Coping with Life

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3

Outrun your tigers
2008-05-08 14:27:00
By DARCIE BORDENFeatured BloggerIt was so much simpler in primitive times. Not easier, but simpler. Here's how it worked: saber tooth tiger chases man, man receives stress signals to the brain, man perceives the stress as a threat to his survival, man fights the tiger or makes a run for it (most likely runs). Once the man has either become the victor in a battle against the beast or has successfully outrun the danger, he feels endorphins rush in and is restored to a state of calm.If only the fight or flight response could work so well nowadays. Try to outrun the BlackBerry. We can't challenge the boss to a duel, and even if we could, we have to sit in traffic to get there. Our cave now has a mortgage. It's no wonder that human beings have invented pharmaceuticals to give us the calm usually induced after fighting the foe.But, there's another way. Outrun the tigers on the elliptical machine, or let them chase you down Main Street, and after you've left them far behind, stop at t...
More About: Tigers

Counting my chickens after they hatched
2008-05-05 22:43:00
The chickens came home to roost last week.The perils of doing grad school and two jobs at the same time came crumbling down on me like a Colorado avalanche.There wasn't any long-term damage to report, actually. But there were several embarrassing episodes that made me question: Is this all worth it?I am doing the classic journalism juggling act: I work full-time at The Record of Bergen County, N.J. I'm a part-time adjunct professor at Rutgers University. I am a part-time graduate school student at Columbia University. I am a dad full- and part-time.And that's only half my workload.On Thursday, I showed up at my Rutgers teaching job 10 minutes late, wearing the same clothes I wore the day before (and they weren't very professor-like) and smelling like Andy Dufresne after he crawled through that sewer pipe in "The Shawshank Redemption." I had just spent much of the previous 48 hours working on a final project at Columbia, with no sleep.My class chuckled intermittently as I tried t...
More About: Counting

Raw and uncut - this wedding is not yet rated
2008-04-29 15:19:00
By DARCIE BORDENFeatured BloggerThis past weekend I had the pleasure of viewing my friend Kathy's wedding video. She got married last year, and had one of those really professional videos done, complete with pictures of her and her husband as children, background music, and even a nice ending to wrap it up in a neat and tidy package.After watching her expertly choreographed and edited video, I told her I would find my wedding video and have her over for comedy hour. Mine, you see, was taken by my ex-brother-in-law, and as he got drunker, the video footage got weirder.I had a suspicion that my wedding video (which really is a video tape and not DVD) was in the attic. So I climbed up there today, and I found it in a box with some of the videos the kids have outgrown, such as "Veggie Tales" and various Disney movies. Thank goodness we still have a VCR to play it on.Here are some highlights, or lowlights, from my wedding video:During the church service, where the priest (my Uncle Wayne...
More About: Wedding , Uncut

Dude, just chill... image isn't everything
2008-04-25 17:29:00
Back when he had Bon Jovi hair, Andre Agassi used to appear in Canon camera ads and make millions of television viewers cringe by telling them: "Image .... is everything."It was one of those forgettable pop-culture slogans that you hoped would have the life span of mosquito. But, dammit, there he was, every night for what seemed like years, exposing his God-awful Jersey hair in between innings of a baseball game or in the middle of an episode of the Simpsons. "Image.... is everything," he'd say. "Image is everything." It was like some kind of twisted Bohemian chant that was as intellectually bankrupt as a Lionel Richie song."Aaaarrgh!" you'd scream, though not necessarily in public.Now retired, and bald, we thought we were rid of him and his corny words forever. Gone for good, Andre. A successful tennis career, yes. But that slogan...... somewhere buried in the trash heap of 1980s pop culture history, underneath Lionel Richie, Falco and "Baby-on-Board" signs.Alas, it's back - the ...
More About: Dude , Chill

Name it, claim it, and ride it like you stole it!
2008-04-22 14:20:00
By DARCIE BORDENFeatured BloggerThe two things we can be absolutely sure of is that we come into the world alone and leave the world alone. But, in between those two events, we are not meant to be alone. Humans were meant to live in groups, working together, loving together, and seeking truth together.Some of us realize we need human interaction like air and fully give ourselves over to it, knowing the risks are rejection, hurt, but also great love and getting closer to the truth about life and ourselves. Others hide behind distractions, not knowing how to fully give themselves over to that experience, allowing fear to keep them from hurt and inevitable disappointments.The sum of one's life can be equal to the number and quality of relationships he/she has experienced. Anything else that one thinks can bring happiness is never as fulfilling if not shared with another human being.To be fully engaged in life is to put yourself out there, your whole self, and see what comes of it. Of ...
More About: Ride

