Leadership21

Karl-Heinz Schuster

2010-04-20T09:43:00.001-05:00

Iraq, Afghan Vets at Risk for Suicides

2007-11-13T09:15:00.000-05:00

I can't imagine this article will be a surprise to anyone, but it still affects me deeply every time I hear something of the sort. There is a new Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline being developed, but what else is being done to support the mental health of our returning vets? So many of these people are of the prime age of onset of mental health issues, 18-25, and they have been through just so much. We have a long way to go. Anyone have thoughts as to where efforts should be focused?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/103107A.shtml

Happy Halloween from Anna Rexia

2007-10-31T17:58:00.000-05:00

I love Halloween. I love the joy of thinking of a great costume six months in advance, I love seeing people who are bona fide adults out in public wearing totally bizarre getups, and I love candy. I especially love creative costumes, but this year I broke down and bought a costume off the internet. And that's when I stumbled across this jewel!

This is not creative. This is not hilarious. This won't win a costume contest.

This is the "Sexy Anna Rexia" costume, complete with TAPE MEASURE belt and choker, from http://www.foxyladyboutique.com/d4503annarexia-costume.html?productid=d4503annarexia-costume&channelid=FROOG.

I don't know anyone who would wear this, but apparently enough people to make the small and medium sell out. If you see anyone wearing this tonight, try to find out know why they chose it--I'm interested.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween...

Behold, the Power of YouTube

2007-10-31T17:53:00.001-05:00

I just saw CNN link to this story--apparently a man in Orlando posted his last will and testament on YouTube before taking a large quantity of pills, and someone in NY saw the video in time and was able to call the police in Florida. The police were able to locate the man, who was unresponsive, and he's now in the hospital.

Dear New Yorker, whoever and wherever you are, thank you.

http://www.local6.com/news/14471080/detail.html

Eat, Pray, Love

2007-10-13T19:12:00.000-05:00

I am reading this amazing book right now by Elizabeth Gilbert called "Eat, Pray, Love" about woman who travels for a year after a difficult and messy divorce. She spends four months in Italy, four months in Indonesia, and four months in India. Early in the book, she has a moment when she is sitting in the park and her familiar and hated companions, Depression and Lonliness, in the form of two pushy police detectives overtake her. They question her, they follow her back to her apartment, they won't leave her be.

I loved the idea of these two old companions in the form of two hated, overbearing policemen that a person cannot shake--they will follow you even to the most exotic destinations. They will overtake you in your most private and even happy moments. "Why do you deserve to be happy?" they sometimes ask. "Look at the people you've hurt, the things you've messed up."

I imagine most of us have had this dialogue with ourselves and far be it for me to advise anyone on how to make those voices stop. But reading Gilbert's words today really spoke to me. And then I realized why: just knowing that other people face those voices too makes the ones in my own head a little diminished.

Baz Alert

2007-10-10T15:10:00.000-05:00

Help Congress Override the President's Veto!
October 10, 2007 Congress is poised for an October 18 vote to override the President's October 3 veto of the compromise bill to renew and expand SCHIP the program of health care for low-income children. H.R. 976, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, would authorize $35 billion over five years to provide healthcare coverage to roughly 10 million children, about 4 million more than covered over the past 10 years. (See the Bazelon Center's August 6 Mental Health Policy Reporter)
Renewal would improve mental health coverage.
The legislation would for the first time establish parity for mental health benefits in SCHIP plans by prohibiting discriminatory financial requirements or treatment limitations.
It eliminates the provision in SCHIP that allows states electing to develop benchmark-equivalent plans to lower the amount of mental health coverage to 75 percent of the coverage provided in the benchmark plans.
It includes a six month moratorium that temporarily halts the Administration's efforts to limit reimbursement for services under Medicaid's rehabilitative services option and for school -based administration or transportation costs. These are outlined in the President's fiscal year 2008 budget proposal (see our February 22 Policy Reporter) and proposed regulations released by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (see our August 20 Action Alert). The Medicaid rehabilitative services option is critical to community-based mental health services for children and adults.
More House votes needed to override the veto.
The Senate passed the bill by a veto-proof majority (67-29). But while the House passed the bill by 265-159, that is not enough to override the President's veto. To realize the victories won in this compromise legislation, 289 House votes are needed.
Please Act Now!
If your Representative is on the following list, call today and urge him or her to vote YES for health insurance for children in low-income working families. And if you know people in those states, forward this email and ask your friends and colleagues who are constituents to make the call.

Use the toll-free number 1 800-828-0498 set up by Families USA to access the Capitol switchboard, which will connected you to your Representative's office.

Target List of Representatives
AL Robert Aderholt
AR John Boozman
CA Brian Bilbray
CA John Doolittle
CO Marilyn Musgrave
FL Gus Bilirakis
FL Ginny Brown-Waite
FL Tom Feeney
FL Rick Keller
IL Judy Biggert
IL Tim Johnson
IL Peter Roskam
IL Jerry Weller
LA Rodney Alexander
MI Joseph Knollenberg
MI Thaddeus McCotter
MI Tim Walberg
MN Michelle Bachman
MO Sam Graves
NJ Rodney Frelinghuysen
NJ Scott Garrett
NJ Jim Saxton
NY Randy Kuhl
OH Steve Chabot
OR Greg Walden
PA John Peterson
TX Kay Granger
VA Thelma Drake
VA Randy Forbes

Republicans Who Didn't Vote
CA Wally Herger
WY Barbara Cubin

Luxury Rehab, Part Two

2007-10-09T15:23:00.000-05:00

Here's a fascinating link to an LA Times story about a cluster of pricey rehabs in Malibu--so f'ed up--they get away with some pretty shady stuff--and seem to prey on families when they are at their most vulnerable.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rehab9oct09,0,5556868,full.story?coll=la-home-local

And here's a description I got from one of the rehab Passages' web site; the pic above is from there as well:

"Framed between the rugged Santa Monica mountains to the rear and a beautiful view overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Passages' three acre grounds are the perfect place to heal. From the babbling koi pond to the exquisitely manicured lawns, Passages offers an ideal setting for working with the lives of people who come to us from situations and life conditions that are anything but ideal."

Makes me want to go to rehab. Not!

The struggle goes on

2007-10-08T14:42:00.000-05:00

I've been struggling this weekend. The sort of sadness that you recognize as having the potential to lead to something deeper. Mornings where I'd rather stay in bed then get up. Afternoons where I want to watch movies instead of going out. The desire to lose myself in sad music. I think a lot of us have been there.

It's a three day weekend for me, so I can afford to lose myself a little--but only a little. I can't let that sense of exhaustion overurle me because tomorrow morning, I know I will have to get up when my alarm goes off and use whatever core of strength I've got to propel myself to my front door, out into the world, to work. And I know how much energy it will seem to take to do it, but I know I will do it anyway.

I find myself in awe of you who I know struggle sometimes like I do and work for yourselves. If you didn't leave your apt, there'd be no one to answer to. And yet, Lizzie, Ross, Anastasia, Alison, you keep working everyday, for yourselves, rolling the ball forward up the hill. I admire all of your strength.

Go Massachusetts

2007-10-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

I'm hoping this is a victory for accountability:

From the Boston Globe:

"Following the death of a 4-year-old Hull girl from an overdose of psychiatric drugs last December, state officials have set up a unique early-warning system to spot preschoolers who may be getting excessive medication for mental illness. In just the first three months, the system has flagged the cases of at least 35 children for further investigation, and the number is sure to rise.

The state Medicaid program is analyzing records of 82,900 children under age 5, looking for those taking at least three psychiatric drugs or a single prescription of a powerful antipsychotic drug. Mental health professionals will review the care of these children and, if necessary, contact the prescribing doctor for an explanation, say officials of the state insurance program for lower-income families, known as MassHealth."

Read the rest of the Article here:
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/articles/2007/10/07/mass_tracks_children_on_psychiatric_drugs/?page=full

Hurts So Good

2007-10-07T23:42:00.000-05:00

I’ve just been asked if I’m available for abuse over the weekend. I have a roommate in New York City. Let’s call her Maria. I call her the Queen of the Gypsies because she’s traveled all over the world and never keeps an address longer than a year. She’s a filmmaker, art dealer, human rights activist and clothing designer. She knows a lot of people. Apparently she knows a Nice Guy who’s a masochist with a foot fetish and would like to come over and clean. The entire loft. For free. How does she know him?

“I used to be in the S&M scene, you know…”

"What exactly does that mean, he wants to clean the place for free?"

“Organize the closets, dishes, anything you want.’ Her arms are flapping, Martha Graham-style as she moves through the apartment. “All you gotta do is yell at him.”

"About what?"

"About anything."

"Like what?"

"Think of something. And he's AMAZING at TOILETS."

This guy's called Pony Boy she’s Mistress Jade. They've known each other for five years, never using real names, and they’ve never had sex. This is, unbelievably, not uncommon. Foot fetishists are rarely looking for sex. Some might say they’re looking for something more intimate: an assault to their sense of self-worth.

I’m skiddish, of course. if I have a problem with it, she says, she’ll invite him when I’m not here. I do have a problem with it, I'm repulsed. I'm also repulsed by Frank Lentini, the man with three legs and two penises. This fact doesn’t stop me from staring at his picture every time I get the chance, of course. After a few minutes I agree.

“Good. You have to come up with a name. Mistress Something.

“He’s not going to touch me or anything, right?”

“Oh, no. Never. Just tell him he’s a worthless piece of sh** and he might ask to suck your toes. But you don’t have to let him.”

You wonder who on earth wants to be told that they’re worthless, much less travel all the way across town for the pleasure. A relationship of this kind has to be organized and planned. Not exactly like stumbling home with someone after a party. I wonder if I’m going to participate – however peripherally – in a psychotic event. I wonder if, instead of barking insults, I should ask Pony Boy how much sleep he’s been getting lately. Appetite shift. If he’s had or is having suicidal ideation.

Being depressed for me is like having a thousand Mistress Jades in my head. They hog-tie my thoughts. They collapse my body into a motionless mass. They tread their spike-heeled boots over my life force. But what would happen if these voices were attatched to real bodies? Is this really worth thinking about? I just want a clean apartment and a toilet scrubbed with bleach. Still, I can't help but wonder: is this man trying to fetishize his demons and thereby conquer them? Or is it simply a sexual lifestyle choice? Like being gay? Actual clinicians submit this argument. Others contend that it’s a psychological disorder. Is depression a masochistic disorder? What do you think?

Also: any ideas for a mistress name?

Revenge Plastic Surgery?

2007-10-03T12:54:00.000-05:00

I was standing in my local supermarket waiting to check out and as usual I was perusing the tabloids. Tucked behind the typical Brangelina, Britney, and whoever is on Cosmo’s cover this month was a headline on US Weekly that really caught my eye and turned my stomach. The title is “Revenge Plastic Surgery.” It shows a smiling Heidi Montag star of reality show? The Hills. I say reality show? because I don’t know who’s reality that is. Anyway Miss Montag gave an exclusive interview to US in which she tells the magazine she was tired of being made fun of for being flat chested so she got revenge by not only investing in some fake breasts, but also some rhinoplasty. She didn’t mention anyone making fun of her nose, so that may have been an add on and not revenge. US was kind enough to show the before and after here. Interesting pictures for a 20 year old, who is now 21.

You will notice the poll on the page asks people which they liked better and I was so happy to see a definitive 82% liked her body before the surgery. As a male I am not going to go into the confidence issues and difficulty of having smaller breasts in today’s world. I know women with fake breasts which they got for a variety of reasons, but none of them were revenge. Revenge seems like a really bad motive for what is in essence mutilating your body. It scares me how normalized mutilating your body has become. The other scary thing is the rhinoplasty because her face isn’t finished maturing and changing. Ashlee Simpson did the same thing at the ripe age of 20 and again you don’t know how your body will change. Granted in Heidi’s case her breasts may have been finished developing for now, but there’s a lot of changes left in a woman’s life like I don’t know pregnancy. And a quick google search turned up that Heidi wasn’t too ashamed of her body to pose for Stuff Magazine before the plastic surgery. Even saying in the article she loves looking sexy. Apparently she also said she feels really insecure in the US article and was willing to risk her life for these changes.

SO I don’t know all that goes into the plastic surgery decision, but I do know it’s not the best thing for role models of the tweener girls and teenage girls to be doing. And let’s be honest women from their 20’s-40’s who are obsessed with the Hills as well. SO I guess it’s good on one hand to see how many people don’t like this, but sad that people in the public eye feel compelled to do this.

Mental Illness and Love: Part Two

2007-10-02T15:28:00.000-05:00

Some Thoughts on How Untreated Mental Illness (Depression, Anxiety, Trauma, Mania) Messes with Love:
1. Mental Illness is pain and pain makes you seek pain relief above all, when in healthy relationships, you need to be able to seek love above all.
2. Mental Illness is internally pre-occupying, when in healthy relationships you need to not be self-absorbed.
3. Mental Illness distorts self-perception. Mental Illness distorts perception of others. In healthy relationships you need a fair perception of self and others.
4. Mental Illness interferes in one’s capacity for relaxation, which is necessary for healthy intimacy.
5. Mental Illness, in early childhood development, may interrupt a child’s ability to feel safe and loved.

