Confusing Medical Ailments With Mental Illness

An elderly woman's sudden depression turns out to be a side effect of her high blood-pressure medication. A new mother's exhaustion and disinterest in her baby seem like postpartum depression - but actually signal a postpartum thyroid imbalance that medication can correct. A middle-aged manager has angry outbursts at work and frequently feels "ready to explode." A brain scan reveals temporal-lobe seizures, a type of epilepsy that can be treated with surgery or medication. More than 100 medical disorders can masquerade as psychological conditions, according to Harvard psychiatrist Barbara Schildkrout, who cited these examples among others in Unmasking Psychological Symptoms, a book aimed at helping therapists broaden their diagnostic skills. Studies have suggested that medical conditions may cause mental-health issues in as many as 25% of psychiatric patients and contribute to them in more than 75%...read more>>>>...