Time to stop talking, and start doing something about postpartum depression
2008-04-18 13:54:00
By SUSAN DOWD STONEFeatured BloggerWhile we await positive action from our nation’s legislators on The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act, questions arise. Some have wondered why we need a federal bill in place when we have so many well known organizations and individuals devoted to ending the ignorance of pregnancy related mood disorders. Hasn’t this issue received enough attention these past three years? With all the media, famous advocates and well respected leaders speaking out, the growing science and research substantiating the seriousness of untreated maternal depression – aren’t we done? Aren’t many thousands more people now aware of postpartum depression, thanks to the CBS Cares public service campaign, news stories on every major and local network, the power of the blogosphere, conferences, state’s responses and organizations like PSI, EmpowHer and many others? And aren’t there now more services and treatment options available as mothers face what is often th...
More About: Depression , Time , Start , Talking , Stop

Even the best media can't avoid treating mental illness like a horror show
2008-04-16 11:09:00
Even The Associated Press isn't immune to promoting stigma.Here's a story about a person who's accused of killing his therapist. Count the number of mental health stereotypes that the clever reporter and editor managed to weave into the text.The point is: Can we find another way of describing people with mental illness without resorting to adjectives and verbs that are best reserved for a horror movie?Here's the story (stereotypes are in bold):A lawyer for a mental patient accused of hacking a Manhattan psychotherapist to death with a meat cleaver said Tuesday that his client will offer an insanity defense at his trial.Defense lawyer Bryan Konoski said in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that a psychiatrist he hired to examine murder suspect David Tarloff, 40, said he has "very strong grounds" for a psychiatric defense (above photo: Tarloff).Konoski's court papers say he will offer evidence of Tarloff's "lack of criminal responsibility by reason of mental disease or defect." T...
More About: Media , Mental , Horror , Show , Mental Illness

That video game may not be hazardous to your health
2008-04-11 11:21:00
Perhaps it wasn't the repeated playing of Karate Champ and Pac-Man that drove people to drugs and crime after all."Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Game s and What Parents Can Do," which will be released soon, turns that notion of violent T.V. causing violent behavior on its head.The book, written by Lawrence Kutner, is based on a $1.5 million research project funded by the U. S. Department of Justice.Kutner said society is beginning to see a more widespread "backlash" against the notion that violent media cause violent behavior in the real world."It’s not just our research. A few days ago, Stephen King wrote an essay about this for Entertainment Weekly," he said. "At the opposite end of the publishing food chain, yesterday the 180-year-old British medical journal The Lancet ran an editorial calling the link into question and challenging the previous research."Kutner, who is a co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media Department of Psychi...
More About: Video Game

Professionals take a step toward giving everyone better access to mental he
2008-04-07 15:51:00
For Hispanics, there's hope in mental health.The National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health recently awarded its 2007 Hispanic Higher Education Scholarship Fund to three recipients.They are: Ligia S. Carvalho and Luis R. Moncion, who are attending Kean University in New Jersey; and Rebecca Noreen Badillo, who is attending Rutgers University.These individuals earned $2,000 scholarships each toward their educational pursuit of a master’s degree in social work.The recipients successfully navigated the organization's competitive application process and meeting eligibility, which includes having a bilingual and Hispanic background and bilingual and having a baccalaureate degree.The resource center created the scholarship fund in 2002 in response to the lack of qualified bilingual and bicultural clinicians available to meet the mental health needs of the growing Hispanic community, organizers say.Funds have been raised throughout the year through direct mail campaigns, award ...
More About: Access , Giving , Step , Professionals

Mental health courts are growing, even though they have no guide
2008-04-04 15:07:00
The number of mental health courts in the United States has steadily grown from a mere four in 1997 to over 175, according to Council of State Government Justice Center estimates.Yet, because of the diversity of program models and their relative newness, there have not been any nationally accepted criteria for effective mental health courts, mental health advocates say.The Justice Center, a watchdog group, addresses that issue in an updated edition of its paper "Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses: The Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court."The report can be viewed by clicking here.The publication is the result of many rounds of rigorous review and describes the 10 important program elements that jurisdictions should consider when planning, implementing or enhancing a mental health court.This latest edition of details the aspects of mental health court design and implementation that can be consistently found in successful courts.“As communities across the cou...
More About: Mental Health , Guide , Courts