Thoughts?

My Mets and Mental Health?

2007-10-02T10:24:00.000-05:00

Some of you may be reading the title of this blog and thinking what do the New York Mets have to do with mental health. That is exactly what I was asking myself this morning when I saw a little title on CNN that says, "Mental Help for Mets Fans." Not only is this a story, but it's also in Time Magazine. I don't know if my book will ever be in Time, but alas my message and my favorite baseball team is.

I guess I should start at the beginning. As a youngster growing up in northeast Pennsylvania I had choices for my favorites teams. We lived an hour from Philadelphia and an hour and a half from New York City. So in a lot of cases favorite teams are divided. My dad really doesn't have any favorite teams so I wasn't bred to like any team over another. At the ripe old age of 8 I started to watch baseball on TV and low and behold that year the New York Mets won the World Series. As an 8 year old this was amazing to me! I was so elated that surely the Mets had to be my favorite team for the rest of my life. I bought all of the paraphernalia. I begged my parents to take me to spring training games when we were on vacation in Florida. I went to see them play in different cities. I have even stuck with them through some terrible years since I was 8. Granted I am no different from other sports fans, especially my Philadelphia Phillie fan friends who are definitely tougher than me, because they used to choke worse than anyone, until this year at least. For those of you who don't follow sports the Mets just had the worst collapse in major league baseball history, which brings me back to the point of this blog!

A fellow Mets fan wrote this article for Time. In it he interviewed about 5 or 6 psychologists to find out what fans can do to deal with the Met's downfall. There is actually some really good advice in there. And I know a lot of times people don't get why sports affects other people so much and this has been studied endlessly. For me I think it's a mixture of things. You follow a team for 162 days and it becomes a routine in your life, once that routine ends you can be lost as to what to do. For others they may project everything that is going wrong in their lives into the hope of having their favorite team succeed. As someone who worked at a Circuit City Distribution Center near Philadelphia I watched this in a lot of Eagles fans. SO when the team loses you're forced to go back to your life and if that sucks, well then you need another distraction. Also let us not forget that nationalistic pride in one's country also translates into individual sports teams. And if you don't think nationalism is dangerous may I remind you of World Wars 1 and 2 and just about every other war. SO what can people do. Well the article says to definitely feel the loss and make sure you talk about how much it affects you. If you don't it can come out in other ways, like drinking etc. It also says to start following other sports to take up a new routine and get your mind off how terrible the Mets finished the season. Another coping strategy that is suggested is to look at how competitive the field was and how maybe the Mets were beat out by better teams. (which is a total lie, but we'll let it slide) The article recommends remembering it is just the end of the season and not the end of the world. And lastly the article promotes a sense of community saying I am not alone in my misery. There are other Mets fans to cry with!

Overall this is a great example of how we can tie mental health into an area that isn't often directly associated with it. I mean talk about promoting cognitive behavioral therapy! The advice given for dealing with the Mets loss can be used in everyday life. Talk about your pain. Find healthy ways to deal with it and know that you're not alone. Remember any loss is not the end of the world. If more people opened up about all of their emotions on a regular basis, not just sports, then maybe it wouldn't be so hard to deal with your favorite sports team's failures! As for my Mets there's always next year!

when protective laws hurt people??

2007-10-01T21:00:00.001-05:00

I know I'm double-blogging but there is another story I'd like to share. Last week I did a hearing with a boy (teenager) accused of breaking a school rule who was facing two months expulsion. He prepared a bunch of material about how the expulsion would harm himself, his mom, his family, his grades, his chances at colllege. . . .etc. I prepared material on how the expulsion was unlawful because the conduct was "disability-related." Only problem was, this smart guy pulled me out of the hearing and explained to me during a break that he didn't really feel good about the words I was saying -- that he didn't like how it felt to argue that his disability had caused his actions, and that he'd prefer that we just stick to the strategy of trying to convince school personnel and their lawyer that the expulsion was too severe. I explained to him that I needed to make the argument because, in my experience, the "too severe" argument would get us nowhere -- there was no liability there, and the lawyer would be moved only by my "disability-related" legal argument. I got permission from him to make the argument, we won at hearing, and I went home feeling like crap. This kid -- really, a man -- had articulated something really important about accountability. The law had no room for it.

are we really talking cancer or diabetes?

2007-10-01T20:55:00.001-05:00

Last night (watching Tony Soprano on DVD) I again was reminded of that "treat us like we have cancer or diabetes" thing that has always bugged me. A mother on the show has a son with ADHD and she tells hubby and friend that medications are OK because, certainly, she'd give him medicine if he had been diabetic. This analogy about medication for mental health conditions really bothers me because having a mental health issue is probably nothing like having a physical ailment. I guess it most bothers me because most people with mental health "histories" do not really discuss their experiences "with" mental illness -- as if they were a person with a mind separate from and completely apart from a disease -- isn't it far more personal than that? Isn't there personality and aren't there all the issues with explaning behavior and being accountable and being proud about progress, etc., etc., and doesn't this claim that "it's just like cancer" really get in the way of that? What do you guys think?

Soldiers get boot for 'pre-existing' mental illness

2007-10-01T13:38:00.000-05:00

Many soldiers get boot for 'pre-existing' mental illness
By Philip Dine
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU
09/30/2007

WASHINGTON — Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq — as many as 10 a day — are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons. But the Pentagon isn't blaming the war. It says the soldiers had "pre-existing" conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government.

Many soldiers and Marines being discharged on this basis actually suffer from combat-related problems, experts say. But by classifying them as having a condition unrelated to the war, the Defense Department is able to quickly get rid of troops having trouble doing their work while also saving the expense of caring for them.

The result appears to be that many actually suffering from combat-related problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries don't get the help they need.

Link to the story:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/washington/story/B8F5491DEDE1CF2C8625736500190F67?OpenDocument

Anti-Anorexia Billboard Creates Controversy

2007-10-01T12:05:00.000-05:00

An anti-anorexia billboard in Milan featuring a naked woman with anorexia, French actress Isabelle Caro, has created quite a stir. The ad campaign coincided with fashion week and was supposed to display, as stated by the photographer, how scary being too skinny can look. He also states that this is how most of the models today would look without any clothes. While some may say that the intentions are noble, others comment on the fact that this campaign is still, in fact, an advertisement.

In my opinion, the ad would have been more effective if it was a photograph of a woman of healthy weight being presented as desirable, sexy, and the ideal, so that we as a society become more accustomed to this as the standard of beauty rather than an emaciated young woman. Of course, my idea would most likely not create nearly as much controversy. But is controversy necessary in order to get a message across? Would an ad featuring a model of "normal" weight be a less effective tool in getting the message of how the media and fashion world create an unreasonable ideal of beauty?

Thoughts? Comments?

Got an Old Backpack?

2007-10-01T08:51:00.000-05:00

Donate it to Active Minds, Inc. and Help Us Send Silence Packing!

Here is a plug for a new campaign Active Minds is running, to represent the incidence and impact of college student suicide. Every backpack we collect will represent a college student who has died by suicide in the past year. Unfortunately, many of us know at least one such tragedy - please donate in honor of anyone you know, or all who you hope never get to that stage.

_____

Suicide claims the life of over 1,100 college students each year*, and the impact of each one of those deaths touches us all. Active Minds, Inc., the only national organization dedicated to utilizing the student voice to raise mental health awareness on the college campus, is embarking on an aggressive campaign to promote a dialogue about mental health issues on campus and combat the incidence of student suicide. By empowering students and the student voice in mental health awareness, we envision one day when mental health issues are widely discussed, and the number of these tragic deaths is reduced to 0.

To demonstrate the crisis of college student suicide, we are looking to collect 1,100 backpacks/messenger bags/book bags this fall to be publicly displayed to represent all of those promising lives lost each year. If you have a plain backpack that you would like to contribute to this campaign, please send it to**:

Send Silence Packing
Active Minds, Inc.
1875 Connecticut Ave, NW Suite 418
Washington, DC 20009

If you would like to donate a backpack in memory or in honor of a loved one and would like to attach a name/story/picture/etc. to the bag, please laminate your message and attach it securely to the outside of the bag. Please do not put your message inside the bag, as it will not be seen. If you don’t have a backpack but would like to contribute to the Campaign and the work of Active Minds, please send donations to Active Minds, Inc. at the address above, or donate online.

The first presentation of the Send Silence Packing Campaign will be on Friday, October 26, 2007 on the National Mall in Washington, DC. A special gathering with guest speaker Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) will occur between 12:30-2pm at 13th and Jefferson Streets, NW, as part of the Fourth National Mental Health on Campus Conference.

**Please note – due to the nature of this exhibit, your backpack will not be returned to you. However, if you include your email address in your correspondence, we will be sure to keep you informed of where and when the backpacks will be displayed.

*National Mental Health Association & The Jed Foundation. (2002). Safeguarding your students against suicide: Expanding the safety network. Alexandria, VA.

Click here for PDF of this document

Text Messaging

2007-09-30T22:02:00.000-05:00

Like many students this fall, I received an email from my school asking me to sign up for a campus text-messaging service so I can be notified if there is an emergency on campus. I signed up, knowing full well that this was most likely a reaction to the tragedy at Virginia Tech. The email went on to describe the various other measures the school would use to get in touch with the campus, including phone calls, emails, and sirens. But nowhere was there any info about what to do in an emergency--any emergency. Wouldn't it be good to know what to do if I see a fire on campus? Or who should I call if I witness a car accident? Or even where is the counseling center, in case I want to show one of my friends where to get help? Don't the thousands of people who received the same email about the text messaging need that info, too?

Ruined Lives

2007-09-30T21:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I returned from Argentina, where we released the report we've been working on for three years, Ruined Lives: Segregation from Society in Argentina's Psychiatric Asylums. The report documents the conditions and treatment of the nearly 25,000 people detained in Argentina's psychiatric institutions. Abuses documented include people burning to death in isolation cells, physical and sexual violence, forced sterilization, arbitrary detention, long-term sensory deprivation in isolation cells, lack of appropriate medical care, among others.

The abuses are nothing new. In every institution I've monitored there are abuses. The striking thing about Argentina is the number of people detained in institutions for socio-economic reasons. According to authorities and mental health professionals interviewed, anywhere between 60 and 90% of those institutionalized are there because they have nowhere else to go. Indeed, authorities have coined the phrase, "the psychiatrization of poverty" to explain the phenomenon. Argentina has almost no community-based mental health services and supports, so people who are institutionalized tend to stay there: 80% of those committed to public institutions are detained for a year or longer; the average length of institutionalization is 9 years.

Despite this bleak outlook, there are mental health reform efforts under way. Two large institutions (more than 1,000 beds) are working to discharge people and provide them with community supports to aid in their social reintegration. The psychiatric forensic unit where we documented people detained naked in tiny, dark cells for months at a time have been dismantled. There are a number of movements lobbying the government to deinstitutionalize.

The transformation of mental health services in Argentina will doubtless take many years, but the reform movement is gaining momentum. Likely, the tide will not turn back. Ruined Lives is available in PDF at: www.mdri.org.

Sleezebags

2007-09-30T10:29:00.000-05:00

This from a Department of Justice Press Release:

Bristol-myers Squibb to Pay More Than $515 Million to Resolve Allegations of Illegal Drug Marketing and Pricing

WASHINGTON – Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Apothecon, Inc., have agreed to pay over $515 million to resolve a broad array of civil allegations involving their drug marketing and pricing practices, United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan announced today.

“The integrity of our health care system rests on physicians being able to make decisions based on the best interests of their patients,” said Keisler. “This settlement reflects the Justice Department’s strong commitment to holding drug companies accountable for devising and implementing fraudulent marketing and pricing schemes that undermine that decision-making process at the expense of federal health care programs for the poor and the elderly.”

Sullivan added: “Patients are entitled to unbiased decision-making from their physicians and should not have to worry that financial inducements or lavish entertainment have influenced their physicians’ prescribing choices. Kickbacks are especially nefarious when they are used as part of a marketing effort to convince physicians to prescribe drugs for uses that the Food and Drug Administration has not determined to be safe and effective.”

“The government alleges that Bristol-Myers Squibb, among other wrongdoing, fraudulently inflated the cost of a drug used primarily to reduce the side effects of cancer treatments and other generic drugs without regard to the increased costs borne by government health care programs or elderly and indigent patients,” said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida. “Corporations cannot continue to mislead the government into paying vastly exaggerated prices by exploiting a health care system based on trust and fair play.”

Today’s settlement covers a wide assortment of illegal marketing and pricing practices.

