Goal-driven achievers less prone to Alzheimer's

Are you an achiever? Are you goal driven? Then you might just have a lower risk for developing Alzheimers Disease. A recent study (correlational!!!) found that elderly who see themselves as "self-disciplined, organized achievers have a lower risk for developing Alzheimer's disease than people who are less conscientious."!

To read more about it: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/10/01/personality.alzheimers.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

or go to the Archives of General Psychiatry to get a general synopsis:
http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/64/10/1163

Panic Attacks Linked to Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke in Women

A study published Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry that shows a link between panic attacks and risk of heart attacks and stroke in post menopausal women! While a panic attack might feel like a heart attack to many, it is not, but new research shows that it might also "suggest heart trouble down the road."

"Women who reported at least one full-blown panic attack during a six-month period were three times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke over the next five years than women who didn't report a panic attack.

The researchers took into account other risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, inactivity and depression and still found that panic attacks raised risk." (cnn.com)

To read more, go to: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/10/01/panic.attacks.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

Do you know what type of study this is? Hint: it shows the relationship between variables!

Do you know the symptoms of panic disorder? According to the DSM-IV (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition) the symptoms are:

A discrete period of intense fear or discomfort, in which four (or more) of the following symptoms developed abruptly and reached a peak within 10 minutes:

1) palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate

2) sweating

3) trembling or shaking

4) sensations of shortness of breath or smothering

5) feeling of choking

6) chest pain or discomfort

7) nausea or abdominal distress

8) feeling dizzy, unsteady, lightheaded, or faint

9) derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself)

10) fear of losing control or going crazy

11) fear of dying

12) paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations)

13) chills or hot flushes





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DSM IV Criteria for Panic Disorder

A) Both (1) and (2)

(1) recurrent unexpected Panic Attacks

(2) at least one of the attacks has been followed by 1 month (or more) of one (or more) of the following:

(a) persistent concern about having additional attacks

(b) worry about the implications of the attack or its consequences (e.g., losing control, having a heart attack, "going crazy")

(c) a significant change in behavior related to the attacks

B) The Panic Attacks are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).

C) The Panic Attacks are not better accounted for by another mental disorder, such as Social Phobia (e.g., occurring on exposure to feared social situations), Specific Phobia (e.g., on exposure to a specific phobic situation), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (e.g., on exposure to dirt in someone with an obsession about contamination), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (e.g., in response to stimuli associated with a severe stressor), or Separation Anxiety Disorder (e.g., in response to being away from home or close relatives).



Panic Disorder is divided into with or without agoraphobia

DSM IV Criteria for Agoraphobia

A) anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult (or embarrassing) or in which help may not be available in the event of having an unexpected or situationally predisposed Panic Attack or panic-like symptoms. Agoraphobic fears typically involve characteristic clusters of situations that include being outside the home alone; being in a crowd, or standing in a line; being on a bridge; and traveling in a bus, train, or automobile.

B) The situations are avoided (e.g., travel is restricted) or else are endured with marked distress or with anxiety about having a Panic Attack or panic-like symptoms, or require the presence of a companion.

C) The anxiety or phobic avoidance is not better accounted for by another mental disorder, such as Social Phobia (e.g., avoidance limited to social situations because of fear of embarrassment), Specific Phobia (e.g., avoidance limited to a single situation like elevators), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (e.g., avoidance of dirt in someone with an obsession about contamination), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (e.g., avoidance of stimuli associated with a severe stressor), or Separation Anxiety Disorder (e.g., avoidance of leaving home or relatives).

To learn more about panic, see a video diary on youtube at

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2243621262462911792&q=panic+disorder&total=464&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Eating Disorders...should we blame the parents.

Recently, Supermodel Gisele Bundchen claimed that eating disorders are caused by "bad" families. She claimed that her family has always been supportive to her, and therefore she never developed an eating disorder! Does she really think that all women (and men!) with ED had unsupportive families?! Does she really think the only factor in developing an eating disorder is support? She lashed out against the media and recent claims that the modeling industry itself promotes eating disorders. This sociocultural perspective claims that young women see the bodies the fashion industry touts as beautiful and leads to them trying to reach that impossible ideal.
There is a wonderful article that I have posted below to show Gisele's claims have no scientific support. There is, however, interesting support that shows a genetic link in EDs.

Alert: NYC fashion shows are thinking of banning underweight models? Do you think it is a good idea or not? Spain has recently banned underweight models from runway shows...should the US follow suit? Anyone with a BMI (Body Mass Index) under 18.5 would not be allowed to work the runway!


Problems creating a link...copy and paste this:
http://www.usmagazine.com/gisele_bundchen_0

The Brain of a Genius

Ever wonder what the brain of a genius is like? Check out this article (with a link to a short video) to see!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/09/11/gupta.genius/index.html

Mental Illness on the rise among Hurricane Katrina Survivors

A new study shows that mental illness is rising among survivors of Hurricane Katrina. A study conducted by Harvard University shows high rates of mental illness and suicide among the survivors, especially those who lived in New Orleans.

For the full article: follow this link
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/08/28/katrina.mental.health.reut/index.html

Bulimia Strikes Again

McPhee one of millions with bulimia
Disease 'goes through society'


Thursday, June 22, 2006; (CNN) -- Katharine McPhee's revelation that she has battled bulimia puts the American Idol runner-up in the company of millions of Americans.
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that between 1.1 percent and 4.2 percent of females in the U.S. -- or 1.5 million to 6 million -- suffer from bulimia nervosa in their lifetime. The disorder is increasingly being identified in males as well.
Christopher Athas, a vice president of the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, says one of the many myths about bulimia is that it's a disease primarily of affluent young white women. "That's simply not true," he says. "It's an illness that goes through society."