After many ups and downs, life nearing 40 is peaceful
2008-03-31 14:53:00
[Sunday was my birthday - this is a column I wrote last year to recognize my 40th birthday]At 21, while mired in eating disorders, I never thought I'd live to see 40 — or even 30. Just before hitting the milestone in March 2007, I was a little unprepared.Once you hit middle age, what do you do? Dye your hair? Take a Caribbean cruise? Learn to square dance?Indeed, many at this age seek a life renewal.Aging, however, brings physical changes - and for many, they're changes for the worse.The irony is that, approaching 40, I felt better than I did when I was 30 — and, certainly better than I did at 21. After years of setbacks and successes in my life and career, I felt as though I had finally found mental peace.Though some may dismiss it as a cliché, it really was the power of positive thinking that carried me through. Some time ago, I found a way to take a deep breath in stressful situations and put things in perspective. I got help through therapy and educated myself on the mind...
More About: Life , Peaceful

Aircraft noise may be bad for your health and heart
2008-03-28 14:53:00
A study is linking aircraft noise to hypertension, airline advocates said.In a recently published study, the Hypertension and Exposure to Noise Near Airports (HYENA) study has linked aircraft noise to hypertension in residents near airports.The New Jersey Coalition Against Aircraft Noise (NJCAAN) said the report shows how the Federal Aviation Administration has "completely ignored analyzing the significant public health, safety and welfare impacts of shifting low altitude departure patterns directly over residential communities in its 10-year effort to revamp the flight patterns in the metropolitan area. "The group has called upon New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine to block implementation of the FAA’s impending implementation of new low altitude departure patterns at Newark and Philadelphia airports and instruct environmental officials to investigate the health impacts of this plan.
More About: Health , Heart

Military will address health care; will mental health be part of the strate
2008-03-26 13:22:00
The Department of Defense says it's trying finalize its 2008 plans for ensuring top quality healthcare for all service members and beneficiaries.Noticeably left out of that declaration is any discussion of mental health - despite the fact that thousands of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to develop symptoms for post-traumatic stress disorder within the next decade. "Earlier this year, Secretary of Defense Gates charged me with being the guarantor of quality healthcare for service members, retirees and their families," said Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. "Quality healthcare is the Secretary's top goal, apart from the war itself."The DOD first discussed its "MHS Strategic Plan" at a Washington D.C. conference in January. All of the presentations for the conference were aligned with the plan's goals and objectives, Pentagon officials said, including:Enhance deployable medical capability, force medical readiness and home...
More About: Health , Mental , Military , Health Care , Mental Health

Jim Carrey says he knows how to heal people with depression - but does he?
2008-03-20 18:46:00
It was interesting to learn that Jim Carrey was set to write a self-help book on depression since the comedian has experienced it himself - although Page Six in The New York Post is now saying that it was all a "joke."Either way, can he be trusted based on these conflicting reports, as well as his opinion that medication may not be considered "an answer?" He also has a history of producing material that has drawn the ire of the mental health community.Known for his slapstick performances in the "Ace Ventura" series, Carrey battled depression for a long time after he became famous and resorted to Prozac to cope, the sun.co.uk reports. However, he now believes that medicines are not the answer and wants people to deal more with the root causes, according to the report.He said: "I dealt with depression for a while by medicating with Prozac and although it was good for dealing with the problem there and then, I wasn't getting to the bottom of my anger and frustration."I think we have a...
More About: People , Depression , Heal

Why should political wives suffer in silence as their spouses betray the pu
2008-03-18 08:08:00
This time it's Silda Wall Spitzer, spouse of more than two decades to Eliot Spitzer, the New York ex-governor snared in a prostitution ring, who is the latest woman to play the supportive female in unseemly political scandal, notes Mary Sanchez of McClatchy NewspapersAs Sanchez noted: "Ever notice how the wife is always positioned in these media moments? She is a mute backdrop. Saintly, you might say, in her suffering."Sanchez noted others who have played similar roles in what's becoming a trend: Sen. Larry Craig’s wife, Suzanne; Dina Matos McGreevey, who is now in the process of divorcing the former governor of New Jersey; and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s wife, Carlita."Faced with the public humiliation of a cheating spouse, each woman stood to the side as her husband expressed remorse," Sanchez said. "They all knew the drill: At the end of his speech, the couple walks off the stage together, his hand gently touching her shoulder.""It’s about time we start questioning t...
More About: Political , Wives , Silence

