Category Archives: Mental Health

Types of Mania and Dual Mania

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By David Joel Miller, MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

Person with masks

Bipolar.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

How many types of mania are there?

Just what mental health symptoms are illnesses and how many mental illnesses are there? Counting Manias is especially difficult.

We think we know mania when we see it, but it is such a diverse group of symptoms that it has become established as “manic episodes” that are building blocks of diagnosis, rather than separate diagnoses. It functions primarily to separate Bipolar Disorder, formerly called manic-depressive disorder from the other depressive conditions.

Mania has been described as the most heterogeneous mental health symptom there is, raising the question “When we say mania are we all talking about the same thing?” Are there types of mania that have different causes and indicate varying diseases?

Currently, there are over 400 recognized disorders or conditions that might be the focus of treatment in the DSM-4. As you may have seen from previous posts many of these disorders have lots of subtypes that look different in practice and may require different treatments.

Mania and Bipolar disorders are especially difficult because of their wide diversity of symptoms. For more on the DSM-4 and some to be DSM-5 descriptions see: What is mania? And What is hypomania?

Encarta Dictionary definitions of mania include:
1. An excessive and intense interest or enthusiasm for something and 2. A psychiatric disorder characterized by excessive physical activity, rapidly changing ideas, and impulsive behavior. The two uses of the word mania don’t have a lot in common.

Kraepelin, whose work has formed much of the foundation for modern efforts to divide up and diagnose illnesses, reported there were 6 types of mania. His distinctions seem to have been blended together into the one thing we now call Mania. But are all manias really the same?

Research has been less than helpful here as most researchers exclude a lot of people from their studies. If you exclude enough people, for enough reasons, the group left may look all alike. That does not mean the resulting study tells us anything about the various problems people with mania are undergoing.

One study (Haro et al., 2006) tells us that they found three very different forms of mania. The most common form of mania they called “typical mania” and this group contained 60% of the people in the study. But the other 40% had symptoms that were so different that the authors separated them into two additional subtypes of mania.

Psychotic mania is not like “Typical mania.”

Psychotic symptoms sometimes end up in making mania for a bipolar diagnosis but psychotic episodes can occur in other illnesses such as schizophrenia. It is common for families to have members who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorders and others who were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Psychotic mania looks a lot like psychosis and bipolar at the same time, but then we have another illness schizoaffective disorder to use for that also. This leaves the diagnosis of psychotic Bipolar in doubt. I have seen doctors record a diagnosis of schizophrenia – bipolar type.

Dual Mania is similar to other dual diagnoses

Dual Mania was described by Haro et al. as significantly different from other types of mania. Dual-diagnosis mania has been poorly recognized simply because most people who abuse substances are routinely excluded from research studies. Haro et al. report that this systematic exclusion of people with multiple problems leaves a huge gap in our understanding of mania and therefore Bipolar Disorder.

Dual Diagnosis client with mania spent significantly more days in the psychiatric hospital and had more suicide attempts. This is consistent with other studies that have shown people with Bipolar Two are at the highest risk for a suicide attempt and that people who abuse substances have higher risks also. Unfortunately acutely suicidal clients are also routinely excluded from studies of mania and Bipolar Disorders despite there being overrepresented in substance abuse treatment and acute psychiatric facilities.

Other characteristics of clients with “dual mania” included being male and younger than others with a manic episode. Dual mania resulted in higher disability levels. Dual mania was also more likely to cause job and relational problems.

Of those clients in the Haro et al study, 25% had a history of alcohol abuse. Of those with dual mania, 40% had a history of marijuana use or abuse. So that means many dual mania clients had abused both.

In substance abuse treatment the pattern of alcohol and marijuana use coupled with job, relational and legal problems is so common as to be almost universal. Among those in treatment for methamphetamine abuse, manic and hypomanic symptoms are commonly reported even when the client is not using drugs. Episodes of manic or hypomanic symptoms are also commonly reported as triggers for substance abuse relapse.

Of those with long-term mania and multiple hospitalizations the “aggressive type, ” all had histories of substance abuse (Soto, 2003.) This study did not specifically include a substance abuse type of mania but noted that among those with long-term mania and a history of substance abuse those who had not used in the last 30 days were no different than those who had used or drank. The suggestion to me is that there is something different about those who experience mania and abuse substances. Mania predisposes people to abuse substances and both conditions need to be treated.

My conclusion

The continued exclusion of substance abusers and those who are suicidal results in research data that excludes those at the highest risk and those who most use mental health services.

Comments on Mania, Bipolar co-occurring disorder, and recovery, and most anything mental health-related are always welcomed.

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel

Mid-life and later life eating disorders?