People with eating disorders often have both anorexia nervosa, marked by starving oneself, and bulimia, known as the binge-and-purge disease.
Bulimics eat excessive amounts of food, often feeling out of control, then, out of disgust and a fear of gaining weight, resort to vomiting or laxatives or other extremes. The behavior typically occurs a couple of times a week, experts say. The 22-year-old McPhee told People that for five years, she threw up as often as seven times a day.
Even though bulimics may maintain a normal weight, the disease is often driven by low-self esteem, excessive perfectionism and negative body image. The individual comforts herself, or himself, with food; the late Princess Diana, who also suffered from bulimia, once likened the feeling of post-binge fullness to a hug.
Then the need to purge comes, bringing temporary feelings of relief. But usually, the cycle starts again.
In addition to being potentially deadly (chemical imbalances can cause cardiac arrhythmia and other organ damage) the long-term effects of bulimia aren't pretty. The acid in vomit can erode teeth and the esophagus and inflame glands near the cheeks, so the face can appear swollen.
McPhee says her illness began during her high school years in Los Angeles, where she was always concerned about her appearance. She recalls starving herself and exercising to an extreme. The pattern continued. "I was bingeing my whole life away for days at a time," she told People. She says the bottom came about the time she auditioned for "American Idol."
Concerned that her vomiting was damaging her vocal cords, McPhee decided to get help.
"I entered the program because I wanted to give myself the best shot I possibly could on the show. And, when I did, it was like God put hands on me and said, `I want you to be healed,' " she told People.
McPhee attended group and individual therapy six days a week for three months at the Eating Disorder Center of California in Los Angeles.
Many others who suffer with bulimia don't realize they have an eating disorder and don't seek help. Or, they feel too ashamed to tell anyone. Bulimia is a disease marked by secrecy.
But recovery is possible, says Athas of the anorexia association. "You can get totally well."
It takes recognition of the illness, a genuine desire to get healthy, and usually, he says, therapy, whether individual or group, inpatient or outpatient. Medication can also help control the compulsions.



DO YOU THINK IT WILL HELP OR HURT KAT'S CAREER TO HAVE DISCLOSED THAT SHE HAS BULIMIA???
Do you think there is still a stigma associated with mental illness?

Self-inurious behavior. Cutters!

Study: 1 in 5 students practice self-injury
Some say they hurt to make emotional wounds visible


Monday, June 5, 2006; CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Nearly 1 in 5 students at two Ivy League schools say they have purposely injured themselves by cutting, burning or other methods, a disturbing phenomenon that psychologists say they are hearing about more often.
For some young people, self-abuse is an extreme coping mechanism that seems to help relieve stress; for others it's a way to make deep emotional wounds more visible.
The results of the survey at Cornell and Princeton are similar to other estimates on this frightening behavior. Counselors say it's happening at colleges, high schools and middle schools across the country.
Separate research found more than 400 Web sites devoted to subject, including many that glorify self-injury. Some worry that many sites serve as an online subculture that fuels the behavior -- although whether there has been an increase in the practice or just more awareness is unclear.
Sarah Rodey, 20, a University of Illinois student who started cutting herself at age 16, said some online sites help socially isolated kids feel like they belong. One of her favorites includes graphic photographs that the site warns might be "triggering."
"I saw myself in some of those pictures, in the poems. And because I saw myself there, I wanted to connect to it better" by self-injuring, Rodey said.
The Web sites, recent books and media coverage are pulling back the curtain on the secretive practice and helping researchers better understand why some as young as grade-schoolers do it.
"You're trying to get people to know that you're hurting, and at the same time, it pushes them away" because the behavior is so distressing, said Rodey, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
The latest prevalence estimate comes from an analysis of responses from 2,875 randomly selected male and female undergraduates and graduate students at Cornell and Princeton who completed an Internet-based mental health survey.
Seventeen percent said they had purposely injured themselves; among those, 70 percent had done so multiple times. The estimate is comparable to previous reports on U.S. adolescents and young adults, but slightly higher than studies of high school students in Australia and the United Kingdom.
The study appears in this month's issue of Pediatrics, released Monday. Cornell psychologist Janis Whitlock, the study's main author, also led the Web site research, published in April in Developmental Psychology.
Among the Ivy League students who harmed themselves, about half said they'd experienced sexual, emotional or physical abuse that researchers think can trigger self-abuse.
Repeat self-abusers were more likely than non-injurers to be female and to have had eating disorders or suicidal tendencies, although self-injuring is usually not considered a suicide attempt.
Greg Eels, director of counseling and psychological services at Cornell, said the study's findings are not surprising. "We see it frequently and it seems to be an increasing phenomenon."
While Eels said the competitive, stressful college environment may be particularly intense at Ivy League schools, he thinks the results reflect a national problem.
Dr. Daniel Silverman, a study co-author and Princeton's director of health services, said the study has raised consciousness among his staff, who are now encouraged to routinely ask about self-abuse when faced with students "in acute distress."
"Unless we start talking about it and making it more acceptable for people to come forward, it will remain hidden," Silverman said.
Some self-injurers have no diagnosable illness but have not learned effective ways to cope with life stresses, said Victoria White Kress, an associate professor at Youngstown State University in Ohio. She consults with high schools and says demand for her services has risen in recent years.
Psychologists who work with middle and high schools "are overwhelmed with referrals for these kids," said psychologist Richard Lieberman, who coordinates a suicide prevention program for Los Angeles public schools.
You're trying to get people to know that you're hurting, and at the same time, it pushes them away.
-- Sarah Rodey, 20, a University of Illinois student who has been cutting herself since age 16.
He said one school recently reported several fourth-graders with burns on their arms, and another seeking help for "15 hysterical seventh-grade girls in the office and they all have cuts on their arms."
In those situations, Lieberman said there's usually one instigator whose behavior is copied by sympathetic but probably less troubled friends.
Rodey, a college sophomore, said cutting became part of her daily high school routine.
"It was part of waking up, getting dressed, the last look in the mirror and then the cut on the wrist. It got to be where I couldn't have a perfect day without it," Rodey said.
"If I was apprehensive about going to school, or I wasn't feeling great, I did that and I'd get a little rush," she said.
Whitlock is among researchers who believe that "rush" is feel-good hormones called endorphins produced in response to pain. But it is often followed by deep shame and the injuries sometimes require medical treatment.
Vicki Duffy, 37, runs a Morris County, New Jersey, support group and said when she was in her 20s, she had skin graft surgery on her arms after burning herself with cigarettes and a fire-starter. After psychological and drug treatment, she stopped the behavior 10 years ago.
Author of the 2004 book "No More Pain: Breaking the Silence of Self-Injury," Duffy recalled being stopped on the street by a 70-year-old woman who saw her scarred arms and said, "'I used to do that."'
Rodey said she stopped several months ago with the help of S.A.F.E. (Self-Abuse Finally Ends) Alternatives treatment program at a suburban Chicago hospital. Treatment includes behavior therapy and keeping a written log to track what triggers the behavior.
Rodey said she feels "healed" but not cured "because it's something I will struggle with the rest of my life. Whenever I get really stressed out, that's the first thing I think about."