Rosalynn Carter works for change any way she can
2008-03-17 13:40:00
Rosalynn Carter fawns over her fellow "fellows."The former first lady talks about how they're making the world a better place. These journalists, each of whom is a part of her Mental Health Journalism Fellowship program, are "reducing stigmas" and promoting the cause of mental health advocacy."They're sending a message that many people with mental illness can live normal lives," she says.That's why September may be her favorite time of year, she says. It's when she meets the newest 10 fellowship recipients - which, in the 2004-05 class, included me - who go to Atlanta every year to launch projects that dig into the tangled world of mental health.Many public figures disdain media attention, because reporters may sensationalize and misinterpret whatever it is they represent. But Carter embraces it and believes her fellowship program advances a cause she's promoted for the past 30 years."We're getting more and more attention," she said when she met my class of fellows in 2004. "I...
More About: Change , Works

Mistreatment of mental health issues is not just an American problem
2008-03-10 16:15:00
Following a four year investigation, Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) recently released a report detailing the human rights abuses perpetrated against children and adults in Serbia with disabilities, forced to live out thier lives in institutions."Torment not Treatment: Serbia's Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities" describes children and adults tied to beds or never allowed to leave their cribs - some for years at a time. In addition, filthy conditions, contagious diseases, lack of medical care, rehabilitation and judicial oversight renders placement in a Serbian institution life threatening for both children and adults."These are Serbia's most vulnerable citizens. Thousands confined to institutions are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and abuse. Children and adults tied down and restrained over a lifetime is dangerous and painful treatment tantamount to torture - clear violations of the European Convention on Human Rights," said...
More About: Health , Issues , Mental Health , American

An abusive place now become a caring place - hopefully
2008-03-07 16:37:00
One of the nation's most notorious psychiatric hospitals - where abuse and carelessness were once considered the norm, and where a famous patient, folk singer Woodie Guthrie, met Bob Dylan - has reopened.New Jersey officials recently showed off the new Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital during an afternoon ceremony. Governor Corzine called the new $200 million facility symbolic of how the state's mental health system has evolved.The 450-bed facility will replace aging buildings long plagued by shoddy conditions. Here are some other age-old problems with the facility, as reported by The New York Times:- It's been long criticized as substandard and plagued by a rash of escapes and assaults on patients.- Built in 1876, the hospital has been criticized over the last quarter-century by state judges and lawmakers as offering less than ideal care to its mentally ill patients.- Its environment, in the physical and psychological sense, was once said to ''strain the meaning of humane.'...
More About: Place , Abusive

Anti-medication groups combine forces to fight "forced drugging"
2008-03-04 17:03:00
Promising to fight what they call "pervasive and harmful violations of mental health clients" who receive drugs and electric shock treatment in the United States, The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights and the MindFreedom Shield Campaign announced today a joint Task Force on Mental Health Legal Advocacy & Activism.Task Force organizers say the combination of PsychRights' expertise for strategic litigation and the "people power" of MindFreedom activists around the country will bring a synergy and geographic reach to their demands for people’s "legal and human rights" regarding medication use.The new partnership of law and nonviolent activists has an initial focus in the states of California, Massachusetts and New York, organizers say."People's rights in forced drugging proceedings are ignored as a matter of course, resulting in great harm to them and decreased public safety," PsychRights' President Jim Gottstein said.David Oaks, director of MindFreedom International, said vi...
More About: Fight , Forced , Anti , Medication , Groups

The cost of the road can take a toll on the brain
2008-03-02 16:18:00
My wife and I don't often look at our credit card bill. We don't like being surprised or scared.But we don't like being poor, either. To be honest, we've had too many visits to the ATM where the machine said “insufficient funds.”So lately, we've unsealed the unopened letters from the bank, and discovered what's obvious: Everything's going up. Gas. Groceries. Utility and cable bills.It's certainly understandable. Services expand, so the costs go up. Our combined mortgage and tax bill now consumes more than 50 percent of my monthly salary.The only one that's puzzling, however, is E-Z Pass, the toll service that allows vehicles to pass through without stopping. How does a bill keep inching closer to $300 every month when the highway toll rates haven't increased in five years?It was the kind of tip-of-the-iceberg moment that makes hard-working families feel helpless, depressed and downright angry. And it's going to get worse now that the tolls rates on bridges, tunnels, f...
More About: Cost , Brain , Road , Toll , The Brain

