by  James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

I need psychiatric help.  Not the usual kind (well, maybe), but someone in the psychiatric field to help me understand what this new report in the Archives of General Psychiatry is really telling us.  I know the headlines, that almost half of adults 18 to 24 have a psychiatric disorder.  Alcohol was higher in college students.  Nicotine and drug addiction was higher in non-college students, along with bipolar disorder.

How were these disorders diagnosed?  What was the criteria for diagnosis?  What are we to do about it?
Is this just another “scare of the day”?  Are smoking and drinking now “psychiatric disorders”?

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

If you are not stressed in these economic times, you should be, or so it seems if you listen to the media long enough these days.  The holidays are coming up also, and here’s the thing: There is good stress and bad stress but your body treats it the same.  It adds up quickly.  Ever heard of the Holmes-Rahe Live Inventory Scale (PDF download)?

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