ADHD, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a behavioral condition that makes focusing on everyday requests and routines challenging.

People with ADHD typically have trouble getting organized, staying focused, making realistic plans and thinking before acting. They may be fidgety, noisy and unable to adapt to changing situations. Children with ADHD can be defiant, socially inept or aggressive.

Families considering treatment options should consult a qualified mental health professional for a complete review of their child's behavioral issues and a treatment plan. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Gender differences in ADHD: The stereotype of someone with ADHD is a little boy who’s hyperactive. But ADHD affects girls and even adult women, too—just differently.

Nearly One Million Children in U.S. Potentially Misdiagnosed With ADHD, Study Finds: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100817103342.htm

Aging - Psychologists who work with older adults — known as geropsychologists — assess mental functioning, depression and other problems and provide psychotherapy. They also help design policies and services to enhance the quality of life of older people and their caregivers. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Making the 'Irrelevant' Relevant to Understand Memory and Aging

February 26, 2011 — Age alters memory. But in what ways, and why? These questions comprise a vast puzzle for neurologists and psychologists. A new study looked at one puzzle piece: how older and younger adults encode ...Click here to continue reading

Proteins Used to Map the Aging Process

June 20, 2011 — Loss of muscle mass is not only associated with disease, such as HIV and cancer, but also with the normal aging process. New research shows that nine proteins, isolated from blood of men, alter with ... Click here to continue reading

Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic brain disease that gradually erodes an individual’s memory, intellectual abilities and personality. During the early stages, the most obvious symptom is an inability to learn and remember new information. In advanced stages, the ability to think, speak or perform such basic tasks as getting dressed or eating is severely impaired. The time between diagnosis and death typically ranges from seven to 10 years. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

For More Information & Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease, log onto www.alz.org

Protect your brain as you age: Research suggests that life-long learning, exercise and other strategies can help. https://www.apa.org/topics/alzheimers/protect

Enhance your memory: Alzheimer's disease can leave people struggling with basic tasks. But some strategies can help you or a loved one compensate for mild memory loss.

Testing for Alzheimer's: To be effective, the medications currently available to treat Alzheimer's have to be used early on. But what's the best way to detect the disease before it's too late? https://www.apa.org/topics/alzheimers/testing

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure. People with anxiety disorders usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness or a rapid heartbeat. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

For More Information & Symptoms of Anxiety, visit: https://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-disorders/symptoms/

Anxiety Interferes With Some Children's Capacity to Form Friendships

September 1, 2011 — Socially withdrawn children, who have less contact with peers, may miss out on the support that friendships provide. In a new study about the peer relationships of almost 2,500 fifth-graders who are ... Click here to continue reading

Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction and motor coordination, and unusual or restricted patterns of interest or behavior. Clinically, the distinction between autism and Asperger's disorder is often made in terms of severity and in the qualitative expression of the criteria. Both syndromes are characterized by social interaction deficits, impaired communication skills, and unusual or bizarre behaviors.

For More Information & Symptoms of Asperger’s Syndrome, visit: http://autism.emedtv.com/autism/asperger's-disease.html

Autism is the most severe developmental disability. Appearing within the first three years of life, autism involves impairments in social interaction — such as being aware of other people’s feelings — and verbal and nonverbal communication. Some people with autism have limited interests, strange eating or sleeping behaviors or a tendency to do things to hurt themselves, such as banging their heads or biting their hands. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

For More Information & Symptoms of Autism, visit: http://autism.emedtv.com/autism/autism.html

IQ Scores Fail to Predict Academic Performance in Children With Autism

November 19, 2010 — New data show that many children with autism spectrum disorders have greater academic abilities than previously thought. 90 percent of high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders showed ... Click here to continue reading

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness in which common emotions become intensely and often unpredictably magnified. Individuals with bipolar disorder can quickly swing from extremes of happiness, energy and clarity to sadness, fatigue and confusion. These shifts can be so devastating that individuals may choose suicide. All people with bipolar disorder have manic episodes — abnormally elevated or irritable moods that last at least a week and impair functioning. But not all become depressed. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

For More Information & Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder, Click here.

Susceptibility Factor for Bipolar Disorder Identified

March 3, 2011 — A new study provides fascinating insight into the genetic basis of bipolar disorder, a highly heritable mood disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of mania and depression. The research ...Click here to continue reading

Report Offers Hope to People Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder

July 11, 2011 — Mood swings are not always best understood as an illness called 'bipolar disorder', and medication is not the only way to cope with them, says a new report from the UK. The report offers new hope to ... Click here to continue reading

Children sometimes need psychological help, just like adults do. Treatment typically begins when parents, teachers or school counselors notice that children aren’t functioning as well as they could. Psychologists can help children cope with such problems as anxiety and depression, hyperactivity, conflicts with parents and stressful events like divorce or a parent’s death. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Death and Dying can be stressful for dying people, their loved ones and care-givers. Psychologists can help. They can assess mood, mental functioning and pain; treat depression, anxiety and other mental health problems; provide end-of-life counseling to the dying and their families; and advocate for good medical care. For More Information About Death & Dying (Grief), visit: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/end-of-life/in-depth/grief/art-20045340