Prozac still has a useful place in the world, mental health professionals s
2008-02-28 14:17:00
If you're worried about a recent study that says Prozac isn't effective, mental health professionals have a message for you.Don't worry about it!A story from the The Guardian, a British newspaper, claims a scientific study has proven that the bestselling antidepressant "does not work," nor do similar drugs in the same class.The study, developed by Hull University in the United Kingdom and other institutions, examined all available data on the drugs - including results from clinical trials that compared the effect on patients taking the drugs with those given a placebo or sugar pill, according to The Guardian.When all the data was pulled together, it appeared that patients had improved - but those on placebo improved just as much as those on the drugs, according to the newspaper.But Benjamin Druss, the Rosalynn Carter endowed chair for mental health and an associate professor at Emory University, said the information isn't very new. But it doesn't mean that it's right."There ha...
More About: Health , Mental , World , Mental Health , The World

Rescued from a self-destructive downward spiral
2008-02-26 16:11:00
This story pays tribute to National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which began Sunday and runs through March 1That red Rutgers University yearbook from 1989 (left) contains a lot of good memories.Too bad I can barely look at the picture of myself.I was a 6-foot-2, 145-pound stick, worn practically to the bone. My face was pale, and my hair was flat and lifeless. My suit jacket was so big on me that the shoulders looked like mountain peaks. I certainly wasn't smiling - my lips were so thin and my frown so straight, it was as if a cartoonist had drawn a line across my face.I was 21 when this picture was taken in October 1988. Only two months earlier, I was 185 to 190 pounds and enjoying the typical youthful excesses. But by fall, after days and weeks of starving myself, I descended into a shell of a human being, living in a virtual, self-imposed hell, with little will to continue.Doctors diagnosed me as having anything from hypoglycemia to an ulcer. They gave me X-rays and prescrib...

If you haven't done it yet, this is the week to recognize eating disorders
2008-02-25 18:08:00
National Eating Disorders Awareness Week began Sunday, and runs through March 1. And those who are trying to spread awareness of the illness will be everywhere.The National Eating Disorders Association, for one, is looking for volunteers to be part of the NBC Today Show crowd to launch "NEDAwareness Week" before millions of TV viewers throughout the country.This week, you're asked to be there between 5:15 and 8:30 a.m. every morning, at 1 Rockefeller Plaza (on 48th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, outside Dean & Deluca) in New York City.Helpers will be there to meet you and provide materials you'll need for the event: NEDAWareness Poster Signs, a NEDA banner and ribbons to wear on your lapel to promote this year's NEDAW "Embrace Your Genes" campaign.Contact NEDA via email if you are able to help with this initiative at emccormick@myneda.org.
More About: Recognize

An endorsement for brains, honesty and integrity
2008-02-25 17:45:00
By STEVE BERLINFeatured BloggerThe movement to make Steve Berlin - who has agreed to make mental health a priority in his administration - as the nation's next vice president got a boost recently when popular singer-songwriter Tim Butler endorsed Berlin's candidacy.Butler, speaking from his home in Glenside, Pa., said Berlin is a great choice for the nation's second-banana slot because of his brains, honesty and integrity, among other reasons."The people need their public servants to be selfless, and Steve Berlin is the most selfless person I know," Butler, said. "In fact, he's so selfless, sometimes you forget he's even there, and that's what we need in a vice president."Butler has been performing in the Middle Atlantic states for years as a solo performer and previously with the band Hoppers 13. He expects to release another solo CD in 2008. His music can be found at www.myspace.com/timbutler and www.timbutlermusic.com.Berlin welcomed the endorsement and looked to Butler's ...
More About: Integrity , Brains , Honesty , Endorsement

Stigmas of mental illness remain
2008-02-23 16:32:00
Five times he called her a "loon" or "lunatic." Each time, the peace activist reacted to Bill O'Reilly's name-calling with a shrug or smirk. But this encounter on "The O'Reilly Factor" raised the question: Who was more outrageous?Was it O'Reilly for using words that some might interpret as slurs? Or was it the activist for not taking him to task?For a long time, words and images that define mental illness have been used to describe a person who holds a differing opinion as out of line or evil.Mental health professionals recoil when they hear such talk or see such pictures. Now they're speaking out to stop the use of words and images that stigmatize people who suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.Otto Wahl, a psychology professor at the University of Hartford, says that despite years of advances in mental health awareness, the media still rely on stereotypes to sell books, magazines, news-papers, movies and TV shows.In his boo...
More About: Mental Illness , Illness

