Supporting a friend with a mental illness.

The daughter of a Facebook friend of mine posted a fantastic little piece on supporting someone close to you who has a mental illness. While it specifies depression and anxiety, what it says covers so much more. I just thought I would share it here.

Take care, stay safe.

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

NSW Mental Health Services Cut

New South Wales Mental Health minister Kevin Humphries says the federal government has drastically cut new treatment services for the mentally ill in the state.

NSW Mental Health Mister
Kevin Humphries

Funding had been secured to create four Early Psychosis Prevention & Intervention Centres in NSW, which would haven given a large portion of the population better access to treatment if they began to develop a psychotic disorder.

But two years of planning & negotiations were wasted when the now former federal Minister for Mental Health Mark Butler announced in a press release last month that NSW would only get one centre to be run by the charity Headspace - the National Youth Mental Health Foundation.

It is thought that difficulties in negotiating agreements has led to the federal governments decision. This was despite already approving four centres in NSW & opening negotiations for two more.

Source & full article: The Sydney Morning Herald (01 July 2013)

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Bipolar Research Subjects Needed - Sydney

Early next week I'm off to Sydney to participate in a bipolar research study at the CADE Clinic, an outpatient service based at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. The study 'Thinking Clearly With Bipolar Disorder' is being conducted by Dr Genevieve Curran.

She is seeking adults with bipolar disorder to participate in a research study that investigates how bipolar & lithium alter brain cognition (memory, concentration, attention, etc). It doesn't matter if you use lithium or not, subjects from both groups are needed.

From what I understand the study involves a session talking with Dr Curran, a session on a computer playing games, solving puzzles, etc & then possibly an MRI scan.

More information on the research study can be found on the CADE website, by calling Dr Curran (02 9462 9900) or by emailing her at grcurran@nsccahs.health.nsw.gov.au.

I you feel you could suitable for this study please participate. In the long run the study could benifit us all, you never know.

Until next time, take care.

Mark.

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Small Irish Poll Shows Depth of Stigma.

An article by Paul Gilligan (CEO, St Patrick's University Hospital) published in the Irish newspaper Sunday Independent has highlighted how bad stigma can be and that it is costing lives. The stigma surrounding mental illness makes people reluctant to discuss their problems and they often feel they cannot seek help.

A small poll of 300 people at St Patrick's University Hospital in Dublin produced some shocking results, even for those used to seeing how bad stigma can be. The poll showed that:

• 20% of people believe that those suffering mental health problems are of below average intelligence.
• Over 40% considered seeking help for mental health problems is a sign of personal failure.
• Two-thirds expressed reluctance to hire someone with a history of mental illness, believing them to be unreliable.
• Over 30% admitted they would not willingly accept someone with a mental illness as a close friend.

Considering that there is a probability that some participants in the research wouldn't want to admit to having a negative view, it is quite possible the true levels of stigma could be much higher.

Gilligan goes on to discuss factors that go into creating (and maintaining) the stigma. These include human factors such as fear and a lack of understanding/knowledge. Then there is denial, both by the sufferer refusing to believe they could have a mental illness, and those who don't even believe there is such a thing as mental illness.

The Cost of Mental Health: More Than Money

Sunday September 2nd is Fathers Day here in Australia and, as normal for me around special occasions, it has had me thinking about what my mental health problems have cost me over the years. Not in terms of money, but in other ways. My conclusion: it has cost me plenty.

Dealing with mental health costs everyone financially; sufferers, families, friends & the entire community. But for those dealing with the illnesses it usually costs far more in the way of family, friends & living standards. So much of our lives can be affected both directly & indirectly by the illness and its treatments - and the stigma that surrounds it.

Left untreated, mental illness can make life hell for everyone around the sufferer. Even when you get a diagnosis it can be just as hard. A lot of times it's hard to get a correct diagnosis and then it is usually a lot of trial & error to find a treatment plan that works or helps the patient. It can take years to get things anywhere near right.

Bipolar 1 & 2, What's the difference?

Bipolar Disorder (formerly called manic depression) is an illness that at times even the sufferer doesn't fully understand. Most people don't even realize there are couple of forms of bipolar, or if they do, they don't understand the differences. So here I will attempt to detail the differences between bipolar 1 & bipolar 2.

Both forms of the disorder have 2 things in common which helps with the initial diagnosis of bipolar. First, you must have suffered episodes of clinical depression, which is often the only thing you will be treated for initially. I found that getting a new diagnosis after being diagnosed & treated for depression (which didn't help at all) to be very difficult. Secondly, you must have had periods of feeling 'high' (mania). Everybody feels happy or sad at times, but bipolar sufferers feel these emotions far more deeply, and the swings between the highs & lows are usually extreme & can occur quite suddenly.

Guest Post: No more wriggling out of writing ……

Social networking sites can be a great place to meet people & find information about subjects that interest or have relevance to you. It was through Twitter that I met Suzie Grogan, the author of No more wriggling out of writing......, a site dedicated to writing, Keats, and, a little strangely perhaps, mental health issues. Suzie is a freelance professional researcher & writer on a diverse range of subjects.

Each month or so Suzie invites someone to do a guest post for the mental health section of her site & I was surprised & honored when she asked if I would be interested in doing this months. When she asked I had no idea what I would write about but what finally arrived was "One year on: a new life". This short article looks at the last year or so of my life and the amazing changes that have taken place.

So take a stroll over to Suzies great site and see what a difference a year can make once you start getting things right!

Cheers.

 

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Computers to identify the at risk?

The other day I posted an article about the possibility that a blood test could help identify those with depression, a great step forward. Now it looks like the researchers are getting computers involved in identifying those at risk of mental illness.

A press release by the Welcome Trust suggests that a computer programme may be able to identify those at risk of mood disorders & anxiety. According to research published in PLoS ONE, an open access journal, computers can be 'taught' to differentiate between brain scans of adolescents to identify those most at risk of psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety.

With most mental illnesses typically manifesting themselves during the adolescent years & early adulthood, the earlier that those at risk can be identified the better. Early intervention could result in a delay or even prevent the illness appearing in those at risk.

Mental Illness: How Prepared is Your GP?

A tweet from Black Dog Tribe today led me to this video by Professor Lewis Wolpert where he mentions that he doesn't think most GP's are prepared enough to deal with patients with mental illness. Additionally, he voices something that I totally agree with - that unless you have experienced a mental illness you can never really understand what it's all about.

Friends, people I've worked with & even anonymous posters on a number of forums I frequent have all said the same thing. A lot complain about GP's who try & look at other causes, or don't have an understanding how bad it really is. Or those that give a prescription for some form of mild anti-depressant with absolutely no follow-up at a later date. Sadly a lot of people with mental illness find, after working up the courage to initially mention their problem, that doing anything more themselves is just too hard. They just won't go back and seek further assistance.

I know for myself it was talking to other sufferers that started making it easier for me to deal with my illness. Doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists & other mental health workers just didn't seem to understand just what it's like. No offence at all to those working in the mental health field, they do what their training & experience tells them to do. But sometimes this just isn't enough, and the sufferer feels let down by the system or just fall through the cracks.

My old family GP was a good doctor, I liked going to him & he was the first one I opened up to about my problem. He tried to help, arranged anti-depressants, got me to see a psychiatrist and try and get me going in the right direction. Only problem was that I really didn't enjoy my sessions with my psychiatrist (for some reason he thought going for a walk or getting a job to occupy my mind was the solution - for someone who couldn't leave the house!). Additionally, my initial (and incorrect) diagnosis of severe depression was the one that stuck for the next 11 years.

After I was diagnosed I did a lot of research on the subject and it wasn't long before I realised I wasn't just depressed, I was more likely bipolar. But no-one seemed to listen. Everything was directed at trying to fix my depression and it wasn't working. They seemed to go deaf when I mentioned my periods of mania - they were very short compared to my long periods of depression - and it just slipped by. And some of the medications I tried during this period are great for treating depression, but were some of the worst for treating bipolar, making things even drastic.

It was only after moving to another area a couple of years ago that anything really changed, and even that took a more than a year of seeing my new GP. But eventually I had a few things go badly wrong for me and early last year I went to my doctor hell bent on getting help. I booked a long appointment and we spent the time really going through everything & at last he really listened, He seemed to understand. My diagnosis was changed & added to, booked in with a new counsellor and, probably most importantly, was changed to more suitable medications.

The last 12 months have been totally different for me, after an initial period of switching meds and tweaking them to meet my needs. Probably still some changes to be made there, but it has been a much better year than I had experienced in a long time. Still a long way to go, just heading in the right direction. But it was my actions that brought about this change. I was still being treated as just suffering depression until the time I just about forced my GP to listen. I was lucky & he did really try to understand & for that I'm grateful. Sadly a lot of sufferers just can't bring themselves to make the sort of stand I did.

With up to 10% of the population suffering from a mental illness at some stage it is probably something that needs to be looked into. This feeling of not being listened to or understood by others is a big reason why only about 1 in 5 sufferers will seek professional help, and it's very likely there are many more who don't follow through after an initial treatment or two.

So what is your experience with GP's and mental health workers? Good? Bad? Indifferent? What can be done to improve the situation? I have no idea myself, though if I think about it during my next manic period I'm sure I'll find a solution, I just need to be able to hold onto it. ;)

Let me know your thoughts.

Cheers.

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Concerns over use of Depakote by Children with Bipolar Disorder

 February 14, 2012

The Consumer Justice Foundation, a for-profit corporation whose staff of professional consumer advocates provide free online educational resources to the public regarding the potential dangers of using certain prescription medications, hereby alert the public of a recent study performed that reviewed the effectiveness of Depakote when compared to other common medications prescribed to treat bipolar disorder in children.

Specifically, this study, which was performed by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and that was published in the January 2012 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, reviewed the progress of 290 children who took part in the study for up to eight weeks. The children subjects were broken down into three groups, and each was given a certain medication: one group was given lithium, one was given risperidone, which is commonly referred to as Risperdal and one group was given divalproex sodium, which is commonly known as Depakote to measure the progress regarding their manic episodes.

Over the course of the eight-week study that was led by BarbaraGeller, M.D., 68.5 percent of the children taking risperidone showed improvements in their manic symptoms, compared with only 35.6 percent of the children taking lithium and 24 percent of those taking divalproexsodium. In addition, some of the subjects experienced Depakote side effects that included weight gain that averaged 3.7 pounds. Throughout the study, 26 percent of the children taking Depakote discontinued their participation.

This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and was designed to provide an analysis of which prescription medications that were commonly prescribed would generally perform the best for children who were between the ages of 6 and 15 years old. The study concluded that those using Risperdal showed the most improvement with their symptoms.

About the Consumer Justice Foundation

The Consumer Justice Foundation, whose Web site is located at http://www.consumerjusticefoundation.com, is a public resource that's been built and maintained by a group of concerned professionals who want to provide general information for consumers regarding the potential dangers involved with the use of Depakote while pregnant. This resource is not to be considered as medical or legal advice, which should only be dispensed by a licensed medical doctor or a Depakote lawyer.

(Sorce: PRWeb)

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Blood test accurately distinguishes depressed patients from healthy controls

News release from Massachusetts General Hospital:

The initial assessment of a blood test to help diagnose major depressive disorder indicates it may become a useful clinical tool.  In a paper published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, a team including Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers reports that a test analyzing levels of nine biomarkers accurately distinguished patients diagnosed with depression from control participants without significant false-positive results.   

"Traditionally, diagnosis of major depression and other mental disorders has been made based on patients' reported symptoms, but the accuracy of that process varies a great deal, often depending on the experience and resources of the clinician conducting the assessment," says George Papakostas, MD, of the MGH Department of Psychiatry, lead and corresponding author of the report.  "Adding an objective biological test could improve diagnostic accuracy and may also help us track individual patients' response to treatment." 

The study authors note that previous efforts to develop tests based on a single blood or urinary biomarker did not produce results of sufficient sensitivity, the ability to detect the tested-for condition, or specificity, the ability to rule out that condition.  "The biology of depression suggests that a highly complex series of interactions exists between the brain and biomarkers in the peripheral circulation," says study co-author John Bilello, PhD, chief scientific officer of Ridge Diagnostics, which sponsored the current study.  "Given the complexity and variability of these types of disorders and the associated biomarkers in an individual, it is easy to understand why approaches measuring a single factor would not have sufficient clinical utility." 

The test developed by Ridge Diagnostics measures levels of nine biomarkers associated with factors such as inflammation, the development and maintenance of neurons, and the interaction between brain structures involved with stress response and other key functions.  Those measurements are combined using a specific formula to produce a figure called the MDDScore – a number from 1 to 100 indicating the percentage likelihood that the individual has major depression.  In clinical use the MDDScore would range from 1 to 10.   

The initial pilot phase of the study enrolled 36 adults who had been diagnosed with major depression at the MGH, Vanderbilt University or Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, Mass., along with 43 control participants from St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton, Mass.  MDDScores for 33 of the 36 patients indicated the presence of depression, while only 8 of the 43 controls had a positive test result.  The average score for patients was 85, while the average for controls was 33.  A second replication phase enrolled an additional 34 patients from the MGH and Vanderbilt, 31 of whom had a positive MDDScore result.  Combining both groups indicated that the test could accurately diagnose major depression with a sensitivity of about 90 percent and a specificity of 80 percent. 

"It can be difficult to convince patients of the need for treatment based on the sort of questionnaire now used to rank their reported symptoms," says Bilello.  "We expect that the biological basis of this test may provide patients with insight into their depression as a treatable disease rather than a source of self-doubt and stigma. As we accumulate additional data on the MDDScore and perform further studies, we hope it will be useful for predicting treatment response and helping to select the best therapies." 

Papakostas adds, "Determining the true utility of this test will require following this small research study with larger trials in clinical settings.  But these results are already providing us with intriguing new hints on how powerfully factors such as inflammation – which we are learning has a major role in many serious medical issues – contribute to depression."  Papakostas is an associate professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. 

Additional co-authors of the Molecular Psychiatry report are Brianna Bakow and Samuel Lipkin, MGH Psychiatry; Richard Shelton, MD, Vanderbilt University; Gustavo Kinrys, MD, Cambridge Health Alliance; Michael Henry, MD, St. Elizabeth's Medical Center; and Linda Thurmond, PhD, Ridge Diagnostics. 

Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $750 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine.

(Source: Massachusetts General Hospital)

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Traumatic experience, silence linked

London, Feb 5 (IANS) People who suffer a traumatic experience often don't talk about it, and many forget it over time.

"There's this idea, with silence, that if we don't talk about something, it starts fading," says Charles B. Stone of Belgium's Universite Catholique de Louvain, the co-author of a study on the subject.

But that belief isn't necessarily backed up by psychological research-a lot of it comes from a Freudian belief that everyone has deep-seated issues we're repressing and ought to talk about, the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science reports.

The real relationship between silence and memory is much more complicated, Stone says, according to a university statement.

"We are trying to understand how people remember the past in a very basic way," Stone says. He co-authored the study with Alin Coman, Adam D. Brown, Jonathan Koppel of the universities of Pittsburgh, New York and Aarhus (Denmark) and William Hirst of the New School for Social Research.

(Source: Yahoo! News India)

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Mind Over Matter

Patients’ Perceptions of Illness Make a Difference

A recent press release by the Association of Psychological Science has suggested that what the sufferer thinks of their illness (ANY illness)  plays a large roll in determining their health outcomes. Research of existing literature on patients' perception of illness by Keith Petrie (University of Aukland) & John Weinman (Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College) indicates that a persons perception of their illness has a direct relationship to several key health outcomes.

These key outcomes include their level of functioning and ability, utilization of health care, adherence to treatment plans laid out by health care professionals, and even overall mortality. Further  research suggests that how a person views their illness may play a bigger role in determining  their health outcomes than the actual severity of  their disease.

Read the full press release on the Association of Psychological Science website.

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Vitamin D to fight depression?

Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to depression, according to UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists working with the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study. It is believed to be the largest such investigation ever undertaken.

Low levels of vitamin D already are associated with a cavalcade of health woes from cardiovascular diseases to neurological ailments. This new study – published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings – helps clarify a debate that erupted after smaller studies produced conflicting results about the relationship between vitamin D and depression. Major depressive disorder affects nearly one in 10 adults in the U.S.

Dr. E. Sherwood Brown and MinhTu T. Hoang

“Our findings suggest that screening for vitamin D levels in depressed patients – and perhaps screening for depression in people with low vitamin D levels – might be useful,” said Dr. E. Sherwood Brown, professor of psychiatry and senior author of the study, done in conjunction with The Cooper Institute in Dallas. “But we don’t have enough information yet to recommend going out and taking supplements.”

Read the full article on the UT Southwestern Medical Center website.

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

Depression is an illness, not a life choice

Kim Lester from ABC Australia recently posted a story on The Drum about her own experiences with depression & suicidal thoughts. As I discussed in an earlier post, she found talking to someone about her problems helped a lot.

"On the few occasions that suicide is reported in the media - generally if the victim is famous or the act was committed in a particularly gruesome manner - there is one reaction that makes me want to scream.

"What a stupid thing to do."

Sure suicide is stupid, depression is stupid, and the public's understanding of mental illness is especially stupid. But a victim of suicide wasn't stupid, they just lost the battle.

No-one with a terminal illness would be called stupid for giving up the fight. For them it's a tough fight. They were brave to push on as long as they did. But depression is a private illness, the symptoms are mostly internal and many people don't like - or know how - to articulate it, so it's no wonder they don't understand why someone would take their own life.

I don't claim to know what goes through the mind of every person with a mental illness. I can only speak from my own experience, but that experience has given me an insight into why depression, if left untreated, can be fatal."

Read her complete story on The Drum website.

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.

New Hope For Depression

Another sleepless night for me but making good use of it. I don't watch much television at all, news & current affairs programs in particular. I just find them generally too depressing so half the time I don't know really what's going on in the outside world - not always a bad thing I think.

Was chatting on the phone with a friend earlier and they mentioned a report on a local current affairs program Today Tonight about a medical procedure now being used to treat deep depression here in Australia. It appears a treatment for Tourette syndrome & Parkinsons disease is proving successful in treating deep depression.

The procedure involves inserting 2 electrodes into the brain connected to a pace-maker type battery to stimulate the brain. The operation takes about 6 hours & you remain awake through-out it. Now that sounds fun. It appears the operation is available in all states except NSW where it has been banned.

The procedure is performed by Precision Neurosurgery.

You can view the full story on the Today Tonight website.

The information contained in this blog can not be considered medical advice. These are only my own thoughts, feelings & ideas. If you or someone you know are having problems with mental illness please seek qualified medical advice.