Andrea Yates is back in the news...Did she fake a mental illness?

Inmate: Yates talked of faking illness
Defense calls account 'sad and ludicrous'


Friday, February 24, 2006;
Andrea Yates, now in a state mental hospital, leaves jail with attorney George Parnham.
Andrea Yates
Crime, Law and Justice

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Andrea Yates once advised a fellow inmate that she could escape prosecution by pretending to be mentally ill and persuading a psychiatrist she suffered from serious disorders, according to court documents filed Thursday by prosecutors.
Felicia Doe, who spent four days in a jail block with Yates in 2002, told prosecutors last year that Yates instructed her not to eat, not to speak properly and not to be friendly or open in front of people if she wanted to "beat her case."
Yates, who is awaiting a new trial in the drowning of her young children, allegedly told Doe that if she could get the jail psychiatrist on her side, they could testify to her mental health, and they couldn't prosecute her if she was sick, according to the documents, which describe interviews with witnesses who could be called during Yates' trial.
Defense: 'Bogus' story
"According to the witness, the defendant basically told her, 'Do what I'm doing,"' prosecutor Kaylynn Williford wrote.
Yates' defense attorney, George Parham, called the account "sad and ludicrous."
"That is absolutely so bogus, it doesn't even deserve a response," he said. "That discounts the medications that this woman was on, the mental illness she suffers from."
Yates, 41, has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.
During her 2002 trial, psychiatrists testified Yates suffered from schizophrenia and postpartum depression, but expert witnesses disagreed over the severity of her illness and whether it prevented her from knowing right from wrong.
A jury rejected Yates' original insanity defense and sentenced her to life in prison for the drowning of three of her five children ages 7, 5 and 6 months. Evidence was presented about the drowning of two others, ages 3 and 2, but Yates was not charged in their deaths.
Convictions overturned
Her convictions were overturned last year based on false testimony by an expert witness.
Doe, who could not be reached for comment, also told prosecutors that Yates disclosed details of the slayings, explaining that she locked a door so her oldest son, 7-year-old Noah, could not escape the house and describing him as crying so hard he vomited.
"She hit his head against the bathtub several times in an effort to incapacitate him," Doe told prosecutors.
Another inmate, Lynnette Licantino, told prosecutors Yates said her children "were just too much" and that her husband at the time, Russell Yates, would not let her put them in day care, according to the documents.
Licantino could not be located for comment.
Yates' trial is set to begin March 20.

Andrea Yates

Inmate: Yates talked of faking illness
Defense calls account 'sad and ludicrous'


Friday, February 24, 2006; Posted: 11:47 a.m. EST (16:47 GMT)
var clickExpire = "03/26/2006";

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Andrea Yates once advised a fellow inmate that she could escape prosecution by pretending to be mentally ill and persuading a psychiatrist she suffered from serious disorders, according to court documents filed Thursday by prosecutors.
Felicia Doe, who spent four days in a jail block with Yates in 2002, told prosecutors last year that Yates instructed her not to eat, not to speak properly and not to be friendly or open in front of people if she wanted to "beat her case."
Yates, who is awaiting a new trial in the drowning of her young children, allegedly told Doe that if she could get the jail psychiatrist on her side, they could testify to her mental health, and they couldn't prosecute her if she was sick, according to the documents, which describe interviews with witnesses who could be called during Yates' trial.
Defense: 'Bogus' story
"According to the witness, the defendant basically told her, 'Do what I'm doing,"' prosecutor Kaylynn Williford wrote.
Yates' defense attorney, George Parham, called the account "sad and ludicrous."
"That is absolutely so bogus, it doesn't even deserve a response," he said. "That discounts the medications that this woman was on, the mental illness she suffers from."
Yates, 41, has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.
During her 2002 trial, psychiatrists testified Yates suffered from schizophrenia and postpartum depression, but expert witnesses disagreed over the severity of her illness and whether it prevented her from knowing right from wrong.
A jury rejected Yates' original insanity defense and sentenced her to life in prison for the drowning of three of her five children ages 7, 5 and 6 months. Evidence was presented about the drowning of two others, ages 3 and 2, but Yates was not charged in their deaths.
Convictions overturned
Her convictions were overturned last year based on false testimony by an expert witness.
Doe, who could not be reached for comment, also told prosecutors that Yates disclosed details of the slayings, explaining that she locked a door so her oldest son, 7-year-old Noah, could not escape the house and describing him as crying so hard he vomited.
"She hit his head against the bathtub several times in an effort to incapacitate him," Doe told prosecutors.
Another inmate, Lynnette Licantino, told prosecutors Yates said her children "were just too much" and that her husband at the time, Russell Yates, would not let her put them in day care, according to the documents.
Licantino could not be located for comment.
Yates' trial is set to begin March 20.

Lobotomies

(Nov. 16) - The case files of mental illness are filled with half-baked theories and their drastic advocates. Wilhelm Fleiss, for example, believed that sexual hang-ups stemmed from irregularities in the nasal cavity and that a little judicious snipping could set everything straight. In 1895 he famously botched an operation on Sigmund Freud's patient Emma Eckstein, absent-mindedly leaving a yard of surgical gauze stuffed in her head and almost causing her to bleed to death.

