To a high extent, the work of a psychotherapist consists of the treatment of the various forms of depression, so I’ve always tried to improve my understanding of this particular form of mental disorder – and of its most extreme form, the idea to commit suicide. So I’ve continuously gathered data on suicide – here […]

Bipolar Disorder: Caught between depression and excitement John always felt that his wife was ‘changeful’ – but it took both of them years to find out that she was in fact suffering from so-called ‘bipolar disorder’. People with what was formerly called ‘manic depressive disorder’ cycle between unusually intense emotional states that occur in distinct […]

‘You’re psychotic!‘ That’s supposed to be the ‘polite’ form of the phrase ‘You’re insane!’, used by some when they can’t explain the actions of a person. In deeply nature-bound cultures, people whose behavior strongly deviated from what was perceived as ‘normal’, were treated by magicians and shamans. In the West, however, they were locked up […]

For mental illness, pretty much the same rules apply as for the body: the sooner you treat it, the better the prognosis. Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry of the RUB clinic in Bochum, Germany developed a concept for early detection and treatment of schizophrenia that already “clicks” at the first signs of the disease. […]