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Media Use and Mental Health

June 3, 2014

By Kristin Miles, PsyD
Kristin Miles, PsyD, is an attending psychologist at Rogers Memorial Hospital-West Allis’s Child and Adolescent Day Treatment program. Learn more at rogershospital.org.
Media in its multiple and ever-changing forms – TV, Internet, Facebook, Twitter, computer and video games – plays a prominent role in our lives. With this unprecedented 24/7 access, many children and teens have difficulty managing their media use. So what is the danger in multi-tasking multiple streams of entertainment and information?

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DSM-5 Offers New Criteria for OCD, PTSD and Anxiety

April 12, 2014

ADSM-5 OCD, PTSD, Anxiety few of the primary changes in DSM-5 include the reorganization of chapters for better groupings of disorders – including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – and the framework within those chapters that recognizes age-related aspects. This is important because it reflects the nature of some disorders within a patient’s lifespan. DSM-5 lists diagnoses that are most applicable to infancy and childhood first, followed by those that are more common to adolescence and early adulthood, ending with those that are often diagnosed later in life.

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DSM-5: What’s Changed in Mood, Depression Diagnoses

April 4, 2014

One of the primary changes in DSM-5 is that it now recognizes age-related aspects in each disorder and chronologically lists diagnoses that are most applicable to infancy and childhood first, followed by diagnoses that are more common to adolescence and early adulthood, and ending with those that are often diagnosed later in life. Within each disorder category, there are also modifications intended to help clinicians provide more accurate diagnoses that will lead to better treatment.

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DSM-5 Now Categorizes Substance Use Disorders in a Single Continuum

February 24, 2014

Commonly referred to as DSM-5 or “psychiatry’s bible,” the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) provides revised criteria to be used by clinicians as they evaluate and diagnose different mental health conditions. Included in DSM-5 is a new chapter on “Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders.”

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Depression and Other Mood Disorders: A New FOCUS

January 16, 2014

Depression and other mood disorders in young adults is the FOCUS of a new residential program at Rogers. With intensive psychiatric evaluations and medication management, the program builds on the strong foundation set by Rogers other residential treatment programs and strong evidence-based care.

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What is Behavioral Activation?

January 16, 2014

Losing interest in activities, withdrawal from family and friends, and sadness can be part of the daily struggle when fighting severe depression or other mood disorders. Behavioral activation – a major component of treatment in a new residential program at Rogers — addresses these struggles.

Building on Rogers’s foundation of evidence-based care through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), on February 10, Rogers opens FOCUS, a residential program for young adults with depression and other mood disorders. For these patients experiencing a difficult transition to adulthood, behavioral activation is one key building block toward recovery.

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Changes in DSM-5 Benefit Children and Adolescents

January 2, 2014

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, commonly referred to as DSM-5, helps clinicians diagnose mental disorders that aren’t as easily identified by symptoms like many other health conditions, e.g., a broken arm or case of pneumonia. Plus, the new manual offers greater insight into many of these disorders.

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What is DSM-5?

December 16, 2013

Believe it or not, the first attempt to gather information about mental health was done to collect statistical information for the 1840 census. In fact, it was these early census recordings that distinguished early categories of mental health. It was not until post-World War II that the first edition of the DSM or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was published. It was then this clinical and diagnostic tool, published by the American Psychiatric Association, provided description and diagnostic categories for clinicians working with mental disorders. Today, the DSM is still considered the authoritative guide by behavioral health professionals throughout the country, providing the common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders.

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Does My Child Have OCD? When to Seek Help

December 13, 2013

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by obsessions or compulsions leading to distress, thereby interfering with overall functioning. Although a diagnosis of OCD only requires the presence of obsessions or compulsions, the majority of children usually experience both. OCD can appear any time between preschool and adulthood, but most commonly surfaces between ages 8 and 12 or between the late teens and adulthood. It is estimated that approximately 1 in 200 children and adolescents has OCD.

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