Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing discuss how to explain the deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma to your children and how to make sure they feel safe - click here.

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing discuss the rising adult suicide rate and what you can do to help - click here.

Teens and the elderly are no longer the most likely to commit suicide.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a report that found an almost 30% increase in the suicide rate among middle-age adults (ages 35-64). The top three methods of committing suicide among adults were poisoning, suffocation or hanging, and firearm.

Over the last decade, the adult suicide rate has grown at an alarming rate.

Suicide rates spiked a few decades ago when the baby boomer generation hit their teenage years, and the suicide trend has followed the boomer generation as they have aged. As many boomers are being confronted by unique mid-life challenges like dual caregiving for children and their parents, their own health problems, and one of the toughest economic climates in decades, they may be more likely to commit suicide.

If you are concerned about someone you know, here are some signs to watch out for:

• Frequent thoughts about death and dying
• Talking about committing suicide
• Increased alcohol or drug use
• Trouble with or uninterested in eating or sleeping
• Suddenly making end of life arrangements
• Drastic changes in behavior or daily activities
• Withdrawal from friends, family, or social activities
• Loss of interest in work or hobbies
• Giving away prized possessions
• Unnecessary risk taking
• Loss of interest in their appearance
• Previous suicide attempts

Suicide and suicidal thoughts are very serious issues. If you are worried about someone you know, please seek the assistance of a clinical psychologist.

Sources:

American Psychological Association, “Suicide Warning Signs”, (http://www.apa.org/topics/suicide/signs.aspx)

United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Suicide Among Adults Aged 35-64 Years – United States, 1999-2010”, (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6217a1.htm?s_cid=mm6217a1_w)

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing describe how first responders and even those watching the news can develop symptoms of psychological trauma - click here.

Secondary trauma is a special risk for professionals involved in responding first to the scene of violence and destruction.

Despite their focus on managing the scene and assisting those in need, they also become participants in the events leaving them uniquely exposed to trauma. While they witness firsthand the consequences of tragic events such as terrorist attacks, industrial accidents, and deliberate acts of violence, their brains begin to absorb and record the tragedy in front of them.

About 50% of those who are routinely exposed to traumatic events develop their own anxiety and trauma. Sometimes, they can develop symptoms similar to the original victims.

Some of the symptoms of secondary trauma include:

• Emotional deregulation
• Intrusive thoughts and memories about the event
• Hyper-vigilance or constantly being on guard
• Psychological numbing
• A shift in their explanatory view toward more negative, pessimistic, and darker beliefs

Secondary trauma is more likely to occur in people who have experienced trauma before. In addition, the ill effects of secondary trauma may accumulate over time. If you think you or someone you know may be experiencing the effects of trauma, please seek the assistance of a clinical psychologist.

Source:

The work of Dr. John Briere

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing on CBS 11 discuss how to deal with emotional trauma from the Boston Marathon bombings - click here.

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing describe what Bulimia Nervosa is and how it begins - click here.

Bulimia nervosa is an insidious mental health disorder that can cause extraordinary pain and suffering.

Women are more likely than men to develop Bulimia and sufferers tend to start the cycle of Bulimia in late adolescence or early adulthood.

Bulimia begins with eating an unusually large amount of food, often in an impulsive but ritualized manner. During the binge eating, it’s almost as if another consciousness takes hold and the food is their total focus. Afterward, they’re often consumed with overwhelming feelings of self-loathing and remorse. Binging is often followed by getting rid of any evidence of the binge and then different behaviors to curb any weight gain – like extreme amounts of exercise, harsh food restriction, use of laxatives, or even purging the food from their system by vomiting.

These post-binge behaviors come from a need to reverse the damage they have done to their body and to lower their soaring anxiety. Ironically, these efforts often end up causing more damage to their bodies and increasing their anxiety instead of helping to resolve the problem.

Similar to other eating disorders, people with bulimia often are highly self-critical, scrutinize their bodies, and hold themselves to an impossible standard. There can be considerable distortion about what they look like and they may be extremely inaccurate about their appearance. Relentless cognitive self-criticism can easily lead to destructive eating habits that are not only bad for their physical health but are emotionally addictive. The binging and purging become a coping mechanism that temporarily allows them to feel less anxious, in control, and even euphoric in some cases.

Eating disorders such as bulimia are difficult to beat even under the best of circumstances.

According to some studies, people with bulimia have higher levels of depression, anger, and shifting moods. Since they primarily involve problems in emotional regulation, cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy are extremely effective and have high rates of success.

Eating disorders are very serious conditions, and they can even be lethal. If you think you or someone you know may have an eating disorder, please seek the assistance of a clinical psychologist.

Sources:

"Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Binge Eating and Bulimia" by Debra L. Safer, Christy F. Telch, and Eunice Y. Chen

The National Institute of Mental Health (www.nimh.nih.gov)

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (www.nami.org)

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Although all eating disorders are extremely damaging for your physical and psychological health, anorexia is also the most lethal.