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By David Joel Miller, MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

Unhealthy food

Unhealthy relationship with food.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Why are mid-lifers and seniors developing eating disorders?

Eating disorders have traditionally been thought of as diseases of adolescence and young adulthood. Recently we think we are seeing an increase in eating disorders in middle age and older adults. Are people first developing an eating disorder as adults and if so why?

The first eating disorder to be recognized and studied was anorexia. When someone weighs less than 85% of the “average” weight for their height and age they stand out. Consider also that those average weight charts cited in some of the research may date from 1959 when most people here in the U. S. were smaller than we are now.

Bulimia was not recognized as a separate disorder until very recently and the closer we look the more eating disorders we find. Currently, a very large number of eating disorders are lumped together under the heading Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS). When the DSM-5 comes out next year (2013) there will be a whole new way of categorizing eating disorders and our understanding is likely to change.

Anorexia has long been thought of as a disease that first starts in adolescence or early adulthood. We thought it was brought on by a distorted body image or the influences of media emphasis on thinness. Anorexia is often a life long illness with relapses and can be fatal. We thought if you got out of your teen years without this illness you were home free.

We also thought that eating disorders were mostly a problem for women because of the emphasis of society on valuing women for their bodies. So when men began to be diagnosed with eating disorders this made us question what we knew about eating disorders. That change in thinking came slowly.

One study from a large European service reported in what they called a “definitive” study, that there were no cases of eating disorders that developed after age 26. I have left the name of the author of this report out from a sense of kindness. The trouble with the study was that they ended up, after looking at ten years of cases, with only eleven patients they were able to interview. Among those eleven were only one man, one person with Bulimia Nervosa, and one person with EDNOS. They conclude that no one gets an eating disorder as an adult.

A study by a U. S. nonprofit of clients who were in treatment for an eating disorder in their midlife reported on a sample of 100 clients (Kally, Cumella, 2008.) They found significant incidences of late-onset of an eating disorder and differences in why they may occur.

Kally & Cumella considered the question “Could these later life presentations just be people who always had the disorder but never got diagnosed and were just now reaching treatment?”

They conclude that eating disorders can and do first develop in midlife and beyond but for different reasons than those reported in samples of younger people.

They looked at three factors, background factors that predisposed the person to an eating disorder, the immediate precipitator or trigger for the episode, and factors that maintain the disorder once it is established. What they found strikes me as having implications for eating disorder sufferers of all ages as well as pointing us in the direction of why more men are receiving the diagnosis these days.

The largest contributing factors they found (in my words not necessarily theirs) were a history of abuse or neglect, not just as children but at any age, and critical non-affirming people in their support system. Respondents reported that factors in the home they lived in were more important than some general societal messages.

This agrees with the things many children have told me. They developed eating problems because a parent or sibling called them fat not because of some celebrity’s appearance. Family pressure to look a certain way, parents who controlled food or abuse substances, along with a history of abuse or neglect were some of the background reasons or risk factors for developing an eating disorder.

It takes more than a background risk factor to cause an eating disorder.

Most of the sample talked about a specific triggering event and the triggers were different for older onset cases. Children developed symptoms as a result of their family of origin problems. Those who develop eating disorders later were often triggered by events in their family of choice. So if you were abused or neglected as a child or your parents divorced you might get through the event without developing a psychiatric diagnosis. But if that sort of event happened to you as an adult, you get a divorce, then you might develop an eating disorder. People with the risk factor might show increased sensitivity to the same sort of event happening at a later point in their life.

There are more differences between early-onset and late-onset eating disorders.

Adolescents are more likely to be triggered by their body image. This is the result of a natural process of growth and development. The body changes and it can be uncomfortable. This is more likely if those in your house are unsupporting or critical.

Adults develop eating disorders because of changes in the family they have created. Divorce, separation, and relationship conflicts are all triggers. As the rate of divorce increased so did the rate of adults with an eating disorder. Adults also can be triggered by health and medical issues. There was a time when there was no such thing as being too heavy. A baby who was chubby was referred to as healthy. As people live longer and become heavier we see more and more negative effects of excess weight.

Men also are feeling the effects of a shift in societal views. Overweight men are now expected to lose weight. People of both sexes have an increasing problem of weight gain caused by medications. More than ever before people are facing medication caused weight gain.

Children who were forced to diet early in life are more likely to develop a binge eating or overeating disorder in adulthood (Rubenstein, et al., 2010.) In adulthood, the number of men who develop eating disorders begins to catch up with the number of women (Keel et al., 2010.)

The eating disorder conclusion.

Young people develop eating disorders because of a faulty or poor body image. Adults, as they get older, develop eating disorders because they do not like the changes in their bodies and in their life that aging causes.

