Recovery Michigan

In the wake of the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would like to provide the following information to help cope with stress following a traumatic event.

Sometimes stress can be good. For instance, it can help you develop skills needed to manage potentially threatening situations in life. However, stress can be harmful when it is severe enough to make you feel over­whelmed and out of control. -->

Strong emotions like fear, sadness, or other symptoms of depression are normal, as long as they are temporary and don’t interfere with daily activities. If these emotions last too long or cause other problems, it’s a different story

The survey was designed to gather answers to these three questions:

1. How prevalent are messages of hopelessness in mental health care?
2. What are the sources and contents of these messages?
3. What is the veracity of these messages? In other words, do hopeless prognoses and statements about recovery, medication use, etc. generally prove true or false?

Well over 1000 individuals participated in the survey, contributing their experience, wisdom, and opinions to a growing body of knowledge about recovery from mental and emotional distress. In this and forthcoming blogs, we’ll be sharing the major findings that emerged from our analysis of the survey data.

They found, for example, that:

• Compared to women with no mental health disorders, measured over their adult life, women with depressive disorders were around 2.5 times more likely to have been victims of domestic violence (with a prevalence estimated at 45.8%).

For women with anxiety disorders, this figure was over 3.5 times, with a prevalence estimate of 27.6%.

And women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the chances of having experienced domestic violence was 7 times more (prevalence estimate 61.0%) than women with no mental health problems.

It is with some sadness we report that our Executive Director David Oaks has suffered an accident. Here's a note from his family about his condition:

On December 1st, 2012, David Oaks fell off a loft ladder while trying to retrieve Bongo (his cat) from a loft in his home office. An MRI as well as other imaging testing later showed he had broken the C7 bone in his neck. However, he could still move his arms and thumbs, and he soon underwent emergency surgery. The surgeon's report from that first surgery was positive, although David still needs a second stabilization surgery which he hopes to undergo soon.

David is now in the surgical ICU [intensive care unit] on a ventilator. He is awake, can understand what is said to him and can signal 'yes' or 'no' with two simple arm movements taught to him by his nurse as well as communicate with a clipboard. Even with the ventilator and all the other gizmos tied up to his body, he joked around enough that his nurse called him a "character". His doctors say that David seems to be very "determined."

David and family are dealing with a tough situation right now. Since the above note was written, David has had a tracheotomy and can now whisper some, but he is still in intensive care. For regular updates on his progress and to learn how you can support him and his family personally, see the "accident" page on David's personal website

. You can send cards and letters of support to David and family at their home: 2000 City View, Eugene, OR 97405 or to the MindFreedom office at 454 Willamette St., Eugene, OR 97401.

Recovery focused CBT is different from traditional CBT because it is driven by an individual's own therapeutic goals and sessions are specifically tailored to the needs and individual bipolar experiences. Also, it does not require people to conform to a specific pattern of illness. Importantly, the focus of the therapy is not limited to the mood related experiences of the service users and they will be encouraged to bring into the therapy sessions other day-to-day challenges that limit their potential. The trial will include the services of trained mental health professionals who will offer up to 18 hours of face-to-face therapy over a period of six months.

Brundin said anti-glutamate drugs are still in development, but could soon offer a promising tool for preventing suicide. In fact, recent clinical studies have shown the anesthetic ketamine - which inhibits glutamate signaling - to be extremely effective in fighting depression, though its side effects prevent it from being used widely today.

In the meantime, Brundin said physicians should be aware of inflammation as a likely trigger for suicidal behavior. She is partnering with doctors in Grand Rapids, Mich., to design clinical trials using anti-inflammatory drugs.

"In the future, it's likely that blood samples from suicidal and depressive patients will be screened for inflammation," Brundin said. "It is important that primary health care physicians and psychiatrists work closely together on this."

Andrew is a believer in the power of narrative to be a therapeutic and cathartic activity. As well as being a creative process, narrative can lead to catharsis and can enable moving on from difficult times. Andrew has produced narrative in text, and has published work with Chipmunka Press and in service user anthologies, such as Mental Health Recovery Heroes Past and Present.’ Andrew has also been encouraged to develop digital cartoons, http://www.slideshare.net/AndrewsAsylumLife.  Andrew speaks as an expert by experience at mental health awareness events.

A report published this week by Michigan State University's psychology department found evidence that using multiple forms of media at the same time is linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression. The study was conducted with data from two surveys of 319 undergraduate students, a group that engages in a lot of media multi-tasking.

One study measured symptoms of depression and anxiety, the other how the subjects engage in media multitasking, (i.e. video games, texting, apps)  to give researchers an idea of whether a subject was a high, low or medium media multi-tasker. It's important to note that the surveys measured indicators of depression and anxiety, but didn't serve as a clinical diagnosis. 

Participants with high levels of media multitasking were put into one group, those with lower levels in another. The latter group had a median score of 3.66 out 9 on a scale of depressive symptoms. The higher level group? 6.19 out of 9. The study also found that those in the higher range scored a higher median number for indicators of social phobia symptoms. 

"The analysis reveals that the majority of well-designed studies undertaken over the last 20 years find a significant association between low-level exposure to organophosphates and impaired cognitive function."

Pesticides prevent millions of people from starving to death and from contracting disease, but they are also harmful to humans under certain circumstances. Derived from World War II nerve gas agents, organophosphate pesticides are the most widely used insecticides in the world. They are used extensively in agriculture, by the military and also for domestic purposes.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) organophosphate pesticides are one of the most hazardous pesticides to vertebrate animals, responsible for many cases of poisoning worldwide.

Many pesticides, including Malathion, are organophosphate poisons.

Our Movement’s Accomplishments: Recently, at a BRSS TACS (Bringing Recovery Services to Scale TAC) leadership conference, Dr. Ron Mandersheid, Executive Director of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors (NACBHDD), stated that every significant advance in the mental health field in the last 10 years has been conceived of and promoted by persons with lived experience. He cited the advent of recovery as a unifying force. I too am convinced that our movement has played the most significant role in inspiring the field to embrace recovery. I and other persons with lived experience were able to establish recovery as the vision of the New Freedom Commission. This spring, at another BRSS TACS conference on policy development, a senior administrator from Massachusetts stated that stigma and discrimination would only be reduced when persons with lived experience run the mental health system. The appointment of Paolo Delvecchio to Director of the lead government agency on mental health, the Center for Mental Health Services is a move in that important direction. Persons with other disabilities and with addiction disorders have for many years played leading roles in their fields. Another very important accomplishment has been the growing roles for peers in the areas of Services and supports, Training and Education, Evaluation and research, and Policy and planning. I call these contributions: STEPS to recovery.