Sound Portraits ProductionsHoward Dully, age 12, is shown before, during and after his transorbital lobotomy. Now 56, he has made a documentary about it.
Dr. Walter J. Freeman, a central figure in "My Lobotomy," a radio documentary that will be broadcast this afternoon on the National Public Radio program "All Things Considered," believed that the source of many mental disturbances was the thalamus, in which overabundant emotions tended to congregate. The solution, in his view, was simply to sever that part of the brain from the frontal lobes.
In the late 1930's, Dr. Freeman was one of the first Americans to perform a transorbital lobotomy, in which holes are drilled in the patient's head. In 1946 he devised a faster and more efficient procedure, the prefrontal, or "ice pick," lobotomy, in which a spike is driven beneath the lids of both eyes and then swirled around in a sort of eggbeater motion to scramble the neural connections. He had some positive results, as in the case of Ann Krubsack, who today says she believes that the operation greatly helped her schizophrenia, if not entirely curing it, and enabled her to raise a family and hold down a job she liked.
But because the procedure was used indiscriminately, Dr. Freeman had at least as many poor and even tragic results. He nevertheless became a champion of the operation and to publicize it gave virtuoso demonstrations in which he sometimes used a carpenter's mallet instead of a surgical hammer and sometimes wielded two hammers at once, cracking both eye sockets simultaneously. The whole process took less than 10 minutes.
The operation was originally intended as a last resort for intractable patients, especially those in mental institutions before the advent of drugs like Thorazine made such patients easier to manage. But Dr. Freeman eventually expanded his practice to include patients who suffered from nothing more than migraine or postpartum depression. All told he performed some 3,000 lobotomies, including some on children as young as 4 , whom he believed to be suffering from the early onset of schizophrenia.

Sound Portraits ProductionsDespite his ordeal, Dully describes himself as "at peace" today.
His most famous patient was President John F. Kennedy's sister Rosemary, whom he lobotomized in 1941 when she was 23 and who required full-time care until her death this year. In 1960, when the ice-pick procedure was already becoming obsolete, he lobotomized a crew-cut 12-year-old Californian named Howard Dully. If the purpose of a lobotomy is to deaden the patient's emotions, then that operation, too, was a failure. Today Mr. Dully, a huge, barrel-shaped 56-year-old, is warm, expansive and full of feeling. He has been married three times - twice happily - and has a grown-up son and a job he likes, driving a tour bus. Except for his family and a few close friends, no one knew he had been lobotomized, and on meeting him no one would ever guess it.
But a couple of years ago, feeling, as he puts it, as if some part of him were missing, Mr. Dully began to look into what had happened to him.
In the course of his research he crossed paths with Dave Isay, a producer of radio documentaries, who encouraged Mr. Dully to make a documentary of his own. A result was "My Lobotomy," a 22-minute piece that includes archival recordings of Dr. Freeman (he has one of those deep 1950's newsreel voices), as well as of his son, Frank, who talks about his father's "magnificent obsession," and an interview with Ellen Ionesco, the first patient to undergo the ice-pick procedure. The most compelling voice, though, is Mr. Dully's own gravelly rumble as he tries to come to terms with what amounts to a second-rate fairy tale. (The documentary had its premiere on Monday evening in an auditorium at Bellevue Hospital Center.)
He was lobotomized, it turns out, for no other reason than that he didn't get along with his stepmother, whose long list of complaints about him included sullenness, a reluctance to bathe and that he turned on the lights during daytime. Mr. Dully's father signed off on the procedure, without seeming to take much of an interest in it, and the most dramatic moment in the documentary comes when, after 40 years of silence on the subject, Mr. Dully asks him why. "I got manipulated pure and simple," the father says. "I was sold a bill of goods." But he quickly adds that "nobody is perfect" and that in any case he doesn't like to "dwell on negative ideas." "You shaped up pretty good," he says to his son.

Dr. Robert Lichtenstein, a neurosurgeon who assisted Dr. Freeman in lobotomizing Mr. Dully, attended the Bellevue gathering, along with Ms. Krubsack and the relatives of some people who had been lobotomized, and he, too, had an upbeat view. After all these years, he said, he was pleased to meet Mr. Dully and to see that the procedure had had such a "positive outcome."
For his part, Mr. Dully cried a little but also grinned and said that the best part of the process was merely being able to talk about the operation with his father and say that he still loved him. Ever since the lobotomy he had felt like a freak, he says at the end of the documentary, but now he knows that the operation "didn't touch my soul." "For the first time I feel no shame," he adds. "I am, at last, at peace."
Jack El-Hai, who has written a well-regarded biography of Dr. Freeman, was also at the premiere, and afterward he said of him: "Was he a nut job? I don't think so. He knew more about brain anatomy than just about anyone, and I think he did care about what happened to his people. But he was stubborn, he was impervious to criticism, and he had a loner quality that in the long run caused both him and his patients great harm. I think of him as King Lear in medical garb."

Andrea Yates is Back in the News. Is she not guilty by reason on insanity?

DA: New trial for Andrea Yates
Plea bargain possible in child-drowning case


Wednesday, November 9, 2005; A Texas appeals court refused to reinstate Andrea Yates' conviction for drowning her children.

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Texas' highest criminal court on Wednesday let stand a lower court ruling that threw out Andrea Yates' murder convictions for drowning her children in a bathtub in June 2001.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Alan Curry said the case would be retried or a plea bargain considered.
Jurors rejected Yates insanity defense in 2002 and found her guilty of two capital murder charges for the deaths of three of her five children.

Curry said if the case goes back to trial, he is confident Yates would be convicted again. He said a plea bargain also may be discussed.
"Andrea Yates knew precisely what she was doing," Curry said. "She knew that it was wrong."
Yates' attorney, George Parnham told CNN that he hoped Yates belongs mental health facility, not behind bars.
"She has been told she will be retried," Parhnam said. "She doesn't want to go through this process. She is very concerned about it. The right thing needs to be done here."
The First Court of Appeals in Houston overturned Yates' 2002 convictions in January because of false testimony from forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz.
Curry asked the highest criminal court in Texas, based in Austin, to reconsider the lower court's ruling. He said the lower court wrongly applied the law when it overturned the convictions.

