Author: Bill Lu

自闭症、抑郁焦虑等等的mental health conditions 都是medical conditions in our brain. 症状以我们的行为言语来表达. 我们每一个人都是社会人，我们在评断时都是在我们社会文化的背景下来评断的.所以没有人可以免疫于精神疾病。如同我们学的流行病学，环境医学一样，社会大环境对人们的心理有重大影响……社會環境具有传染性和遗传性... 我想很多疾病都有这些特点. 如同最近的研究发展发現癌症，通过病毒...具有傳染性. 等等. 现代社会大环境对心理健康有许多负性影响，人类的器官，大脑器官有许多方面还沒有调节适应它的环境yet（如果你相信达尔文的进化论）近年来，应激相关的心理疾病不断上升，自杀率也及具上升，尤其在青少年年轻人中⋯⋯具体到𠆤人，个体家庭，我认为最主要的是，也是最困难的是，有一𠆤或者建立一个open growth-mindset（这是可行的，只要我们努力, 都可以做到的*）确确实实把心理疾病做为一𠆤疾病看待，而不是still think and act like “personal failure”. 把具体的人和疾病分开. 爱（不幸得病的）人”love as always”, 一起overcome 困难...其实，在帮助別人的过程中，也会帮助我们自己. 当然如果从一𠆤疾病的角度来看，至少是兩方面的.一面的可能是提高了你的免疫力；但另一面你可能被传染了. 比如，你也抑郁了。但好在，随着科学的发展，人们不断地试图着去发展新的治疗方法**. 我们多数的人可以openly seek and openly offer 帮助对患有其它駆体疾病，如拔牙. 在精神健康问题上there is a long way to go .... 但是，在起点上，我们要有一个共识：精神疾病是Medical condition, not personal failure,and no one will be immured from mental disorder.

More depressed patients die after bypass surgery than non-depressed patients August 21 2003 Heart patients who suffer from depression immediately before or after coronary artery bypass surgery face an increased risk of early death, Duke university researchers report. About twice 心脏疾病和心理健康-由病例联想的 我们都知道身心健康是不可分的，尤其是心脏病，当我们感觉不好的时候，我们会感到心悸心慌有时候会感到胸闷和心口痛⋯这些感觉有可能是由于我们确实有器质性的心脏疾病，也有可能是我们心理上的痛苦而造成的躯体症狀。 研究结果证明，至少30%到40%的所有的心脏科手术的病人都患有不同形式的焦虑和抑郁证after他们的手术。 早有研究，患有抑郁症的病人在冠状动脉心脏手术之后，死亡的概率会比没有忧郁症的病人要高出两倍（Duke Uni）；也有對照研究， 即把冠狀動脈心臟病手術的病人分成两组。一组用抗抑郁和抗焦虑的药物，一组安慰剂，結果，服用抗抑郁和焦虑的药物这组人无论是长短期康复或长期预后都比对照组好。 最近我看到了一个病人，他刚刚做了开胸手术—心脏瓣膜置换，他很是担心他的心脏瓣膜在他睡眠躺下的时候会掉下来，心脏的跳动是瓣膜关闭心肌收缩推动血液循环而造成的，所以我们可以感觉到我们的心脏的搏动。在一般情况下，如果我们感到心悸心慌，我们会感觉得我们的心脏在使劲地捶打在着我们的胸口部。 何况机械心脏瓣膜在关闭的时候会很产生很大的声音，这本身就会产生很大的焦虑，并且影响睡眠。在这种情况下，焦虑抑郁是可想而知的了。 所以如果你知道你的朋友或家人近来刚刚做了心脏手术， 或者你自己刚刚做了心脏科的手术，重要的是，不仅要有一个好的心脏科的医生或家庭医生，还要注意我们的情緒。 往往找到专科心理医生比较难，但是，我们都可以和我们自己的家庭医生谈，我们的担心我们的睡眠问题，以便及时得到帮助。家庭医生也会在适当的时候介绍，这些病人去看心理科的医生。 心脏手术之后，服药和饮食运动都会有改变，所以一定要多咨询医生，得到正确的信息．很多人在手术之后，即使忧虑和焦虑症，如果及时治疗都会有一个健康，愉快的人生。

