While postpartum depression is a topic discussed with some regularity in the public sphere, mental health during pregnancy is an issue not often discussed. Though joyous and exciting, pregnancy can also be a stressful and difficult time for moms-to-be, and their mental health should be monitored along with their physical well being as they prepare for motherhood. From what’s normal to feel, to treatment for mental health issues, to how depression can manifest itself during delivery, there are a lot of elements to consider when exploring the interplay of pregnancy and mental health...

When it rains it pours, they say. The old adage may hold more truth than expected when it comes to mental health diagnosis. Commonly, those who are diagnosed with depression are also suffering from anxiety as well. This seems to hold true for both unipolar and bipolar depressive disorders, and it presents unique challenges for both patient and clinician. Difficulties in Diagnosis Proper diagnosis of depression and anxiety disorders is difficult. For starters, patients commonly report physical symptoms, like back or chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue and loss of appeti...

Impulsive? Unstable? No emotional control? While at first glance these might seem like symptoms of a number of mental health problems, they could be signs of borderline personality disorder (BPD). What was once thought of as irregular (“borderline”) forms of existing mental disorders, the illness was recognized for the first time as a separate disorder in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-III) in 1980.

Recent studies have shown that many Americans are finding it harder and harder to get a decent amount of sleep, but why? Studies have pointed to physical issues, like obstructive sleep apnea, as well as mental health issues, like stress and depression. It's been proven that losing weight can greatly improve symptoms of sleep apnea. But what about treating mental health issues? In a question similar to the "chicken versus the egg" conundrum, could sleep problems traditionally thought to be symptoms of mental disorders actually be the cause of the mental disorders? Could treating sleep disord...

It's a staple of mental and emotional health that you must know how to build and maintain healthy relationships with others. But foster students lack this luxury.

Concussions don’t have to knock a person out cold to cause brain damage. A couple of good tackles in a contact sport can cause damage that can affect a person’s ability to process emotions and information later in life. 

Everyone goes through phases of highs and lows. You get a new job and feel particularly up for a month - you go through a break up and feel down for a while. However, for those with bipolar disorder the normal swings between highs and lows become severe and extremely disruptive to normal life functions and relationships.

If a teenager in your family reports hearing voices when no one is around, how concerned should you be?  If you feel both seriously depressed and very anxious, to the point where you are missing work, are you depressed, anxious, both, or neither?

Do you fly into a rage when cut off in traffic? Fume when your colleague is late to the meeting? Anger is an emotion everyone experiences from time to time. Arming yourself with knowledge about how to process the emotion, its physical results in the body, and at what point to seek medical help will allow you to control your anger - and not the other way around.

By the time you've changed your 367th poopy diaper, do you wonder if you would be happier without children, or are you certain that non-parents don't know what they're missing?