Another article:

Ruling gives Yates a chance for treatment, husband says
Woman to remain in prison after court overturns convictions
(CNN) -- The husband of Andrea Yates, who admitted she drowned the couple's five children, said a Texas appellate court's decision to throw out her murder convictions gives prosecutors a chance to seek treatment for his wife's mental illness.
Russell Yates made the comments Thursday evening in an exclusive interview on CNN's "Larry King Live."
"If they drop charges against her, then she'd go to a mental hospital and then the doctors would decide when she's well enough to go home," Yates said. "They've treated her like a serial killer, and my feeling all along has been it's a waste of the taxpayers' money to prosecute her."
But a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office said prosecutors will ask the appellate court to reconsider its ruling striking down Andrea Yates' convictions, and, if that fails, they will appeal the ruling to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Yates' attorneys said that despite the ruling, they will not seek her release from the prison psychiatric ward immediately.
"She is in the very best possible place, all things considered, at this time and in this place under these circumstances," said George Parnham, her lead attorney.
Parnham said his client was "surprised and not unpleased" by Thursday's ruling.
Case specifics
In June 2001, Yates drowned her children -- Mary, 6 months; Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; and Luke, 2 -- in the bathtub of her Houston-area home. The charges did not include the deaths of Paul and Luke. In March 2002, a jury convicted her of capital murder for the deaths of the other three.
She had a well-documented history of postpartum depression, and her attorneys argued that she suffered from postpartum psychosis, but the jury rejected her plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
The difference between a verdict of guilty and one of not guilty by reason of insanity in the Yates trial hinged on one key issue: whether Yates knew what she was doing when she drowned the children was wrong.
Both the defense and prosecution agreed Yates is mentally ill, but prosecutors convinced the jury that she knew her actions were wrong.
Under Texas law, defendants can be declared not guilty by reason of insanity only if it is determined they did not know right from wrong at the time of the crime.
Thursday, the Texas 1st Court of Appeals overturned the convictions and ordered a new trial. That court found that an expert prosecution witness, Dr. Park Dietz, provided false testimony that "could have affected the judgment of the jury."
Dietz, who worked as consultant for NBC's "Law and Order" program, testified that there was an episode dealing with a woman suffering from postpartum depression who drowned her children in a bathtub and was found to have been insane.
Yates, now 40, apparently was a fan of the show and watched it regularly.
Dietz suggested that Yates might have been inspired to kill her children because of that specific episode. But on appeal, the defense said it contacted the producers of the show, who said such an episode was never aired.
"We conclude that there is a reasonable likelihood that Dr. Dietz's false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury," the appeals court found. "We further conclude that Dr. Dietz's false testimony affected the substantial rights of the appellant."
Imperfect memory
The appeals court ruling found that Dietz did not intentionally lie and the prosecution did not knowingly use false testimony.
Dietz released a statement Thursday evening saying that he learned a week after his testimony, while the trial was still under way, "that my recall of a particular episode might be mistaken." He said sent a letter informing attorneys in the case about the mistake and offered to return to Houston to correct the error.
"Unfortunately, neither of the parties introduced this letter into the record, so the judges were unaware of what had happened," he said in his statement. "I made an honest mistake and took immediate steps to correct it."
Dietz said that as a consultant for "Law & Order," he has "read, discussed or watched" more than 200 shows, as well "as most episodes of other crime dramas aired for the last 20 years."
"My spontaneous recall about particular shows is admittedly imperfect," he said.
Dietz also said that at the time of his testimony, he did not know that another witness had testified that Yates watched the show -- disputing the idea that his testimony was somehow designed to show she premeditated the crime.
"At no time have I ever believed or told anyone that I thought 'Law & Order' or any other television show gave Andrea Yates the idea to kill her children," he said. "I believe, and testified, that she killed her children because of a psychotic mental illness. Evidence I relied on that tended to show she knew it was wrong included Mrs. Yates recorded statements, including my own interviews."
Retrial possible
Parnham said Dietz's testimony was critical to the prosecution's argument that Yates knew what she was doing was wrong.
"Only one mental health expert testified that Andrea knew that what she was doing was wrong, and that was the celebrated Park Dietz," Parnham said. "Every other mental health expert ... testified that she was either incapable of knowing what she was doing was wrong or did not know what she was doing was wrong."
Now that a retrial is possible, Parnham emphasized that a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity "does not mean that an individual is released."
"I am certain that there are circumstances in her future that can be addressed that would be outside four walls of razor wire," he said. "I don't believe that Andrea will ever be in a position to be free of any type of mental health assistance."
Rusty Yates told King that he was "extremely surprised" by the court's favorable ruling.
"This court has really come under fire lately, because they've habitually ruled against the defendants and in favor of the state," he said. "They're very tough."
Yates stood by his wife throughout the trial, but last July, he filed for divorce.
"I forgive her for what she's done, and in many respects have never blamed her, she's hurt me tremendously through her actions," he said. "It's kind of a place I can't go back to."

SUICIDE + Asperger's Syndrome

Report: Teen left suicidal messages on Web site before rampage
19-year-old vowed 'to hurt those that have hurt me'


Tuesday, November 1, 2005; ALISO VIEJO, California (AP) -- A 19-year-old man who authorities say killed two neighbors then himself posted suicidal messages on a Web site before the rampage, according to a report published Tuesday.
William Freund posted an Internet message October 16 that threatened a "Terror Campaign to hurt those that have hurt me," the Los Angeles Times reported. In the same message, he said, "My future ended some time ago."
The messages were posted on wrongplanet.net, a site used by people with Asperger's syndrome, an autism-like neurological disorder marked by poor social skills and communication problems. He wrote on the site that he was diagnosed at age 16, but the Times reported that details of his medical treatment were unavailable.
The founder of the Web site, George Mason University student Alexander Plank, said volunteer monitors were concerned about the messages and tried unsuccessfully to find Freund's parents. After seeing news accounts of the shootings, Plank contacted police.
"We're looking into his mental health at the time of the shooting," said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.
On Saturday, Freund, who lived with his parents in the upscale community of Aliso Viejo, donned a dark cape and a paintball mask. Armed with a shotgun, he drove to a nearby neighbor's house and shot to death Christina Smith, 22, and her father, Vernon Smith, 45.