What are your thoughts about why mid-lifers and seniors are developing eating disorders?

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel

How is Hypomania different from Mania or a Manic Episode?

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By David Joel Miller, MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

Person with masks

Bipolar.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

Hypomanic Episodes.

In a post on Manic Episodes we talked about how episodes, according to the DSM are not diagnoses, they are “building blocks” out of which diagnosis is created. Someone could have either a manic episode or a hypomanic episode. The primary significance is the decision on labeling the condition as Bipolar one or Bipolar two. No Manic or Hypomanic Episode and you will not get the Bipolar label.

The Bipolar Disorder spectrum currently is very confused and confusing. It includes Bipolar I, Bipolar II, proposals for Bipolar III, IV, and so on, as well as hypomania, mania, Cyclothymic Disorder, Hyperthymia, Hyperthymic personality disorder, and so on. This spectrum is a very divergent group. Disorders involving an elevated mood may be the most Heterogeneous group there is (Van O’s et al. 2007.)

Lumping all these varieties together may be overlooking the possibility that there are “Types of Bipolar Disorders.”

Hypomania requires a specific time period in which someone has had the symptoms of “elevated, expansive, or irritable mood.” The difference is that for full mania the period needs to last for a full week, hypomania need only last for four days.

This creates some problems. What if you have manic-like symptoms for only three days? Do you get left out of the Bipolar spectrum? If someone has serious mania but it only lasts 6 days do they get Bipolar II not Bipolar I?

The effort to separate out conditions by the length of symptom duration may help psychiatrists decide what medication to prescribe but it does not make much difference to the client who has short but intense episodes of manic-like symptoms.

Since some of the changes in Hypomania may be subtle we take the word of others who know you or live with you to make this decision.

Most of the symptoms used to define hypomania are the same as those used to define a manic episode. The primary difference is the duration, four days to six is hypomania and a week or more is mania.

The exception here is that since hypomania is supposed to be a milder or different from mania.

If you have ever had hallucinations or delusions (not caused by drugs) then we skip the hypomania label and go directly to mania.

Here are the hypomania symptoms, then the exclusions. This narrative parallels the DSM but is my less technical, more colorful explanation.

The symptoms list is a lot like the list for Mania. I have italicized some of the differences.

A. For at least 4 days the person has an episode of “elevated, expansive or irritable mood.” Elevated does not mean happiness. There are lots of descriptions of these elevated moods and they vary from person to person but the key factor is that these episodes are not like other people and that there are times when this person is not like this. If this episode is really bad we may waive the 4-day rule.

B. Pick 3 or four symptoms from a list of seven.

Each of these symptoms can vary in intensity and it is a judgment call. The result is that diagnosis can vary from clinician to clinician and even from time to time for the same person and the same clinician.

Here are the 7 symptoms needed to make a manic episode.

1. Grandiosity and excessive self-esteem. They can make no mistakes and can’t understand why people question them.

2. Sleep changes. You don’t need to sleep. Someone with Bipolar I can stay up for days and is full of energy. They may only sleep three or four hours a night. And in the morning they are not tired.

This reduced need for sleep may be a little less than in mania but the result is the same. People who are going manic or hypomanic get accused of drug use but if tested they have no drugs in the system or at least no drugs that explain the excess energy.

This is a troubling part of the diagnosis. Research studies (Carver & Johnson 2008) say that a lack of sleep can “induce” mania. So the lack of sleep is both a cause and a symptom of Mania? This sleep mania question needs more research. If the definitive study of this connection has been done so far I have not found it.

Not sleeping and not feeling tired does not mean that the person is rested. The longer this below normal sleep episode goes on the more irritable and delusional the person is likely to get. They may even begin to hallucinate. Only they don’t know they are delusional. They are convinced they are right and other people are dumb to not see how smart they are. If the hallucinations or delusions are noticeable to others we call it mania, not hypomania.

3. They talk a lot.

In hypomania, you may be able to interrupt them but not for long. They have a lot to say. Sometimes they talk too loudly and too emphatically. This is not the same as the way we old people talk when wound up, but that might give you a picture.

4. They feel their thoughts are “racing.”

Too many things to think about. In kids, this looks a lot like ADHD.

5. Lack of focus and easily distracted.

They are in such a hurry they move from topic to topic, project to project, and can’t figure out what to do next. Lots of things left half-finished and on to the next one.

6. Increased goal-directed activity.

In mania it is excessive, in hypomania, those around them notice an increase but can’t explain why.

This can be trying to do too much at work, socially, sexually, or in most any area of life. This over goal-directed activity can lead to excessive physical motion like a person whose engine is always running.

