I took this photo of what I might look like should I ever take my own life. I know it's a terrible thing to think about, but let's be honest, here: People who suffer with mental illness think about this shit. A lot. Because you always have it in the back of your mind: If it gets too horrible, I have a way out. No one can tell me I have to go through the pain. I'm choosing, every day, to stick it out. And when I choose not to, I'll call it quits.

I don't think these are suicidal thoughts, precisely. I think they're designed to give us an illusion of control, to quash the fears and the nagging voice that says, "What if it happens again? How can I survive it?"

[And on a lighter note—and anything would be lighter at this point—I want to acknowledge the other sad truth of this image: I have a double chin. I assure you it's just the way I was being all dead-like that caused it. It's not normally there, at least in my live state.]

Posted by liz at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I don't mean to pick on Canada today, nor focus morbidly on suicide, but a story like this really gets my Irish up. (I wish I could say, "This really gets my Jewish up," But I've never heard that. Let's start it now. You can use it when referring to something especially Jewish like, "They bought their High Holiday tickets at the last minute, and now they're sitting in the front row. That really gets my Jewish up!" Or "It says on the menu they have sable, but they only have whitefish. That really gets my Jewish up!")

Anyway. Ahem.

This article is about a doctor in Canada who killed a nurse (pictured) with whom he'd had an affair. The hospital concluded in a report that the murder of the nurse was "unforeseen." I've never heard such a load of horseshit in my life. The history of violence this man had—particularly with nurses, and particularly with this nurse—was a clear indicator that there was potential for disaster. In almost every case of murder-suicide, there's a history of domestic abuse. If anything, this case reads like a roadmap to murder; I can't see how anyone would come to any other conclusion. Add to that the negligence of the hospital for losing the doctor's paperwork ... well, read it for yourself.

Oh, and the guy was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is why it came across my transom.

Hospital murder-suicide unforeseen, report concludes

Posted by liz at 02:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think most people who read this blog are highly suspicious of big pharma, particularly if you've gone through the mill of doctors and prescriptions and pharmacies for years. Now comes this exhaustive look at big pharma and, in particular, off-label prescribing, by Evelyn Pringle for OpEdNews.com. One thing she talks about is geriatric prescribing in nursing homes, where residents are given higher doses of drugs than is indictaed for their illnesses. Like rowdy children being medicatied in kindergarten, the elderly are seen as difficult. So dope ’em up! It's awful.

For more of Pringle's reporting on the pharmaceutical industry, go here.

Big Pharma Bankrupting US Health Care System

Posted by liz at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a tragedy—the bodies of two teen boys in Quebec were found in a field. The had apparently made a suicide pact, and either shot each other or shot themselves. Their school had a suicide prevention program in place for 23 years.

Here's the sentence I find strangest in the whole article (emphasis mine):

On the first day of school, normally a day filled with optimism, principal Gilles Charest, staff and teachers at Bousquet and Peland's school had to tackle the difficult subject of suicide.

Wow. Canada really is a different country.

Quebec teens' deaths likely result of suicide pact

Posted by liz at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From WTVQ 36 in Lexington comes this tidbit:

Doctors at Baylor College of Medicine are testing the use of electroencephalography (EEG) as a potential measure of treatment response in depression. Laura Marangell, M.D., Psychiatrist says in patients with depression, the front areas of the brain aren't working properly. Medications help the brain to "wake up" and regain more normal function. EEG is a measure of brain activity. In theory, if a medication has any effect on the brain, doctors should be able to measure the response with an EEG. Once medication is started, the EEG can detect the brain changes within a few days (versus several weeks for observational changes).

Researchers are testing EEG with two FDA-approved medications: Lexapro® or Wellbutrin XL®. Patients will receive one or a combination of the two drugs. If EEG proves to be a good prediction tool for medication response, patients will be able to avoid long, fruitless trials of medication and get effective treatments faster. In addition to Baylor College of Medicine, the study is also taking place at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Northwestern University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Texas Southwestern, UCLA and University of California San Diego.

I like how the doctor is called Laura Marangell, M.D., Psychiatrist. Errant capitalization, yes, but fun.

Posted by liz at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My latest column came out today, and it's all about my Barcelona trip, so go here. (Plus, the more you go here, the more people here like me and want to give me a raise.

Also, tonight I'm hosting PW's Concerts in the Park at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. The bands playing are Cordalene and the A-Sides. The concert starts at 7 p.m. If you're in the area, stop by to hear some good music, and watch me hold my stomach in for a full two hours.