"Nothing" is a book that is really something
2008-02-21 16:43:00
Many popular novelists have a formula: For Tom Clancy, it's military intrigue. For John Grisham, it's law and injustice. Elmore Leonard draws on his law enforcement background to explore a criminal underworld that's painfully dysfunctional at its core.Many novelists, as a result, sell because of their predictability, as well as their prestige. Their work is put together like a Hardy Boys Mystery novel - or, better yet, a McDonald's cheeseburger - where each one has the same flavor as the last. Few have the Hemmingway gift of producing literature so distinctive that each new piece appears as though more than one author is behind the work.Lurking behind the mega-rich novelists are a host of up-and-coming authors who have audiences that are not nearly the size of a Stephen King's - yet - but their topics are so diverse that each new novel is more of a surprise than it is formulaic.One such author is Robin Friedman, who has written a series of critically acclaimed children's and y...
More About: Book

Why America is jailing people with mental illness
2008-02-19 14:56:00
You may not know Jacquie, personally. But if you've been in a northern New Jersey restaurant, you may have seen or heard her.She's known for her scratchy, high-pitched voice, and she has a habit of going into dining places, eating a meal, and not being able to pay."She'll eat a big meal and say, 'I don't have any money,' and they arrest her," said Robin Reilly, an advocate for the homeless who has helped Jacquie.That's about as dangerous as Jacquie gets. But if that's true, then why has she been to jail nearly 30 times?Because Jacquie has mental illness. Plain and simple.There are thousands more who live this kind of vicious cycle. When they show the most extreme symptoms of schizophrenia, bipolar, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, they don't go to a nice clean hospital room, with a window and TV, for treatment. They end up in a concrete cell with bars, a bed, and a toilet.If they don't go there, many end up dead - like Stephen Kazmierczak, the man responsible for killing ...
More About: America , Mental , People , Mental Illness , Illness

Going off your meds could have serious consequences
2008-02-17 14:13:00
Only 4 percent of Americans with mental illness kill. But many of those cases involve people who didn't pay enough attention to their condition.The Campus Police at Northern Illinois University say Stephen Kazmierczak, the man responsible for killing five people and himself, had stopped taking his medication before the shootings, according to news reports.The medications the Northern Illinois shooter were not identified. But the incident speaks to the potential consequences of deciding to not take any prescribed medications.Once on their medications, physicians say, patients feel fine and feel they do not need their medicine. But any psychological disorder should be treated like any other disease."If you have diabetes or a different health concern, you can be stable on your medications and feeling really good, but things would go really bad if you went off that medication and it's the same thing with any psychiatric medications," said Elisabeth Kinghorn, an Idaho medical professio...
More About: Consequences , Meds

In the military, the battle against mental health awareness continues
2008-02-16 04:16:00
Fort Drum, a U.S. Army base in northern New York state, has become the epicenter of the military's mental-health ignorance.A critical report on the mental health care provided at Fort Drum highlighted previously identified shortcomings and incorrectly characterized other facets of support being provided to soldiers, according to The Associated Press.The report released Wednesday by Veterans for America cited problems with understaffing, a reliance on self-reporting of mental health problems and a prevailing attitude at the company level that treats mental health issues in an atmosphere of secrecy.It also claimed that some soldiers had to wait up to two months before they were seen by doctors, according to The Associated Press."Are our processes as effective as we would like? No, but we're working hard and we remain fully committed as an Army and post to address our soldiers and family needs," Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, the division commander, told the wire service. "Helping our sold...
More About: Health , Mental , Military , Mental Health , Awareness

Britney and Heath needed more help, and less pain
2008-02-13 16:41:00
By ANDY BEHRMANFeatured BloggerThere's been so much in the media lately about two celebrities - Britney Spears and Heath Ledger - and about their mental health conditions.I'm not a psychiatrist or a mental health care professional, so I'm not qualified to say whether Britney has bipolar disorder, or if Heath's death was a suicide. I was encouraged to hear that Ms. Spears was seeking treatment by qualified psychiatrists at one of the best mental health care facilities in Los Angeles. But now that she's been released, who knows what will happen to her?Perhaps the most horrifying piece of Ms. Spears's story (not to minimize her own suffering) is how the media has turned her erratic and often risky behavior into a joke and her psychological problems into a circus event. If she is diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, she - like any one else - deserves our best wishes, because she will struggle with this invisible and insidious disease for the rest of her life.At the least, we can be ...
More About: Pain