Mental Health Week in Review July 12-18

by Beth McHugh | More from this Blogger

17 Jul 2008 06:48 PM

This week in Mental Health we looked at a range of issues including what happens to a mother when she is found by authorities to be suffering from Munchausen disorder by proxy and she has deliberately harmed her child. In Munchausen Mum Escapes Jail Term, we focused on the legal rather than the psychological ramifications of this disorder.

We also looked at Dependent Personality Disorder and the effects that this condition has on its sufferers, including a desperate need for reassurance from others, marked difficulty in expressing disagreement with others due to a fear of being abandoned, extreme lack of self confidence and belief in one's self, exaggerated fears of being alone and a belief that one is unable to look after oneself. The need for approval and acceptance by others is so strong that the individual becomes preoccupied with fears of being abandoned and in order to avoid that perceived occurrence, will go to excessive lengths to obtain approval, including participating in activities which are unpleasant to them.

This disorder is extremely disabling to the sufferer who often experiences extreme anxiety and occasional panic attacks. Their lives are severely curtailed by the disorder and their days often revolve around the need to minimize anxiety and an inability to make decisions, which in itself causes even more anxiety.

We also looked at the effects that Dependent Personality Disorder can have on the family and friends of the sufferer. In Dependent Personality Disorder: Difficulties in Relationships we specifically look at the effects of the disorder from the point of view of outside family and friends. Even when the sufferer undergoes counseling, the disorder is such that difficulties can occur in the therapist-patient scenario, whereby the patient becomes unduly dependent upon the therapist. Therefore therapy itself can be fraught with difficulties, and special precautions must be put in place if therapy is to be successful.

Finally we looked at electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in terms of its short-term benefits and long-term effects. In More on Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) we discussed the pros and cons of this still controversial treatment. Links to all these articles are listed below.

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Related articles:

Munchausen Mum Escapes Jail Term

Munchausen by Proxy

Munchausen by Proxy: A Special Kind of Child Abuse

What is Dependent Personality Disorder? (1)

What is Dependent Personality Disorder? (2)

Dependent Personality Disorder: Diagnostic Criteria

Dependent Personality Disorder: Difficulties in Relationships

What is Electroconvulsive Therapy?

More on Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Learn more about Beth McHugh

Beth McHugh began her career as a geologist and worked both in industry and as a university researcher.

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