After the gun apparently jammed when trying to shoot another neighbor, he walked home and killed himself.
On the Web site, Freund wrote that he had purchased a 12-gauge shotgun for defense, and that his health was deteriorating because of a new medication. "I feel like I need to kill myself," he wrote.
On October 19, he asked for references to a mental hospital and said he needed counseling and training in social skills. He also wrote that he wished he had some friends -- emphasizing it with 75 exclamation points.
Some of the messages remained on the site Tuesday morning.

Post Traumatic Stress....The Good News

The Effects of Trauma Do Not Have to Last a Lifetime(apa.org)

Most people will experience a trauma at some point in their lives, and as a result, some will experience debilitating symptoms that interfere with daily life. The good news is that psychological interventions are effective in preventing many long-term effects.
Findings
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, such as terrorist attacks, motor vehicle accidents, rape, physical and sexual abuse, and other crimes, or military combat.
Those suffering from PTSD can have trouble functioning in their jobs or personal relationships. Children can be traumatized and have difficulty in school, become isolated from others and develop phobias. Many people with PTSD repeatedly re-experience the ordeal in the form of flashback episodes, memories, nightmares, or frightening thoughts, especially when they are exposed to events or objects that remind them of the trauma. PTSD is diagnosed when symptoms last more than one month.
Psychologist Roxane Silver has studied the effects of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Her research focused on the immediate and long-term responses to the attacks and found that the severity of exposure to the event, rather than the degree of loss, predicted the level of distress among people. For example, people who reported seeing the planes smash into the trade center buildings experienced more PTSD symptoms than average, but people who experienced financial losses because of the attacks did not. Other studies have shown that simply watching traumatic events on TV can be traumatic to some, especially those individuals who had pre-existing mental or physical health difficulties or had a greater exposure to the attacks.
The good news is, research has shown that psychological interventions can help prevent these long-term, chronic psychological consequences.
In general, cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT) (which strive to help traumatized individuals understand and manage the anxiety and fear they are experiencing) have proven very effective in producing significant reductions in PTSD symptoms (generally 60-80%) in several civilian populations, especially rape survivors. Even combat veterans who have experienced PTSD after chronic, repeated exposure to horrific events experience moderate benefits from CBT (though, not surprisingly, this kind of repeated trauma is harder to treat).
Research also suggests that brief, specialized interventions may effectively prevent PTSD in some subgroups of trauma patients. Psychologist E. B. Foa and colleagues have developed brief cognitive-behavioral treatments (lasting four to five sessions) that include, (1) education, (2) various forms of relaxation therapy, (3) in vivo exposure (repeated confrontations with the actual traumatic stressor and with situations that evoke trauma-related fears), and (4) cognitive restructuring (techniques for replacing catastrophic, self-defeating thought patterns with more adaptive, self-reassuring statements). If used within a few weeks of exposure to traumas, this brief form of therapy often prevents PTSD in survivors of both sexual and nonsexual assaults. R. A. Bryant’s research found that cognitive-behavioral treatment is also effective in preventing the occurrence of PTSD in survivors of motor vehicle and industrial accidents. In addition to targeted, brief interventions, some trauma survivors may benefit from ongoing counseling or treatment, according to Bryant, and candidates for such treatment include survivors with a history of previous traumatization (e.g., survivors of the current trauma who have a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse) or those who have preexisting mental health problems.
Significance
Trauma disorders are a common and costly problem in the United States. An estimated 5.2 million American adults ages 18 to 54, or approximately 3.6 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have PTSD. In 1990, anxiety disorders cost the U.S. an estimated $46.6 billion. Untreated PTSD from any trauma is unlikely to disappear and can contribute to chronic pain, depression, drug and alcohol abuse and sleep problems that impede a person’s ability to work and interact with others.
According to psychologist R.C. Kessler’s findings from The National Cormorbidity Survey Report (NCS) that examined over 8,000 individuals between the ages of 15 to 54, almost 8 % of adult Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives, with women (10.4%) twice as likely to be victims as men (5%).
Practical Application
The challenge for the mental health community is to learn how best to help people who are suffering from ill effects of traumatic events. Within the past decade, a number of programs have been created to bring appropriately trained mental health services to trauma victims. Examples include:
The American Psychological Association developed its Disaster Response Network (DRN) in response to the need for mental health professionals to be onsite with emergency workers to assist with the psychological care of trauma victims. Over 1,500 psychologist volunteers provide free, onsite mental health services to disaster survivors and the relief workers who assist them. The APA has worked with the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state emergency management teams and other relief groups on every major disaster our country has experienced and many smaller disasters since 1992.
Under the auspices of The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) 15 state departments of mental health have initiated formal efforts to better address the needs of persons exposed to trauma with state-wide trauma initiatives and resources. Now “tool kits” have been developed to better help trauma victims.
The University of South Dakota developed the Disaster Mental Health Institute (DMHI) in 1993. Psychologist Gerad Jacobs, Ph.D., helped create the Institute in response to his involvement in helping airline crash victims in the 1989 Sioux City airline crash. The DMHI is designed to bring together practice and research in disaster mental health and help prepare psychologists to deliver mental health services during emergencies and their aftermath. Furthermore, educational opportunities exist for students to learn how to serve their communities in times of disaster. This undergraduate program includes working with the American Red Cross Disaster Service.
Pacific Graduate College and Stanford University recently created the National Center on Disaster Psychology and Terrorism, which trains doctoral students to help victims of catastrophic events.
Cited Research
Blanchard, E.B., Hickling, E.J., Barton, K.A., Taylor, A.E., Loos, W.R., & Jones-Alexander, J. (1996). One-year prospective follow-up of motor vehicle accident victims. Behaviour Research and Therapy, Vol. 34, No. 10, pp. 775-786.
Bryant, R.A., Sackville, T., Dang, S.T., Moulds, M.L., & Guthrie, R. (1999). Treating Acute Stress Disorder: An evaluation of cognitive behavior therapy and supportive counseling techniques. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 156, No. 11, pp. 1780-1786.
Bryant, R.A., Harvey, A.G., Dang, S.T., Sackville, T., & Basten, C. (1998). Treatment of Acute Stress Disorder: A comparison of cognitive-behavioral therapy and supportive counseling. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 66, No. 5, pp. 862-866.
Frueh, B. C., Cusack, K.J., Hiers, T. G., Monogan, S., Cousins, V. C., & Cavenaugh, S. D. (2001). The South Carolina Trauma Initiative. Psychiatric Services, Vol. 52, pp. 129-146.
Foa, E.B., Hearst-Ikeda, D.E., & Perry, K. J. (1995). Evaluation of a brief cognitive-behavioral program for the prevention of chronic PTSD in recent assault victims. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 63, No. 6, pp. 948-955.
Foa, E. B., Dancu, C.V., Hembreee, E. A., Jaycox, L. H., Meadows, E. A., & Street, G. P. (1999). A Comparison of Exposure Therapy, Stress Inoculation Training and their Combination for Reducing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Female Assault Victims. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 67, pp. 194-200.
Kessler, R. C., McGonagle, K. A., Zhao, S., Nelson, C. B., Hughes, M., et al. (1994). Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R Psychiatric Disorders in the United States. Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 51, pp. 8-19.
Kessler, R. C., Sonnega, A., Bromet, E., Hughes, M., & Nelson, C. B., (1995). Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 52, pp. 1048-1060.
King, L.A., King, D.W., Fairbank, J.A., Keane, T.M., and Adams, G.A. (1998). Resilience-Recovery Factors in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Female and Male Vietnam Veterans: Hardiness, Postwar Social Support and Additional Stress Life Events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 74, pp. 420-434.
Narrow WE, Rae DS, Regier DA. NIMH epidemiology note: prevalence of anxiety disorders. One-year prevalence best estimates calculated from ECA and NCS data. Population estimates based on U.S. Census estimated residential population age 18 to 54 on July 1, 1998. Unpublished.
Silver, R.C., Holman, A., McIntosh, D.N., Poulin, M., and Gilrivas, V. (2002). Nationwide Longitudinal Study of Psychological Responses to September 11. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 228, pp. 1235-1244.
Zoellner, L.A., Fitzgibbons, L. A., & Foa, E. B., (2001). Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches to PTSD. In J. P. Wilson, M. J. Friedman, & J. D. Lindy (Eds.), Treating Psychological Trauma and PTSD (pp. 159-182). New York: Guilford
Additional Sources
American Psychological Association’s disaster informationhttp://helping.apa.org/daily/traumaticstress.html
A National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet, by Eve B. Carlson, Ph.D. and Josef Ruzek, Ph.D.:http://www.ncptsd.org/facts/disasters/fs_resources.html
National Institute of Mental Health Web site on PTSD:http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/reliving.cfm
Jon D. Elhai, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Disaster Mental Health Institute, The University of South Dakota:http://www.usd.edu/dmhi/