First, the Government alleged that, from approximately 2000 through mid-2003, BMS knowingly and willfully paid illegal remuneration to physicians and other health care providers to induce them to purchase BMS drugs. BMS paid the illegal remuneration in the form of consulting fees and expenses to physicians and other health care providers to participate in various consulting programs, advisory boards, and preceptorships. Some of these programs involved travel to luxurious resorts. The Government also alleged that, from 1994 through 2001, Apothecon knowingly and willfully paid illegal remuneration such as stocking allowances, price protection payments, prebates, market share payments, and free goods in order to induce its retail pharmacy and wholesaler customers to purchase its products. In both cases, the Government alleged that, by paying this illegal remuneration to physicians and others, BMS and Apothecon knowingly caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to the federal health care programs.

Second, the Government alleged that, from 2002 through the end of 2005, BMS knowingly promoted the sale and use of Abilify, an atypical antipsychotic drug, for pediatric use and to treat dementia-related psychosis, both “off-label” uses. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Abilify to treat adult schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, but has not approved the use of Abilify for children and adolescents or for geriatric patients suffering from dementia-related psychosis. Indeed, the FDA has mandated that the package for Abilify carry a “black box” warning concerning its use in the treatment of dementia-related psychosis. Nonetheless, BMS directed its sales force to call on child psychiatrists and other pediatric specialists, and the sales force then urged physicians and others providers to prescribe Abilify for pediatric patients. BMS also created a specialized long term care sales force that called almost exclusively on nursing homes, where dementia-related psychosis is far more prevalent than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Third, the Government alleged that both BMS and Apothecon set and maintained fraudulent and inflated prices for a wide assortment of oncology and generic drug products with the knowledge that federal health care programs established reimbursement rates based on those prices. By reporting false and fraudulent prices that were substantially higher than commonly and widely available prices in the marketplace, BMS and Apothecon created a “spread” between the reimbursement rates for federal health care providers and the actual prices for the drugs charged to its customers. The larger the spread on a drug, the larger the profit or return on investment for the provider. Because reimbursement from federal programs was based on the fraudulent, inflated prices, the United States alleged that BMS and Apothecon caused false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to federal health care programs.

Finally, the Government alleged that BMS knowingly misreported its best price for the anti-depression drug, Serzone. Under the provisions of the Medicaid Drug Rebate Statute, BMS was required to report to Medicaid the lowest, or "best" price, for Serzone that it charged its commercial customers. In making its mandatory best price reports, BMS knowingly failed to include the low prices at which it sold "private-label" Serzone to Kaiser, a large commercial purchaser. As a result, BMS denied the Medicaid program and certain Public Health Service entities the benefit of the lowest price in the marketplace.

Out of the settlement amount, the federal recovery is over $328 million, of which over $25 million constitutes disgorgement of profits under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act resulting from BMS’s illegal promotion of Abilify. BMS also will pay over $187 million to the Medicaid participating states, and $124,000 to certain Public Health Service entities.

As part of today’s settlement, Bristol-Myers Squibb entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services that, among other things, requires the company to report accurate average sales prices and average manufacturer prices for its drugs covered by Medicare and other federal health care programs.

“Illegal drug marketing schemes and deceitful pricing by manufacturers will be vigorously pursued by OIG," said Daniel R. Levinson, HHS Inspector General. "We are committed to ensuring that beneficiaries participating in federal health care programs are not taken advantage of by those engaging in unscrupulous practices.”

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/September/07_civ_782.html

Rock Therapy

2007-09-29T19:57:00.000-05:00

It was the summer before second grade and we were living at the Jersey Shore. My mother painted seascapes in a men’s dress shirts and rolled up jeans. My father worked at the Silica Sand Company; where giant mounds of sand turned into wall-sized sheets of clear glass. My sister played jacks with Trudy Golday and Susan Pettibone. I spent most of my time alone, controlling the weather.

I kept small rocks in my mother's old prescription bottles and lined them up in the narrow wedge between my bottom bunk and the wall. There were seven bottles of varying sizes, and forty-nine stones. These could summon the sun, stop the rain, and generally keep the beach from blowing away. I would, as magic law required, touch the top of each bottle before I went to sleep, and do the same thing right when I woke up every morning. I never forgot.

Every few days I would take the stones out to our gravel driveway for cleaning, rearranging and evaluation. Often the odd few had lost their power, and would be thrown into the bay and replaced.

Early one afternoon, a real estate agent came to speak with my mother about renting out our house for the winter. I was in the driveway looking for new stones. I held them in the folded bottom half of my t-shirt, belly exposed, deeply concentrating. The agent was pale and pear-shaped -- covered in a thin layer of sweat. He looked as though he had recently been boiled. Within moments of getting out of his car he was less than half an inch from my face, shouting, "Oh! I see we have a little rock collector here!"

I was thunderstruck. Breathless. I couldn't think of what to say and finally whispered, "I do not collect rocks." Those were the last words I spoke for the next 24 hours. I gathered my prescription bottles and buried them behind our house. I locked the door to my room and refused move from my bed. That night my uncle and cousins came for dinner. Each in their turn: Aunt Emma, Uncle Jimmy, Cynthia, Georgia, Little Jimmy, my parents, my sister, came upstairs one at a time. Each like a horse whisperer with a feral mare; convinced they could pry me from my misery and my bed. All failed. No one, not even my famously intuitive mother, could figure out what had made me so upset. Even I didn't know.

I suspect it had something to do with the fact that I thought I was very special - an alchemist, a seer, marked by God to help out with the weather - but in fact the rest of the world just saw a kid collecting rocks. The shame was new, overwhelming, and unconquerable. I wanted to go downstairs for spaghetti and meatballs, but the longer I stayed in my room the more disconnected I felt from this world that had rejected me.

That is a solar plexus memory. The feeling, however, has grown familiar. I feel a spasm of that shame every time I hear the words Mood Disorder. I don't believe the fiction that we're all a bunch of geniuses with too much brainpower to hold in one skull, but I believe we're engaged in a struggle with more heft and rigor than the word "mood" can possibly describe. Disorder? Okay, I've learned to live with that one. When I'm walking through the West Village in my pajamas and talking to strangers about how atoms travel, we can safely say something's "out of order." But is it that I'm not in the mood to wear street clothes and shoes? This from dictonary.com:

mood
–noun
1. a state or quality of feeling at a particular time: What's the boss' mood today?
2. a distinctive emotional quality or character: The mood of the music was almost funereal.
3. a prevailing emotional tone or general attitude: the country's mood.
4. a frame of mind disposed or receptive, as to some activity or thing: I'm not in the mood to see a movie.
5. a state of sullenness, gloom, or bad temper.

It puts me in a bad mood, reading those definitions. I'll tell you a few things about mood: The boss is in the mood to talk to God. The mood of the music was almost funereal but she couldn't hear it because she couldn't get out of bed. The country's mood is uncertain, but the country is nodding and smiling and serving up meds. I'm not in the mood to see a movie, or to watch Oprah squint with pity at the bipolar travails of Sinead O'Connor. I am sullen, gloomy, and in a bad temper. But I do not collect rocks.

And tomorrow's going to be partly sunny.

The people who want to help

2007-09-28T23:48:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday night I sat at a table with a bunch of middle aged college educators. My mother was running a conference to educate people about mental illness on campus and Alison Malmon and I came down for it. Alison spoke at the conference, I was just along for the ride. The dinner the night before the conerence was one of those striking moments, with Alison and I sitting in the middle of all these well meaning older people tring to comumincate what it was to feel isolated at college and what educators might do to ease the burden of it. They were looking for us to guide them and I felt useless.

I listened and I tried to answer their questions about what I had needed and hadnt gotten at Amherst, but I felt like a phoney. My experience of being unhappy in college had been so personal and shameful, I couldn't relate to the stories of finding sources of support among other students. I don't I would have known how to look or how to utilize what I found. I was too busy pretending things were fine.

So how do we reach the kids like I was who struggled along because they feared the shame? If I don't know that answer all these later, I am not convinced there is a good answer.

Shopping Anxiety

2007-09-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

Some people fear death, some public speaking. I'm comfortable with both but I hate shopping. Recently I've become addicted to Tim Gunn's makeover show, which brilliantly mixes psychology into shopping, and it's motivating me to go and buy new clothes. Ones that fit and express who I am. I know I need help--I'm way out of touch with how my body works in clothing, in fact I routinely buy clothes too big for me, or buy things I already have, or wear things that are worn out, stained, missing buttons, etc. I need help. That's the first step, right? Admitting the problem. And the second step is asking for help. And so I've asked my warm and wise friend Dominique, who is stylish and getting her PHD in Buddhism from Columbia, to assist me in the endeavor. I truly feel that only a Buddhist scholar can get me in and out of the dressing rooms without triggering a depressive episode or panic attack. I'm not being dramatic. I really hate shopping. I will blog after our date, next wed.

Dawdy on Oprah and Kay

2007-09-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

From Philip Dawdy's blog, FuriousSeasons.com:

"After mulling it over for a day, I've come around to the idea that Oprah, who featured bipolar disorder and several examples of the same on her program on Monday, is out to paint bipolars as inherently violent and dangerous. I've not seen a lot of data on this point. Most of the research on violence and mental illness has been done on schizophrenia and shows a risk that is not particularly elevated above the general population.

But this is Oprah and she gets to do what she wants, data or no data. Why Kay Redfield Jamison, who appeared on the program and should be acutely aware of this issue, didn't peep in protest is beyond me. She appeared to be on the program to lend some medical authenticity to the affair and get a major plug for one of her books, which have been strong sellers for years and have had major media plugs aplenty. Jamison is an odd case--she's a professor of psychiatry, works in private practice as a psychologist, has oodles of money and privilege, and yet I have never heard her speak up on behalf of her brothers and sisters when they are getting kicked around by the media. There literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of positive stories around people with bipolar disorder, and she stands aside and let's the talk show queen get away with painting the rest of us who work very hard on these matters with the problems and bad outcomes of three other people, two of them Hollywood actors and one a convicted murderer.

If Jamison cannot start standing up when she makes her many media appearances, then perhaps it is time for her to stand down.

And, yes, like many readers, I am sick and tired of Hollywood actors being the go-to bipolar examples on shows such as these. They are poor proxies for the reality the rest of us live with. But have no fear: I hear that Sinnead O'Connor is coming out as bipolar on Oprah next week. I'm so happy. The Irish singer and the rest of us have so much in common."

Agree? Disagree? Please comment!

Baz Alert

2007-09-25T14:13:00.000-05:00

Calls on Children's Health Insurance Urgently Needed

House Vote on SCHIP Is Imminent

September 15, 2007--Today, the House of Representatives will vote on the House-Senate compromise that would extend and expand health care coverage to low-income children through the State's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The bill (H.R. 976, Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act) would provide $35 billion over five years. The Senate will vote on the compromise bill later this week.

Bill Adds Parity for Children's Coverage
This critical bill would for the first time establish parity for mental health benefits in SCHIP plans. It would also provide a six-month moratorium on the Administration's effort to restrict Medicaid rehabilitative services and school-based services, as outlined in the President's fiscal year 2008 budget proposal and proposed regulations released by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. These two provisions are important victories.

With President Bush threatening to veto SCHIP legislation, it is imperative to garner a veto-proof vote in both the House and Senate. Your call is needed now!

Please Call Today!
Urge your Representative to vote for the State Children's Health Insurance Program bill. A simple message to help extend health insurance to 4 million more uninsured children! Use the toll-free number 1-800-828-0498 to connect to the Capitol switchboard and ask for your Representative's office. To find out who your Representative is, access www.congress.org or www.house.gov and enter your zip code.

What School Doesn't Need $960,685?

2007-09-22T10:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the U.S. Dept. of Education announced it will award Virginia Tech $960,685 in federal grant money to improve counseling services.

Can you imagine what university health care could be like if every school received that much money? If mental health was prioritized to the extent that its budget could rival a college sports team's?

I'm thrilled that Virginia Tech will get this money, but it would be even better if a tragedy like that which occurred there didn't have to happen before college mental health was on the national radar.

[The Dept. of Education press release on the grant can be found here: http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/09/09212007a.html]

Pop Culture

2007-09-19T14:40:00.000-05:00

I was watching the Redskins/Eagles game on Monday night, and was pleasantly surprised to hear the commentators respectfully discuss the issues that Andy Reid's family has been dealing with, including alcoholism and trouble with the law with some of the family members. The commentators spent over five minutes discussing the issue, and how 'real' celebrities really are; that they have problems just like all of us. It was one of the most honest discussions on the matter I've heard in a while.
Then I got to thinking about a couple of years ago when Tony Dungy's son took his life. What a terrible tragedy for him and his family. But I don't remember hearing anything then like what I heard this week - is this a sign that our society is slowly but surely opening up, or is it that suicide is still behind other serious issues like alcoholism in the popular culture dialogue?