According to some estimates, up to 10% of patients suffering from anorexia will die from the disease. While both genders can die from metabolic complications and starvation, anorexia is also highly correlated with suicide.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anorexia is characterized by the following symptoms:

• The presence of extreme thinness or emaciation
• Highly restricted eating
• An obsession with being thin and a fervent opposition to gaining and maintaining any new weight
• There is often a constant self-loathing of their body
• Low body weight is redefined to be commendable
• Sufferers often have extreme denial about the physical emaciation and any health risks

Anorexics engage in two types of approaches to food:

1.) Severe food restriction that is rigid and systematized. There is an unforgiving stance toward eating food and there is a refusal to face the problem with eating.

2.) Binge-eating followed by purging, the possible use of laxatives, extreme food restriction, and high amounts of exercise to keep the body slender.

Anorexia, as with other eating disorders, can often co-exist with other serious mental health disorders. Depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder commonly co-occur with eating disorders.

Eating disorders are very serious conditions, and they can even be lethal. If you think you or someone you know may have an eating disorder, please seek the assistance of a clinical psychologist.

Sources:

Arcelus J, et al. “Mortality rates in patients with anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders.” Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(7):724-731.


Hudson JI, Hiripi E, Pope HG, Kessler RC. “The prevalence and correlates of eating disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.” Biological Psychiatry. 2007; 61:348-58.


Zhao, Y., and Encinosa, W. “Hospitalizations for Eating Disorders” from 1999 to 2006. HCUP Statistical Brief #70. April 2009. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb70.pdf


Lock J and Le Grange D. “Family-based treatment of eating disorders.” International Journal of Eating Disorders. 2005;37 Suppl:S64-7.


Lock J et al. “Randomized clinical trial comparing family-based treatment with adolescent-focused individual therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa.” Archives of General Psychiatry. 2010 Oct. 67(10):1025-1032.

The National Institute of Mental Health

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing on CBS 11 discuss how to explain to your children about the terrible school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT - click here.

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing on CBS 11 discuss the terrible shooting at a school in Connecticut - click here.

Does the shooter fit the profile of a mass murderer?

Mass murderers intend to inflict suffering and death on as many people as possible—a lethal strike—and may have no articulated agenda except to inflict death.

Sense of Revenge: Mass murderers kill for revenge. They are convinced that someone or something has wronged them, and their acts of violence are retribution against others. This kind of “punishment mentality” stems from a pattern of systematic grandiose thinking and narcissistic tendencies.

Grandiose Thinking: Grandiose thinking is a reflection of a narcissistic personality disorder, where a person believes that they are special and infallible. When they perceive an abuse, they overreact and lash out. Such revenge can become violent as we saw in the shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech.

Scale and Single Event: Mass murderers have a specific target and want to take down as many people as they can. They often realize that their murderous acts will most likely be the last thing that they ever do. They plan to inflict as much suffering as possible. In a delusional mind, this was a manly exit and a final statement of revenge and anger.

Why would he turn the guns on the children?

The children were regarded as collateral damage and he justified their slaughter through his deranged and delusional thinking. Obviously, he regarded the children as an extension of his mother’s influence. To kill the children, in some awful way, was to hurt his mother in the most fundamental manner.

You are most likely wondering, “Why would someone engage in such irrational behavior?”

Highly Regressed Thinking: Clearly, he was not thinking with a clear mind. His online diary indicates fragmented thinking, cognitive distortions, delusional ideation and paranoid thinking.

Anger As An Approved Emotion: Anger is a socially approved emotion for men. You can’t be sad but you can be angry. Anger is also energizing. Anger feels empowering and it protects them momentarily from the shame and self-loathing so many of them experience.

Normal Façade: It is important to remember that severely mentally ill people can assume a normal façade. This is especially true when there is paranoid ideation of any kind. They may harbor delusional beliefs that they carefully hide from others. Skillful at promoting one version of themselves to the public, they tend to engage in a private world of fantasy, defend themselves from perceived threats and even commit violent murders, as in this case.

Pervasive Distrust: The essential pattern is a pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others. They assume that someone—and individual or a group (as in this case) will harm or exploit them even if there is no evidence to support their argument. Reality simply disappears.

Under the Radar: They generally do not come to the attention of the mental health system since they consider themselves perfectly normal. They fly under the proverbial radar.

If you are worried about the potential violence of those around you, here are some warning signs to look out for:

People need to know that forensic psychologists argue that mass murders come with warning signs. There are predictive characteristics to these crimes including the following:

- Typology of Language: Meaning and perspective behind words are the chief indicators of murderous intention.

- When someone is planning to commit violence, they tend to use one of these types of words or statements.

• Rejection
• Entitlement
• Grandiosity
• Attention Seeking
• Revenge
• Irrational Attachment (Behaviors like Stalking)

Reasoning for Murder: When someone is about to commit a violent act they perceive four issues in a justifying light.

• They believe that they have justification
• They have no alternatives for the outcome they want
• The consequences for their actions are acceptable
• That they have the resources and the abilities necessary to carry out the mass murder.

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Watch Dr. Sylvia Gearing on CBS 11 discuss the Aurora, Colorado shooting massacre and what could have been done to help prevent it - click here.

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