Category Archives: Resiliency

Wireless sensor enables study of traumatic brain injury

27 Nov 2015

A new system that uses a wireless implant has been shown to record for the first time how brain tissue deforms when subjected to the kind of shock that causes blast-induced trauma commonly seen in combat veterans.

 

After vet felled by PTSD, service dog Honor aids family now

26 Nov 2015

Part of the Labrador retriever’s training was to sense when the demons of war had invaded Wade Baker’s dreams.

“I was having a nightmare, a flashback,” Baker, a Gulf War veteran, once told an interviewer. “And I woke up with Honor standing on my chest, licking my face.”
He tried to push his service dog away, but Honor persisted.

12 things you should never say to someone with bipolar disorder

25 Nov 2015

Bipolar disorder is a genetic medical condition. People with it experience cycles ranging from being depressed with low energy to hyperactive or manic. According to TheMighty.com, “about 5.7 million adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder, but the illness is often misunderstood.”

 

Light therapy may help treat major depression

24 Nov 2015

For a disorder that’s one of the leading causes of disability across the globe, depression has surprisingly few lasting treatments. Light therapy has been found to be effective for people dealing with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), but for “regular” (non-seasonal) depression the results have been more mixed. But a new randomized clinical trial suggests that fluorescent light may also work for major depressive disorder – in fact, it may even be better than medication when it comes to remission from one’s symptoms. The research, especially if they’re replicated in the future, will certainly give therapists and the rest of us some food for thought.

 

Therapy animals

22 Nov 2015

They have been part of our families for decades, but now animals are also helping to improve our health.

Seniors in one community continue to flock to llamas brought in as therapy animals.

“It’s pretty unusual when you say you have a therapy llama. I get some pretty weird reactions,” said therapy llama owner Niki Kuklenski.

Audra Brulic on generalized anxiety disorder

21 Nov 2015

I’m a friend, daughter, student, and activist. I am also a person who lives with generalized anxiety disorder and mild depression. Out of all the ways that I define myself, my mental illness has presented the greatest struggle, but also the greatest growth, change, and self-examination.

Ken Barlow speaks candidly about bipolar disorder

19 Nov 2015

He’s been one of the most well-liked meteorologists in the Twin Cities for decades. But 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Morning Chief Meteorologist Ken Barlow has been living with a secret – details he shared with his morning co-anchor and friend Chris Egert.

Memories of a maybe angel in ‘Don’t Suck, Don’t Die’

17 Nov 2015

“I bent over backwards to misbehave,” Vic Chesnutt sang in 1993’s “Dodge,” “It’s a holy wonder I just didn’t flip on over into an early grave.” Like many of Chesnutt’s lyrics, it proved to be heartbreakingly prophetic.