By Request: Cute Fix
With the economy depressing everyone, Susan says, why not a Cute Fix? I hear you, Susan. I’ve been watching the below pig video kind of obsessively, just to keep my mind off the money that getting moth-eaten in my mattress.
liz | 4:08 PM | Uncategorized
I Often Have Opinions
But I admit that on the subject of the bailout, I have no idea what’s going on. Was it bad they didn’t pass it? Or was it a bad plan to begin with? I have no idea. Like, was it this guy’s fault it didn’t pass?
[Flickr Creative Commons, you didn't make the bailout fail, did you?]
liz | 10:19 AM | Uncategorized
Black Caucus Regonizes Mental Health
Here’s a deadline-day post for you:
The National Black Caucus of State Legislators today announced it will host its 15th Annual Mental Health Conference to address the more pertinent mental health issues on both state and federal levels facing us today. The goal of the conference is to educate state legislators, healthcare professionals, community leaders and the public about mental illness and what can be done to reduce the cultural stigmas and barriers that prevent access in the African American community.
Rock on, Black Caucus!
liz | 2:56 PM | Uncategorized
Bipolar Made Me Do It: Promote Sarah Palin As Not-Bipolar
Now this is odd: Joe lets us know that “bipolar advocate” Sarah Freeman has started Bipolar Watch to clear the air about celebrity diagnoses — including the few silly mentions that characterize Sarah Palin as bipolar. This seems like a weird venture, especially because Freeman isn’t much of an advocate. Her press release lists bipolar symptoms like:
excessive risk taking, hypersexuality, reckless financial spending, gambling or investments, and incoherently rapid and disjointed speech … grandiosity, a grossly inflated sense of one’s abilities and entitlements.
She also writes:
The bipolar community has disproportionately high rates of marriage breakdown, financial problems, substance abuse, obesity, and career under-achievement.
Thanks for the stigma, Ms. advocate! In addition, Freeman says Palin can’t be bipolar because she’s simply too functional:
Sarah Palin has a very happy and successful marriage, her personal finances have been scrutinized and found above reproach through the VP vetting process, she has maintained a successful career, and does not abuse alcohol or drugs. Instead of grandiosity, Palin drives herself to work.
Holy shit! I’ve never heard of a person with bipolar disorder being in a successful relationship, with good finances, with a successful career, without abusing alcohol or drugs, who can drive herself to work. Oh, wait, that sounds awfully familiar …
With friends like Freeman, etc.
[The guv pictured here with her husband. I can't believe she has a husband! Isn't she bipolar?]
liz | 9:27 AM | Uncategorized
Lede the Way
This intro is the epitome of cookie-cutter writing about mental health. I can’t begin to say how many ledes I’ve read that are worded almost exactly like this one. One day I hope we can skip over all this and just start articles assuming a stigma-free world.
To most people, the words “mental illness’’ conjure up images of people suffering, speaking incoherently, behaving erratically, and simply being unable to function in society.
In reality, however, mental health encompasses a wide range of abilities from the truly debilitating to the barely perceptible. Among the more popularly known mental illnesses are schizophrenia, bi-polar and panic disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias.
Anyone can become mentally ill, and, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 26 percent of American adults have a mental illness.
Black legislators to discuss mental illness
liz | 1:32 PM | Uncategorized
The Ancora and the Ecstasy
Yet … more … on … Ancora:
Drug tests OK’d for psychiatric hospital workers
liz | 12:11 PM | Uncategorized
The Stories You Don’t Hear About
So many people with mental illnesses get caught up in the tangle of the criminal justice system. This is something I witnessed firsthand in my work with a prison reform organization that provided services to incarcerated people and their families. These people aren’t on the radar most of the time. No one cares. No one knows, mostly.
One such story — and there are many others — is that of Felice Debra Eliscu in Wisconsin. From MindFreedom:
Felice tells MindFreedom that a lot of her current troubles started in 2001 when she got into a dispute with a correction’s officer, and she was charged with assault. She was found “not guilty by reason of insanity” and spent several years locked up in the Winnebago psychiatric institution where she was forcibly drugged.
She was let out about three years ago under a program called “conditional release” where she had to agree to take powerful psychiatric drugs, perhaps for the rest of her life, in exchange for her freedom.
Felice says, “When I was let out of the institution I was prescribed six or seven psychiatric medications. My face started to twitch on Abilify, so I stopped taking it.”
Even though she says her psychiatrist supported her decision to quit Abilify, she said other parts of her psychiatric team wanted her to continue taking such powerful neuroleptic or “antipsychotic” psychiatric drugs.
She said her outpatient forced drugging was monitored by Lutheran Social Services, which even has religious content in their printed material for the program. Felice said at one point three college students were hired, and one by one they would drop by each and every day at Felice’s home to watch her take her psychiatric drugs at 8 am, noon and 4 pm.
“All the forced drugging finally freaked me out,” says Felice. “Last week I took a bunch of pills. I didn’t mean to kill myself. I meant it as a radical statement.”
…On 6 August 2008, after taking the bunch of pills, Felice was admitted based what was seen as a suicide attempt, which is a violation of her conditional release.
“I’m worried I’ll lose everything. The mental health system runs everything, my housing, my possessions. They even own the parking lot where my vehicle is parked. I want the forced drugging to stop. I want help, but I don’t want forced psychiatric drugging.”
In my social work career (brief though it was) I saw enough variations on Felice’s theme to know how messed up things can get if you find yourself enmeshed in the prison system/mental health system.
For more on Felice, click here.
[Art by Felice.]
liz | 9:59 AM | Uncategorized
LOVE Park
Love Park Victim Died Homeless, But Not Friendless
liz | 12:07 PM | Uncategorized
Confusing Headline of the Morning
I say, “of the morning” because they’ve become so common now when it comes to mental health-related articles, I’m sure several more will roll on in during the rest of the day. This is from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, out of California:
Losing job a common factor in suicide cases
This had me thinking about the economy, and a potential consequence of it. I think it implies, to the average reader, a strong cause-and-effect between job loss and suicide. But the first paragraph of the piece reads:
The loss of a job and fear of financial ruin can drive people to suicide, but usually not without other compelling reasons, an expert said Wednesday.
“You have to be on the edge of the suicidal precipice before losing your job would kind of tip the scale,” said Dr. Ronald Maris, author and professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of South Carolina Medical School. “A lot of people lose their jobs. Very few people kill themselves.”
And here’s how the article ends:
Historically, there is a slight increase in the suicide rate during economic downturns, he said. And white men older than 50 have by far the highest suicide rate, according to the Web site Suicide.org.
But it’s never quite that simple, Maris said.
For people to kill themselves, other things also must be happening in their lives, Maris said.
Emotional instability, marital or financial problems or substance abuse can combine to influence decisions, he said.
“Suicide is multi-factoral,” Maris said. “I would never support a one-cause theory of suicide.”
The overall impression of the piece is that job loss can potentially exacerbate depression that is already present, but is not a primary factor in suicides. Especially when dealing with men and depression, the article concedes, increased access to firearms may play a greater role than job loss. For the whole piece, go here.
liz | 10:38 AM | Uncategorized
BBI: Mental Health Parity Passed in House and Senate! I [Heart] Arlen
We’ve heard this song before, but this time let’s hope the melody is sweeter. From Mental Health America:
Both the Senate and House passed mental health parity legislation on Tuesday by strong margins! Your involvement and support were keys to these actions.
Because the bills are not identical and include different ways to fund the legislation, the two bodies will have to reach an agreement on a final version before it can become law.
The Senate vote was 84 -11. To find out how your senators voted click here. The House vote was 376-47. To find out how your representative voted click here. (To find the names of your members of Congress, click here).
Be on the lookout for additional actions you can take to ensure this critical legislation is sent to the White House for the President’s signature.
Emphasis mine. This will be tricky. But Linda Spikol made those phone calls, and I’m sure that’s what put Arlen Specter, at any rate, over the edge.
liz | 12:29 PM | Uncategorized
