Special Focus Issues
The Special Focus Issues topic covers specialized topics related to mental illness and other disorders. These include: PTSD such as Understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, suicide issues such as Suicide Prevention, personality or dissociative disorders such as Borderline Personality Disorder, and coverage of law enforcement encounters known as Suicide by Cop. This is also covered with regards to special population needs such as geriatrics, juveniles, veterans, persons diagnosed with borderline personality disorders.
PTSD
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is characterized by the re-experiencing of an assessment parameters and intervention strategies for implementation during crisis intervention (St. Louis Area CIT Program).
Personality, Borderline, Dissociative Disorder
A Personality Disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment (4th ed., text rev.; DSM–IV–TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000: 685). The essential feature of Borderline Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity that begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts (4th ed., text rev.; DSM–IV–TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000: 705). The essential feature of Dissociative Disorder is a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception. The disturbance may be sudden or gradual, transient or chronic (4th ed., text rev.; DSM–IV–TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000: 519).
Geriatric Issues
The Geriatric Issues topic will differentiate between classic mental health disorders and those behavioral patterns resulting from frailties of aging and organic dysfunction (NAMI Fox Valley).
Anxiety Disorders/ Panic Disorders/ Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
Anxiety Disorders include disorders related to separation from prominent anxiety or phobic avoidance that do not meet the criteria for any other specific anxiety disorder. Panic Disorder is characterized by recurrent unexpected Panic Attacks about which there is persistent concern. A Panic Attack is a discrete period in which there is a sudden onset of intense apprehension, fearfulness, or terror, often associated with feelings of impending doom. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is characterized by obsessions (which cause marked anxiety or distress) and/or by compulsions (which serve to neutralize anxiety) (4th ed., text rev.; DSM–IV–TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000: 429).
extremely traumatic event accompanied by symptoms of increased arousal and by avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma (4th ed., text rev.; DSM–IV–TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000: 429).
Suicide Issues
The Suicide Issues topic will increase the understanding of who and why suicidal acts are committed and methods of rapid assessment and intervention. The unit will include suicide demographics, trends in suicide in the population, risk assessment parameters and intervention strategies for implementation during crisis intervention (St. Louis Area CIT Program).