Posts Tagged mental illness resources
Support and Acceptance With Emotional Illness
Posted by mental illness in Mental Illness Resources on January 3, 2011
The media, when reporting political debates, has inundated our psyches with the concept of idealized “family values.” Daily references to this glorified family are given in print, viewed on the screen, and heard on the airways. Unfortunately, in my decades of psychiatric practice, the presence of a supportive family is a toss of the dice. This media blast of the nurturing American family image is often a fictionalized Hollywood-like script. In my experience as a psychiatrist, the “best of families” can become a negative force when mental illness enters the equation.
The concept of “unconditional support” is ideal. As outlined in my book, The Pregnancy Decision Handbook for Women with Depression, you will need nurturing and support if the pregnancy triggers a bout of clinical depression. Some families do have this ability to stick together no matter what circumstances may present. Others can only accept perfection in their members. Mental illness is perceived by some as a weakness, a lack of character that is not part of their family surname. Their perception of this ideal family is quickly shattered by a diagnosis of mental illness. The “sick” member’s illness becomes an unspoken dark secret. Often the patient is ostracized, alienated, and sanctioned as the “black sheep” of the family.
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Spirituality and Hope in Mental Health
Posted by mental illness in Mental Illness Resources on January 2, 2011
A new frontier for the mental healthcare recovery movement is the effects of spirituality and hope in mental illnesses. Now importantly, spirituality and hope are not one in the same. Spirituality is finding some sort of faith, whether in a religion or in one’s self, to lean upon. Hope in regards to mental illness recovery, on the other hand, can stem from both spirituality and through learning from great examples.
Hope in mental health recovery is crucial. One must have something to drive themselves to improvement or they risk a feeling of stagnation, which can spiral into a lack of activity, growing weight disorders, and adult onset diabetes. Such discussion, however, ventures into the realm of the importance of physical activity in mental health recovery, which is truly a topic in and of itself, thus for fear of digression, as important and immense as the subject matter is, it will not be discussed further in this article.
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What’s The Latest on Suicide Risk and Antidepressants For Children?
Posted by mental illness in Mental Illness Resources on January 1, 2011
FDA confirms some antidepressants increase suicide risk in some children. In February of 2004, two advisory committees of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that the FDA warn practitioners about the possible risk of suicide potential associated with antidepressant treatment in children. The information was obtained from clinical trials of medications with children, expert witnesses on suicide research, testimony from families of suicide victims, as well as from those whose children had benefited from antidepressant medication.
At a second meeting last year, improvement on antidepressant study designs and monitoring for suicide risk was discussed. Now, federal officials are preparing stronger warnings giving some antidepressants to children after new analyses back a suspected link to suicidal thoughts and behavior. FDA and Columbia University psychiatric specialists have re-evaluated 25 studies involving more than 4,000 young people and eight antidepressants. When all the results were lumped together, young antidepressant users were about 1.8% times more likely to have suicidal thoughts or behaviors than patients given dummy pills. Risk varied widely from drug to drug and among studies of the same drug, but studies of Effexor showed particular risk.