Too much screen time can cause health problems for an adult. Mix it with the turmoil of teen years — or the plasticity of a preschooler’s brain — and it can lead to conditions ranging from obesity to mental health disorders.
A regular column that features the advice of psychiatric experts from Penn State Health has been recognized by an international media organization.
The Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry are partnering to offer a Public and Community Psychiatry Fellowship to address the growing shortage of psychiatrists.
Two Penn State College of Medicine professors were selected to join programs for leaders in science and at academic health institutions.
On March 21, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and the We Matter Coalition will hold a special screening of the documentary “Angst: Raising Awareness Around Anxiety.”
At the first mention of back- to-school preparation, many children experience a passing wave of apprehension. However, for some children, the thought of going back to school can trigger anxiety that interferes with their daily life.
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has been named an associate member of the National Network of Depression Centers, a consortium of leading academic medical centers working to accelerate research, education and improved treatment options for people with depressive and bipolar illnesses.
Penn State Children’s Hospital was recently selected to serve central and northeast Pennsylvania as a partner in a new PA HealthChoices program, called the Telephonic Psychiatric Services Program, or TiPS. The Children’s Hospital will offer peer-to-peer child psychiatry consultation teams to primary care providers (PCPs), medical specialists and other prescribers of psychotropic medications for children.
Change can be hard for many people. For kids — who often thrive on routine and predictability — the transition from school year to summer and into a new academic year can bring uncertainty that can trigger anxiety and behavioral problems.
Through the use of new, secure technology, patients being treated in the emergency department at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center can now be seen more quickly by the hospital’s psychiatric specialists located at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Harrisburg.
Poor sleep is associated with negative mood in women with bipolar disorder, according to researchers at Penn State College of Medicine and University of Michigan Medical School.
Erika Saunders has been named the interim department chairwoman of psychiatry at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, effective Dec. 25. Alan Gelenberg, the current chairman, retires Dec. 31.
Have you ever had a dream that just didn't feel like a dream—where, like Alice in Wonderland, you had trouble telling fiction from reality? Perhaps you even felt like you had control over what was happening, as if you were directing a film produced entirely in your imagination. If so, you most likely experienced what sleep scientists like Edward Bixler call a "lucid dream."
Homer Simpson does it. Dagwood Bumstead does it. Snoring is a cartoon classic, but if you live with a snorer, it's anything but funny. The nocturnal noise can ruin a good night's sleep, or worse, can be a sign of sleep apnea, a more serious condition that often increases one's risk of depression, memory difficulties, sexual dysfunction, and even stroke and heart attack.
Sunlight and seasonal changes have a great impact on human behavior. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a form of depression -- sometimes called the winter blues -- that follows a seasonal pattern and occurs at the same time every year without any significant related stressors. Affected people are symptom free during spring and summer and have recurrence of depression during the following fall and winter. January and February seem to be the most difficult months for these people. Onset is typically seen from September to November with complaints of excessive tiredness and fatigue, increased sleepiness and often a desire to sleep for long periods, increased appetite and craving for carbohydrates, especially cookies and bread. These symptoms are often associated with the decrease in the amount of sunlight, according to The Medical Minute, a service of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