"The Real Behavior Crisis is Among Baby Boomers, Not Teenagers"

2007-09-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

Mike Males has a great Op-Ed today in the NY Times that says brain researchers are overstating neuro research about young people and its implications while ignoring the research that shows that American adults ages 35-54 are in more trouble than the youngins, and in more trouble then ever. He cites these stats about the 35-54 set: 18, 249 deaths from illegal overdose, up 550% since 1975; 46, 925 fatal accidents and suicides, "leaving today's middle-agers 30 percent more at risk for such dealth than people aged 15-19"; more than 4 million arrests in 2005 for violent crimes, up 200% since 1975; 21 million binge drinkers, which is "double the number among teenagers and college students combined"; and more than half of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2005 went to middle aged Americans. I appreciated his last sentence: "Commentators slandering teenagers, scientists misrepresenting shaky claims about the brain as hard facts, 47 year olds displaying far riskier behavoirs than 17 year olds, politicans refusing to face middle-aged crises...if grown ups really have superior brains, why don't we act as if we do?"

I think this may shed light on the overdiagnosis of bipolar disorder----if the above people are in charge, what kid wouldn't show symptoms of mental unbalance? When we focus on the problems of teenagers, are we just avoiding shining a light on the problems of adults?

Mental Illness and Love

2007-09-17T11:11:00.000-05:00

I feel like when I was a teenager, as many of my peers were developping a sense of their romantic and sexual identities, I was preoccupied with anxiey, depression, and mania; mental illness seriously disrupted the development of healthy intimate interpersonal skills. If you grew up with mental illness, do you agree? Disagree?

AFTER Tragedies Every Sports Team Has the Best Community

2007-09-12T13:13:00.000-05:00

I am going to start this post by saying the issue I am covering can be really sensitive for people and I hope that no one will take offense to this, but will rather think about it before the emotional reaction. Yesterday it was reported that a man wearing a Texas football t-shirt was nearly castrated at a bar in Oklahoma by an Oklahoma Sooners football fan. Yes you heard that right it took 60 stitches to repair a man’s “area” after he was attacked in an Oklahoma bar. And this reminded me of something I have been thinking about a lot lately.

I am an avid college football fan and love watching games. On the first weekend of the games the largest ESPN college football show went to Virginia Tech and there were endless stories about how VA Tech was the nicest community in the world, and the head coach was saying they’re America’s team now. They weren’t going to let one person destroy their community. At the Clemson vs. Florida State game there was a story about a Clemson player who had to adopt his younger brother to get him out of a negative home environment and then the town of Clemson raised money to help him get the things he needs. That night it was Clemson that had the best community in the country. Obviously in these situations I think it’s great that football can bring people together etc. and I’m happy that people turn to this to heal, but I really wish people would stop saying communities are the best AFTER a tragedy. Shouldn’t we focus on being good before a tragedy?

Here’s another example. Virginia Tech won their first game and played at LSU last weekend. LSU honored Virginia Tech by playing their alma mater before the game instead of LSU’s and two of LSU’s top players asked their fans to show respect to the Hokie fans at the game. So when Virginia Tech was introduced the LSU fans didn’t chant their usual “Gator Bait,” instead they either cheered or said nothing. All nice things, but why would people be compelled to do this only after tragedy? Why would large football communities continue to treat people like this all year round, unless of course something terrible happens? Trust me I know that for a large majority of people at these games it’s just all in good fun to chant or cheer for your team and a little yelling or harassment rarely turns into castration, but I just find it fascinating that announcers are just endlessly commenting on how amazing of a community LSU has to treat the Hokie fans this way, when next week a team that didn’t happen to have the largest school shooting in the history of the country will come in and they’ll be “gator bait” and booed.

Is it too much to ask for people to treat people in a humane way all of the time and not just after something terrible happens? In the same train of thought would it be too much for Extreme Makeover to not just take a ton of money and build one house for one family, but take the same amount of money and build a neighborhood? Or do we just feel better when we have one instance to look at and smile and say what a great world we live in?

Now I know there are a lot of amazing people at all of the schools I mentioned in this piece and many more. There are a lot of fans who don’t fight, don’t treat people with disrespect and some of my views here may be coming from the few people that get focused on and seem to ruin a lot. So if you are one of the good fans, then maybe we need to start making our voices heard louder and larger than those who give schools and communities a bad name.

Here I go again

2007-09-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

I was disturbed that the VMA's were at the Palms casino in Las Vegas. How does MTV get away with such a cheery endorsement of partying at the Palms when the majority of its viewers are under 21? Bob Herbert wrote a great Op-Ed about prostitution in Las Vegas last week in the Times, and it really disturbed me that so many teenage girls are getting swept into prostitution there at such a young age. It already disturbed me that Las Vegas markets itself as a great place to get loaded, gamble, and fuck without anyone at home knowing. But for MTV to sell that place to children is inexcusable.

A provocative analysis of the suicide data

2007-09-07T10:58:00.001-05:00

Provided by Philip Dawdy, over at the Furious Seasons blog---

http://furiousseasons.com/

His writing is so smart, and so persuasive. Please read, think, digest, comment---

Increased suicide rates linked to removal of warnings on anti depressants?

2007-09-06T17:44:00.001-05:00

Ross brought this up with me earlier in the day and I just saw a piece on NBC news making the same link. It's so hard to tell if this is based on real information or on pharmaceutical propaganda. The stat was that suicide has gone up in teenage girls 76% since the warnings came on. This increase does not seem possible. And the idea that this rise in suicide is caused by all of the young people who didn't go on meds because there were warning labels sounds totally unbelievable too. What is really happening out there?

Drunk and Unbalanced Astronauts?

2007-09-06T16:53:00.000-05:00

I've just glanced at a fascinating piece that reveals that NASA is trying to ignore the mental health issues of its astronauts; this an even bigger, broader problem than the "drunks in space" issue currenly in the spotlight, which already has officials scampering around denying that many of the astros blast off before takeofff. What I appreciate is that the article peels back the misuse of alcohol and discovers mental health issues, which I hope, as an informed culture, we can start doing more and more automatically, since most of the time these things are linked. Any way, here's the piece:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070906/ap_on_sc/astronauts_drinking

NASA is pretty much an arm of the military, so that they are military like in their denial of problems seems totally consistent.
But I love the power logic at work, which underlies so many dysfunctional institutions, never mind colleges, and families, which is this: if you make a culture that discourages people from seeking help, then you won't have a problem. We're really going to have to make an economic argument that says encouraging people to disclose is much more cost effective, because the moral underpinnings don't tend to inspire as effectively.

Thoughts?

Owen Wilson and his Fans

2007-09-05T22:37:00.000-05:00

I had the awesome opportunity of blogging about how Owen Wilson's suicide attempt and emotional difficulty may make him very similar to his young fans on the Huffington Post! You can read it here!

Healthy Skepticism

2007-09-05T13:20:00.000-05:00

This from the LA times report in the surge of bipolar diagnoses in children:

Dr. Gabrielle A. Carlson, a psychiatrist at Stony Brook University, said only 1 of every 5 children referred to her with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder actually has it. The rest have autism, depression, anxiety or another psychological disorder. All these conditions involve different treatments, either with drugs or behavioral therapy, or both.

Carlson, who has studied the increase in bipolar diagnoses, said some parents seemed to prefer a diagnosis of the disorder because the illness, thought to be largely genetic, absolves them of blame. "They don't have to deal with their chaos, their psychiatric disorder, their marital troubles or abuse.'"

This Guy

2007-09-05T08:18:00.000-05:00

Homophobia is toxic--to those who feel it and upon whom they spew it---and the mental health toll is real, and deep. I don't think you can be a mental health advocate without being a gay rights advocate. Speaking of which: Here's a brilliant and funny essay in the Nation about Larry Craig, written by my friend Tim McCarthy----
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070910/tpmccarthy2
Enjoy!

Front Page of NY Times

2007-09-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

Today the times reported that there was a forty percent increase in children being treated for bipolar disorder. That is astounding--and disturbing--I worry that many of those kids have emotional problems, not pyschiatric ones, problems for which the the solution lies in better parenting, schooling, communities, and family therapy, not medication. I was a kid with bipolar disorder, so of course I believe they exist. But not in these numbers. What also bothered me about the report is that 100 percent of these kids were treated with medication, and only forty percent of them with therapy. What I would really like to see is how many of those kids are still on those meds---because the only checks and balances in this situation is that those meds are so expensive and have so many side effects that I doubt a kid without bp with stay on them for very long. I hate blaming parents---especially since I'm not a parent---but many of them are colluding with myopic child psychiatrists and greedy pharmaceutical companies.

Whoa.

2007-08-31T21:06:00.000-05:00

Since Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, I decided to try to beat the crowd and figure out my costume early. Just a few minutes into my search, I came across this costume from http://www.buycostumes.com/, entitled "Ella Mental Adult." Tag line: "Even when over medicated, this patient is tons of fun."

Is this for real? I know it is, but this is ridiculous. Who is buying this?

http://www.buycostumes.com/Category/0/Product/20928/ProductDetail.aspx?REF=AFC-datafeed&AID=10273928&PID=2100672&SID=NAT48205-sc2486976

disability -- casting too broad a net?

2007-08-31T17:16:00.001-05:00

Posted by Lucy

Yesterday I met with a deaf woman who told me that she didn’t go to a therapist for her PTSD symptoms because she’s not “one of those crazy people” – signed by waving the hands around the head with a disgusted face – and I refrained from scolding her for having such scorn for people who experience mental illness.

A little over a week ago a person in the mental hospital informed me in a very loud voice that they were not “a retard” and wanted a new roommate that [didn’t have a developmental disability.]

An hour ago a would-be law clerk contacted me about writing a paper about state law requirements to report abuse of persons with disability that trump the privileges of lawyers, clergy, and social workers, requiring them to call in to the state any abuse of a “person with a disability.” This law would require me to report it to the government were a deaf client to tell me in confidence that her boyfriend had hit her!

Why is it that many people with disabilities are constantly trying to distance themselves from being lumped together with other disability groups? I always assumed it was the pressures people with disability confront in society that cause them to push harder on others perceived to be “beneath” them. But could it be the law itself – our own legal category of “disability” – that causes my clients to distance themselves from one another time and again?

Is the law the REASON these groups are at pains to distinguish themselves from each other?

Can you ever be too rich or too thin?

2007-08-31T09:03:00.000-05:00

"The New iMac. You can’t be too thin. Or too powerful." This was Apple's latest ad campaign for their new flat screen monitors. While it is easy to see why they decided to reference the Duchess of Windsor's famous saying for selling thin paneled monitors, it is also easy to see why this is an irresponsible use of the adage.
As a recovering anorectic and bulimic, I found this to be completely offensive and I wasn't the only one. As discussed in the following article, http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20070820/bs_prweb/prweb547551_1, The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness called upon Apple to remove the ad. It should be noted that Apple has since withdrawn the ad and changed the slogan to "The all new, all-in-one iMac", which I applaud, but I can't help but be amazed that the ad was even created, designed, and distributed. The impact that the slogan could have on millions of young men and women is astounding.
In fact, when I read "You can't be too thin. Or too powerful." it brought back memories of how I used to question whether or not the statement that "you can never be too rich or too thin" was really true. Its commonality in everyday dialogue once led me to conclude that one really can never be too thin, but the millions of individuals (including myself) that have suffered or are suffering from an eating disorder know that one can, in fact, be too thin.
But am I (and the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness) simply being oversensitive? In another blog, an individual reacted to the Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness's press release by stating, "Where to start with this one...Never mind that Apple is one of the few companies to never have used wafer-thin models in its commercials to lure the young male geek audience. (By the way, has anyone ever met an anorexic computer geek?) Heck, never mind that it's an ad for a freaking computer. The really ridiculous part about all this is that they making this claim that images in advertising could have an effect one eating disorders against a company that, for the last thirty years, has used a piece of food for its logo. Oh, the irony..." (http://www.macinspector.com/2007/08/group-takes-iss.html)
Is this blogger correct? What do you think? How responsible should advertisers be for the messages they send?

The System is Messed Up!

2007-08-30T10:05:00.001-05:00

There is an article the New York Times today detailing the findings of the VA government report on the VA Tech shootings and what went wrong. The report claims that though Cho was ordered to seek therapy and scheduled an appointment at the campus counselling center, he was given only a pre-screening interview, never actual therapy, and that the files regarding this interview have been lost.

To me, the saddest part of this story is not Cho (although that is plenty sad) but all the students who have the courage to seek out the counseling centers and don't get what they need. It breaks my heart that you can be brave enough to try to get that help and to end up another number shuffled through paperwork, forgotten, untreated, still alone.

I think that is part of what L21 should be about. By letting people know there is a community of support, maybe we can get them to try again, to push for the treatment they deserve, to seek out peers who can help them meet their own needs. But it certainly feels like a huge job...

Young, Stressed Out and Going Through the Motions

2007-08-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting article that cites an AP/MTV study showing a bunch of things:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070822/ap_en_ot/youth_poll_stress It shows that young people are stressed out today and that more young women report being stressed more than young men. It says middle income people are more stressed than lower or upper classes. Inner city people are more stressed than rural peeps. And that overall only 25% of young people feel safe from a terrorist attack, but when asked if it is a major concern few report that it is.

