October 10, 2007 marks the 15th Anniversary of World Mental Health Day. This is a day when medical and non-medical organizations around the world put on events to raise public and professional awareness of a specific mental health issue, which the World Federation Of Mental Health  (WFMH) selects every year.

This year’s theme concerns the need to improve understanding of how cultural differences affect how people not only view mental health but also the challenges that people face as a result, and the factors that do or do not make those affected seek professional help.

The world is getting smaller

According to the WFMH more people than ever before are living in a country other than the one that they were born or raised in. The organization estimates that one in 35 people, or 3% of the global population, are an international migrant.

“We find dramatically different languages, religions, family relationships and values, as well as views on health care and treatment wherever we go, including in our own respective countries,” the WFMH states in its information pack to support World Mental Health Day. [1]

Living outside the country one was born in may not always be due to personal choice. And, as the information pack highlights, some people may have been displaced for reasons beyond their control such as civil war or natural disasters. They now find themselves in a culture that they do not fully understand or that does not fully understand them. It can be difficult enough to cope with the challenges that these situations produce without the added complication of mental illness.

We all know that when people go off to war it is a life-changing experience, but for older veterans it can be more than that.

It has been shown that older veterans who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have almost double the risk of developing dementia when compared to other veterans.

The recent findings were presented at an Alzheimer’s Association meeting held in Vienna and are the first to link PTSD, which is a debilitating anxiety disorder that can be caused by trauma of wartime, with dementia.

• Frequently experiencing upsetting memories or thoughts about a traumatic event.
• Having nightmares that are recurrent.
• Feeling or acting as though the traumatic even were happening again, which is also called a “flashback.”
• Having strong feelings of distress when you are reminded of the traumatic event.
• Being physically responsive, such as experiencing sweating or a surge in heart rate, to reminders of the event.
• Making a strong effort to avoid feelings, thoughts, or conversations about the event.
• Avoiding people or places that remind you of the event.
• Having trouble remembering important parts of the event.
• Experiencing a loss of interest in important, once positive, actives.
• A feeling of distance from others.
• Difficulty experiencing positive feelings of love or happiness.
• Feeling as though your life could be cut short.

Further research is needed to fully understand what links these two important disorders. With that knowledge we may be able to find ways to reduce the increased risk of dementia associated with PTSD.

The sophistication of language abilities attained in a person’s early twenties may predict the risk of developing dementia later in life.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, and is linked to the development of protein plaques and nerve cell tangles within the brain.

scientists have questioned why these signs of damage cause symptoms of dementia in some people, but not in others.

The women had been participants in an ongoing clinical study known as the Nun Study. The researchers discovered that those with good language skills early in life were less likely to have memory problems.

This was found to be true even if signs of dementia damage were observed in the brain.

The researchers also analyzed essays written by 14 of the women during their late teens or early twenties and assessed the complexity of language and grammar contained in them.

Results of this analysis revealed language scores 20 percent higher in women free of memory problems when compared to those women who had suffered memory problems.

The study results also suggested an increased risk for cognitive impairment in people having the APOE4 gene while indicating a protective effect in those having the APOE2 gene.

The researchers are now exploring the possibility of a connection between language skills and these genes.

Doctors don’t have to be prophets or own a crystal ball to predict who is at risk for certain diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease they usually have a good idea after a physical examination and a look at the patient’s medical and family history.

But knowing who might contract Alzheimer’s disease and when has been difficult at best, especially since the process probably starts 10 to 20 years before symptoms become apparent.

researchers have now identified a gene that may offer the most accurate way to predict who is at risk of developing the disease, as well as the age at which those people will begin to show symptoms.

The new findings were called “quite significant”  the National Institutes of Health who currently runs Khachaturian Radebaugh & Associates Inc., an international consulting group on Alzheimer’s and aging. “I do get excited about the possibility of having a good genetic marker that’s going to tell us with greater precision who’s going to get it and within a time window,” “I also have skepticism that we need to validate with larger numbers before we go public.”

AD is the most common type of dementia; accounting for 60 to 80 percent of cases. Early symptoms include difficulty remembering names and recent events, apathy and depression. Later symptoms include impaired judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes, and trouble speaking, swallowing and walking.

As many as 5.3 million Americans and 30 million people worldwide are living with AD, and according to studies presented in 2007, these numbers are expected to quadruple by 2050 and affect more than 100 million people.