As we enter this world as an infant, we grow, we learn, we get older, and we eventually die. It’s the natural order of life. One does not know when he or she will die or how he or she will die, yet we know that day is coming. For some individuals that day comes sooner than later as it did for Bobbi Kristian Brown. On July 26, 2015, Bobbi Kristina Brown the only child from pop icon Whitney Houston and R&B Singer Bobby Brown died that Sunday night. She was 22 years of age.
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It all began in 2009 -2010 when four students and a recent graduate from Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California killed themselves over a seven-month period. In just five years, the tragedy ensued and was followed by another four suicide victims this year. When a recent graduate from Gunn High killed himself on the tracks near East Meadow Drive in Palo Alto, another student ended his life the same way in less than three weeks after. Two and half months later, a senior killed himself followed by another suicide committed by a sophomore from Palo Alto High School (Kapp, 2015).
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A recent study out of Ohio State University found that Acetaminophen may be numbing emotions in addition to physical pain. Acetaminophen is a common compound found in multiple over the counter drugs, the most widely used being Tylenol. There have been numerous studies measuring the effectiveness of acetaminophen on different forms and intensities of pain, but this study is the first to examine the possible emotional impact of acetaminophen.
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April 16, 2015
by Mary Horn, Psy.D.
On March 24, 2015, tragedy changed the lives of everyone who had a friend or loved one on Germanwings flight 9525 that was en route from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany. In the initial phase of the investigation and recovery effort, most evidence points to the flight’s Co-pilot thoughtfully and methodically locking the cockpit door when the Captain went to the restroom, and purposely steering the plane into a mountain in the French Alps at 400 miles per hour.
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In recent years, however, the safety of the sport is being scrutinized as there’s a growing body of research evidence suggesting a clear link between football and brain injury. Specifically, repeated head concussions endured by many professional football players have been found to cause a brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). According to Wikipedia, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is described as a form of progressive degenerative disease. Currently, this brain condition can only be diagnosed definitively postmortem, which means that it cannot be diagnosed in living people.
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Especially among combat veterans, the prevalence of depression, PTSD, and suicide rate is even more staggering. According to 2012 VA Suicide Data Report, rates of veteran suicide are much higher than previously thought – approximately 22 veterans commit suicide every day. It is further estimated that male veterans ages 18 to 24 are particularly susceptible as evidenced by their suicide rate still increasing.
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In the wake of trauma many people feel lost and alone. The person they were before the event occurred seems altered. Where they once felt strong and assured they now live in fear and uncertainty. While not every person will have this experience after going through a life-altering event many will. Trauma can alter how a person perceives the world but it does not change the core aspects of who you are as a person.
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In the mental health field, music has been used as an effective mode of therapy since the 1800’s (American Music Therapy Association, 2015) and is still widely used today for many mental health issues and disorders. In particular, it has been found to be highly effective for those with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
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Everyone gets depressed from time to time, and often it passes and our mood brightens again. But when struggling with clinical depression, your mood can be depressed for weeks, months, or even years, resulting in real loss of functioning and quality of life. Almost 1 in 10 Americans is affected by depression every year, and 17% of us will experience a major depressive episode at least one time in our life. Additionally, depression is a major cause of disability, with an annual cost of about $40 billion in lost productivity and treatment costs (Craft & Perna, 2004).
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One does not have to argue strongly that depression is a major health concern throughout the United States, as 15 percent of Americans at one point during their lives suffered a depressive episode. Moreover, 80% or 17.1 million have experienced at least one major depressive episode during the past year.
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