Recovery Michigan

Researchers explored the association between traumatic events and mental health among girls and women trafficked for sexual exploitation. Two hundred and four trafficked girls and women in seven post-trafficking service settings were interviewed, using the Brief Symptom Inventory and Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. Fifty-five percent of participants met the criteria for high levels of depression symptoms; forty-eight percent met the criteria for high levels of anxiety symptoms; and seventy-seven percent had possible posttraumatic stress disorder. Having a history of sexual violence was associated with higher levels of posttraumatic stress disorder. More time in trafficking was correlated to higher levels of depression and anxiety. Researchers suggest that their findings inform the emerging field of mental health care for trafficked persons, highlighting the need for intervention strategies to help with recovery for trafficked victims.

A West Australian study of more than 500 people who suffered from obstructive sleep apnoea, but were yet to begin treatment, has found more than 40 per cent of them also experienced problems with their memory. These sufferers also reported higher rates of depression, anxiety and stress. Advertisement: Story continues below Dr Romola Bucks, from the University of WA, said this pointed to the way poor quality sleep could have a major, but often overlooked, impact on mental health. It could be the "silent disorder" behind a host of depressive illness and cognitive problems across the community, she said.

From the moment I was admitted to my first psychiatric ward, I was desperate to get out. I hated the smell, the food, most of the staff, the routines, the magazines. I hated the sagging mattresses, the glassless funhouse mirrors, the furniture, the isolation rooms. But as much as I despised the place, there was one saving grace for me there: the other patients.

Many had absolute horror stories. Stories of abuse, self-mutilation, combat, rape, starvation. Stories that made this liberal lawyer reconsider taking up criminal prosecution. But others had stories like mine. Happy childhoods. Mild traumas possibly but nothing extreme.

In the end though, we were all the same. We were all seriously ill; we all desperately needed help, and we all resented the fact that we needed it. What's more, we were all acutely aware of the classified, top-secret nature of our conditions and whereabouts. This wasn't paranoia. It was self-preservation. People tend to look unfavorably upon the mentally ill, especially those of us who've ever been hospitalized.

Mark Vonnegut, the oldest son of the late Kurt Vonnegut, suffered a mental breakdown at 23 and was hospitalized. Five years later he got into Harvard Medical School. He became a successful pediatrician in Boston and wrote about his illness and recovery in a highly praised memoir, “The Eden Express,’’ in 1975.

 

JUST LIKE SOMEONE WITHOUT MENTAL ILLNESS ONLY MORE SO

By Mark Vonnegut

Delacorte, 203 pp., $24

The American Psychiatric Association, along with other mental health organizations, has asked the White House to overturn its policy of not sending condolence letters to the families of service members who commit suicide. According to the APA, soldiers who commit suicide still receive full military honors. But the families of soldiers who take their own lives won't receive a condolence letter from the president, unlike those of colleagues killed in the line of duty.

A systematic review of research into the use of nutritional supplements for the treatment of anxiety disorders has found strong evidence for the use of extracts of passionflower or kava and combinations of L-lysine and L-arginine. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access Nutrition Journal pooled the results of 24 studies involving a total of more than 2000 participants, showing that some nutritional and herbal supplements can be effective, without the risk of serious side effects.

Thousands of persons with mental illnesses in Illinois took a significant, critical step toward independence and dignity after a federal judge today gave final approval to an historic agreement worked out by the State of Illinois and a coalition of legal services organizations.   The agreement in Williams v. Quinn gained final approval from U.S. District Court Judge William Hart following a fairness hearing on September 7, 2010 that drew hundreds of interested class members and relatives to a Chicago courtroom.  Once implemented, the agreement paves the way for individuals with mental illnesses to move out of Illinois' outmoded, segregated nursing home system and receive the services they need in the community.  

I’ve just found a remarkable documentary on YouTube from a 1957 BBC series called ‘The Hurt Mind’. The programme attempts to de-stigmatise mental health for the public but also documents some of the most controversial treatments in the history of psychiatry.

The programme was an edition of a then pioneering five-part BBC series on mental health and this was one that specifically dealt with ‘physical treatments’ – that is, treatments which directly affect the brain, such as ECT, leucotomy, insulin coma therapy and abreaction.

Patients who take newer kinds of antipsychotic medications may have a higher risk of developing serious blood clots, say researchers from Nottingham, England in an article published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). Specifically, the risk is of venous thromoembolism - a collective term for DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and pulmonary embolism. Antipsychotic drugs are not only prescribed for patients with psychosis, but occasionally for such conditions as vertigo, vomiting or nausea.

Some intensive care patients develop post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) after the trauma of a difficult hospital stay, and this is thought to be exacerbated by delusional or fragmentary memories of their time in the intensive care unit. Now researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Ctical Care have found that if staff and close relatives make a diary for patients, featuring information about their stay and accompanied by photographs, PTSD rates can be significantly reduced.