Posted by liz at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For some reason I can't quite pinpoint—perhaps the fact that drugs companies are so corrupt—this item makes my skin crawl. I worry about the people with schizophrenia who are signed up for this study; are they giving truly informed consent? I don't say that to be condescendiing—most of us with treated mental illnesses are quite capable of making informed decisions, thank you very much. But I've known people who have been at their wit's end with their diseases, and they're often the ones who enter these drug trials. If nothing else has worked, why not? Good luck, guys. I hope it goes well.

From the Washington Biz Journal

Vanda signs up patients for Phase III drug tests

by Vandana Sinha
Staff Reporter

Vanda Pharmaceuticals has finished signing up patients to participate in its third phase of testing for one drug that treats schizophrenia and another that treats transient insomnia. As of Aug. 29, the biotech company enrolled the last of 604 patients with schizophrenia to be tested in Phase III trials of its drug, iloperidone.

Last week, after reaching 412 patients, the company stopped enlisting healthy people for its Phase III trials for VEC-162 for insomnia. The Rockville company had finished enrollment for both earlier than expected, so it must still finalize the sites for both trials. But it hopes to launch both soon, and receive results as early as January.

After that, company officials said they would need to conduct additional trials of VEC-162. But if the results match expectations for iloperidone, then Vanda hopes to file for a new-drug application for the schizophrenia treatment with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of next year.

And does it strike anyone else as weird that the reporter's name is almost the same as the company's? I bet she's taken a lot of ribbing at the water cooler for that.

Posted by liz at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have I really only posted one thing today? There are several reasons for that:

1. Yesterday had so many posts, I became exhausted.
2. One of the posts yesterday was about a copy-editing error in a Comcast ad, and I'm just so delighted by the idea of people seeing that, I don't want to obscure it.
3. Another of the posts was a video of my sugar gliders, and I'm just so delighted by the idea of people seeing that, I don't want to obscure it.
4. I've been in meetings all day and am now off to see Dr. Fink, the Shrink.

Meanwhile, please enjoy this link, Speaking of Faith: The Soul in Depression, sent in by blog reader Rob, who submitted this in without knowing that our theme today is religion.

[The image is by me of a chapel high up on Montserrat, the serrated mountain in Northern Spain where people come to see La Moreneta, the black virgin Mary, for advice and succor. Sometimes faith can inspire such beauty.]

Posted by liz at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I admit, I'm not much of a Christian. Okay, I'm not a Christian at all, but I've always admired the way some true Christians behave, i.e., with tolerance and understanding of those less fortunate. My sister is a born-again Christian, and in some ways it's the best thing that's ever happened to her, though I feel a gulf between us has opened up. Well, maybe not a gulf, but a little rivulet or something.

Given the atrocious things that are carried on in Christ's name—Bush's foreign and domestic policies; discrimination of GLBTs; anti-choice and anti-stem cell rigidity of thought—it's always lovely to see a church doing something good. There are a lot of good Catholics out there, but the Catholic Church, capital C, leaves something to be desired. The Presbyterian Church, capital C, is quite progressive, and continues on in that spirit with Serious Mental Illness: Seeking a Comprehensive Christian Response. The document, prepared by the Task Force on Serious Mental Illness of the Advisory Committe on Social Witness Policy, was created with this in mind:

"The goal is to encourage and challenge the church to study ways people living with mental illness are included or excluded from participating in the work of the church and society in general. How do we share in God's joy and grace with those who experience great pain and brokenness, without patronizing or avoiding systemic, social issues?"

The study guide uses legitimate psychiatry (and no, doubters, that's not an oxymoron in these parts) to provide a backdrop, so that the people who bring God into the equation have science in their minds as well. It seems like a good recipe to me for religious people who are struggling. Sometimes they feel God is with them, but their communities are not. And if the church people are put off, does that mean God is alienated as well?

For my part, though I'm not religious, I always took solace in religious observance, but it would be nice to think that the clergyman or woman leading the ritual was speaking to everyone's pleasure—and everyone's pain, including people with mental illnesses.

[This image is of a Philadelphia Presbyterian Church. As a collector of 19th-century photographs, I couldn't resist it.]

Posted by liz at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Bill Thomas, a Philadelphia Weekly reader, sent this to me. It was, as he points out, also sent to thousands of Comcast subscribers. There are two errors in this mailing, and I just got another one from Comcast, which also has errors in it.

Get a proofreader, for heaven's sake! That would be Comcastic.

Posted by liz at 03:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sugar gliders originally come from Australia, and thus fit nicely into our international theme. Of course, these particular sugar gliders come from my living room, so that's not very exotic. Though our decor does feature lots of wicker.

Notice how Vince keeps poking Buster to wake him up for food. He hates the light, though. Also, Mela gives Champ a good smack at the end. She's fierce.

