was consisting of 195 teens ages 14 to 18 which 102 of them or 52 percent \ were teenage girls. They met the current diagnosis of substance use disorder and had received medical detoxification if needed. The researchers evaluated the participants' history of drug and alcohol use and digged into whether they'd had any of three anxiety disorders: social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. Out of 195 teens, 92 percent had marijuana dependence and the most disturbing part was it is starting at the age of 13 years. And on the other hand, 61 percent were alcohol-dependent, having started drinking at 13.5 years on average. This shows that marijuana was the most popular drug of choice. Teens with either social anxiety disorder or panic disorder were far more likely to have marijuana dependence, Wang said. Before marijuana dependence both of these disorders were more likely to occur. More or less 80 percent of teens suffering from social anxiety disorder and 85 percent with panic disorder had symptoms of that disorder previous to the onset of their substance abuse. In addition, panic disorder has a propensity to start before alcohol dependence and came about in 75 percent of alcohol-dependent adolescents. According to the authors, there was no clear evidence showing whether agoraphobia came before or after either marijuana use or the first drink. A limitation of the study, according to the research team, was that 12

A limitation of the study, according to the research team, was that 128 (66 percent) of the teens were juvenile offenders who had received court-referred treatment for their substance abuse. These findings might not generalize to a less severely addicted population. Yet again, interventions to lessen social anxiety might help avoid substance abuse in teens. "We need to treat these young patients initially with non-pharmacologic means, such as cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness meditation," said Christina Delos Reyes, M.D., a psychiatrist specializing in addictions at University Hospitals Case Medical Center. Patrick Bordeaux, M.D., a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Quebec, Canada, said that "comorbidities tend to be the rule in adolescents, not the exception." "Adolescents are more likely to have social and mental disorders that make them more likely to use drugs," said Bordeaux, who was not involved with the study. Source Link: http://springhillgroupcounselling.tumblr.com/

http://chirpstory.com/li/74195 According to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, being forced to exercise may still help reduce anxiety and depression just as exercising voluntarily does. People who exercises are more secluded against stress-related disorders even past studies have shown this. And scientists know that the perception of control can benefit a person's mental health. But an open question has been the topic of some debates whether an individual, who undergoes the feeling of a forced to exercise, getting rid of the discernment of control, would still gather the anxiety-fighting advantages of the exercise. Benjamin Greenwood, an assistant research professor in CU-Boulder's Department of Integrative Physiology said people who may feel forced to exercise could include high school, college and professional athletes, members of the military or those who have been prescribed an exercise regimen by their doctors. "If exercise is forced, will it still produce mental health benefits?" Greenwood asked. "It's obvious that forced exercise will still produce peripheral physiological benefits. But will it produce benefits to anxiety and depression?" To look for an answer to the matter Greenwood and his colleagues, as well as Monika Fleshner, a professor in the same department, designed a lab experiment using rats. Throughout a six-week period, a few rats stayed inactive, whereas some exercised by running on a wheel. The experiment went this way; the rats that exercised were divided into two groups that ran a roughly equal amount of time while one group ran whenever it chose to, at the same time as the other group ran on mechanized wheels that rotated according to a predetermined schedule. The motorized wheels turned on at speeds and for periods of time that mimicked the average pattern of exercise chosen by the rats that voluntarily exercised, for the study. Read more: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/14534651-s