夏末秋初, 有学龄孩子的家庭都会考虑下一个学年的事．无论孩子是升高二三，还是应届毕业既将去大学读书，家长们都会在想在问，怎样帮助孩子进入大学校园呢？ 从我們多年來为学生和学生家长们做咨询的工作经验中，以及美高校咨询中心联合调查结果的资料来看，每年秋季（Oct/Nov), 健康咨询中心便进入了一个高峰期，学生以Academic stress, Anxiety and Depression 来咨询的最多. 在与学生咨询交流的过程中发现，有一个良好自律性的学生would overcome his or her difficulties better, and in long term would be good for life, for all aspects of health and growth. 以下文章是从childmind.org节选下來的，许多与我們现实咨询工作很相配（无论是华人或非华人), 帮助孩子上大学的要点： 帮助孩子准备上大学，不仅仅是学业上的准备，还要有情感上的准备，更主要的是生活自理上的准备。 (more…)

睡眠卫生：邻居的孩子再过一个月就要离开家，她的媽媽问我，这一个月來，她能做些什么，來让她女兒更好地适应大学。知道这位年轻人和我们社会区高中生们，我说，如果能够帮助她自律睡眠，將是个重要的一步。 在美的青少年Delayed Sleep Phase 是非常普遍：推迟入眠时间，由于各种原因， 其中social media, 手机light...当孩子们在高中住在家里，有校车和父母的”监督”或”限制”再睏也要爬起来去上学。到了大学，这些（我们所说的”structure”） 没有了， 不少新生struggled or even failed academic work. 睡眠卫生与心理卫生有着不可分开关系：没有良好的睡眠会导致身心的疾病，许多underline 精神疾患也是从睡眠不良开始的： (more…)

Many of us have grown used to jumping in at the first sign that our child is distressed, to come to the rescue. “The first thing parents should do is stop trying to fix things,” says David Romano, a psychotherapist and member of Active Minds, an advocacy organization that works to encourage open discussion of mental health on college campuses, to avoid suicides. Romano, who sees a lot of college-bound adolescents, says that what teens need to hear, especially when they’re feeling depressed, anxious or overwhelmed, is that “It’s okay not to feel okay.” The goal is to validate their feelings, but not solve their problems. When parents notice that their teen is in distress, Dr. Giller suggests responses like: “I see you’re really struggling right now.” “I’m guessing that this…

Even with a good foundation in practicing time management skills and “coping ahead,” there are going to be times when your teen will feel overwhelmed. But, borrowing from DBT skills, you and your child can make a plan for what to do when difficult emotions are threatening to take over. “They can come up with a written plan that includes weighing the pros and cons and thinking through consequences,” says Dr. Giller. “And then they can take a picture of it on their phone and have easy access to it when they anticipate or experience something that may be challenging.” The goal is a toolbox of things to try when they are feeling highly emotional or overwhelmed — things that will make them feel better instead of spinning out of…

So how do we prepare our kids for the rigors and life challenges that college brings? One increasingly popular answer is teaching them skills derived from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). DBT was originally designed for adults with borderline personality disorder, who experience extreme emotional instability. But DBT skills are, more and more, being used successfully to treat almost any kind of emotional dysregulation. While traditional DBT is an intensive, highly structured program, Drs. Giller and Macchia note that basic DBT skills can be adapted to help prepare incoming college students to better handle the challenges of college. What would that look like? “Near the end of high school,” explains Dr. Macchia, “parents can shift the family dynamic to encourage kids to be more independent, and practice emotional regulation and problem-solving skills for…

Juliann Garey is a journalist, novelist and clinical assistant professor at NYU. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Marie Claire; her novel, Too Bright To Hear Too Loud To See, was an American Library Association award-winner and NPR Best Book of the Year in 2013. Tuition isn’t the only thing that’s relentlessly on the rise on American college campuses. Multiple studies show a significant increase in college mental health problems in the last few years, and campus counseling services report being overwhelmed with students seeking help. Why so much emotional distress, especially during the first year away from home? Everything from academic pressure to over-protective parenting to excessive engagement in social media has been blamed for the spike in anxiety and depression. What’s clear is that adolescents making the…