7. Overdoing pleasurable activities.

Hard to believe that someone could have too much fun but what we are looking for here is not that they have a lot of fun but that they continue to do pleasurable things despite negative consequences. This could also be affected by the assessor’s values judgments.

Examples of excesses are overspending, reckless or dangerous activities, “sexual indiscretions” and so forth. This needs to be more than someone who just likes to do something, like collect something. There is an episodic nature to these activities and most everyone will agree that this person has binges of overdoing things despite them getting in trouble.

This characteristic is highly related to the continued use despite negative consequences we see in substance abuse. As a matter of fact, people with a Bipolar diagnosis are much more likely to also have addiction and alcoholism issues than the general population.

The result?

To be diagnosed with a hypomanic episode you need to have three of the seven symptoms. We want four if you are just irritable but not expansive or elevated in mood. But with hypomania, the symptoms can be milder, more of a judgment call, and can be briefer in time duration.

If you or someone you know has symptoms of hypomania please see a professional. This article is not meant to be enough for you to do “do it yourself diagnosis.” There are many effective treatments for Mania, Bipolar Disorder, and related conditions.

BIG QUESTION: What about people who have these symptoms for less than four days? Or those that move in and out of Hypomania very quickly? Are we missing some other type of Bipolar Disorder? Or is that moodiness something else?

Stay tuned for more on Mania, Hypomania, Cyclothymia and Bipolar Disorder, and Types of Bipolar Disorder and the things we know and don’t know about all these topics.

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel

Do medications or drugs cause mania or Bipolar disorder?

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By David Joel Miller MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

Drugs.

Drugs.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

A connection between taking medication, abusing drugs, and Bipolar Mania?

The question of connections between “drugs” and various mental illnesses is a huge concern.  We have known for a long time that there is a connection between some chemicals and Mania. The connection to Bipolar Disorders, formerly called Manic Depressive Disorder, is more problematic.

People seem to think that because a medication is prescribed by a doctor or can be purchased over the counter, it is safe. The huge increase in abuse of prescription medication has made us question that. Now there is evidence that not just street drugs but prescription medications may be setting off episodes of mania.

We all pretty much intuitively know what depression looks like. But Bipolar Disorder that is something else. The official definition of Bipolar disorder requires a lot more than just moodiness.

To get the diagnosis of bipolar you need to have had an episode of mania or hypomania. But the DSM excludes from diagnoses symptoms caused by drugs of abuse. For Bipolar Disorder this includes Bipolar symptoms that were caused by prescribed medications.

Do prescribed medications cause Mania or Hypomania? They sure do.

The creation of Manic symptoms by the taking of medications is so common that some researchers have proposed a separate “type” of Bipolar Disorder, Bipolar III, for those times when taking a medication causes manic symptoms (Akiskal 1999, 2003, Williams 2006.)

Here is the Bipolar medication dilemma.

Most people who get diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder have had one or more episodes of depression first. Then they have an episode of mania or hypomania and the diagnosis gets changed. Taking antidepressants is well known to result in propelling some people into a manic episode. This happens to about 10% of all people prescribed some antidepressants. Also if someone has EVER had an episode of mania or hypomania that risk of sudden switching increases to 20% (Breggin 2010.)

That drug or medication-induced mania is specifically excluded from the diagnosis under the DSM-4.

In practice, it has come to be common that a person who has a sudden extreme reaction to an antidepressant is a likely candidate for a Bipolar Diagnosis despite the DSM-4 exclusion.

If it was only antidepressants that created mania things would be simple. Lots of other drugs and medications can result in manic or near manic episodes.

There is a huge difference between someone being “maniacy” when under the influence or while withdrawing and those people who take a medication one time and are propelled into recurring bouts of mania or hypomania.

We see manic-like symptoms in people who use and abuse stimulants. Even excess of caffeine can create those sorts of symptoms. But medications that we do not think of as stimulants can cause manic and hypomanic episodes.

Antibiotics have been shown to induce manic episodes. So have anti-anxiety meds and some over the counter medications. Other medications like steroids, both prescribed and abused have been suspected of creating this effect also. That connection remains uncertain.

So the question becomes, “Do prescribe medications create a manic episode?” It looks like the answer to that is yes, sometimes they do. Does that mean this is just an allergic reaction or side effect of that medication? This is iffier as some people have that response and others don’t.

Is it possible that people who have an undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder are likely to be propelled into a manic or hypomanic episode when they are exposed to a medication to which they are sensitive?  I am inclined to think so.

We also see a huge overlap between substance abuse disorders, especially alcohol abuse, and Bipolar Disorders. Does alcohol abuse cause a Bipolar condition? Are people with undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder more likely to abuse alcohol?

