Rochester Post Bulletin: New law equalizes mental health insurance coverage

By Jeff HanselPost-Bulletin, Rochester MN Insurance that covers 80 percent of the cost for an appendectomy might pay only 50 percent for mental-health care.After a decades-long battle, that disparity is about to change.The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act used the $700 billion economic rescue package to gain enough votes. Along with financial rescue came federally mandated insurance equality for people with mental illness."Finally it's being recognized," said Pat Schwartzhoff of Rochester, who has experienced depression and talks at school assemblies about mental illness. The bill passed in October and was signed into law by Pres. George W. Bush.The mental-health equality portion of the bill is just as significant for many...

Read more »

Laura redefines insanity ... and sheds some light on our modern world

My buddy Laura (or my close personal friend Laura, as I refer to her when I'm trying to bask in reflected glory) writes a fascinating blog about birds called "Laura's Birding Blog" and edits an equally fascinating but whimsical blog called "Twin Beaks" (actually, i think she writes that one, too, but I have learned NEVER to antagonize our local chickadees) when she's not writing books -- or instant messages to me. This week I happened to share that when you tell IT urchins (the Information Technology students who work at the University where I do) that you have renamed "My Computer" to "Pete," it bewilders them. Which prompted this thoughtful reply from Laura: IT urchins are always bewildered. They expect the world to work exactly opposite of the definition of insanity--there is supposed...

Read more »

The Orange County Register: Giant poodles save the day

The canine versions of Jimmy Stewart and Rita Hayworth help a Santa Ana psychologist work with children.LORI BASHEDAThe Orange County RegisterThere I sat on psychologist Amy Stark’s couch with her sidekick Jim sitting practically on top of me. I had only known Jim for a couple of minutes and already his face was so close to mine.I could smell his breath as he stared hard into my eyes.Longingly? Wistfully? Sadly? I couldn’t tell.I wondered what he was thinking. That I was clearly in need of some counseling? Or was he just wondering if I had a can of Purina in my purse?Jim is a giant poodle.Standard poodle is the correct name. But Jim is 4-feet tall from his enormous toe pads to his curly head. That’s only a foot shorter than I am. So to me,...

Read more »

SFGate: Brain workout may help anxiety, study suggests

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff WriterWednesday, December 17, 2008Could Sudoku be a balm for anxious people?A new study suggests that intellectually demanding challenges like crossword puzzles or chess may be more successful at keeping worry-prone people from worrying than supposedly relaxing pastimes like watching TV or shopping.Contrary to theories that "as things get harder, anxious people fall apart, this suggests it's the opposite way around," said UC Berkeley psychologist Sonia Bishop, lead researcher on the study published online this week by Nature Neuroscience.The study showed that anxious people performed just as well as others when facing tasks that demanded concentration, but they took more time than others to complete tasks that...

Read more »

Stuck: Cut, Then Run

By Anneli Rufus on December 14, 2008 in Stuck One poignant thing about the holiday season is all those Ghosts of Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa past: folks who were once essential features around your table or tree but now ... aren't.Why are they no longer with you? Some are literally gone; they're deceased, and you miss them and mourn them and know you'll never get them back. Others have drifted away. From some friends and relatives, you've grown apart. Yet others ... well, you snipped those bonds for what seemed like good reasons at the time but now you wonder, as the years go by and the gaps around that table or tree increase: Was losing that once-loved one really worth it? What fight was it, what quirk, what offhand remark in the wrong place, at the wrong time?Sometimes the answer is...

Read more »

Thea Gilmore: Songs were Thea's way out of depression

THEA GILMOREBefore the release of Harpo’s Ghost, Thea had been diagnosed with depression. During this time Thea had split with her previous record label and (temporarily) with her long term partner. Prior to Liejacker, Thea was faced with further hard-times when she parted company with her manager of ten years standing, split with her “new” and biggest record label yet after one album - and, almost as if for good measure, gave birth to her first child.Liejacker is the testament to that journey. It began with Thea still battling off the shadows from her illness, writing her darkest, starkest songs ever. Liejacker also sees Thea at her most direct, “where in the past I’ve probably been guilty of hiding a little bit, falling back on an image...

Read more »

Ventura County Reporter : Uncomfortably numb

Mental health, illness and wellness in Ventura CountyBy James Scolari 12/11/2008Last week my aunt found herself crying in a restaurant for no reason that she could discern, and found that she couldn’t stop. She was with her husband of nearly four decades, a man whom she loves, and their life is good — they raised four daughters, all of whom have more kids than I can count, every one of them well and whole and hale. The bills are paid; by nearly any measure she is blessed, and yet there she sat, in the Olive Garden, unable to stop crying. As I loaned a sympathetic ear to her malaise, I couldn’t help but hear the strains of Pink Floyd, of Roger Waters singing from the landmark album Dark Side Of the Moon:The lunatic is on the grassThe lunatic...

Read more »

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder: Penetrating the isolation of mental illness

by Susan Budig Minnesota Spokesman-RecorderReaching those who need help requires dispelling old prejudicesLike a lot of kids, Ramon gave his folks trouble. And like any earnest parent, Lanice Palmer-Cole tried various methods to rein him in. She thought she knew her son well, although he was “different.” Palmer-Cole says, “He was a deep, deep thinker.” She felt hopeful that her son would grow up to be a productive member of society.But then a significant thing happened to this Detroit family and “Ramon lost his mind,” Palmer-Cole tells us in a confessional voice, speaking for the first time in public as she narrates the story of her mentally ill son.Last Thursday evening, December 4, while most people were hunkered down in their homes, a couple dozen concerned citizens...

Read more »

Financial Post: Margaret Trudeau to write about struggle with mental illness

Paul Gessell, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Wednesday, December 10, 2008Mike Carroccetto, The Ottawa CitizenOTTAWA - Margaret Trudeau is writing a memoir, to be published in the fall of 2010, detailing her many years struggling with bipolar depression.News of the forthcoming book was announced Wednesday by Ms. Trudeau's Toronto-based publisher, HarperCollins Canada."The memoir, intended to guide and inspire others suffering from mental illness, will also describe in some detail how the Canadian medical system helped her and where it fell short," according to a statement from HarperCollins.Iris Tupholme, vice president, publisher and editor-in-chief of HarperCollins, says the former wife of the late Pierre Trudeau will be offering "a very...

Read more »

FOXNews: Japan Princess' Mental Depression Improving, After 5-Year Absence From Public Eye

TOKYO — Japan's reclusive and troubled Crown Princess Masako said Tuesday that her health is improving and she is feeling more able to take part in social activities.Her father-in-law, Emperor Akihito, is also suffering from stress and inflammation of the stomach, the Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday. Akihito, who turns 75 later this month, had surgery for prostate cancer in 2003.Masako, who married Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993, has skipped much of her duties in the last five years, mostly because of stress-related symptoms and mental depression."My performance still is not at its best, but I'm beginning to feel I'm now able to do more things, little by little," she said in a statement for her 45th birthday on Tuesday.Royal doctors...

Read more »

Science Daily: Depression Treatment: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy As Effective As Anti-depressant Medication, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (2008-12-02) -- Research shows for the first time that a group-based psychological treatment, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, could be a viable alternative to prescription drugs for people suffering from long-term depression. In this study, MBCT proved as effective as maintenance anti-depressants in preventing a relapse and more effective in enhancing peoples' quality of life. The study also showed MBCT to be as cost-effective as prescription drugs in helping people with a history of depression stay well in the longer-term. Read the full article ...

Read more »

Santa Barbara Independent: Tender Hearts, Tender Times

Goleta Church Helps the Grieving Through the HolidaysBy Elena Gray-BlancSunday, December 7, 2008For most, the holiday season is one of cheer. For others, most notably those who have suffered a loss — be it the death of a loved one, a divorce, or other trauma — Christmas, Hanukkah, the New Year, and all the attending merriment can be insult added to injury, a constant and contrasting reminder of grief.Reverend Erika Hewitt, minister at Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Goleta, has set out to provide a comforting, open, and pressure-free environment for anyone in the community who might be grieving, and is holding a “Tender Hearts, Tender Times” service on Sunday, December 14.“Sometimes,” Hewitt said in a recent phone conversation,...