Insanity Defense in the News

As you begin to think about the insanity plea (interactive 3), look at these recent stories in the news:

Insanity defense difficult to prove


INSANITY DEFENSE DIFFICULT TO PROVE:

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

San Francisco (California)
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Lashaun Harris had been hospitalized and prescribed drugs to quiet the voices inside her head.
Still, legal and mental health experts say it will be difficult to prove the 23-year-old mother was legally insane when she dropped her three young sons to their deaths in San Francisco Bay.
California is one of about 20 states that uses the strictest legal standard for assessing a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Under the rule, criminal defendants must show not only evidence of mental illness, but that they were incapable of determining right from wrong.
"Somebody may be very clearly psychotic and have a history of behaviors that establish the person was ... delusional, but that doesn't get you to insanity the way the law looks at it," said Ron Honberg, legal director for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
Harris, scheduled to return to court Friday, will most likely face a hearing to determine if she is mentally competent to stand trial, and psychiatrists eventually will attempt to determine whether she was insane at the time.
Harris' lawyer, Teresa Caffese, refused comment last week on whether her client would claim insanity. Harris has pleaded not guilty to three counts of capital murder.
On Wednesday evening, authorities said Harris lifted the boys over the railing of a downtown pier, dropping them one by one into the chilly 53-degree water 10 feet below. Authorities said she told investigators that voices instructed her to do so.
The body of Taronta Greeley, 2, was recovered late Wednesday night about two miles from Pier 7. The other two boys-- Treyshun Harris, 6 and Joshoa Greeley, 16 months -- remained missing Sunday and were presumed dead.
Relatives say the former nurse's assistant, who gave birth to her first child at age 16, suffers from schizophrenia that surfaced within the past two years and recently worsened when she stopped taking her medication.
Harris' history as a struggling young, single mother may have exacerbated her condition, said Shari Lusskin, director of reproductive psychiatry at New York University Medical Center.
"She is a walking risk factor," Lusskin said.
Rare defense
Legal experts say insanity defenses are used only in about 2 percent of all felony cases, and acquittals remain relatively uncommon. Mothers have had mixed success arguing they were not responsible for their actions because of mental illness.
Christina Riggs was put to death in Arkansas five years ago after an unsuccessful insanity defense for smothering her son and daughter. Riggs, who was a nurse, had injected her son with potassium chloride, a chemical used in executions.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who in 2001 methodically drowned her five children in a bathtub. Despite an insanity plea based on postpartum psychosis, she was sentenced to life in prison.
In contrast, Deanna Laney, a Texas woman who beat her two young sons to death with rocks, was acquitted by reason of insanity earlier this year.
Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty for Harris.
Experts say the frequency of such cases points to the need for more aggressive monitoring of mentally ill mothers. In New York, for example, mothers can be ordered by a court to undergo treatment or take drugs to control their illness.
Even making it socially acceptable for mothers to talk about the difficulties of parenting could help prevent such tragic outcomes, said Santa Clara University law professor Michelle Oberman.
"Imagine the life of a 23-year-old with three children under the age of 7, something that by definition includes a lot of struggle even if you are mentally healthy, even if you finished school, even if you are employed," said Oberman, co-author of "Mothers Who Kill Their Children: Understanding the Acts of Moms From Susan Smith to the Prom Mom."
"It's ludicrous to think that a mother who is schizophrenic can parent a child, let alone three children on her own. It's a recipe for disaster," Oberman said.


