January 25th, 2012

Class:

Sorry I couldn’t be with you today, as I am ill. I’ve taught Clinical Psychology since 2003 and have never missed a lecture day until today!

In order to keep the term on track, the exam will still be held tomorrow as scheduled. We will have a special guest speaker next Wednesday who will speak about his experiences as a veteran and about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

It was my intention today to discuss mood disorders, particularly the forms of depression and forms of bipolar disorder. You will need to read this material on your own, with special emphasis on the following:

  1. What are the diagnostic criteria for major depressive episode and for dysthymic disorder?
  2. Once you understand the difference between the above, which do you think is more frequently encountered in chiropractic offices or outpatient settings?
  3. How common is depression?
  4. Know the 7 “secrets” of depression, which are the characteristics of depression that many people don’t appreciate (the lay public often believes the opposite of the 7 secrets is true).
  5. The former term for bipolar disorder was manic-depression, which turned about to be too restrictive, as there are several sub-categories of the illness.
  6. Know the diagnostic criteria for Bipolar I, Bipolar II, and cyclothymic disorder (which is easy to get mixed up with dysthymic disorder).
  7. As you read about mania, you will find that some characteristics sound appealing…increased activity, increased drive, goal-oriented behavior, etc. It seems that a little mania would come in handy when you are studying for finals or boards or planning your wedding or anytime you are feeling the stress of responsibilities. However, the feeling of mania is really negative and uncontrolled. The patient experiencing it has difficulty moderating the flight of ideas and run-on dialogue. It really isn’t a comfortable or useful feeling for the person with bipolar disorder.
  8. Why do you think so many patients and healthcare providers fail to recognize the signs and symptoms of depression? Are the symptoms unusual? Nope. Let me throw out this idea…which is more “acceptable” to experience, physical symptoms or psychological symptoms? Certainly our society stigmatizes psychological symptoms, which isn’t a surprise to you, but even healthcare providers stigmatize the symptoms and can characterize the patient as “weak”. I hope you can see this is not a far leap to incorrectly labeling patients as “malingerers”.
  9. The above are a few things I had hoped to discuss with you today. The list is NOT intended to direct you away from the rest of the material. All the lectures are testable material, not merely what I’ve highlighted above.
  10. The exam will be mostly multiple choice, with about 8-10 true/false. I hope I can be with you, but if I am still ill, I will have another faculty member and my proctors administer the exam.
  11. If you have questions, you can email me, but I won’t have constant access to email (I really am sick!).