Does this medication-induced mania matter? Williams says it does and reports that the rate of suicide attempts by people who switch to mania as a result of taking an antidepressant is even higher than for those with Bipolar II.

But there is more

People with anxiety are sometimes treated with an antidepressant. They also can experience an episode of mania or hypomania.

All this points out to me that with all we know about Bipolar Disorder there is still a lot more we don’t know and a lot more research is needed in this area.

It also suggests that there may be multiple types of Bipolar or even several different disorders currently being lumped together under one name.

For more on Bipolar disorders see:

Hyperthymia and Bipolar Disorder

Do drugs cause mental illness?

Bipolar – Misdiagnosed or missing diagnosis?

Bipolar or Major Depression?

Bipolar doesn’t mean moody    

Or the category list to the right.

Anyone have the experience of taking or doing something and then having an episode of Mania which resulted in the diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder that you would care to share?

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel

Bereavement, Grief and Loss – V62.82 or Z63.4

Quote

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By David Joel Miller.

Why Bereavement might require counseling.

Bereavement

Bereavement, grief, and loss.
Picture courtesy of Pixabay.

Why Bereavement might require counseling.

Bereavement, the loss of someone close, is a normal part of life. How you react to that Bereavement determines if someone needs to see a counselor. We expect you to go through the process of grieving when they lose someone close to you. If you have difficulty with this process you might need to see a counselor.

Having certain other factors in your life may increase the need for professional help to deal with the bereavement.

Most people can navigate the bereavement process with the help of family, friends, and their faith-based community if they have a particular faith. We expect you to think about the departed person, be sad, and have some physical symptoms. Crying, loss of appetite, poor sleep, and even some weight loss are common in the early stages of bereavement. You may experience more or less of these symptoms. Some people can express this outwardly and some keep the pain inside.

You will probably never completely get over the loss and you are sure to always remember the loved one but at some point, you will begin to be able to return to your life as it was before they passed. You should still be able to work, be close to others among your family and friends, and find some things pleasurable to do.

If the symptoms go on too long they begin to look more like depression than normal grief. How long the bereavement process may take you depends on you and your culture. In American and most of the “western” culture, we expect this process to take 60 days or less. If it goes beyond that we need to look at how this loss is affecting you.

If you have had other problems in the past this may put you at high risk for Bereavement issues.  If you have a history of substance abuse issues, bereavement may be a trigger for you. The loss may increase the risk you will relapse. People with histories of mental health issues are also at increased risk when navigating grief and loss.

People with Co-occurring Disorders (dual-diagnosis) are at added risk and need to be making full use of their relapse prevention tools and their support systems during this time.

Experiencing depression, substance abuse episodes, or relapsing into episodes of either are reasons you may decide to seek therapy.

Some warning signs of bereavement problems are listed in the DSM. The symptoms (in my words) include 1. Excess guilt other than about things that happened around the time of the death. 2. Thoughts of death beyond just wishing you had died with or instead of them, especially any thoughts of suicide or allowing yourself to die. 3. Feeling worthless. 4. Sluggishness, lack of energy to do anything 5. Can’t work, be with family or friends or have fun 6. Hallucinations

Bereavement is a V code (in the DSM-5 now a Z code) and is not covered by some insurance plans but if you need help it is well worth the cost to see a counselor.

If you occasionally see the person briefly or hear their voice from time to time we let that go. Depending on your beliefs this may be a very normal experience. If you see or hear other things or this begins to interfere with your life than seek help.

I have used the terms grief and loss in this explanation of bereavement but there are other types of grief and loss besides bereavement. People grieve over lost loves, divorces, job loss, natural disasters, and many other things. None of those fall under the heading of bereavement and they may or may not meet criteria for treatment according to the DSM. But then many people who don’t have a specific diagnosis come to see a counselor, they just need help solving some of life’s problems.

While I can’t provide counseling or therapy via this blog I would love to hear from any of you who care to comment on this post about your experiences with Bereavement and how you moved past it. Questions on this topic or anything having to do with mental health, substance abuse or dual diagnosis are welcome.

Has Bereavement impacted your mental health, substance abuse, dual diagnosis, and how have you coped?

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel

Cost of mental health.

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A Great post on the cost of mental illness. As high as the cost to treat it are the cost of not treating is even higher.

What is Mania or a Manic Episode?

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By David Joel Miller, MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

Person with masks

Bipolar.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

Manic Episodes.

Episodes, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) are not diagnoses, they are “building blocks” out of which diagnosis are created.

Mania and its milder cousin Hypomania are linked, closer than most marriages, to the Bipolar diagnoses. To get the Bipolar tag you must have had either a manic or a hypomanic episode and there is only a hand full of other things that might create a Manic or manic-like episode that is not Bipolar.