Depression is more than just sadness. People with depression may experience a lack of interest and pleasure in daily activities, significant weight loss or gain, insomnia or excessive sleeping, lack of energy, inability to concentrate, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. Depression is the most common mental disorder. Fortunately, depression is treatable. A combination of therapy and antidepressant medication can help ensure recovery. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

For More Information & Symptoms of Depression, visit: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007

Parents at Highest Risk for Depression in the First Year After Child's Birth

September 8, 2010 — More than one-third of mothers and about one-fifth of fathers in the United Kingdom appear to experience an episode of depression between their child's birth and 12th year of age, with the highest ...Click here to continue reading

Patients Who Use Anti-Depressants Can Be More Likely to Suffer Relapse, Researcher Finds

July 19, 2011 — Patients who use anti-depressants are much more likely to suffer relapses of major depression than those who use no medication at all, according to new research. In an article that is likely to ... Click here to continue reading

More than 13 percent of noninstitutionalized adults have some sort of physical disability. The most common physical disabilities are trouble hearing, moving around or doing day-to-day tasks like getting dressed. About 70 percent of noninstitutionalized adults with physical disabilities are over age 60.

Another type of disability is learning disability, a term used to describe a range of academic difficulties. Dyslexia, a reading disability, is one example. Psychologists can help individuals with all kinds of disabilities. While some interventions focus on teaching stress management and other coping skills, others focus on the disability itself. A psychologist might help an individual get motivated enough to do physical therapy, for example. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

For More Information about Disability and Eligibility, visit: https://www.ssa.gov/disability/

Eating Disorders - Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the two main eating disorders. People with anorexia have extreme weight loss as a result of very strict dieting. Some people may also make themselves sick, abuse laxatives or do excessive exercise to try and lose weight. In spite of this extreme weight loss, people with anorexia believe they are fat and are terrified of becoming what is in fact a normal weight or shape.

Patients With Eating Disorders Have an Elevated Rate of Death

July 5, 2011 — Individuals who have eating disorders have an eleated mortality rate, especially those with anorexia nervosa, according to a meta-analysis of previous ...Click here to continue reading

Family Meals Remain Important Through Teen Years, Expert Says

July 13, 2011 — As children become teenagers, it may be more challenging to regularly include them in family meals, but doing so is key to heading off such problems as eating disorders, obesity, and inadequate ... Click here to continue reading

HIV & AIDS - More than 1.1 million Americans have HIV, with more than 56,000 new infections contracted each year. An estimated 12 percent of new HIV infections each year are directly attributable to injection drug use. The development of effective medications has lessened the psychological impact of an HIV/AIDS diagnosis for many people. In fact, most HIV-infected people — especially gay men with good social support and access to medical care — don’t suffer from sustained, severe distress.

In addition to helping individuals who are distressed, psychologists are studying ways to change people’s behavior and prevent people from contracting the disease in the first place. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

For More Information About HIV/AIDS, click here.

Learning and Memory are closely related concepts. Learning is the acquisition of skill or knowledge, while memory is the expression of what you’ve acquired. Another difference is the speed with which the two things happen. If you acquire the new skill or knowledge slowly and laboriously, that’s learning. If acquisition occurs instantly, that’s making a memory. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Children With High Blood Pressure More Likely to Have Learning Disabilities, Study Finds

November 10, 2010 — Children who have hypertension are much more likely to have learning disabilities than children with normal blood pressure, according to a new study. In fact, when variables such as socioeconomic ...Click here to continue reading

Widening Our Perceptions of Reading and Writing Difficulties

December 8, 2010 — Learning to read and write are complex processes, which can be disrupted in various ways, leading to disorders known as dyslexia and dysgraphia. Two new studies provide evidence of this variety, ... Click here to continue reading

Marriage and Divorce are both common experiences. In Western cultures, more than 90 percent of people marry by age 50. Healthy marriages are good for couples’ mental and physical health. They are also good for children; growing up in a happy home protects children from mental, physical, educational and social problems. However, about 40 to 50 percent of married couples in the United States divorce. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages is even higher. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Predicting Divorce: Study Shows How Fight Styles Affect Marriage

September 29, 2010 — It's common knowledge that newlyweds who yell or call each other names have a higher chance of getting divorced. But a new study shows that other conflict patterns also predict ... Click here to continue reading

Neuropsychology involves the study, evaluation, and treatment of known and suspected brain disorders using the methods of psychology. The National Academy of Neuropsychology is a professional society that includes clinicians, scientist-practitioners, and researchers interested in neuropsychology.

OCD - Worries, doubts, superstitious beliefs all are common in everyday life. However, when they become so excessive such as hours of hand washing or make no sense at all such as driving around and around the block to check that an accident didn't occur then a diagnosis of OCD is made. In OCD, it is as though the brain gets stuck on a particular thought or urge and just can't let go.

