Autism Spectrum Disorders (Pervasive Developmental Disorders) Not until the middle of the twentieth century was there a name for a disorder that now appears to affect an estimated one of every five hundred children, a disorder that causes...
Medications SPECIAL MESSAGE This summary is designed to help mental health patients and their families understand how and why medications can be used as part of the treatment of mental health problems. It is important for you to be well...
Treatment of Anxiety Disorders Effective treatments for each of the anxiety disorders have been developed through research.19 In general, two types of treatment are available for an anxiety disorder—medication and specific types of...
Eating Disorders: Facts About Eating Disorders and the Search for Solutions Eating is controlled by many factors, including appetite, food availability, family, peer, and cultural practices, and attempts at voluntary control. Dieting to a body...
Informations for Patients About Fibrous Dysplasia What is Fibrous Dysplasia? Fibrous dysplasia is a chronic disorder of the skeleton that causes expansion of one or more bones due to abnormal development of the fibrous, or connective, tissue...
Childhood onset schizophrenia A child's stage of development must be taken into account when considering a diagnosis of mental illness. 1 Behaviors that are normal at one age may not be at another. Rarely, a healthy young child may report...
Depression Depression is a serious medical condition that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. A depressive disorder is not the...
Schizophrenia WHAT IS IT? Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease. Approximately 1 percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their lifetime—more than 2 million Americans suffer from the illness in a given...
Social Phobia Introduction Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect approximately 19 million American adults. 1 These disorders fill people's lives with overwhelming anxiety and fear. Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety...