Medical categories
Consultant psychiatry (132 contents)
Mood disorders in thyroid disease and vitamin D deficiency
Mood disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder and mania, among others, affect up to several per cent of the population in developed countries. In many cases, they are not treated or even...
Pandemic burnout - when to seek help and a specialist?
The pandemic that is upon us for another year in a row is negatively affecting the mental state of many people. Lockdown, isolation, closed schools, restricted contacts... Are we in danger of a wave...
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
In the course of schizophrenia there can be two types of symptoms, which are sometimes referred to as positive symptoms and negative symptoms. This division, contrary to appearances, does not take...
Mental illness as a social role
In this text I introduce the category of social role and describe mental illness in this category. The framing of mental illness as a social role does not necessarily refer to the actual mental...
Is mental health just the absence of symptoms?
In the text I show that the concept of mental health includes an individual - psychobiological - and a structural - social - element. Therefore, in order to look at mental health holistically it is...
Mood swings: find out the possible causes!
Mood swings happen occasionally to every human being, but they can be considered a problem when they occur extremely frequently and the patient starts to function less well because of them. Mood...
Community psychiatry - what it is, forms of therapy, system of organisation
Community psychiatry is a vague, heterogeneous and multicontextual concept. In the text, the author presents four main fields in which the concept of community psychiatry is used, which appear in...
Permanent stress and depression. Scientists' breakthrough discovery
A recent study in mice may prove to be a breakthrough for treatments for stress-related disorders and depression.
10 October - World Mental Health Day
Today, 10 October, is World Mental Health Day. This holiday was established in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health. The day is designed to draw attention to the issue of mental disorders....
Social contexts of mental health
In this text I reflect on the concept of health, pointing to its social element.
Medicalisation and psychiatricisation as social phenomena
In this article, I discuss processes such as medicalisation and psychiatricisation of society, i.e. the 'appropriation' of other spheres of social life by medical categories.
Moving away from the scene of an accident - shock or conscious act?
The issue of walking away from the scene of an accident is extremely difficult to consider from the point of view of the perpetrator's liability - as it is not always associated with a desire to...
'Consumer' model of recovery
Mental health conditions often carry a great deal of stigma, with treatment focusing on approaches that alleviate or ameliorate symptoms. The current need for people to have more control over both...
Anti-anxiety medications in anxiety neurosis: when is it worth using them and why should you be careful then?
Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental disorders - so it is hardly surprising how many people seek information about medications to reduce the severity of anxiety. Only mild, herbal...
Psychiatric care in the era of the coronavirus pandemic
At the moment, the main thing you hear about in the media is coronavirus, but on the other hand, the pandemic has not made other illnesses disappear. At the moment, it is much more difficult to...
Myths about depression
Public awareness of depression is - happily - steadily increasing. However, there are still many myths circulating among people about depressive disorders. Depression is not always manifested by...
Take care of your psyche in winter
Mental fatigue is more acute in winter, influenced by the prevailing weather - less sunshine, shorter days, lack of vegetation, low temperatures. Many people feel tired, depressed and lacking in...
Music makes us sad?
Recent research has found that listening to sad songs has a real effect on our mood. This finding may explain why some people are more affected by music compared to others.
What are the differences between the various strands of psychotherapy?
Patients who are recommended psychotherapy usually ask what the whole process is based on. There is no single, universal answer to this question - there are at least several different...
Antipsychotics (neuroleptics): a collection of useful information
Antipsychotics (neuroleptics) are preparations that play a very important role in psychiatry: they are the main pharmaceuticals used to treat schizophrenia and are also used for patients with other...
Intelligent extroverts lie more often
The tendency to lie is part of our personality. But are personality traits the only factors that make some people lie more often than others? Polish researchers conducted a study which proves that...
A patient with a mental disorder or illness can function just like any other person
Many people think that a patient with a mental disorder or illness is a person who has no chance of starting a family or functioning well in society. However, this is simply a myth: mental disorders...