For More Information & Symptoms About Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, visit: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20354432

OCD: Compulsions Lead to Obsessions, Not the Other Way Around

May 23, 2011 — New scientific evidence challenges a popular conception that behaviors such as repetitive hand-washing, characteristic of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), are carried out in response to ...Click here to continue reading

Deep Brain Stimulation May Help Patients With Treatment-Resistant Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

October 6, 2010 — Using electrodes to stimulate areas deep within the brain may have therapeutic potential for patients with obsessive compulsive disorder that is refractory to treatment, according to a new ... Click here to continue reading

Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One is understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability. The other is understanding how the various parts of a person come together as a whole. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology.

PTSD is an anxiety problem that develops in some people after extremely traumatic events, such as combat, crime, an accident or natural disaster. People with PTSD may relive the event via intrusive memories, flashbacks and nightmares; avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma; and have anxious feelings they didn’t have before that are so intense their lives are disrupted. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Search for Predictors of Risk for PTSD: Meaningful Associations Dependent on Reliable Measures of Pre-Existing Trauma

September 6, 2011 — A new study suggests that certain variants of a gene that helps regulate serotonin (a brain chemical related to mood) may serve as a useful predictor of risk for symptoms related to posttraumatic ... Click here to continue reading

Sexual Abuse is unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent. Most victims and perpetrators know each other. Immediate reactions to sexual abuse include shock, fear or disbelief. Long-term symptoms include anxiety, fear or post-traumatic stress disorder. While efforts to treat sex offenders remain unpromising, psychological interventions for survivors — especially group therapy — appears effective. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness characterized by incoherent or illogical thoughts, bizarre behavior and speech, and delusions or hallucinations, such as hearing voices. Schizophrenia typically begins in early adulthood. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

For More Information & Symptoms About Schizophrenia, visit http://schizophrenia.com/

Sleep is essential for health and well-being. But millions of people don’t get enough, resulting in such problems as daytime sleepiness, poor decision-making, interference with learning and accidents. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, which helps people identify and change their thoughts and behaviors, can help. In fact, according to one study, cognitive-behavioral therapy does a better job of reducing insomnia than sleeping pills.Adapted from "Why sleep is important and what happens when you don’t get enough”

Sleep Disturbances Show Clear Association With Work Disability

October 27, 2010 — Sleep disturbances increase the risk of work disability and may slow the return to work process. This is especially true in cases where work disability is due to mental disorders or musculoskeletal ...Click here to continue reading

Persons With Sleep Apnea Have Twice the Risk of Suffering a Stroke

April 5, 2011 — New research from Spain finds that those persons with serious cases of sleep apnea have more than twice the possibility of suffering an ischemic ... Click here to continue reading

Stress can be a reaction to a short-lived situation, such as being stuck in traffic. Or it can last a long time if you're dealing with relationship problems, a spouse's death or other serious situations. Stress becomes dangerous when it interferes with your ability to live a normal life over an extended period. You may feel tired, unable to concentrate or irritable. Stress can also damage your physical health. Adapted from "Mind/Body: Stress"

For More Information About Stress & How To Manage It, visit: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/stress-management/about/pac-20384898

Therapy refers to treatment for psychological problems. Therapists and clients work together to understand problems and come up with plans for fixing them. The focus is generally on changing ineffective thoughts, emotions or behaviors. Most therapy focuses on individuals, although psychotherapists also work with couples, families and groups. To find a psychologist, ask your physician or another health professional or call your local or state psychological association. Family and friends may also have recommendations, and you might consider inquiring at your church or synagogue. You may also find a Psychologist by clicking here.

The right match when choosing a psychologist is important. Most psychologists agree that an important factor in determining whether or not to work with a particular psychologist, once that psychologist's credentials and competence are established, is your level of personal comfort with that psychologist. A good rapport with your psychologist is critical. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. While these feelings are normal, some people have difficulty moving on with their lives. Psychologists can help these individuals find constructive ways of managing their emotions. Adapted from "Managing traumatic stress: tips for recovering from disasters and other traumatic events"

For More Information About Trauma, visit: https://www.helpguide.org/

Violence is an extreme form of aggression, such as assault, rape or murder. Violence has many causes, including frustration, exposure to violent media, violence in the home or neighborhood and a tendency to see other people's actions as hostile even when they're not. Certain situations also increase the risk of aggression, such as drinking, insults and other provocations and environmental factors like heat and overcrowding. Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

For More Information About Domestic Violence click here.

What You Need to Know About Willpower: The Psychological Science of Self-Control Many people believe they could improve their lives if only they had more of that mysterious thing called willpower. With more self-control we would all eat right, exercise regularly, avoid drugs and alcohol, save for retirement, stop procrastinating, and achieve all sorts of noble goals. Take, for example, the results of the American Psychological Association’s annual Stress in America Survey. The survey asks, among other things, about participants’ abilities to make healthy lifestyle changes. Survey participants regularly cite lack of willpower as the No. 1 reason for not following through with such changes. To read the complete article visit: https://www.apa.org/topics/personality/willpower-goals