In the United States, the NGRI plea is rarely used, and when it is used it is rarely won! An exception to this happened recently in Texas...

Jury acquits man of killing professor
Student found not guilty by reason of insanity


Saturday, October 22, 2005
University of Texas
Crime, Law and Justice
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A college student who claimed he stabbed and slashed his piano professor more than 200 times because he thought she was a robot intent on killing him has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
Jurors reached the verdict Thursday in the case of Jackson Ngai, a former student at the University of Texas, who could be committed to mental institutions indefinitely.
"If we can keep him locked up in a mental hospital for the rest of his life, that will be justice," prosecutor Corby Holcomb said.
Ngai's attorney has said Ngai believed music professor Danielle Martin was a robot or was controlled by a computer chip in her brain and was trying to kill him. On her body was a handwritten note that said, "Computer chip in brain."
Daneen Milam, a defense expert who said Ngai was insane, said the number of wounds on Martin's head, which left a deep hole in her skull, showed he was focused on something other than just killing Martin.
"He said he was getting a computer chip out," Milam testified. "He said that's what he was going to do. When he couldn't do it, he called the police to help him."
Ngai's attorney, Jim Erickson, did not immediately return a telephone message left at his office Friday.
Ngai, 24, had checked out of a mental health treatment center less than a day before Martin was killed.

Welcome to my Blog!

When I find interesting articles and information about psychology, I will share it with you on this blog! Welcome!

This is an interesting article about gorillas! These gorillas are using tools! Don't we claim that this is a distinctly human quality??

Read below:

Nut-cracking gorilla surprises scientists


Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Posted: 10:34 a.m. EDT (14:34 GMT)


A gorilla nicknamed Leah uses a stick to test the water's depth.

GOMA, Congo (AP) -- An infant gorilla in a Congo sanctuary is smashing palm nuts between two rocks to extract oil, surprising and intriguing scientists who say they have much to learn about what gorillas can do -- and about what that says about evolution.
It had been thought that the premeditated use of stones and sticks to accomplish a task like cracking nuts was restricted to humans and the smaller, more agile chimpanzees.
Then, in late September, keepers at a Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International sanctuary in this eastern Congo city saw 2 1/2-year-old female gorilla Itebero smashing palm nuts between rocks in the "hammer and anvil" technique, considered among the most complex tool use behaviors.
'Surprising finding'
"This is a surprising finding, given what we know about tool use in gorillas," Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund primatologist Patrick Mehlman said earlier this month at his Goma office.
Mehlman said that the finding indicates that complex tool use may not be a trait developed only by humans and chimpanzees, and could have its origins earlier in the evolutionary chain, among ancestors common to both humans and our closest relatives the great apes.
Gottfried Hohmann, an expert on primates at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, said Itebero's behavior "means that gorillas have a higher level of understanding of their environment than we thought."
Itebero has been living in the sanctuary for a year, ever since she was confiscated by local authorities from poachers who had been trying to sell her.
Nut-cracking was spontaneous
Mehlman said he believed Itebero, named for a place near where she was found, started cracking nuts spontaneously and had not been influenced by the time she has spent among humans.
Alecia Lilly, a primatologist in Rwanda who worked for over a decade with a colony of captive gorillas in South Carolina and has seen Itebero at work, said most learning among gorillas occurs through imitation. But Itebero, alone in her sanctuary with her keeper, had no instructor.
"Itebero is remarkably proficient at cracking nuts," Lilly said. "It takes most chimpanzees many years to reach similar levels of proficiency."
Itebero's actions led some scientists to believe that gorillas in the wild might exhibit complex tool use as well -- though no one has ever reported such behavior.
Other gorillas seen using tools
Earlier this year, researchers reported observing gorillas in the wild in the neighboring Republic of Congo's rain forests using simple tools, according to a team led by Thomas Breuer of the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo.
In an e-mail message Monday from the Republic of Congo's Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Breuer said that in 10 years of observation, his team had seen only two instances of tool use among gorillas.
In one a stick was used to test the depth of a pond and in another a small tree trunk was used for support and as a bridge.
Breuer said it was difficult to compare the behaviors his team had seen in the wild with the more complex behavior exhibited by Itebero, who had had contact with humans.
But Breuer said Itebero's action "clearly shows that gorillas have the capability to use sophisticated tools even if they do not -- or rarely -- do so.
"Very often the use of tools is triggered by certain needs and it seems that gorillas have only little needs to use tools in the wild," Breuer said.
Declining gorilla population
In Goma, Mehlman said scientists have not observed gorillas in wild settings for as long as they have chimpanzees.
Breuer said more research was important, but "what we really need to do is to better protect the gorillas and chimps in Central Africa."
"Everybody is excited about such spectacular observations but we should hurry up with our efforts to guarantee them a future," Breuer added.
Scientists estimate that as few as 5,000 Grauer's gorillas, also called eastern lowland gorillas, may remain in the wild, although no comprehensive census of their population has been conducted since the end of Congo's civil war in 2002.
Conflict in Congo saw the decline of many wild species, as thousands of armed groups from Congo, Rwanda and Burundi ran amok in the forests and killed animals for food.