Some of these symptoms are a matter of judgment and intensity. There has been lots of research on the area of Mania and Bipolar disorders but the more we learn the more questions we have.

Currently, there are no laboratory tests, not even brain scans that are clearly diagnostic of mania. There are some differences in some tests but nothing that so far is clearly convincing enough to make the diagnosis.

The DSM-4-TR tells us that there may be differences in the functioning of some neurotransmitters. Then it lists five different transmitters that may vary. There are lots of ways any one transmitter may vary and any one person could have variations in from one to five transmitters. That whole approach so far is not very helpful to the clinicians or the people who have mania.

So in practice, we look for a whole list of symptoms, add them up with exclusions, inclusions, and severity, look for other explanations, and when all else is ruled out what is left we call a manic episode.

If you have EVER had a Manic Episode for which we cannot find a medical cause you get the diagnosis of Bipolar I. First the symptoms, then the exclusions. This narrative parallels the DSM but is my less technical, more colorful explanation.

A. For over a week the person has an episode of “elevated, expansive or irritable mood.” Elevated does not mean happy. There are lots of descriptions of these elevated moods and they vary from person to person but the key factor is that these episodes are not like other people and that there are times when this person is not like this. If you get yourself locked up, usually this is in a psychiatric hospital; we wave the full week requirement.

B. Pick 3 or four symptoms from a list of seven.

Each of these symptoms can vary in intensity and it is a judgment call. The result is that diagnosis can vary from clinician to clinician and ever from time to time for the same person and the same clinician. For example, studies show that young children in the U.S. get diagnosed with Bipolar a lot. Show the same file to a psychiatrist in the U.K and the child is more likely to get OCD or ADHD (Dubicka et al. 2008.)

Here are the 7 symptoms needed to make a manic episode.

1. Big-shotism, to use a 12 step term. a sudden burst of confidence or thinking you are better, more intelligent, or smarter than others. Plans to cure cancer, run for president, and write a novel all in the same week. This can be fun for the person with Bipolar until others start disagreeing with you.

2. Sleep changes. You don’t need to sleep. Someone with Bipolar I can stay up for days and is full of energy. They may only sleep two, three, or four hours a night. And in the morning they are not tired.

This looks a lot like a Meth user only they don’t need drugs to stay up and they get to sleep just a little each night.

The DSM says this is the big one of all the symptoms. To quote the DSM – “Almost invariably, there is a decreased need for sleep.”

This is a troubling part of the diagnosis. Research studies (Carver & Johnson 2008) say that a lack of sleep can “induce” mania. So a lack of sleep is both a cause and a symptom of Mania? This sleep mania question needs more research. If the definitive study of this connection has been done so far I have not found it.

Not sleeping and not feeling tired does not mean that the person is rested. The longer this below normal sleep episode goes on the more irritable and delusional the person is likely to get. They may even begin to hallucinate. Only they don’t know they are delusional. They are convinced they are right and other people are dumb to not see how smart they are.

3. They talk a lot.

Not used car salesman or late night infomercial type rapid talk. Professionals call this “pressured Speech.” The person has so much going on in their head they can’t talk fast enough to say it all. The can jump from subject to subject, include extra unrelated stuff and just generally talk so only they know what they are talking about. Sometimes even they can’t figure out what they were trying to say.

4. They feel their thoughts are “racing” or they keep jumping subjects like that old-school record with a scratch.

This also gets mentioned by clients diagnosed with anxiety based disorders. Are Bipolar and Anxiety related? We know that depression and anxiety co-occur commonly, why not Bipolar and anxiety?

5. Lack of focus and easily distracted.

They are in such a hurry they move from topic to topic, project to project and can’t figure out what to do next. Lots of things left half-finished and on to the next one.

This sort of lack of focus reminds me of sitting with a channel surfer who keeps changing the T.V. channel in mid-sentence. This is more a matter of being over-interested in too many things than of losing interest in any one thing.

This characteristic looks a lot like a symptom of ADHD and so given the same person and the same symptoms one clinician may see this as Bipolar and another will see ADHD.

6. Excessive goal-directed activity.

This can be trying to do too much at work, socially, sexually, or in most any area of life. This over goal-directed activity can lead to excessive physical motion like a person whose engine is always running. This characteristic called “psychomotor agitation” also looks like the “hyperactivity” in ADHD further leading to the question are those two conditions related or do they just get confused?

7. Overdoing pleasurable activities

Hard to believe that someone could have too much fun but what we are looking for here is not that they have a lot of fun but that they continue to do pleasurable things despite negative consequences. This could also be affected by the assessor’s values judgments.

