Coming Soon...New i-Tunes App

Pennington and tech partner launch website, app targeting body image issues

A new Web-based platform and smartphone app designed to promote healthy body image, as well as address eating disorders and obesity prevention, was unveiled today at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The new platform, called Emer.ge, and the app, called The Body Image Voice, were launched today by Body Evolution Technologies in collaboration with Pennington. "The vision of Emer.ge is to empower individuals to shift focus from unrealistic appearance ideals and move toward health, balance, and optimal performance," says Dr. Tiffany Stewart, director of the Behavior Technology Laboratory at Pennington and co-founder/chief scientific officer of Body Evolution Technologies. "It seems basic, but science supports the idea that until we regard our bodies better, we won't treat them better," she says. The Body Image Voice app focuses on a single component of body image: the role media and advertising play in shaping our ideals of health and beauty. App users rate the impact of images and ads they see to assess which messages they think are helpful or harmful. The app will soon be available as a free download in the iTunes store. Check out the website here for more information and demos on how the website and app work.

Baton Rouge Business Report Story
May 2, 2012

When Less Is Not More

It is not an uncommon pattern of thinking... to assume that if one's training improves with weight loss, then more weight loss would mean a greater improvement in one's performance. However, this is not usually the case...especially with elite athletes. Many factors go into what makes performance improve. In some cases, an increase in calories is needed to sustain the training regimens. In others, maybe the diet needs to be modifyied to included better quality food. There are so many ways to improve one's performance through proper nutrition and talking with someone who is qualified to help you achieve your training goals is the best approach. This article is about one of those cases that wrong. The thinking was that the less this cross country athlete weighed, the better she thought she would perform. Read more about her story by clicking here.

OCD: Can Anything Make This Better?

There is help for people with OCD. The first step is to go to a physician or health clinic to talk about symptoms. People who think they have OCD may want to bring this booklet to the physician, to help them talk about the symptoms in it. The physician will do an exam to make sure that another physical problem isn’t causing the symptoms. The physician may make a referral to a mental health specialist.

Physicians may prescribe medication to help relieve OCD. It’s important to know that some of these medicines may take a few weeks to start working. Only a physician (a family physician or psychiatrist) can prescribe medications. (In 2 states, psychologists with specific training and certification may prescribe medications for anxiety disorders.)

The kinds of medicines used to treat OCD are listed below. Some of these medicines are used to treat other problems, such as depression, but also are helpful for OCD.

1. antidepressants,
2. antianxiety medicines, and
3. beta-blockers.
   

Physicians also may ask people with OCD to go to therapy with a licensed social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist. This treatment can help people with OCD feel less anxious and fearful.

There is no cure for OCD yet, but treatments can give relief to people who have it and help them live a more normal life. If you know someone with signs of OCD, talk to him or her about seeing a physician. Offer to go along for support. To find out more about OCD, call 1-866-615-NIMH (1-866-615-6464) to have free information mailed to you.

Who pays for treatment?

Most insurance plans cover treatment for anxiety disorders. People who are going to have treatment should check with their own insurance companies to find out about coverage. For people who don’t have insurance, local city or county governments may offer treatment at a clinic or health center, where the cost is based on income. Medicaid plans also may pay for OCD treatment.

(www.nimh.nih.gov)

When OCD Takes Over

Everyone double-checks things sometimes-for example, checking the stove before leaving the house, to make sure it’s turned off. But people with OCD feel the need to check things over and over, or have certain thoughts or perform routines and rituals over and over. The thoughts and rituals of OCD cause distress and get in the way of daily life.

The repeated, upsetting thoughts of OCD are called obsessions. To try to control them, people with OCD repeat rituals or behaviors, which are called compulsions. People with OCD can’t control these thoughts and rituals.

Examples of obsessions are fear of germs, of being hurt or of hurting others, and troubling religious or sexual thoughts. Examples of compulsions are repeatedly counting things, cleaning things, washing the body or parts of it, or putting things in a certain order, when these actions are not needed, and checking things over and over.

People with OCD have these thoughts and do these rituals for at least an hour on most days, often longer. The reason OCD gets in the way of their lives is that they can’t stop the thoughts or rituals, so they sometimes miss school, work, or meetings with friends, for example.

(www.nimh.nih.gov)

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: What Is It?

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have persistent, upsetting thoughts (obsessions) and use rituals (compulsions) to control the anxiety these thoughts produce. Most of the time, the rituals end up controlling them.

For example, if people are obsessed with germs or dirt, they may develop a compulsion to wash their hands over and over again. If they develop an obsession with intruders, they may lock and relock their doors many times before going to bed. Being afraid of social embarrassment may prompt people with OCD to comb their hair compulsively in front of a mirror-sometimes they get “caught” in the mirror and can’t move away from it. Performing such rituals is not pleasurable. At best, it produces temporary relief from the anxiety created by obsessive thoughts.

Other common rituals are a need to repeatedly check things, touch things (especially in a particular sequence), or count things. Some common obsessions include having frequent thoughts of violence and harming loved ones, persistently thinking about performing sexual acts the person dislikes, or having thoughts that are prohibited by religious beliefs. People with OCD may also be preoccupied with order and symmetry, have difficulty throwing things out (so they accumulate), or hoard unneeded items.

Healthy people also have rituals, such as checking to see if the stove is off several times before leaving the house. The difference is that people with OCD perform their rituals even though doing so interferes with daily life and they find the repetition distressing. Although most adults with OCD recognize that what they are doing is senseless, some adults and most children may not realize that their behavior is out of the ordinary.

OCD affects about 2.2 million American adults,1 and the problem can be accompanied by eating disorders,6 other anxiety disorders, or depression.2,4 It strikes men and women in roughly equal numbers and usually appears in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood.2 One-third of adults with OCD develop symptoms as children, and research indicates that OCD might run in families.3

The course of the disease is quite varied. Symptoms may come and go, ease over time, or get worse. If OCD becomes severe, it can keep a person from working or carrying out normal responsibilities at home. People with OCD may try to help themselves by avoiding situations that trigger their obsessions, or they may use alcohol or drugs to calm themselves.4,5
OCD usually responds well to treatment with certain medications and/or exposure-based psychotherapy, in which people face situations that cause fear or anxiety and become less sensitive (desensitized) to them. NIMH is supporting research into new treatment approaches for people whose OCD does not respond well to the usual therapies. These approaches include combination and augmentation (add-on) treatments, as well as modern techniques such as deep brain stimulation.

(http://www.nimh.nih.gov/)