I have so many thoughts here. Is it that young women don't deal with stress as well as young men or is it that young women are more likely to report that? Are people in upper and lower classes not as stressed because they feel their futures are kind of determined? The stress in cities over rural areas makes sense. The terrorist thing is well the terrorist thing.

When you read the article you will see a phenomenon I have seen growing over the past 7 years. It seems no matter where I go just about every young person I meet is going through the motions of life in some way or another and never taking time for themselves to appreciate the day or focus on their mental health. All of this pressure and STRESS certainly adds to it! May you have a less stressful day and if you are stressed, well apparently you're not alone!

When Pop Goes Mental

2007-08-21T17:46:00.000-05:00

So you know that song "beautiful girls"? It's one of the top songs in the country right now, and it also has a really weird lyric--something like "you got me feeling suicidal, suicidal, suicidal!" I feel about this lyric as I do about Amy Winehouse's "Try to make me go to rehab and I said No!No!No!"--uneasy. Am I just having a another granny moment? Of course, Amy Winehouse is reportedly in rehab for bulimia and drug addiction as I write this. One other thing---ethan and I were driving to the airport this morning and on the radio we heard an alternative lyric to the beautiful girls song, and it was "you got me in denial, in denial, in denial!". Anybody know if there was a controversy over the suicidal lyric? Mental illness isn't catchy, but pop songs are. So what happens when pop goes mental?

Here's the beautiful girls video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt6o8NlrbHg

2007-08-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

I just spent the morning at the computer store, frantically trying to figure out why my 6-month old, kinda expensive, laptop stopped working this morning. Who knows. But while there I got to talking with the employees, who asked me what I do. I explained Active Minds, and they asked me if my work has anything to do with the shootings at Virginia Tech. Yes, I said, in that we are addressing mental health issues among college students - but no, in that we don't actually know what the young man at VTech was suffering from, and most importantly, that the vast majority of college students who are on campus living with a mental illness are actually no more likely to be violent than those without, and if they are, the likelihood is greater that they'll be a risk to themselves than anyone else.

After saying that, the first thing out of one of the technician's mouths was "Yeah, this guy was nuts. But it's the roommates' fault. They wouldn't even talk to him, of course he did something stupid." I came back saying that the roommates did what they knew/thought to do, that this incident was no one's fault and is not a typical threat on campus, and that we just need to use it as a learning opportunity to figure out where the pieces didn't fit together. And I absolutely believe that. But it got me thinking about the bigger issue, which is one I feel so passionately about...the role of friends and other peers, especially in young adult mental health.

In hindsight, Mr. Cho's roommates could be looked upon, along with many other people, as potential factors; but in reality, are we ever really taught what to look for in friends and peers, how to interact with them in a way that is supportive, and when far is too far and that we should keep pushing them into professional help? How can we place blame on anyone, when no one is taught the proper way to talk about these issues or how to encourage others into help? Sadly, that blame is often self-inflicted and felt by friends and family members of people who take their own lives. But in our society, we do not grow up being taught the words to use or the actions to take when worried about a peer or loved one. So how is anyone supposed to know?

Hot and Bothered

2007-08-08T13:44:00.000-05:00

So I read today that people between the ages of 10-29 comprise the highest percentage of people without health insurance in this country. This group is also (basically) the same age range of people at the highest risk of developping mental disorders AND statistically the group who seeks help for mental disorders the least. We've always blamed stigma for this, but maybe they don't seek help BECAUSE THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO. Isn't that enough to make you sick? We have an election coming up people!!! And we in the mental health movement must insert ourselves into the discussion about health care--because of course it's a tragedy that so many people are uninsured--but it's even worse that many forms of mental health treatment are not adequately covered by health insurance. This is worth fighting for! Barriers to treatment costs people their lives, drain families, and weaken communities. Our leaders need to be reminded that the brain is a body part and when it's broken it needs the same level of coverage we give to the all important arm, or knee, or lung. Among candidates, who is saying what on this issue??!? Please report in....

Let Em Party?

2007-08-05T19:16:00.000-05:00

I live in the basement apartment of a brownstone. Last night the twin teens who live upstairs had a rager in our backyard while their parents were out of town. They are great girls, they have a close relationship to their wonderful parents, and I'm sure their friends are lovely, but teenage girls partying totally freaks me out. I woke in the night to use the bathroom and saw dozens of teens in the backyard in full out debauchery. Are they having innocent fun? I really really really hope so. I'm sure they were, right? I was when I was their age. Right? I'm really not sure anymore. I have this reoccuring nightmare--I've had it at least a hundred times since I was a teenager---the details change but the template is the same: I'm throwing a party and it's getting out of control. Lately the party hasn't been at my house. The last time I had the dream, the party was at my neighbors, and the nightmare was that I didn't protect my neighbor's house enough. But every time, in the dream, disrespectful partiers are making a mess. And it was only recently that I considered that maybe all of those parties I threw in high school gave me my night mares. I have great parents, but where drinking parties were considered, I think they were too permissive. They always said they'd rather we party in their house instead of elsewhere, but that's kind of nuts. Teenagers are so freaking young. They shouldn't be getting plastered anywhere--but they definitely shouldn't be getting plastered while on site adults look away. So question one: HOW DID I TURN INTO SUCH A GRANNY?!??! It's just that I worry that while they're chugging away, the heaviest partiers are probably masking unacknowledged mental disorders, and the girls who already have low esteem are decimating the self respect they have by giving blow jobs to assholes or something. So question two: What's the right balance of permission to have with teens about partying?

I found this article about a case in New Mexico where a 19 year old had a party; his parents bought all the booze and allowed the party at their house; but it got way out of hand and the 19 year old got extremely violent and injured a bunch of his friends, female and male. The interesting part: they indicted him AND arrested his parents. Check out the links, and please, weigh in on this topic! http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/73250-08-04-07.html

Oy Gavult

2007-08-02T18:55:00.000-05:00

Yes. In an article entitled "Is Britney Spears Bipolar?" US Magazine "reports" the following:
From stripping down to her skivvies for a July 18 dip in the Pacific to melting down at a July 19 photo shoot for OK! Magazine, Britney Spears could hardly be classified as stable. What could be plaguing the pop tart?
“Her erratic behavior has moved into bipolar disorder,” surmises psychologist Dr. Robert Butterworth, who has not treated Spears, 25. “Your energy level and emotions alternate between highs and lows, and that seems to have happened here.”
Psychologist Robi Ludwig, who also hasn’t treated her, agrees – to a point. “It seems that Britney has a mood disorder,” she says, acknowledging that the singer’s behavior is “self-destructive, erratic and dramatic,” which could also be symptomatic of drug and alcohol abuse. She added: "She strikes me as someone going through a delayed adolescence."
http://www.usmagazine.com/britney_spears_31

New Pot Research

2007-07-30T12:45:00.000-05:00

A new study shows that pot ups the chances of developping a psychotic illness by 40%. Thoughts? Here's a link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072602014.html

Greensane

2007-07-30T12:38:00.000-05:00

Thought this was interesting---article about building a mental health center that is as "green" as possible. Would love for people to comment about the connections they see between mental health and environmentalism.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/GPG0101/707290688/1207/GPGnews

Lindsay's Arrest

2007-07-25T09:43:00.000-05:00

So....she was arrested for dui and cocaine possession again, only a few weeks after getting out of rehab--I just read that she'd denying that the drugs were hers--and I also read a quote from the NY Times-- "'I hope they put her in jail for as long as they can,' said Bernie Brillstein, whose company has represented John Belushi and Chris Farley. 'Maybe she'll realize how serious it is. I believe she's uninsurable. And when you're uninsurable in this town, you're done.'" Amazing!

YouTube Debate: Guns and People with Mental Illnesses

2007-07-24T12:27:00.000-05:00

Last night on the CNN/YouTube Democratic Presidential debate, the discussion briefly touched on mental illness--in the context of if people with mental illnesses should be allowed to own guns. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said, "Nobody who has a criminal background or is mentally ill should be able to get a weapon. That is the key, and that includes gun sales. That includes gun sales at gun shows." (See http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript.part2/ for a transcript of the discussion about guns).

This got me thinking. There are alarming statistics that show firearms in the home are a risk factor for suicide--but should having a diagnosis of a mental illness automatically disqualify you from the right to bear arms? Should people with certain diagnoses be held to a different standard than people with other diagnoses when attempting to purchase a gun?

I have been trying to come up with answers, but I can only think of more and more questions.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

A Life Worth Living

2007-07-24T11:03:00.000-05:00

Wille and Ray on the streets of skid row.

Every Saturday morning for the past 18 years a man named Ray Castellani has pulled a truck or van onto the streets of skid row in downtown Los Angeles and fed some of the most forgotten people in our country. It all started one day after Ray, a retired actor, and recovering alcoholic heard a voice telling him to feed people. That day he made 111 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and got in his truck. Today Ray has a fully functioning non-profit organization called the Frontline Foundation and a kitchen staffed only by volunteers that makes 12 trays of hot food, hundreds of sandwiches and hot dogs that he brings down to the same street corner he started on. Ray estimates that he has fed close to 1 million people, but the feeding isn’t the important part. The humanity, the hugs, the conversations and the care seem to matter most.

I am very familiar with Ray and his foundation because my fabulous girlfriend, Heidi, has gone with Ray every Saturday she has been in LA for the past 6 years and I have gone whenever I can for the past 4. Heidi found Ray a long time ago and as Ray always says if he wasn’t 74 they would be quite the couple! Heidi and I have a lot of friends on skid row. Our friends are convicted felons, people with severe mental disorders and no treatment, ex and sometimes current drug addicts, victims of abuse, and some have extremely violent criminal records, which include killing people. A good majority of the people down there have known Ray for all 18 years of his service as he has visited them in jail or helped them in other difficult times.

What amazes me most when we get down there is how many people with absolutely nothing, sometimes not even a shirt on their back, continue to find the will to live. My closest friend on skid row is named Willie. Willie grew up in Texas. He came to Los Angeles to play football for USC. Much like a lot of other homeless people he had tryouts in the NFL. Two of my other homeless friends played for the Raiders. Somewhere along the way things went wrong for Willie. He got into the system and hasn’t got out. Willie has a tracheotomy that he had to get due to an accident when he was high on crack. When Willie now in his late 50’s goes to jail, which is only once in the past 3 years for a minor offense, he can only be transported in full shackles, because of his violent criminal record. Willie has been able to get off the street sometimes for the past 8 years. He has spent a lot of time in hotel rooms that he pays for with his disability and social security checks. Recently he had to move to Long Beach, because they raised the rents for hotel rooms in downtown LA from $600 a month to $1,800 a month, which is a topic for another blog. Heidi and I have dropped Willie off at his hotels and also in front of spots on the corner where a blue tarp is hung over cardboard boxes marking his home and now we drop him off at the train station to get back to the LBC.

Willie really doesn’t have much outside of his hotel room. He has people he sees occasionally. His family is in Texas and he hasn’t seen them in years. He has a tv with local stations for sports and a dvd player which he cherishes. He loves any violent movie and Shrek! (who knows?) Whenever I see Willie we chat about sports, my speaking, what I am doing and what he does. He has an awesome sense of humor and is usually in a chatty mood, so he jokes about my life constantly calling me a motivational speaker and asking me to motivate him. He does talk about his life and he’s come a long way. He got off of crack about 7 years ago without the luxury of rehab and hasn’t gone back to it. He does drink beer. He tells me that he spends most of his time sitting in his apartment. No one will hire him, because he has the tracheotomy and it’s too much of a risk. He wants to work and I do believe he would, but he is stuck with a life filled with poor decisions, some things out of his control and even poorer outcomes. In the 4 years I have known Willie he has never mentioned giving up. He has said it’s hard. Stressed how much he thinks his situation sucks. And at times I have worried if I’d ever see him again, but no matter what happens every Saturday morning when we pull around the corner there he is in the middle of the street smiling, holding one hand to his throat to say hello. As we get out of the car he hugs both of us, when he says goodbye he tells us he loves us sometimes he cries and when we moved to Berkeley two years ago he wrote Heidi the most tear jerking letter telling her how much she meant to him and how he spends most of his week just wanting to get to Saturday to see us. He wrote just seeing us one day a week keeps him going.

Whenever I see Willie, my other friends and the hundreds of homeless people on Skid Row I wonder to myself could I do this? If I had nothing, no chance at growing, no chance at getting out, no way of seeing my family, could I wake up everyday to a tarp or a hotel room and keep going? I honestly don’t think I could. Anytime I am in any city I look around and see people like Willie and I’m amazed by their resiliency and will to live and love.

Asking the right questions...

2007-07-20T11:38:00.000-05:00

On July 23rd, the Democratic presidential candidates will field video questions posted by YouTube users. At least one person is asking the right kind of question...

Got a question of your own? You can post it here...

Staying Motivated

2007-07-20T10:47:00.000-05:00

As an advocate, I’m always looking for ways to stay motivated and to motivate other people to contribute to social justice. A sense of social responsibility is something that, for me at least, requires cultivation. It’s so easy to look at a person with a mental illness and see a tragic situation that is beyond your control; so easy to look at the ever-increasing numbers on suicide, psychosis, depression and anxiety, and see the inevitable work of bad genes and bad luck at play. The truth is that environmental factors- like family contact and community involvement- play a huge role in the expression of mental illness. Most of us reading this blog already feel responsible for doing something to change or mitigate the factors in our society that particularly aggravate mental illnesses- the alienation, the stigma, the competition, the long hours, etc. The challenge is to spread that sense of responsibility to people who don’t suffer or have immediate family members who suffer from mental illness.

An article I read recently (available here) illustrated to me that many people may actually benefit from the types of norms that can be so harmful to people with mental illnesses because those are the same norms that motivate people to engage in a consumer-driven economy. I’m not arguing that an economically strong society is good-in-itself, or that norms emphasizing individual accomplishment, isolation, and competition are necessary to build a strong economy. What I am saying is that if you believe those things- and a lot of people do- then you should also recognize that people with mental illnesses are forced to make a sacrifice so that you can enjoy the benefits of a strong economy.

The article was reporting on a thirty-year World Health Organization study that came to the hard-to-believe conclusion that treatment for schizophrenia in developing countries is far better than that in developed, western countries. Individuals with schizophrenia in poorer countries were more likely to have jobs, spend fewer days in hospitals, and up to twice as likely to become symptom-free than patients in rich countries. The authors pointed to a number of favorable factors present in developing countries, but the gist is that individuals with schizophrenia in developing countries are able to work, engage in family life, and remain otherwise socially connected in a way that similarly situated individuals in the West cannot.

One of the researchers pointed out that the kind of community-based care available in poorer countries is not compatible with a society organized around autonomy and individual accomplishment. (My cracker-jack hypothesis is that the ideal treatment for any mental illness is not compatible with a society organized around autonomy and individual accomplishment.) However, the premise here is that the US and other western countries are rich because they cultivate those norms of autonomy, independence, and competition. This means that (perhaps unintentionally) developing countries are paying a large opportunity cost in order to have the kinds of communities that provide good treatment environments for schizophrenia. The way I’ve set it up, there is a trade-off between cultivating the types of values that are conducive to economic success and cultivating the types of values that are conducive to ideal treatment for individuals with schizophrenia.

My point is not that we should eschew American ideals and values for a more humane, less materialistic society, although that would be a noble point to make. Rather, it is that those people who are better off for living in a rich country should feel obligated to contribute resources to compensate the people who are worse off for living in a rich country. It’s all too easy to ignore someone else’s problem when you have no control over it. When you realize that you could do something to make it better if you wanted to, and that you benefit from the state of affairs that makes their problem worse in the first place, it should be a little harder for you to look the other way.

When Work Hits Home

2007-07-20T08:22:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, July 21^st, is what would have been my brother, Brian’s, 30^th birthday, and my grandfather Lou’s 85^th. A big day for them both. But instead, I’m sitting here thinking about how I’m going to commemorate the day without them – either one of them – because they are both gone too soon.

Those of us in mental health advocacy often throw ourselves fully – hearts, heads, and minds - into our work, to better the lives of others. Sometimes it’s to prevent what has happened to us from happening to others; sometimes it is to pass on the good fortune we have experienced, through good support systems, recovery tools and/or role models. Every day, we hear stories from the people we serve, and each one is more heartbreaking and more motivating than the next. Mostoften we put our own lives, and experiences, aside.

But then there are those times when life creeps up on us, and we cannot put aside the reality of why we do what we do. Maybe it’s the anniversary of a date when you became sober; maybe it’s the commemoration of a hospitalization. For me, it’s the birthday, and anniversary days, of those I lost to suicide. For me, the two people who I would most call my mentors, my brother and my grandfather, are also the two who more than anyone else are why I am part of this field. And strangely enough, they share the same birthday. Seven and a half years ago, at the age of 22, my brother Brian took his own life. Now, just a day before what would have been his 30th birthday, I am left just wondering what he would be doing and what amazing things he would have accomplished if he were around. Maybe he would be married and I would have nieces and nephews; maybe he would be a bachelor in the big city. In the least, I have no doubt he would be making an indelible mark on this world, and he would still be here as my other half.

The night Brian died, my grandfather Lou drove me back to my mom’s house to be with my family. That year and for the next three while I was in school, he and my grandmother came to every one of my college football games (where I was a cheerleader); and he and I shared adoration for our mutual alma mater. Lou was a very successful businessman before I even knew him, and he became my mentor as I embarked on the formation of what is now Active Minds, Inc. He was the kindest, most endearing man I ever knew. Always supportive, Lou pushed me when I needed to be pushed and helped me sit back, reflect and appreciate when the time was right. About nine months ago, I lost my mentor – my grandfather Lou – also to suicide.

Both men played a pivotal role in my life, and both men have contributed more than they ever could know to who I am today. And it is because of these two men, and the families who commemorate birthdays and the anniversaries of a loved one’s death every day, that I do what I do. For me as an advocate, it is times like this that really make work hit home.

Million dollar question

2007-07-19T14:24:00.001-05:00

Blog by Liz

This morning I spoke at a public policy institute focused on school mental health. One of the questions that keeps running through my head is how can we keep our country attentive to crisis prevention and intervention long after some type of crisis has passed. This is the million dollar question. We watched a tsunami devastate the other side of the world and a month later, it was gone from the tv screen. I am sure all of the money nations pledged to help victims was never fully realized. And Katrina was on our own shore. We know how that process has gone. Or not gone. What does it take to get political will and, consequently Congress, to stick with something and actually affect real, sustainable change?? I guess that's just too much to ask- even as we watch school shootings and unprecedented violence take place. Where is the outrage????

Elizabeth Lind
Policy Associate
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
1101 Fifteenth Street, NW, Suite 1212
Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 467-5730 ext. 113
Fax: (202) 223-0409
E-mail: elizabeth@bazelon.org

Technological Divide and Sicko

2007-07-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a big day for me breaching the technological divide. I had to break down and buy a Motorola Q, which for those peeps with little techno knowledge is a hand-held computer that handles your phone, e-mail, calendar, contacts, internet and other fun things. I know some of you are thinking why didn’t I get the iPhone and believe it or not I don’t listen to music. I think music is a fad that will fade. :-) Ok so now you’re gathering why I have had such a large technological divide. But to be honest I have been adamant about not getting a device that gives people access to me 100% of the time, because I don’t think it creates less work. I think it makes you work all the time. I also think it’s more important to have time away from technology and other distractions to be able to focus on yourself or I don’t know my relationship and this growing trend away from those things really bothers me. And yes I know you can turn the Q off and trust me I will, but there are millions of people who don’t, who spend their vacations answering everything from work, mainly because with fabulous new technology we can.

This leads me to my next point, which has to do with the movie Sicko. One of the most troubling things that I took from Sicko is that other countries have a higher quality of life not only in healthcare, but also in spending time with partners, family and friends. The resounding argument over here is that, “Yeah they have universal healthcare, but they pay higher taxes and THEY DON’T HAVE AS STRONG OF AN ECONOMY.” So let’s work our 60-70 hour weeks, pay high amounts for private healthcare, not see our friends and families and what’s our giant return…LOWER QUALITY OF LIFE!!! I don’t know about you, but I think while these new technological advancements may make some things easier they are taking away a larger and more important part of life.

Just Asking...

2007-07-18T12:33:00.000-05:00

So I write for a magazine that is funded by pharmacuetical companies, and in an essay about the mental health movement, I said that one of the issues that mental health advocates are interested in is the corruption between the pharmaceutical industry and the medical establishment. My editor said I can't use the word "corruption" because it is libelous and I could be sued. So, there are a handful of lawyers on this committee, and I ask them: is it LIBELOUS to say that mental health advocates are interested in the corruption between the pharmacuetical industry and the medical establishment?

On Memoir

2007-07-18T10:27:00.000-05:00

An editor at a major publishing house recently sent me a memoir about bipolar disorder. She wanted me to consider writing a blurb for it, and I said sure. So I read the memoir--and basically it's the story of a totally out of control woman who has bp--it goes through many of her dysfunctional relationships, and also her attempts at recovery, and it does almost everything I hate that writing about bp can do, in its narcissism, its glorification of illness, its use of illness to excuse flaws, its utter lack of insight for others, etc, etc, etc. This is a book that lets you gawk at a crazy person, but doesn't transcend that very limited, and arguably useless experience. Needless to day I declined the opportunity to blurb it. But this has been a creative preoccupation of mine for years, and now, as I am about to start teaching writing this summer, I am wanting to clarify: how do you make writing about mental illnes artful, relevant, useful? Does any body want to cite books they felt did or did not achieve that goal?

tolerance???

2007-07-16T17:52:00.001-05:00

Posted by Lucy

Today I heard from a man with mental illness who is going to be evicted from his apartment due to complaints from an AA group that rents the lobby for meetings. They say he heckles them, “harasses” them by following them around after meetings and asking questions, etc. If the judge believes these guys my guy will be out on the street and will really suffer. The AA people go home and likely forget his words within a few minutes.

This got me thinking about tolerance – why is it that the members of an AA group specifically would target this guy? Why were the other residents tolerant of this guy’s ways of being but not this group? Is there something about pulling yourself up or out of a bad place that makes you more likely to throw a stone? ICK!

hurdles

2007-07-09T18:05:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking alot in the last month about being a student and the student life. As most of you know, I've just finished law school and I am studying for the bar this summer. My days are spent trying to cram and retain information into my head. I am often alone, engaged in solitary activities, unless I find a friend to study with. And I think I have a new insight into the way a troubled student could just drop off the map. A student, especially a student who struggles socially, could disappear for weeks into a depressive funk entirely unnoticed. The goals that the system sets for him, to work, to work hard, to learn, to write papers, would all reinforce his internal monologue that he should remain isolated and working. And this activity would serve to reinforce the symptoms and underlying causes of his mental illness. And this has left me thinking--shouldn't we reform the structure of our educational system?

Awareness at the Sandwich Shop

2007-07-07T16:03:00.000-05:00

So--I'm on the Cape--tis lovely. And I was going to get a sandwich at this place Box Lunch which is a bit of a chain on the Cape--they make this wonderful sandwich called the gilded lily made of crab meat salad and avocado--AMAZING. So I ordered my sandwich and was schmying around the shop waiting for it to be ready, and saw that near the bathrooms, the owners had set up clipping about a local kid, college age, perhaps related to them, who knows, who was killed by cops after he, in a psychotic state, shot into a police station and led them on a chase. He was having a severe mental breakdown, and it was written up in the papers. Then his family created a little monument to him, and after a month the cops took it down, and this caused a bit of a local controversy. Point is this: next to the newspaper clippings, there was a large picture of the young guy, a totally "normal" attractive kid, and there was a poem his sister wrote about his death, and there was information about mental illness, suicide, and what to do if you or someone you know needs help. And I just thought it was so great, and brave, for the Box Lunch to take this opportunity to do some mental health awareness in their community.

Limits On Psychology?

2007-07-06T11:01:00.001-05:00

Posted by Lucy

We’ve all heard about doctors – including psychologists and psychiatrists – making dire predictions about ourselves, our clients, or our loved ones. Sometimes these predictions wind up in court and inform judges’ and juries’ decisions about the future – about whether or not someone is dangerous, or whether or not someone needs a guardian.

But listen to this - the other day I met a boy, just 12, who had been severely abused by his biological mother and father. He’s been in the state’s care for six years and has been institutionalized (in a big prison-like setting in rural Texas) for nearly all of that time – roughly half of his life. I retained a psychologist in order to tell the court overseeing his placement what services he needs. I specifically asked for a recommendation for a foster family.

The expert has come back with the recommendation that this child NOT be placed in foster care, because the damage done to him by his birth family, combined with the damage done by the state in warehousing him for six years, has resulted in her opinion in his “inability” to bond with an adult parent, now or in the future. According to her, he lacks emotional and cognitive capacity to be parented – to be in a family.

Of course I’ll argue (no doubt with a different doc) that this isn’t true, as a matter of fact. But her words just hit me so hard. Isn’t there any area of a person’s life that should be sacred and therefore untouched by this field? Suppose her opinion is “correct” – so what? My strong feeling is that psychology and psychiatry have no place in this context – whether a kid gets a mom and dad – and that’s making me wonder: in what other areas should these quacks be banned? (And even if they are not quacks, and are correct – can we still stop their participation?)

The thing that has always bothered me about psychiatry/psychology is the power that comes with the “M.D.” or “Ph.D.” I can’t think of a situation in which an individual is legally given more authority over the direction over a child’s life than this one – only this special licensed adult has been given the ability to predict if a child will take to a family. Not even birth parents have that right in our system.

Should these professionals have NO authority to make predictions about future behaviors AT ALL?

Why Isn’t the Journey My Destination?

2007-06-19T22:29:00.000-05:00

It’s a saying we hear all of the time and one that has plagued my life for as long as I can remember. The Journey IS the Destination, well as you can tell by the title of this blog it isn’t for me. And I am not talking about not only not enjoying the process of getting somewhere or going through some life change. For me the destination consumes every thought I have to the point where I only focus on what step is next rather than even acknowledge there is a journey involved on any level. The journey typically slams me over the head after a destination is reached and my emotions explode into a major breakdown. Certainly not the best way to enjoy the journey.

This past week my girlfriend and I moved from Berkeley, CA to Venice Beach. After we arrived in Venice we were talking about why my mind constantly does this. One of the most obvious places to look is coping mechanisms from something else. Well, I do have bipolar disorder and a good 6-7 years of my life were spent never knowing what would happen next. To cope with the disorder I put myself in an extremely tight structure, where almost every minute of every day was meticulously planned out and obviously that contributes to just focusing on a destination. In a true full circle moment on Sunday I called my dad, much like everyone else, and asked him if he was having a good father’s day. He told me that he has a lot to be thankful for, but so much has gone wrong in the past that sometimes he has trouble being happy for fear of being let down and tries to stay focused on his goals rather than the moments. Hmmm he was like this my whole life, so maybe environment also affects my journey problem. Obviously there are other factors that play a part in this mindset as well.

I have identified the problem, so the next step is to deal with it. I am working on that. I am so close to not feeling the need to walk down escalators! I think one of the biggest things that helps me is that my girlfriend of 4 and a half years lives for journeys. She loves the process of things and really does appreciate a side I don’t often see. This helps balance me and our relationship. My mom is actually the same way with my dad. So that makes a little sense. I started doing yoga to stay a little more in the moment rather than having 4 million thoughts running through my head and will continue to find other things I can do to try and help see the journey a little more. I was wondering if anyone else struggles with this and what you do to make your journey the destination? Also no matter what side you’re on, have you thought about where it comes from?

"Language Matters"

2007-06-18T10:54:00.000-05:00

With all that's been in the news recently, I thought this might be of interest to people:

http://community.webtv.net/stigmanet/STIGMAHOMEPAGE/index.html#16jun07

Alison H.

Sinead O'Connor

2007-06-18T05:56:00.000-05:00

This is a link to a totally fascinating article about Sinead O'Connor and her bipolar disorder. Who knew. All I can say is that even though I'm (almost) totally beyond the struggle, I still feel so touched to learn that someone I really admire also has bp.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article1916518.ece

Now SHE is someone who could be our celebrity partner.....

The Unspecified Condition

2007-06-09T09:13:00.000-05:00

So first, here's a link to an AP recap of what's happened to Paris.http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/08/paris.hilton.ap/index.html. In brief, she was arrested for DUI, caught twice driving on a suspended license, sentenced to jail, released home after a few days because of an "unspecified medical condition" and then put back in. The above pic is her going back to jail. Nobody is saying what the unspecified condition is yet but people are hinting at something psychological. Oh. It sure is hard to know where to start with this one--First, I think it's as high as 80% of women in prison suffer with a mental illness. And research shows that prison is not a place to recover wellness for most of them, either. But I highly doubt that the impact of all this is a re examination of the mis use of incarceration. Second, I've always thought that paris had a very modern, yet to be classified illness, which is like a pathological and addictive need to expose herself to humiliation and recover. It's like a form of media bulimia, a binging, a purging, but we're all involved. The armchair psychologist in me would guess that at an early age she was shamed and traumatized--probably sexually--and that she is passing her entire adult life returning herself to the scene of that crime so that she can release herself from it, but, of course, doing nothing of the sort except damaging herself more and more with every go. I would have more empathy for whatever is ailing her if she wasn't also the emblem for our culture's celebration of emptiness. Her singular talent is building fame and wealth. That her ascent in the media corresponded with the ascent of the war against terror is not a coincidence---she's part of what distracts us from meaning, responsibility, and agency. Third, if they do announce her medical condition, and that condition is mental illness, we in the sport of mental health awareness might have to referree.

Spelling Bee Winner

2007-06-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

When you have a minute, watch this interview btwn this year's spelling bee winner and some lady on morning television. I saw an equally painful one between him and Meredith Viera, where Mereddith Viera came pretty close to snapping at him. and I cannot figure out: is this kid purposefully being rude; or does he have some kind of aspergers? Is he missing social cues because of his arrogance or might he have some kind of disorder? Watch the video till the end. Thoughts?

http://my.break.com/media/view.aspx?ContentID=308035

Stigma, VTech, and our Elected Officials

2007-06-06T13:47:00.000-05:00

I recently came across an article in a local newspaper that scared me. It scared me because the stigmatizing attitudes it conveyed - attitudes, I know, that are not unique - came from an elected official in a small town. While those of us in large urban cities often plug into politics and politicians, I know that there are a lot of people who look to their elected officials to shape their thoughts. In the least, it is these elected officials who are shaping policies.

The article I'm referencing is: Gun bill targets mentally ill in KnoxNews. It quotes Rep. Frank Niceley, a Republican from Strawberry Plains - and opens with him saying "Right now, you can get out of a mental institution in the morning and buy a gun that afternoon. I'm a so-called gun nut, and I think that's just wrong." The article goes on to convey continually more stigmatizing views: "Niceley said he sees it as arguably more important to provide mental illness records than criminal records. 'A criminal may rob you and may shoot one person,' he said. 'A crazy person may be trying to set a record for how many people he can kill, like at Virginia Tech.'"

While the author of the article does a good job at balancing Nicey's quotes with those of NAMI, a national mental health organization that explains that people with a mental illness are no more likely to be violent than those without; his quotes, and his attitudes, are harmful enough. We elect officials into office because we feel they can best represent us, our opinions, and our needs. How do we make sure that they are the most educated on any given topic they can be? I wouldn't be surprised if someone who didn't already have that stigmatizing view has it now, as a result of the crass words of one elected official.

Is choosing a prescription drug the same as choosing a brand of shampoo?

2007-06-06T13:17:00.001-05:00

Posted on behalf of Wendy McLaughlin

Surely you have seen the plethora of commercials and print ads for prescription and over-the-counter drugs. On more than one occasion I’ve been sure I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Joint Inflammation, and Depression from the ads. These ads give me the same emotional appeal for the prescriptions as shampoo ads. Don’t you want to feel like the woman walking out of the elevator after having been “finessed” or get that incredible shine from Pantene ProV? In 2005 Nexium was the third best selling drug in the world. It is used to control stomach acid.

Have you ever tried to talk with your doctor or pharmacist and really tried to understand which medication is “better” based on risks and benefits. I find this extremely challenging- no matter what the medical concern. Don’t get me wrong, I want each of us to have access to the most current drugs appropriate for our condition and be well informed as active participants in our health care. But where do we draw the line? How do we ensure that we receive effective communication about the risks/benefits and most current medication available to us? As you know this problem has been around since the mid-80’s when the FDA lessened restrictions on drug company advertisements. Should I be surprised that we still have newsworthy incidences almost weekly where medications are prescribed inappropriately (not the intended use of the drug) or marketed incorrectly?

The FDA just announced a new advisory committee to address risk communication. You can view the press release here: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01648.html .

This is an opportunity for the FDA to explore and report on how they communicate information about the efficacy, safety and use of drugs. I feel good about this- and believe we should support these efforts. Some drug companies report similar efforts to develop voluntary guidelines for advertising. However, I really struggle with the fact that pharmaceutical companies spent an estimated $1.9 billion on TV advertising in 2005. Most countries have banned direct-to-consumer drug advertising; the United States and New Zealand are the only countries where this is legal.

Does talk therapy help a "psychopath" like Tony Soprano?

2007-06-06T10:45:00.001-05:00

Ok I know it was hard enough to lose Bobby and Sil in 20 short minutes let alone think about the possibility that talk therapy may not help psychopaths or anyone, but it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. I have to admit it has taken me a couple of days to even start processing what happened Sunday night and there’s a lot that happened, but I am only going to focus on Tony being a psychopath. It seems there has been enough outrage about his therapist Dr. Melfi Leaving him, and the unethical leaking of who she was treating at a therapists’ dinner by an even more disturbed therapist, so I’ll leave that alone.

For the past couple of episodes Tony’s therapist has been hearing from another therapist that studies show talk therapy doesn’t help psychopaths and that it indeed will only give them an opportunity to test their manipulative skills on someone else and in some ways reinforce their psychopathic behavior. Now we have to keep in mind that the Sopranos aren’t real people. However, a quick Google search did turn up that the study that is quoted on the show is real, which leads to an interesting question.

Anyone who watches the Sopranos for a couple of episodes can clearly see that Tony is emotional both in and out of therapy. The aspects that he identifies in therapy are things that he talks about outside of therapy and becomes more aware of. I would never say becoming aware of them leads to him making efforts to change anything that happened to him, but that isn’t different from a large majority of people who go to therapists. In my opinion a psychopath and I think I have only met one (and I hope she doesn’t remember me or isn’t reading this) doesn’t necessarily go through all of the effort to cry and talk and go to a therapist to locate where these thoughts come from only to test out more of their psychopathic side. I mean it’s definitely possible for some people to do, but I don’t see the psychopathic qualities in Tony. I may be just like the rest of millions of people in this country, especially guys, who have fallen into the trap of glorifying gangsters and viewing what they do more as a job that’s part of a disturbed side of life rather than psychopaths, but to be honest Tony has done more work in therapy than most people I know! He shows regret, he feels pain, he expresses concern for others and when he isn’t in the mob job mode does breakdown, which to me isn’t “normal” psychopathic behavior. If we examine Tony’s past for a brief second he isn’t much different from a kid raised by a father who is in a gang and doesn’t know a way to get out, so he constantly fights, and possibly kills as a part of the nurture/nature problem. Can that lead to being a psychopath? Sure. But again it’s the feelings Tony shows that lead me to believe this may be more of a “job” and other environmental factors like power contributing to making his behavior acceptable rather than him simply being a psychopath. Maybe he has manipulated me!

My whole problem with his therapist deciding to no longer see him based on a study that said talk therapy may only reinforce psychopathic behavior is that I am not convinced he is one. And I don’t think his therapist necessarily was either. When anyone hears their therapist is refusing to see them it can lead to further isolation and result in even more dire circumstances. I think that is what was going on in his therapist’s mind when she closed the door on Tony. The fear that cutting him off would cause him to do more drastic things and the larger fear that maybe the years of all the talking and her hard work didn’t do anything were written all over her face. So I am sure everyone had thoughts as they were watching his therapist close the door on him after all of these years and I want to know do you think Tony is a psychopath and if you do what are your thoughts on all of his talk therapy and his therapist leaving him?

Why Lindsay Bothers Me

2007-06-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

1. Because I think she is actually talented. And talent makes me care about people. And I hate caring about addicts.
2. Because her mother, her publicist, and her lawyer are at the top of a long list of criminal enablers. Lindsay will end likely end up addicted and destroyed, and they'll end up rich.
3. Because she does influence young people and she does glamourize addiction to them.
4. Because the media pays more attention to her than to political corruption, poverty, healthcare, the war in Iraq, and education.

Does Lindsay Bother You?

Dana's Post: sitting with difficult thoughts

2007-05-31T10:32:00.001-05:00

My yoga instructor told me yesterday that this is the month of sitting with difficult thoughts. I had been doing a lot of that so here is one:

I have found my thoughts this month coming back again and again to what we give up to be "normal." I know normal is the wrong word, but I can't think of a better one. In many cases, this is the price we pay for taking psychotropic medications, not financially, but personally. I think often people forget that these loses are real. Or sometimes it isn't medication, but just a type of self-stifling that we do, to keep ourselves in check, to not let the seems show in the fabric of our personalities so that we can write that last paper, make that last phone call, finish that last article, be that supportive friend. It's often the people who love us the most who may forget we've lost something by only showing these versions of ourselves, the ones that are competent and sane and yes, normal, because they are so relieved that we are spared (and they are spared) from the more difficult aspects of differences.

re: Nature is nature's prozac

2007-05-31T09:47:00.001-05:00

Lizzie, I know just what you mean. I spent Memorial Day weekend in Ithaca, NY with family. While it was lots of running around (and a six hour drive to and from Ithaca-Washington) there were still very peaceful and gratifying moments, like helping my family on the farm, truly "getting back to nature." I do miss that in my urban life, and also returned with renewed energy to get in my garden, feel the soil in my hands, and de-clutter my life.

PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best Web mailaward-winning Windows Live Hotmail.

Nature is Nature's Prozac

2007-05-28T12:41:00.000-05:00

I've just returned from a weekend in Vermont with the man, and it really did wonders for my mental health---I know I'm stating the obvious here but the way we live so bombarded by advertising and media brings about a kind of low level hypervigilence that just is so freaking unhealthy. And the fargin internet just makes me totally scattered. I'm pledging to keep my life more simple, to bring a little VT to NYC, but who knows if I'll be able to pull it off. I think that the ability to relax is paramount to mental health---and as a culture we're just creating more and more toxins that corrupt relaxation---it just seems like everything corporate culture produces is at odds with simplicty and balance and moderation.

Sopranos Mental Health Extravaganza!

2007-05-23T18:51:00.000-05:00

I am back with a Sopranos update! This most recent episode was simply the most entertaining mental health extravaganza I have seen. From A.J. attempting suicide, to another examination of mental disorders being passed down in families, to all of the mobsters sitting around a room discussing “problems” in their children, and finally the issue I want to blog about depression and its ties to tragic world events.

Before A.J. is rescued from the pool by his dad after attempting to take his own life the show focused heavily on him paying attention to horribly depressing world events. The last couple of shows have done this, but this show made it extremely obvious. A.J. talks about starvation, genocide and other issues ravaging our world. He is seen focusing on them on the internet and talking about them with his therapist. It appears the issues most people simply want to move past or don’t know how to respond to completely consume his world. The despair of depression can lead people to more easily relate to these stories. So it begs the question do people who suffer from depression focus more on tragic events than other people without depression or does focusing on the events lead to depression or a combination of the two? I feel it’s a large mixture of a lot of issues depending on each individual. What was truly sad was when A.J. stresses these events to his parents his dad quiets him. A.J. says, “Go put your hand in the sand.” To which Tony replies, “How about I put your %^@#ing head through a wall.” Unfortunately, this is a common response.

Why is it that when we don’t focus on world events, because of their depressing nature we often put our heads in the sand or when we do focus on them are threatened to have our heads put through a wall?

Oprah on Depression

2007-05-23T16:53:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow Oprah is doing a show on depression--it's lorraine bracco plus the husband of a former supermodel plus a country singer who's wife committed suicide. I won't be able to watch the show, and that's probably OK. I find that Oprah can be kind of cringeworthy on depression---I don't think she gets it, or "gets it". I think Oprah thinks depression isn't real; I think she doesn't give enough attention to mental illness; and I think when she does give attention to it, she tends to sensationalize instead of inspire/inform. (She'd never treat the stories of overweight or abused people like she tends to treat people with mental illness). I hope at least one of you watches it and blogs about it. Also, I was on the Jane Pauley show with Lorraine Bracco and while she was a very kind person, I didn't think she came across as authentic or particularly informed. And I know she's being paid top dollar by Pfzier to talk about her depression. I find all of this, well, depressing. I really love Oprah Winfrey and her show---I watch it whenever I can and am with her on so many important issues---I have learned so much from her show and her example--but damn, so far she hasn't done mental illness in a way that feels right. Also, full disclosure, her people booked me a couple of years ago and then canceled the night before I was supposed to fly out because they decided they only wanted celebrities on their show about bipolar disorder. Which is just mad manners.

Healthy mind and healthy body

2007-05-21T11:06:00.001-05:00

I know I feel good when I exercise. I also know physical exercise is good for our mental health and our brains. I’ve read this has to do with the release of endorphins; and levels of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine related to exercise. Mostly I just know I feel good when I exercise. However, I don’t exercise when I don’t feel good. Right now it is spring and I have been successful at making exercise a priority in my life. But I wonder- can I sustain this cycle of physical fitness positively impacting my mental health which in turns reinforces my motivation to exercise? I think the answer is my establishing exercise as a coping mechanism especially when I have times I feel anxious or am not feeling well and not wanting to exercise. Unfortunately, this coping option will have to battle the strong urges to sleep, watch bad TV, or just veg when I am not feeling mentally up to par.

A Friend In Need Should Probably Keep Away From Me

2007-05-21T09:04:00.000-05:00

You'd think I'd be genius at handling friends who are going through tough times with mental disorders, since I've struggled myself, and since I'm generally genius about most things. In fact, I suck at it. I feel such tremendous impatience when a friend is in trouble. And as much as I am aware that mental disorders are not catchy, when it is someone I love dealing with them, my boundaries goes bazerk and I do feel myself getting anxious, depressed, agressive, etc. Last week, a close colleague revealed he was addicted to crystal meth, and another friend sat across from me for the fifth or sixth month in a row, completely depressed. I can say in full certainty, I was not helpful. Which makes me wonder: why am I such an A-hole? Do I have permission to be pissed at friends for not being healthy? Anybody else out there struggle with this? Anybody any good at it and wanting to share pointers? Please advise.

Made up mobsters with accurate mental health depictions

2007-05-17T09:46:00.000-05:00

I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest fan in the world of the Sopranos. However, I have been watching the last couple of seasons. It’s a really entertaining series, but I’ve been most interested in their depictions of mental health issues. I would never say their examples are the most positive in the world. I will say they’re probably the most accurate I’ve seen in a long time. For those of you who don’t watch I won’t go into the whole history of the show as that would take way too long, but the past couple of episodes have really hit the nail on the head. I’m going to use some names here that people who don’t know the show may have no clue about, but it’s my only option. Chris who is Tony’s (the head of the family) nephew has been struggling with addiction for a couple of seasons. He went sober a while ago, but had been taking major criticism from everyone for being sober. In a moving scene he explains to Tony that both of his parents were addicts and that it’s in his genes. He tells Tony of all people he should understand, because of all of the mental health issues in his family and the fact that Tony has been going to therapy. More on Chris in a bit. Tony has a come to Jesus moment after the conversation when his son A.J. hits such a massive depression after his fiancée breaks up with him that he can’t get out of the house. Tony tells his therapist that it’s his fault, because it’s his genes. Now here is where it turns a little negative/realistic. Tony and his wife try everything to get A.J. involved in things to come out of his depression. After all of their efforts fail Tony suggests A.J. starts hanging out with his friends who are gambling and going to strip clubs. A.J. starts self-medicating pretty hard core, but the masking does get him out of the house and Tony’s wife is amazed at the progress. Again I’m not saying it’s positive, but it happens a lot. The show creatively portrays this incident in a way that makes you think about what 20 year olds are doing today to deal with mental health. Another poetic scene is A.J. talking to his therapist in pretty much the same way his dad does showing again the cyclical nature of these issues. But the dramatic depictions don’t end there. Chris has enough of being picked on for being sober and decides to have a drink. He continues drinking and eventually goes back to heroine and cocaine. One night he is driving Tony while he is high and they get in a bad accident. As Chris and Tony sit next to each other at the bottom of a hill, Chris tells Tony that he needs to help him get out of the driver’s side because he’ll never pass the drug test. Tony looks in the backseat and sees Chris’s heroine tie off in the baby seat. He then proceeds to get out of the car and Chris asks for his help again. Instead Tony holds Chris’s nose shut causing him to choke on his own blood and die. It’s a tragic scene with symbolism ranging from Tony being tired of helping to Chris already being dead by falling off the wagon to the lack of understanding on these issues and so many more. It’s just refreshing to see how deep the Sopranos is willing to go with their depictions. Positive or negative their depictions are better than most shows I have seen. If you haven’t seen the episodes watch them or get them on DVD when they come out.

Today in Yoga

2007-05-16T16:50:00.000-05:00

Today in Yoga my teacher read a passage from this book--name I can't remember of course. And I'm paraphrasing here, but the passage was basically like this: each of us is different, and so however we respond to the world is going to be totally unique, and it isn't our business to judge what comes out of us, or to wonder if it'll be good enough or better than what's out there. It's simply our business to keep letting it out. Let it out people!

a feel good article

2007-05-13T17:44:00.000-05:00

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5880576

I found this nice article about a 30 yr old in cali finally graduating form college after losing years to bipolar disorder, and thought you might like to read it.

Luxury Wellness

2007-05-13T08:03:00.000-05:00

So I've been doing travel writing since September, and I was thinking of persuing a story that I have since abandoned about luxury spas that offer education and enlightenment. I've changed topics and now I'm writing about cooking classes at resorts, because so many of the luxury spas and resorts offering education and enlightenment freaked me out. There's a bunch of spa trends that I think are sort of unsavory--first, that rehab is becoming glamourous. All of the bug young celebs go or have gone. Lots of spas I looked into offer detox packages. And some of the fancier rehabs look like resorts and offer resort like activities. Second, that resorts are marketing wellness to people who are unbalanced with "experts" that are often life coaches or gurus. And there is a very pricey set of "medical spas", that's what they're called, where actual doctors are on staff. Having spent much of my youth perilously close to being forced into a mental hospital, I didn't desire a vacation at a resort that errily reminded me of one, which is why I'm writing the cooking story instead. And of course, in terms of the problems that plague the mental health community, this one is a pretty low priority. It's more often the case that mental illness is stigmatized than glamourized. But glamorizing mental illness is just the lesser of evils. These luxury trends have a way of permeating the culture. And I think luxury wellness packages for people whose lives are unbalanced undermines the utterly unglamourous work of recovery, and obscures the illnesses themeselves. Oh, and the picture? That's me at the great wall of china.

blog people

2007-05-12T08:36:00.000-05:00

so glad we're gonna give this a try. And check out my web site

It's been a challenging week.

2007-04-19T15:54:00.000-05:00

Campus mental health is at the forefront of the discussion of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech this week. Below are some stories that might provide some much-needed context:

Statement: Coping with the Tragedies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Read the statement by Alison Malmon, L-21 founding member and executive director of Active Minds on Campus
Video: ABC's Good Morning America
News: “What we really need to do is encourage students to seek mental health treatment if they need it, to remove any barriers to their getting help, destigmatize it, and make it safe, so they know there won’t be negative consequences,” said Karen Bower, a lawyer at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington." Read the full article in the New York Times...
Discussion: Check out this thread at Care2.com.

This one is a must-read...

2007-02-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post's business section has a very interesting article today on disclosing mental illness to an employer. The upshot: there's no easy answer.

Idiots and the Insane

2007-01-22T18:05:00.000-05:00

Good news on the civil rights front: It looks like New Jersey may finally remove the terms "idiots" and "insane" from its Constitution. The AP reports:

A resolution introduced Monday by Senate President Richard J. Codey would remove the archaic language, inserted in 1844, by proposing a constitutional amendment. The measure would have to be approved by both houses of the Legislature and by voters in November... [The state constitution] states, "No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage."

Kudos to State Senator Codey for backing this important measure! Six other states have similar provisions that disenfranchise folks, and it's high time that these states jumped into the 21st century (Hell, I'd settle for the the 20th century) and started getting rid of such antiquated, disempowering, meaningless... and, frankly, discriminatory items in the constitutions, regulations and laws that govern voting.

This simple truth is this: If you can't -- or don't -- vote, you're not likely to bend many ears in Washington, DC, at the State House or City Hall. And without that influence, it's easy to keep mental health issues (and the folks affected by them) on the margins.

So I guess what I'm saying is this: It's about time.

Garden State

2007-01-14T10:56:00.000-05:00

I just recently watched the movie Garden State again. I loved it when I first saw it, although the whole piece of it where his psychiatrist dad has him on pills that he doesn't need sort of bugged me, because I felt like it promoted in a very hip way that psychiatry is nonsense and what people need is simply natalie portman's love and strange adventures with their friends. I guess that's just what that character needed, but still, there was an air of triumph over psychiatry that made me a little weasy as someone who relies on lithium and therapy. I do wonder, what will we say in fifty about our era of psychiatric solutions to mental illness? Will we say that big pharma began a powerful path to treating mental illness or will we say they went horribly off course? Or both maybe...Will Garden State seem prophetic about our generation of people struggling with mental health, or naive?

Mental Health Parity at Last?

2007-01-08T14:25:00.000-05:00

It's such a basic question of fairness -- the ability of insurers to offer different levels of coverage of mental health services than they do for physical health services (never mind how closely related the two are). Well, it looks like this question may finally be resolved this Congress. As they say, though, the devil is in the details. It will be interesting to see just how far the business community is willing to go to help address unmet needs that are costing the U.S. economy billions each year.

My Very First Post

2006-12-30T11:11:00.000-05:00

A blog! A blog! We have a blog! I write for a blog! Woohoo! If I had a nickel for everytime someone asked me if I had a blog, I'd have a LOT of nickels, but I am so glad I waited for the right blog to come around, ours! You can't hurry love.
This posting is going out to all my peeps who spent the holidays depressed and anxious, crying in bathrooms, faking naps, and contemplating alcoholism. You made it! And you were NOT the only one. Remember this: the Holiday season is never as far away as it is right now. Happy New Year!

Makin' Headlines...

2006-12-26T16:11:00.000-05:00

Youth mental health issues have been making headlines, but I wonder if we're not finally seeing a critical mass in awareness that could lead to some meaningful changes in societal attitudes toward mental health.

Check out how these important issues -- and the folks working to address them -- were highlighted recently in the New York Times and and on Voice of America.

Now if we could just get the politicians talking about these issues...