Examples of excesses are overspending, reckless or dangerous activities, “sexual indiscretions” and so forth. This needs to be more than someone who just likes to do something, like collect something. There is an episodic nature to these activities and most everyone will agree that this person has binges of overdoing things despite them getting in trouble.

This characteristic is highly related to the continued use despite negative consequences we see in substance abuse. As a matter of fact, people with a Bipolar diagnosis are much more likely to also have addiction and alcoholism issues than the general population.

The result

To be diagnosed with a manic episode you need to have three of the seven symptoms. We want four if you are just irritable but not expansive or elevated in mood.

But look at how many of these things are judgment calls. Was Steve Jobs grandiose? How about Bill Gates? How much can I work or write before it becomes “excessive goal-directed behavior.” Are all writers Bipolar? (I need to think about that one.)  How many books can I buy this week before it becomes excessive involvement with pleasurable activities?

Sorry, this post is running long. My short explanation of manic episodes leaves more questions unanswered than it answered. Like: How could you be manic and not have Bipolar disorder?  What is hypomania and how is it related to all this? Are their different types of mania? What is a mixed episode? What things cause mania? How will this all change when we get the DSM-5?

If you or someone you know has symptoms of mania please see a professional. This article is not meant to be enough for you to do “do it yourself diagnosis.” There are many effective treatments for Mania, Bipolar Disorder, and related conditions.

Stay tuned for more on Mania, Hypomania, Cyclothymia, and Bipolar Disorder and the things we know and don’t know about all these topics.

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel

Which border is Borderline Intellectual Functioning on?

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By David Joel Miller, MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

Crossing the border.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

What is Borderline Intellectual Functioning?

Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF) is one of several totally unrelated conditions that are officially or unofficially called borderline only because they are on the edge or junction of some other condition. BIF is in no way related to Borderline Personality Disorder.

Borderline Intellectual Functioning is a designation for some individuals who find it hard to learn some information. It sometimes gets confused and mixed up with several types of ADHD or the older label ADD.

The definition of BIF is totally determined by the person’s IQ score. Stay with me here as I explain this. I will give you the exact numbers as we go.

There is also a lot of prejudice about anyone with a low I.Q. score even though some low I.Q. scoring people are extremely talented in areas that are not captured on an I.Q. test.

When discussing I.Q scores we need to be very careful. First, they do NOT mean what many people think they mean, and since they are mathematical numbers being somehow attached to non-mathematical people we need to talk some statistic-number-stuff to explain this one. I will keep the number stuff extra simple.

The companies that make the tests try to improve the test over time but there is only so much you can do in trying to give a test that somehow is meant, to sum up, a person’s abilities. We believe that  I. Q. is made up, not of one single ability, but a whole host of talents. Verbal and mathematical talents are easy to capture with a written test, musical, artistic, and athletic talents may not show up so much.

There is also evidence of something called E. Q. (Emotional intelligence.) We all know someone who is very bright in school but is no good with people and there are those individuals who are good with people or animals but can’t pass a written test.

Many, but not all I. Q. and related tests, are biased towards how many words you know. Want to score well on a lot of ability tests – learn all the words you can.

The scores are designed to measure how someone’s test score compares to other people. We still can’t find any “normal” people to compare others to so we create an imaginary “normal” person by averaging all the scores we get and saying that average (or mean or mode) is somehow the “normal” person.

I.Q. tests are set up so that the “average” score is 100. Theoretically, if you test enough people the most common score is 100. But scores vary an awful lot. So is someone with a 99 really less smart than someone who scores a 101? Not very much.

If you take this kind of test many times you will get many scores. So some days you, one single individual will be “smarter” than on others.

One day the average person scores a 95. We could call that below normal. The next day they get a 105 and are above average. So we learn to use ranges of scores, not just the number.

Turns out that the largest group of people will score between 85 and 115 on most tests. (For the math people the standard deviation here is 15.) This group will contain just under 70% of all humans.

We consider this whole range of people 85-115 more or less the same. Since scores of one person may move up or down 5 points from day-to-day we need to look at the people just outside that range.

So are people above 115 really smart, geniuses maybe? Not that often. It may be easier for someone with an I.Q of 125 to get A’s in school but we all have heard of very bright people who fail school and less smart people who study really hard and get good grades.

For most purposes, we don’t see a lot of differences in individuals till we get out to two standard deviations. People who score between 70 and 130 all fall within the “average” group. This group covers about 97.5 % of all people. Only those below 70 and above 130, start to get extra special labels.