According to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, being forced to exercise may still help reduce anxiety and depression just as exercising voluntarily does. People who exercises are more secluded against stress-related disorders even past studies have shown this. And scientists know that the perception of control can benefit a person's mental health. But an open question has been the topic of some debates whether an individual, who undergoes the feeling of a forced to exercise, getting rid of the discernment of control, would still gather the anxiety-fighting advantages of the exercise. Benjamin Greenwood, an assistant research professor in CU-Boulder's Department of Integrative Physiology said people who may feel forced to exercise could include high school, college and professional athletes, members of the military or those who have been prescribed an exercise regimen by their doctors. "If exercise is forced, will it still produce mental health benefits?" Greenwood asked. "It's obvious that forced exercise will still produce peripheral physiological benefits. But will it produce benefits to anxiety and depression?" To look for an answer to the matter Greenwood and his colleagues, as well as Monika Fleshner, a professor in the same department, designed a lab experiment using rats. Throughout a six-week period, a few rats stayed inactive, whereas some exercised by running on a wheel. The experiment went this way; the rats that exercised were divided into two groups that ran a roughly equal amount of time while one group ran whenever it chose to, at the same time as the other group ran on mechanized wheels that rotated according to a predetermined schedule. The motorized wheels turned on at speeds and for periods of time that mimicked the average pattern of exercise chosen by the rats that voluntarily exercised, for the study. Then six weeks after, the rats were exposed to a laboratory stressor prior to testing the

This particular article truly did switch the light on for me personally as far as this specific topic goes.

http://springhillcounsellinggroup.bravesites.com/entries/general/springhill-counselling-group-reviews-anxiety-and-stress-benefits-from-forced-exercise According to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, being forced to exercise may still help reduce anxiety and depression just as exercising voluntarily does. People who exercises are more secluded against stress-related disorders even past studies have shown this. And scientists know that the perception of control can benefit a person's mental health. But an open question has been the topic of some debates whether an individual, who undergoes the feeling of a forced to exercise, getting rid of the discernment of control, would still gather the anxiety-fighting advantages of the exercise. Benjamin Greenwood, an assistant research professor in CU-Boulder's Department of Integrative Physiology said people who may feel forced to exercise could include high school, college and professional athletes, members of the military or those who have been prescribed an exercise regimen by their doctors. "If exercise is forced, will it still produce mental health benefits?" Greenwood asked. "It's obvious that forced exercise will still produce peripheral physiological benefits. But will it produce benefits to anxiety and depression?" To look for an answer to the matter Greenwood and his colleagues, as well as Monika Fleshner, a professor in the same department, designed a lab experiment using rats. Throughout a six-week period, a few rats stayed inactive, whereas some exercised by running on a wheel. The experiment went this way; the rats that exercised were divided into two groups that ran a roughly equal amount of time while one group ran whenever it chose to, at the same time as the other group ran on mechanized wheels that rotated according to a predetermined schedule. The motorized wheels turned on at speeds and for periods of time that mimicked the average pattern of exercise chosen by

(CNN) -- South Korea is perhaps the world's leader in terms of identifying and treating gaming and Internet addiction. After wiring the nation with the world's fastest broadband infrastructure, South Korea's government spends millions per year to identify and treat gaming and Internet addicts. About 8% of the country's population age 9 to 39 suffer from Internet or gaming addiction, according to a 2010 government study. Some see South Korea as a window into the future: Perhaps other nations, including the United States, will see a wave of gaming and Internet addiction when our technological infrastructure catches up. Others say it's too soon to know if gaming addiction is really its own disorder. In the United States, Internet and gaming addiction are not listed in the official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the next revision of that list, however, the American Psychiatric Association has proposed that "Internet Use Disorder" be listed as warranting further study. Open Mic: South Koreans take on gaming Some groups, however, have moved forward with treating Internet and gaming addiction. One of the leaders in that field is Dr. Han Doug-hyun, from Chung-Ang University Hospital in Seoul, South Korea's capital. Han's research lab treats people who are addicted to games using techniques similar to those used to treat alcoholics, including counseling and virtual-reality therapy (Check out this CNN video to see inside his research and treatment space). As part of CNN's feature on "Gaming Reality," Han gave us his list of the top five warning signs that a person should seek professional help for Internet or gaming addiction. Take a look at the tips and let us know what you think of them, and of the science of gaming addiction, in the comments. Here are Han's top 5 warning signs of gaming or Internet addiction: 1. Disrupted regular life pattern. If a person plays games all night long and sleeps in the daytime, that can be a warning he or she shoul