2012 Well-Being Index

Gallup and Healthways produce an annual report on the Well-Being of each of the 50 U.S. states, their respective communities and each of the 435 U.S. congressional districts.

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI) is an average of six indicators: Life Evaluation, Physical Health, Emotional Health, Healthy Behavior, Work Environment and Basic Access.

To view the rankings for Virginia:

http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/162029/WBI2012/Virginia_2012_State_Report.pdf

 

Recognizing and Treating Anxiety

If you’re like most people, chances are you have a hard time not worrying, at least some of the time.   But when it comes to being anxious about things in life, there’s a difference between having a bit of a worrywart streak to having full blown anxiety. There is evidence that the US has the highest proportion of chronically anxious people out of any other nation in the world.  Anxiety can be difficult to recognize, tricky to diagnose, and hard to come to terms with. But despite this, once it’s been diagnosed, anxiety is one of the easiest mental disorders to treat.

 

.http://www.onlinepsychologydegree.net/anxiety-in-usa

 

Opioid Medication Controversy

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) wants greater restrictions on prescribing the most commonly used opioid drugs: those containing  hydrocodone, of which the most well-known is probably Vicodin.

The change would stop doctors from writing prescriptions for more than one month's supply at a time or calling in new prescriptions without seeing their patients.

Kolodney, who leads Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing.wants the Food and Drug Administration to rewrite the labels on all opioids to say that doctors should write prescriptions only for severe pain and at much lower doses, and that patients should be kept on the medications for no longer than 90 days at a time.

 

 

http://www.google.com/ig#m_39

TRICHOTILLOMANIA

Hair Pulling - Skin Picking

 

Take Back Your Power from Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors

Joan Kaylor, MSEd, NCC, LPC, DCEP

March 2, 2013

 

For anyone who has ever been touched by pulling or picking has experienced the pain and devastation of not being able to stop, or of not being able to help a child, spouse, partner or loved one suffering with these problems.

For more information

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5195156854?ref=ebtn#

Our Health Magazine Bedside Manner Awards

Congratulations to

All Award Winners

especially

 

Steve Strosnider - 1st Place

Emily DeFrance - 2nd Place tie

23 PHR Clinicians - Honorable Mention

 

Religion & Football

Beneath Touchdown Jesus, who towers over the Notre Dame football stadium, there is a longstanding yet evolving set of religious practices unique in the world of high profile sport.

In the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 3, 2013), Kevin Helliker reports:

Notre Dame is so nonpromotional that players of other faiths feel welcome on the team, never receiving so much as an invitation to convert, let alone pressure to do so. As a result, many feel comfortable participating in distinctly Catholic rituals. As a Notre Dame football captain during the 2002 season, Gerome Sapp had no qualms about leading theteam in the Hail Mary, a prayer utterly alien to his Southern Baptist upbringing. "That prayer was just one tradition in a school rich with tradition," says Sapp, now a retired NFL player."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324374004578219850217704718.html?KEYWORDS=notre+Dame+football

 

Why Me? Explaining Anxiety in the Brain

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

7:00 pm EST / 6:00 pm CST / 5:00 pm MST / 4:00 pm PST

 

The speaker will be Catherine Pittman, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and an associate professor of psychology at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana.  

She is a co-author of the book Extinguishing Anxiety: Whole Brain Strategies to Relieve Fear and Stress, which offers tactics to control anxiety.

A live 35-minute PowerPoint presentation with an expert will be followed by a brief Q&A session.

 

Sign up now: Send an e-mail for the login details; please type Attend Webinar in the subject line and include your first and last names.

 

There are no fees.

 

 

UPDATE: FUNGAL MENINGITIS ASSOCIATED WITH CONTAMINATED PRODUCT

Virginia Department of Health

 December 19, 2012

About the outbreak of fungal meningitis among patients who received injections containing contaminated preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate (MPA) from the New England Compounding Center (NECC). 

 

In Virginia, this product was used only by Insight Imaging in Roanoke and New River Valley Surgery Center in Christiansburg.  While the frequency of case reports has decreased over time, we continue to remain vigilant and respond to any reports of infection that may be associated with the outbreak. 

 

For more detailed information on this outbreak both nationally and in Virginia: http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/news/Alerts/Meningitis/index.htm.

Sport Psychology Training

Intensity Control

 

Dr. John Heil

Intensity control is the cornerstone of the zone. As a function of both mind and body, it is regulated by an intricate web of neuropsychological feedback loops. Russian Sport Psychologist Yuri Hanin, began building his now-famous Zone theory  by zeroing in on the link between intensity and performance.  Once intensity level is set properly, psychological factors like decision making, composure and focus come more clearly into play.

Full article available at:
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Fencing/About-Us/American-Fencing-Magazine.aspx

Additional Sport Psychology information avaialble at: http://www.psychhealthroanoke.com/resources.html

 

Parent Seminar @ Bucks County Academy of Fencing

Lambertville, NJ

"Developing the Youth Fencer" 

Presented by Dr. John Heil (October 23, 2012).

 Topics include: The 10 skills of effective sport parenting; balancing sport, work and family responsibilities; the developmental cycle of the athlete; guiding your child in sport as a life skill; and, the parents’ role at fencing competitions.
 

For more information: http://www.psychhealthroanoke.com/resources.html

Psychology of Sport Injury

Lecture for Willamette University, Salem, Oregon - Department of  Exercise & Sport Science

October 8/2012

Dr. John Heil

To the athlete, injury results in the loss of the opportunity to participate in a high valued activity and is a threat to continued success at sports. This is most problematic where injury is severe, or the process of rehabilitation is long or complicated. Even relatively mild injury may have a significant impact on the athlete when its timing is such that is undermines competitive success, for example, if it occurs immediately prior to a key competition.

 

For more information: http://www.psychhealthroanoke.com/Resources/UnderstandingSportInjury.pdf