Worriers Are More Perceptive and More Intelligent

I knew there was a pony in my worrying horse****....

http://goo.gl/0bDBxr

A propensity to worry indicates a strong ability to consider the past and future in precise detail, perhaps explaining why worriers also tend to be more intelligent.

While worriers have often been considered a liability to groups of professionals and friends alike, due to their apparent lack of confidence, they may be better at learning from past mistakes than others, and preparing for future threats. 

Researchers have recently found that worriers are better at telling when others are lying and are quicker at detecting threats, such as smoke in the room caused by a fire elsewhere. Now, a survey of one hundred students at MacEwan University has shown that worrying goes hand in hand with having a higher intelligence.

A (Virtual) Gift Bag for You

http://goo.gl/djPtNL

I recently received a virtual gift from a friend and wanted to make my own version to share with you, because I know how difficult life can get, especially when we are isolated and facing challenges most people cannot relate with.

Here then is the gift bag I created for you!


JAN's Providing Reasonable Accommodations to Employees with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Free materials on developing accommodations for employees with PTSD....

http://askjan.org/training/library.htm#ModulePTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how an individual with PTSD can effectively work with job accommodations is often misunderstood. Employers and employees with disabilities can greatly benefit from exploring successful accommodation ideas and how they benefit the workplace. This 25 minute training module and accompanying transcript will cover information on PTSD, accommodation ideas, and workplace situations and solutions. This module can be used to train new accommodation specialists, disability managers, and others responsible for making accommodation decisions. Trainees can view the module at their computer or use the module as part of a larger training.View

WITH HELP COMES HOPE: support for persons living with suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts

http://lifelineforattemptsurvivors.org/

Whether you are thinking about suicide now or in the recent past, or you made a suicide attempt last night or several years ago, we understand that the pain you have felt is deep, your emotions may still feel raw, and that your feelings about wanting to end your life are (or were) complicated. We’re glad that you found the Lifeline and we want to help you remain safe and find hope, whether your difficult period is now or in the future.

Below and throughout this website, you’ll find stories from attempt survivors who have made it through their darkest hour. Some of these stories and resources are for families, friends, and clinicians who want to support people who are feeling suicidal and/or suicide attempt survivors.

#DISABLEDBLACKLIVESMATTERTOO BY PERSEPHONE JONES

http://goo.gl/3KlP28

Many people on twitter have been tweeting lately about #BlackLivesMatter in light of recent events this year.

Persephone Jones, @galvezmiro, has been tweeting the names and photos of black and disabled people killed by police. As many in the disability community know all too well, there have been countless cases where race and disability intersect with police brutality.

Here are just a few tweets from Persephone along with her hashtag #DisabledBlackLivesMatterToo


‪#‎WhyWeDontEngage‬

Thanks and a hat tip to Marty......

‪#‎WhyWeDontEngage‬ is a Twitter hashtag that people in our community use to describe in a Tweet (140 characters) why they individually don't engage with the treatment system. The Tweets are personal, but you can access them if you have a twitter account or use a Twitter client like Hootsuite by searching with the hashtag ‪#‎WhyWeDontEngage.

One participant has helpfully "storified" the hashtag tweets at ‪http://sectioneduk.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/whywedontengage/ if you don't have a Twitter account.

Meth users 'three times more likely' to develop Parkinson's

http://goo.gl/RZV4ys

As well as finding that meth users have three times the risk for getting Parkinson's disease as non-users, the researchers also observed that female meth users may be nearly five times more likely than women who do not use drugs to develop Parkinson's.

However, the researchers are not sure why women who used meth appeared to be more at risk than men who used meth.

"Typically, fewer females use meth than males do," Hanson says. "Even though women are less likely to use it, there appears to be a gender bias toward women in the association between meth use and Parkinson's."

"Normally, women develop Parkinson's less often than men," adds co-author Karen Curtin, PhD, research assistant professor of medicine at the university and associate director of the UPDB.

"However, women may not achieve the same improvement in symptoms from medications or surgery," she considers. "If meth addiction leads to sharply increased incidence of Parkinson's disease in women, we should all be concerned."


I Want To Be a Crazy Mom My mental illness means some people think I’d be an unfit mother. I don’t care.

http://goo.gl/XhJmgl

I am managing. I have weathered flare-ups without harm. I would be a good mom. Or at least, I would be no worse a mom than many mentally healthy people.

In fact, although there are countless times that I have cursed my condition, I cannot deny that it has made me who I am, and more and more these days, I actually like that person. I admit that I went through some awfully prickly years when I wasn’t much good to anyone, but I think the things I’ve been through have made me…better somehow. More compassionate. More patient. I am still not quite ready to be a mom, but I think I’m about as ready as anyone else.


Potential new treatment for alcohol dependence: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonists

http://goo.gl/sqyV0B

Harris added that although PPAR agonists were initially developed to control blood levels of sugar and fat, they were later found to also act on the brain, thought to possibly guard against neurodegeneration, and are currently being tested as a remedy for Alzheimer's Disease.

"Because of these brain effects, several research groups have asked if PPAR agonists might be useful in drugaddiction," said Harris. "Several of these drugs are currently being tested for opiate addiction in humans. And, because these drugs are already approved by the FDA for humans, the drugs could be used 'off label' for treatment of alcoholism or other addictions. This is the first study to combine human genetic studies of alcoholism with animal models of alcohol consumption to show a connection between PPAR receptors and drugs acting on these receptors with alcohol abuse."