Information and opinions on health from lady behind the mask at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/224461/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/224461/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/224461/index http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/135263/kids-alright Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:29:31 -0400 lady behind the mask At least 1 in 6 adults experiences an MI this year. That's 170 out of every 1000. But only 20 per 1,000 is receiving SSI or SSDI due to MI. So what are the other 150 per 1,000 doing?Working. Raising kids. Singing in the choir. Getting married. Walking the dog. Sewing curtains. Playing golf. Yelling for their favorite sports teams. If 88 percent of us are "alright," why are we hiding? ladybehindmask.blogspot.com http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/135263/kids-alright http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/135149/shouldn Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:11:01 -0400 lady behind the mask As I've read the painful story about the DC teen with autism who has been jailed for assaulting a police officer, I hear the hearts of the parents who wonder: how can they balance their growing child's desire for adult freedoms with their knowledge that the child cannot maintain adult self-controls?   These questions are big questions, the kind of questions on which both the disability rights movement and the "in the closet" status... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/135149/shouldn http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/135148/shouldn Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:10:59 -0400 lady behind the mask As I've read the painful story about the DC teen with autism who has been jailed for assaulting a police officer, I hear the hearts of the parents who wonder: how can they balance their growing child's desire for adult freedoms with their knowledge that the child cannot maintain adult self-controls?   These questions are big questions, the kind of questions on which both the disability rights movement and the "in the closet" status... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/135148/shouldn http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/134259/discrimination Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:59:14 -0400 lady behind the mask Someone raised this question on another blog the other day and I thought it was a good one.   We always talk about the stigma we experience ... but "stigma" is a technical term in social science. It defines the kind of difference that defines the edge of acceptability in a culture.   If we consider our illness to be "stigmatized," then we accept the idea that it's okay to describe us as outside the acceptable boundaries... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/134259/discrimination http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/134009/global-average Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:50:39 -0400 lady behind the mask The World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative found 2.4% prevalence of bipolar disorder among the total population in 11 countries but 4.4% in the US. The report appears in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.   The researchers conducted cross-sectional, face-to-face, household surveys to describe the prevalence, symptom severity, patterns of co-existing... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/134009/global-average http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/128702/diagnoses-kids Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:40:18 -0500 lady behind the mask How young is too young for a diagnosis? When do meds hurt kids more than they help? I've seen only enough to have mixed feelings on the subject. What about you? Read more at ladybehindthemask.blogspot.com http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/128702/diagnoses-kids http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/127454/weird-journey Sun, 26 Dec 2010 23:57:57 -0500 lady behind the mask I don't know how it's been for you, but I've always been able to consider MI as just another chronic illness that you have to treat -- diabetes of the brain. Until Cymbalta landed me in the hospital and my boss decided I was a CRAZY and I lost my job at a company where I'd been working for a decade. But I get ahead of my story. Read more http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/127454/weird-journey http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/127453/dsm-oppositional Sun, 26 Dec 2010 23:50:01 -0500 lady behind the mask The diagnostic system is becoming truly Orwellian. I know a young man (16) who has been diagnosed with ODD by school staff and no one at church or home can imagine it. He's extremely sweet and helpful. But it turns out (now that John has turned me onto DSM) that the diagnostic criteria for this "personality disorder" only require it to manifest in a single life arena.   So because he is difficult in school, he has a "personality disorder"... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/127453/dsm-oppositional http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/127394/starting-blog Sat, 25 Dec 2010 23:38:28 -0500 lady behind the mask Interacting with people here has gotten my writer juices flowing. So in addition to my shareposts here, you'll find me at ladybehindthemask.blogspot.com. Best to all!     http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/127394/starting-blog http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/124511/acting-work Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:32:16 -0500 lady behind the mask I've been in a mixed state for about a month, and coworkers and boss have caught me sobbing at my desk a couple times, plus completely losing it on the phone to a coworker ("I've been here 3 hours, this grant is due tomorrow, and I've had so many people in my office that I haven't even started the work that needs to be done! What does he [colleague] need that I didn't just give him?"). Under ordinary circumstances, I'd have taken a day off... http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/224461/124511/acting-work