My mental health
R. Eric Landrum, Regan A. R. Gurung, Susan A. Nolan, Maureen A. McCarthy, Dana S. Dunn in Everyday Applications of Psychological Science, 2022
This chapter focuses on the prevention of suicide. However, many behaviors that are classified as being part of a mental illness are not dangerous. Anxiety and mood disorders together make up the bulk of mental health diagnoses; yet, except when suicidal thoughts are present, these disorders are not likely to cause immediate physical harm. Dysfunctional behavior is maladaptive; it interferes with our ability to participate fully in society. In the United States, currently, diagnoses of mental illness are compiled in a thick book published by the American Psychiatric Association with input from hundreds of professionals around the world. Depression is incredibly common, to the degree that it is sometimes called the common cold of psychological disorders. The National Institute of Mental Health concludes that, overall, the antidepressant medications are roughly equivalent to one another in their effectiveness, but that for an individual patient, some antidepressants may work better than others.
A Comparative Study of COVID-19 Data Analysis Using R Programming
Salah-ddine Krit, Vrijendra Singh, Mohamed Elhoseny, Yashbir Singh in Artificial Intelligence Applications in a Pandemic, 2022
This chapter discusses the comparable cases from developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries to aid administrators to take appropriate control measures for COVID-19, as the disease is termed. Coronavirus causes humans mild to acute respiratory illness, even death. The name comes from spikes that project from its surface and resemble a solar corona. Coronavirus has a large variety of its origins, many authors argue, which may be transmitted from animal species, such as bats and pangolins, to the human population where it spread to human by air transmission and has become a pandemic. High-risk people have a weaker immune system than the normal patient. The testing process collects samples from lungs or oropharyngeal swabs and is stored in the viral transport medium. Coronavirus causes illness ranging from the common cold to more serious diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
Course and consequences of depression
Constance Hammen, Edward Watkins in Depression, 2018
This chapter describes features of the course of depressive disorders, such as age of onset, duration and severity, chronicity and recurrence. While depression has sometimes been called the ‘common cold’ of psychological disorders, the label is misleading because it implies that suffering from depression is merely a bothersome but brief and mild inconvenience. Indeed, the consequences to the lives of depressed people may even create environmental conditions that increase the likelihood that depression will continue or recur. Depression significantly disrupts the normal performance of expected roles, and it is widely misunderstood in most cultures, often viewed as a character weakness – or as a bodily malady. Depression is one of the few psychological disorders that can be said to be fatal. Of all of the consequences, suicide is, of course, the starkest consequence of an individual’s feelings of hopelessness and depletion. Contributors to suicide vary widely by culture, demographic and social characteristics, and access to lethal means.
Identifying and Reconstructing Common Cold Misconceptions Among Developing K–12 Educators
Published in American Journal of Health Education, 2013
Marcus Johnson, Timothy Bungum
Background Common cold misconceptions may contribute to ill-informed decisions and recommendations made by K–12 educators who often encounter infected students. Understanding the structure of educators' misconceptions can be used to improve health instruction in teacher professional preparation programs. Purpose The purposes of this project were to (1) identify prevalent common cold misconceptions held by preservice educators and (2) test the effectiveness of a refutational text meant to promote the adoption of scientifically appropriate common cold conceptions. Study 1 An assessment concerning the common cold was completed by 44 preservice teachers. Misconceptions, such as cold weather triggering the common cold, were prevalent. Study 2 A total of 86 participants completed the same assessment as used in study 1 before and after reading a common cold refutational text. Participants demonstrated gains in scientifically appropriate common cold conceptions. Discussion Identifying common cold misconceptions among preservice teachers can be used to build instructional materials (i.e., refutational text). Translation to Health Education Practice Teacher preparation programs and health educators may find it useful to identify common cold misconceptions prior to instruction as a way of confirming the underlying structure of their students' misconceptions and utilize refutational texts to facilitate reconstruction of students' common cold conceptions.
Does Vitamin C Alleviate the Symptoms of the Common Cold? - A Review of Current Evidence
Published in Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1994
Since 1971, 21 placebo-controlled studies have been made to establish whether vitamin C at a dosage of < 1 g/day affects the common cold. These studies have not found any consistent evidence that vitamin C supplementation reduces the incidence of the common cold in the general population. Nevertheless, in each of the 21 studies, vitamin C reduced the duration of episodes and the severity of the symptoms of the common cold by an average of 23%. However, there have been large variations in the benefits observed, and clinical significance cannot be clearly inferred from the results. Still, the consistency of the results indicates that the role of vitamin C in the treatment of the common cold should be reconsidered.
Antibiotic use in the management of children with the common cold at a provincial hospital in Papua New Guinea: a point-prevalence study
Published in Paediatrics and International Child Health, 2018
Andree Zamunu, Wendy Pameh, Paulus Ripa, John Vince, Trevor Duke
ABSTRACT Background: Antibiotic prescribing for self-limiting viral infections such as the common cold or viral upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is irrational and increases the risk of antibiotic resistance. However, such a practice is widespread and is likely to be as common in Papua New Guinea as in many other countries. Methods: In a cross-sectional descriptive study, children were recruited who had been diagnosed with a common cold or URTI by attending clinical staff—mostly nurses—in a provincial hospital’s children’s outpatient department using a standard definition. The frequency of antibiotic prescribing was determined and the clinical knowledge and practices of nurses, health extension officers, community health workers and doctors working in the children’s outpatients department regarding the common cold and its management was assessed. Results: One hundred and eight children diagnosed with the common cold were enrolled; 89 (82.4%) were prescribed antibiotics. Children with fever on examination, those older than 12 months and those whose symptoms lasted ≥7 days were more likely to be prescribed antibiotics. Of the health workers surveyed, 95% knew that viruses were the cause of the common cold, but 30% thought that antibiotics were needed for treatment. Conclusions: Although among healthcare workers, there was a gap between knowledge of aetiology and knowledge of appropriate management of the common cold, there was a larger apparent gap between that knowledge and practice. Findings from this study could be used to identify interventions promoting rational antibiotic use, targeting both health-care workers and the community.