Minneapolis St. Paul Mental Health Blog

We here at Advanced Practice Psych Services believe access and effective Mental health care is essential. 

Mental Health Minneapolis | Sometimes, reality does shine light on those Nurse Practioners who are doing the right thing, taking care of patients.

More than 60 percent of Americans believe nurse practitioners (NPs) should receive more freedom in the healthcare services they provide, such as ordering diagnostic tests or prescribing medication without physician supervision, according to a new survey.

The survey, commissioned by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and conducted by the Mellman Group, found that:

Minnesota needs to move forward with positive change for Mental Health and CNS

The clinical nurse specialist was and is a position built to meet the challenges of today's medical demands and changes. 

SAD Seasonal Affective Disorder | You need to know

It is estimated that roughly 6%of the U.S. Population may suffer from SAD, with an additional 14% suffering from subsyndromal SAD.  The incidence of SAD is greater as the latitude increases, ranging from 1.4% at Florida’s latitude to 10.2 % at the latitude of Minnesota’s geographical location. 

With such a high rate of incidence, it is likely that you know at least one person with SAD.  Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that they have SAD, and many others don’t realize that it is a treatable disorder. 

What clues should you be looking for?  How do I know if I have it?

Symptoms include:

Minnesota APRN | With over 267,000 advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in the U.S, APRNs represent a powerful force in the health care system.

The Consensus Model provides guidance for states to adopt uniformity in the regulation of APRN roles. The target date to complete that work is 2015. Today, many states have adopted portions of the Model elements but there still may be variation from state to state.

APRNs moving from state to state need to ask themselves,

Adult Stress, FAQ’s
How it affects your health and what you can do about it.

Eating Disorders | Help me understand - Mental Health Help

• An eating disorder is an illness that causes serious disturbances to your everyday diet, such as eating extremely small amounts of food or severely overeating.
• A person with an eating disorder may have started out just eating smaller or larger amounts of food, but at some point, the urge to eat less or more spiraled out of control.
• Severe distress or concern about body weight or shape may also characterize an eating disorder.
• Eating disorders frequently appear during the teen years or young adulthood but may also develop during childhood or later in life. 

Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.

Eating disorders affect both men and women. For the latest statistics on eating disorders, see the NIMH website at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/index.shtml.

It is unknown how many adults and children suffer with other serious, significant eating disorders, including one category of eating disorders called eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS). EDNOS includes eating disorders that do not meet the criteria for anorexia or bulimia nervosa. Binge-eating disorder is a type of eating disorder called EDNOS.  EDNOS is the most common diagnosis among people who seek treatment.

Eating disorders are real, treatable medical illnesses. They frequently coexist with other illnesses such as depression, substance abuse, or anxiety disorders. Other symptoms, described in the next section can become life-threatening if a person does not receive treatment. People with anorexia nervosa are 18 times more likely to die early compared with people of similar age in the general population.

What are the different types of eating disorders?

Minneapolis Mental Health Help | When you can't afford the cost of your meds, reality dictates a serious problem. 

This is what we don’t want to hear from a patient:

One of my patients recently seen couldn't afford the meds, when you add up all the co-pays, Seroquel, Wellbutrin, Cymbalta, it does add up to some serious dollars.  How did she deal with it?  

She elected to stop two and kept the one.  I do not want to see anyone ‘stop’ their medication for any reason, make sure that you understand the decision to use a medication is based on actual ‘need’. 

At this point, I want to share some points that may help: