Do these genes make me look crazy?
From today’s Furious Seasons:
Is There a Gene for Skepticism?
Because if there is, I’ve got it. Which is to say that yet another study is out in which yet another group of researchers claim that they have found yet another gene associated with schizophrenia. I am a big fan of brain research and of chasing down each and every gene associated with each and every mental illness. The trouble is that the media will splash these revelations around the world, as they have with this one, as if someone has just found the Rosetta Stone. I think this breeds false hope in patients and their families.
I’ve been seeing announcements of this sort for a decade or more. Gene X is the cause of bipolar disorder, Gene Y is directly linked to schizophrenia, and so on. Has anyone seen any of these genes become the pathway to a cure, much less a safe and effective treatment for patients? I haven’t.
The sad fact is that scizophrenia treatments haven’t advanced much in 50 years. If Gene Y were truly the genetic source of this nasty disease, it would still be 10 to 20 years before it’d lead to a handy capsule one could pop into one’s mouth. In the meantime, we do need to find another way to grapple with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, as our current approaches simply are not working out too well.
So wake me when it’s all over.
NOTE: Here’s my standard disclaimer: No, I am not bashing researchers and arguing to forestall genetic research. I am a big fan of genetic research. Give the researchers all the money they say they need, and then double the amount. Seriously. But we do need to keep matters in a real-world perspective.
Well-said. My eyes glaze over every time I get an email about another study of this kind. Until I get real proof, I’d have to say these genes don’t fit. Heh. It’s a laugh a minute over here.
liz | 1:20 PM | Uncategorized
Cute fix: Chihuahua puppy trying to puzzle out lyrics
liz | 12:23 PM | Uncategorized
Gimme a break
A University of Evansville professor has developed a survey that he says can determine the mental health of the respondent in a scant three minutes. From IndyStar.com:
Shortly after the patient completes the questionnaire, the therapist receives a mental-health profile. This includes alerts on whether the patient is suicidal, depressed, anxious or a danger to others. It also provides information on whether psychotherapy might help the patient grapple with his or her issues.
In addition, the profiles are color-coded, with red connoting a special alert and yellow signifying that the patient is at risk.
Hey, Homeland Security, are you listening?
The good doctor also says, “It is like a blood test. The therapist sees it first and then would sit down with the patient and discuss the implications of it.”
Somehow I don’t think those who want scientific proof of mental illness will be convinced by such a “blood test.”
Gauge mental health in minutes
liz | 11:27 AM | Uncategorized
Imagine there’s a future…
From the Guardian Unlimited:
Imagine there was a new policy, sitting on a shelf somewhere, that could, at surprisingly low cost, and in just a matter of months, transform millions of people’s lives. Moreover, imagine that it was scientifically proven, and that it would make people more employable and better parents, thereby increasing productivity, cutting the benefits bill and reducing antisocial behaviour. Oh, and that it would achieve all this simply by making people measurably more stable, hopeful and happy.
liz | 10:01 AM | Uncategorized
Just Like You and Me: Josh Campbell
The start of a series highlighting people who talk openly about their struggle with mental illness.
liz | 5:04 PM | Uncategorized
Today’s one-dollar question
Why do all the comments posted on my site by Viagra and Levitra, etc., sound like Borat wrote them?
“Is good site, yes, please keep.”
Are they being written in Kazakhstan?
liz | 3:50 PM | Uncategorized
Bank shot
Nigel Morgan sent me this article from the Guardian Unlimited. It’s about the way banks over there deal with so-called physical disabilities but don’t properly address the subject of bipolar disorder. The thinking is that when you’re manic, you’re prone to get into real trouble with spending. Then debt collectors get aggressive, which makes things worse. I can certainly attest to that fact. In fact, I defaulted on a student loan and still have bad credit as a result of bad behavior during florid periods of my illness.
But will the bank monitoring a person’s spending habits work? What about the right to privacy? Thankfully, it seems that some British banks are taking a progressive approach to dealing with the problem:
The Royal Bank of Scotland group, which sponsors a Mind booklet on money and mental health, says: “If we discover a customer is suffering mental illness and is in financial difficulty, there are processes to help such as dealing with a third party, adopting a softer approach in communications, suspending interest and other fees, not sending marketing material, cancelling credit cards, and accepting lower payments. We would not sell or transfer the debt to another financial organisation.”
The illness that banks refuse to recognise
liz | 2:06 PM | Uncategorized
What have I gotten myself into?
Months and months ago, I got an email from PW’s general manager asking if anyone would like to participate in the Dash for Democracy sponsored by Philadelphia’s Committee of Seventy. The Dash is 5K, or 3 miles, which for most people would be a breeze. But with my asthma, long history of smoking and constitutional allergy to exercise, I’ve never been able to run for more than a block without getting winded. The idea of doing three miles was as foreign to me as running the Boston Marathon.
Still, I decided to sign up. The Dash is an opmportunity to highlight the issue that means the most to you politically. People will wear costumes signifying their agenda. I’m going to try to find a nurse’s hat to reflect my commitment to healthcare.
I bought running shoes, and I’ve been training using the Couch-to-5K Running Plan from CoolRunning.com, and the other day, for the first time, I ran three miles. I was so excited, I said “Yes!” and threw my hands into the air. The people at the gym on the other treadmills were somewhat disconcerted. I had to walk for about three minutes in between running, and that’s not going to cut it for this race. You have to run a 15-minute mile, which again, I know seems like no big deal, but would be a huge accomplishment for me.
I just realized the race is this weekend, and I’m horrified. I’m not ready! I know I’m going to come in last, and I have to be okay with that. I know I might not finish in time, and I have to be okay with that too. Vince will be on the sidelines with my inhaler just in case.
For a person struggling with chronic illness, this kind of challenge is much more overwhelming than for the normals out there. I’ve been kind of intermittently depressed these days, but I don’t want to increase the Effexor. I guess I just have to be okay with not doing well at the race. That’s going to be hard.
My inspiration has come, in large part, from journalist Sarah Watson, ex-PW intern who just finished a triathlon despite some physical challenges that triathletes don’t usually grapple with. Read her amazing story at Fat Girl on a Bike. If she can do it, I can too. Mine’s only a 5K, after all.
I wonder if I’ll sleep at all between now and Saturday.
[This photo (copyright Liz Spikol) is of the kind of footwear I tend to favor. Not exactly the shoe choice of 5K champions.)
liz | 12:44 PM | Uncategorized
Start the day off right
With a quote (yes, another) from John McManamy’s Living Well With Depression and Bipolar Disorder:
“‘Whatever works’ is my two-word credo, even if that applies to something that gets only 10 percent of us 10 percent better. For one, you could be one of the lucky 10 percent. For another, a 10 percent improvement may be all that it takes to help you turn the corner to full recovery.
“There are two major qualifications to this 10 percent rule. First, it is foolhardy to risk prolonging your suffering and jeopardizing your safety at the outset by rolling the dice on a long-shot treatment. Second, the potential benefits of any treatment need to be carefully weighed against the possible dangers of that same treatment.
“But simple math dictates that you will have several ‘ten-percenters’ and even ‘one-percenters’ in your arsenal. You may, for instance, find yourself on four different meds, taking a multivitamin, drinking a daily power smoothie, doing yoga and exercise, seeing a talking therapist, attending a support groups, pursuing a hobby, and attendinig religious services.
“Add to this the 101 informal things that you find yourself doing every day—from a relaxing soak in the tub to listening to Maria Callas to watching SpongeBob SquarePants to hugging your child, and you can see why there is nothing surgically precise about treating a mood disorder.”
[Photo copyright Liz Spikol]
liz | 10:26 AM | Uncategorized
Hero of the day: Terrie Williams
Public relations executive Terrie Williams has worked with some of the biggest names in the celebrity world, but she’s speaking out now not to push a client’s agenda, but to push her own.
Williams was the keynote speaker at American Psychiatric Association’s Office of Minority and National Affairs in Chicago, where she emphasized the problems with mental healthcare faced by African-Americans. Williams herself has battled depression, so she knows what she’s talking about.
“There’s no one on this planet who hasn’t been effected with mental depression,” Williams said. “I want to make people, in general, to understand that without your mental health you have nothing. We as a people are in pain.”
PR guru Terrie Williams focuses on mental health for Blacks
liz | 4:32 PM | Uncategorized