Really high scores might get the label “genius.” But some of them still do some dumb things. It may be a lot easier for the person who has an I.Q. of 125 to do a book report and someone with a score of 90 may struggle on a math assignment or vice versa, but we think anyone in that range, with a good education, can do this stuff.

Now back to Borderline Intellectual Functioning. The definition of BIF is an I. Q. Score of 71-84. The person with this score is on the low end of what we would consider an “average” or “normal” person.

Telling someone they or their child has a low score on an I. Q. test is likely to upset them. They want us to do something.

Most of us understand when a kid is too small or skinny to be good at football. We accept that a really short kid will not do so well in basketball. Most of us get this. Except sometimes parents want their kid to be good at a sport so badly that they push this kid unmercifully to grow more and get taller. Don’t get me started on the long-term damage wanting your kid to be something they are not can do to that child.

Not very many parents want to accept that their kid has fewer math or spelling circuits in their brain. So when they get the results of the I.Q. test they want something to make their kid smarter. Lots of kids in the lower normal I.Q. score range get low grades, get discouraged, and stop caring about school work. Then they get diagnosed with ADHD and given a stimulant medication. It may boost their test scores a little, for a while, but it does not make them develop a higher I.Q.

Many people with BIF do graduate from school, get jobs, and have happy productive lives. The task for them is to find the other areas in life for which they have abilities and then accept that some school type things may be harder for them than for people with more skill in another area.

My belief is we need to stop telling our kids that they need to be on the football team and get straight A’s and begin to accept that everyone has different talents. What are your talents and what are you doing with them?

For more on the Mental Health treatment of Borderline intellectual functioning see the post on V codes.

There, I will climb down off my soapbox, — for now.

Did that help you understand Borderline Intellectual Functioning?

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel

You know your manic when–

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Here is a really good description of one type of mania.

One problem limit – rationing emotional help

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By David Joel Miller, MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

Counseling questions

Counseling questions.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

Can you have too many problems to get help?

Ever feel like you are standing in the wrong line? You go to a place and ask for help only to be told we can’t help you with that problem you need to go someplace else. If you have a few too many problems you might get discouraged and stop trying before you found the place that could help you. You might die while waiting for help.

Systems used to be designed as if people only had one problem. You go to the specialist who handles that one thing. That almost never works, people have multiple problems.

So the system would try to sort people out by their problems. All the people with substance abuse problems go over there. You people with a mental illness you need to stand in that line. We had a line for everything. Lots of places still do.

People with co-occurring disorders, combinations of a substance use disorder and a mental health issue got used to this. You go to a treatment place for substance abuse and they tell you to go see mental health. You go to mental health and they tell you they can’t see you till you stopped using drugs. I would like to do that if only the depression and the voices in my head would shut up. So around and around you go.

So we set up a system where the mentally ill stand in line 1 and the substance abusers you stand in that line over there. The homeless go to another building and the unemployed go somewhere else. If you have a physical illness we send you to this doctor but if it is your heart you see the heart doctor and so on.

Most of us would like to think we are not like those people. We are not homeless or criminals. Until that day when you lose your job and then can’t find a new one.  If you stay out of work too long you might run out of money and have to choose between making the house payment and paying the registration and insurance on your car. But if you get stopped while driving to that job interview with no insurance or registration you might suddenly find yourself as a criminal. That might make you depressed and you might have a drink or two, maybe too many.

See how quickly these problems begin to add up. Multiple problems can be overwhelming to the person with them. They can also be too much to handle for the person who is trying to help them. I would like to help you but the agency I work for has rules and if you don’t do what I say you will not get any help.

One woman told me she was sorry for missing her therapy appointment last week, could I still please see her. Seems she was told by her welfare worker that if she did not come in that day they would cut off her welfare. The same day she got a call from the principal at the school telling her that her son was in trouble at school and if she did not come for a conference this afternoon they would be expelling her son.

Can’t understand why a kid who was sleeping on the floor at a friend of his depressed mother would be grouchy and argue with his teacher or end up in the office after talking back to that principal.

Now I don’t want to sound all negative, though some days that is more likely than others.

Some systems are making strides towards being more helpful and less territorial about controlling the clients. Substance abuse providers are offering mental health treatment and physical health facilities are providing substance abuse and mental health treatment.

Still, we have a long way to go before people who need help can get it wherever they go. As many of us have seen during this last economic downturn, anyone can be closer than they think to a whole list of problems.

SAMHSA talked for a while about the concept of “No wrong door.” That no matter which place you went, they should be able to help you and they should get you connected with the help you needed.

Then came this re-depression and we started locking doors.

Have you and yours been able to get the help you needed?

Care to share? What help have you needed? Has that help been easy to access or have you had to run from place to place and try to meet each program’s differing requirement to get services?

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel