Recovery Michigan

http://goo.gl/Cpxm8

Mobile apps are flourishing in all categories and nowhere is this more true than in the area of mental health.

Mood-focused and other mental health apps abound. One company that is making high-quality, free applications for the mobile platform is The National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), an organization in the Department of Defence (DoD).

Don’t let the connection with the DoD scare you though, these apps are high-quality, research-based and helpful for virtually anyone’s mental health.

http://goo.gl/76qvs

Hundreds of teen-agers are raped or sexually assaulted during their stays in the country's juvenile detention facilities, and many of them are victimized repeatedly, according to a U.S. Department of Justice survey.

The teens are most often assaulted by staff members working at the facilities, and fully 20 percent of those victimized by the men and women charged with protecting and counseling them said they had been violated on more than 10 occasions.

http://goo.gl/1YXtF

The Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs, written by Will Hall and published byThe Icarus Project and Freedom Center five years ago, is now available in a revised edition!

This Guide can be downloaded for free on this page:

●  Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs

and the file can be accessed directly here:

●  Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs (PDF)

The new second edition has expanded Resources, scores of new collaborators and Advisors, new topics, more detail on the reducing and coming off process, and additional ideas for harm reduction and staying on medications. The Guide is Creative Commons copyright BY-NC-ND, meaning you have advance permission to copy, print, link, publish and share as much as you want (a special printer ready version is here, with instructions here).

http://goo.gl/LfH6i

If you admitted that you have bitten your nails or picked a few scabs here and there, you now have admitted to being human. We all do these things without realizing it and it does not make us bad people. When it comes to self-harmers, this is how it feels when they cut their wrists or burn their thighs. It does not seem like a big deal to them. The difference between these self-harming behaviors is the emotions linked to them.

When I would cut myself, I did it because an emotion was so strong it was forcing my body into a shock, of sorts. I couldn’t stop the anger from screaming inside my head, telling me to cut because it would make me feel better. When you’re a self-harmer, you have a hard time deciphering right versus wrong and usually that little devil sitting on your shoulder wins.

http://goo.gl/OrM6o

The Megaphone Effect: Reclaiming Recovery" explores the evolution of a patient rights group at Western State Hospital known as the "Sanka Party" that formed in response to lost rights and privileges after one Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) patient walked away from an Eastern State Hospital sanctioned field trip. The resulting mass media frenzy culminated inin a series of punitive legislation and state hospital policies eroding patient rights and ultimately the hope of recovery by patients at both state hospitals. One such legislative action banned NGRI patients from leaving their buildings except when attending a funeral or going to a medical appointment.

http://goo.gl/oY1Xf

These results are consistent with data from a recent Phase 2 clinical trial, in which a single administration of GLYX-13 produced statistically significant reductions in depression scores in patients who had failed treatment with current antidepressants. The reductions were evident within 24 hours and persisted for an average of 7 days. After a single dose of GLYX-13, the drug's antidepressant efficacy nearly doubled that seen with most conventional antidepressants after 4-6 weeks of dosing. GLYX-13 was well tolerated and it did not produce any of the schizophrenia-like effects associated with other NMDA receptor modulating agents.

http://goo.gl/ld3Ak

For Mental Health month, we want to share this illustrated guide (PDF) that  offers encouragement and vital information on the importance of work, the availability of rehabilitation programs, the ins-and-outs of work incentives, challenges of starting a new job, and more. The guide is designed for those with mental health conditions to use on their own or as part of a return-to-work group in a community mental health center, psychiatric rehabilitation program, or peer-run agency. A facilitator's manual is also available (PDF).

http://goo.gl/2DESu

Excuse the language of the title:

"The primary auditory cortex is the region of the brain that processes sound. Kompus' study shows that healthy people who hear voices share some attributes with schizophrenics, as the cortical region in both groups reacts less to outside stimulus. 

http://goo.gl/7kLTo

After my trauma, I had the same recurring nightmare for years. During my PTSD recovery, that nightmare went through a series of evolutions. The story actually changed as my recovery progressed. Same type of dream; different story as I became more and more empowered, strengthened and whole.

The same can happen for you. In the video below I describe a terrific technique called dream revision that you can try tonight to begin making change in your dreams.

http://goo.gl/UlkTm

There is a link between use of anabolic-androgenic steroids and reduced mental health later in life. This is the main conclusion of a new study on elite male strength athletes that researchers from the University of Gothenburg recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.Twenty per cent of the subjects in the study admitted steroid use.