Read more »

Science Daily: Depression Treatment: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy As Effective As Anti-depressant Medication, Study Suggests

Depression Treatment: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy As Effective As Anti-depressant Medication, Study Suggests ScienceDaily (2008-11-30) -- Research shows for the first time that a group-based psychological treatment, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, could be a viable alternative to prescription drugs for people suffering from long-term depression. In this study, MBCT proved as effective as maintenance anti-depressants in preventing a relapse and more effective in enhancing peoples' quality of life. The study also showed MBCT to be as cost-effective as prescription drugs in helping people with a history of depression stay well in the longer-term. ... read full arti...

Read more »

Reuters UK: Sick leave for mental illness linked to early death

By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who need to take time off from work for a mental health problem may live shorter lives than those in better psychiatric health, a new study suggests. Researchers found that among nearly 20,000 French workers they followed, those who'd taken at least 1 week's sick leave for a mental health disorder had a higher death rate over 14 years. At the outset, 41 percent of the workers -- all public utility employees -- had taken at least 1 week's sick leave over the past 3 years. Those who'd taken time off specifically for depression or other mental health disorders were one quarter to one third more likely to die over the study period than workers with no mental-health absences. "Basically the...

Read more »

globeandmail.com: Psychiatry: A specialty relegated to the basement

CAROLYN ABRAHAM November 24, 2008 at 8:52 PM EST Jai Shah could have been any sort of doctor he wished. Even before he graduated with honours from the University of Toronto's medical school, the 30-year-old Edmonton native had earned a master's degree in international health policy from the London School of Economics, published papers and worked for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Praise follows him wherever he goes. Except for last fall – when he decided to specialize in psychiatry. “A psychiatrist?” some of his supervisors said, “But you're smart! … You're taking the easy way out … Your patients will make your life hell … Your patients will make you depressed … What a waste of talent!” Dr. Shah knew mentally ill people...

Read more »

The Independent: Nervous breakdown: Happy survivors

Anyone can have a nervous breakdown – high-flyers included. But it doesn't have to mean the end of a contented life, says Sophie Morris Out the other side: Emma Mansfield's bipolar condition makes her prone to frenetic activity and slumps At 25, Emma Mansfield was a poster girl for successful young women. She lived in Bristol and loved her job as a producer of natural history programmes, which allowed her to travel all over the world. She had also met and fallen for a wonderful new boyfriend. She was in the pink, you might say, so the last thing she was expecting was to be dragged down into the deep blue storm of a nervous breakdown. "It was like somebody had pulled a rug out from under me," she remembers, eight years, another nervous...

Read more »

Ambigamy: Thanksgrieving: Cheer up 'cause it's downhill from here (a musical op-ed)

By Jeremy Sherman, Ph.D. on November 25, 2008 in Ambigamy When we're down, people sometimes try to cheer us up with reminders that other people are much worse off than we are. Comparing misfortune to good effect also applies to our future selves. We should all cheer up because compared to who we'll be in our declining years we're doing great. Along with AARP cards, one perk senior citizens get is the occasional amusement of consoling some youngster who is distressed to be growing so old. I wrote this song after just such an experience, me at 51 consoling a 36 year old who was distressed about aging.Enjoying the happiness we get depends upon our ability to manage our interpretation of wellbeing as either a complement to, or substitute for future...

Read more »

ABC News: Florida Teen Live-Streams His Own Suicide

Abraham Biggs, 19, Was Egged On by Fellow Bloggers, Cops SayBy EMILY FRIEDMANNov. 21, 2008 —A Florida teenager who used a webcam to live-stream his suicide Wednesday was reportedly encouraged by other people on the Web site, authorities told ABCNews.com."People were egging him on and saying things like 'go ahead and do it, faggot,' said Wendy Crane, an investigator at the Broward County Medical Examiner's office.Abraham Biggs, 19, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., had been blogging on an online body-building message board and had linked to his page on Justin.tv, a live video streaming Web site, where the camera rolled as he overdosed on prescription pills, according to Crane.Biggs, who had reportedly been discussing his suicide on the forums, also posted...

Read more »

ABC 7 News : Family outraged, distraught over teen's cyber suicide

The family of a college student who killed himself live on the Internet say they're horrified his life ended before a virtual audience, and infuriated that viewers of the live webcam or operators of the Web site that hosted it didn't act sooner to save him. Only after police arrived to find Abraham Biggs dead in his father's bed did the Web feed stop Wednesday - 12 hours after the 19-year-old Broward College student first declared on a Web site that he hated himself and planned to die. "It didn't have to be," said the victim's sister, Rosalind Bigg. "They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours." Biggs announced his plans to kill himself over a Web site for bodybuilders, authorities said. He posted a link from there to Justin.tv, a site that allows users to broadcast live...

Read more »

Anger in the Age of Entitlement: Emotional Abuse (Overcoming Victim Identity)

By Steven Stosny in Anger in the Age of Entitlement In terms of your health, happiness, and deepest values, one of the worst things that can happen is to live with a resentful, angry, or emotionally abusive partner. The worst thing you can develop, in terms of your health, happiness, and deepest values, is an identity as a victim. Victim identity destroys personal power and undermines the sense of self. It makes you falsely identify with "damage" done to you or with bad things that have happened to you. The cry I hear over and over again from those who live with resentful, angry, or emotionally abusive partners is, "I don't like the person I've become." Once emotional abuse occurs in a relationship, it becomes necessary not only to stop...

Read more »

In Practice: Chicken and Egg

By Peter D. Kramer in In Practice Does depression cause brain differences, or do brain differences cause depression? A scientist whose past research pointed to the latter conclusion has just published findings that reverse the direction.The prevailing contemporary model for depression suggests that in vulnerable people, repeated stress gives rise to adverse changes in the brain; depression is itself a stressor. The primary evidence for this hypothesis comes from rodent studies, where early deprivation and later mild stress cause what look like mood changes - and shrinkage in areas of the brain that correspond to our hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Human studies have tended to be correlational: patients who have suffered more days of mood...

Read more »

Quirky Little Things: Imposter!

By Jesse Bering, Ph.D. in Quirky Little Things I don't know what it says about me that as a thirteen-year-old boy my favourite television show was The Golden Girls, but like many fans I was saddened earlier this year to learn of the death of Estelle Getty, who played the sassy Sicilian octogenarian Sophia Petrillo in this long-lived series. Given her obvious talent and inimitable delivery on screen, you might be surprised that Estelle Getty felt like a fraud as an actress. Here's what she said in a 1988 interview with Entertainment Tonight:"I'm awed every day of my life. I think, this is Bea Arthur, this is Betty White. This is a big hit #1 show in the country. I'm afraid. I live with fear as a constant companion. Can I do this week after week? Am I good enough? Will I be able to pull it off...

Read more »

Beliefnet.com: 10 Ways to Transform Toxic Thoughts

If you've ever felt the way anger or fear can electrify the atmosphere in a room, you'll know what Sandra Ingerman means by 'toxic thoughts.' The author, a family therapist and shaman practitioner, believes our thoughts and emotions transmit an invisible but palpable energy that can affect our mental and physical well-being. 'Psychic punches,' she writes, are as real as physical violence. Click here for ten simple ways to protect yourself from negative thoughts and learn to radiate positive energy. Text by Sandra Ingerman, adapted from her book, 'How to Heal Toxic Thoughts: Simple Tools for Personal Transformation...

Read more »

Time: Defending Nebraska's Child Abandonment Law

By Karen Ball / Lincoln Nebraska never wanted the attention that came with the heart-wrenching reports of sobbing children at hospitals and desperate parents leaving kids, little ones and unruly teenagers alike, under the state's new "safe haven" law. "We were being ridiculed every day," says state Sen. Dianna Schimek of Lincoln, "but I have no apologies because something good will come of this. We uncovered something that we need to address. And it's not just Nebraska — it's widespread." The Nebraska Legislature's Judiciary Committee met in a special session Monday to begin rewriting a law that has resulted in an epidemic of abandoned children — some parents driving from Florida, Arizona and Georgia to leave off their problem kids. Most...

Read more »