Tick-borne illnesses frequently cause serious psychiatric symptoms that lead to referrals to mental health practitioners, who are often the very first to detect an underlying organic illness. Patients with late stage Lyme and tick-borne infections may present with a variety of neurological, emotional and behavioral difficulties ranging from mild to severe. Disorders have been found in 15-40 percent of late stage Lyme patients, resulting in mood and cognitive disturbances as well as fatigue and a myriad of other symptoms such as headaches and sleep disturbances. Published studies have shown that one-third of psychiatric patients showed signs of past Lyme borrelia infection.

Leslie Abrons, LCSW, a clinical social worker with over thirty years of experience, will be speaking about Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Tick Borne Illness at the upcoming March 31 Midcoast Lyme Disease Support & Education from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Wiscasset Community Center. She has a private practice in Portland, Maine and works with individuals, couples and families. Her clients range in age from pre-adolescent to older adults. Her areas of expertise include chronic illness, tick borne disease, learning differences, depression, anxiety, trauma, emotional regulation strategies and family systems. Leslie has been working with clients with tick-borne illness since 2005 and is a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS). She is currently involved in educating social workers throughout the state of Maine about the epidemic of tick borne disease and neuropsychiatric manifestations of this illness.

For more information about this meeting or about the Midcoast Lyme Disease Support & Education group, please contact Paula Jackson Jones (207) 446-6447 or Angle Rice (207) 841-8757.