Posted by liz at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the Austrailian:

Two policemen who took part in the shooting of a mentally ill Victorian man will not have to give evidence at an inquest into his death following a court decision that has upset the man's widow.

Lee “Wally” Kennedy, 40, was shot in his Shepparton home, in Victoria's north, on April 19 last year, several weeks after doctors told him to reduce his medication for bipolar disorder. Senior constables Erin Levay and Simon Watts were directly involved in the shooting, and were the only adult witnesses to it, but their lawyer, Martin Grinberg, today argued they should not have to give evidence on the grounds it may incriminate them.

He said they risked exposing themselves to charges such as criminally negligent manslaughter and breaching a duty of care owed to the victim and his two sons, then aged four and two, who witnessed the shooting.

Mr Kennedy's widow Melissa Kennedy told the inquest she was dismayed by the order and feared she would never know what happened. “It would bring a lot of closure and explain a lot of things that happened in the room,” she said.

The inquest was told Mr Kennedy was grieving for a brother who had recently killed himself and also suspected his wife of having an affair, which she was. Mr Kennedy was diagnosed by his GP, Dr Alan Wallace, as having bipolar disorder and depression, and was taking medication for both.

But in the weeks before the shooting Dr Wallace told Mr Kennedy to reduce his medication upon advice he had sought from mental health specialists at Goulburn Valley Health. One psychiatrist there advised that Mr Kennedy did not have any mental illness and his medication should be stopped completely, the inquest heard.

Ms Kennedy said her husband was upset by the advice but that he generally followed doctors' orders.
Ms Kennedy ran a massage business from home and on the day of the shooting her husband called police complaining that a client was refusing to leave the house, which Mrs Kennedy said was untrue.

She said she was with a client when they heard yelling, so she went inside to tell her husband and children to be quiet. She said she heard a shot like a cap-gun. “When I walked into the kitchen and around the corner I saw two police officers,” she said. “One was a lady and she had one of my kids.”

Ms Kennedy said she grabbed her other child and ran back to her client then called her older son, who was crying, and later left the house on police orders. The inquest continues.

Is that not bizarre? More Australian news later today.

Posted by liz at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From YoungPeopleNow:

Mental Health: Services told they fail Black people

Campaigners are calling for youth mental health services to address race discrimination.

Black Mental Health UK and Black Majority Churches in Britain say child and adolescent mental health services have failed Black young people.

They want a reform of the 1983 Mental Health Act.

Matilda MacAttram, founder of Black Mental Health UK, said: "Every Child Matters is failing if it is excluding the concerns of Black young people in mental health services."

The words "Every Child Matters" give me the same oogly feeling as "No Child Left Behind." Ick.

Posted by liz at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the rest of the day, I promise to give you international reports. But because of the anniversary of Katrina, studies are being released that detail the mental health of the hurricane's survivors—with conflicting results.

The Associated Press details a report from Harvard University of the results of a study funded by the National Mental Health Association. While it'd be unfair to describe the outcome as rosy, it certainly puts a relatively positive spin on things. (And yes, I realize studies aren't supposed to have spin, but the presentation of results often do.)

The AP reports that the study's key findings are:

There was a 30% rate of suspected mental illness—double the usual—after the storm. People were predictably troubled by what they lived through and lost in the disaster. Yet only 1% of these troubled survivors either thought about or planned for suicide. Before Katrina, 8% of mentally ill people from the same region had such thoughts and 4% made plans to carry out suicide.

Researchers believe this is a result of the power of positive thinking on the part of survivors. From the AP:

More than 95% of all survivors professed more faith in their ability to rebuild their lives when necessary, and 70% felt more inner strength. These beliefs seemed to fend off suicide, because only the mentally ill people holding them showed the lower suicide risk.

The study makes a strong case for this protective effect, says psychiatrist Matthew Friedman, who directs the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"A lot of things happen in a traumatic event," said Friedman, who read an advance report of the findings. "You can have a ramping up of your psychological stress or symptoms — but at the same time it can be a positive event in a life-changing way."

Yay. The survey was conducted in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi and included 1,043 adults. Interestingly, Reuters gave the study a completely different spin, as published in the Washington Post under the headline "Mental Illness Up Among Katrina Survivors."

Conversely, a new report conducted by the California International Medical Corps (which responds to disasters, though Katrina was the first domestic reponse) of 400 trailer-park residents is less encouraging, and indicates a mental healthcare crisis:

From Reuters:

50 percent of respondents met criteria for Major Depressive Disorder, more than seven times the U.S. national rate. •Since displacement, reported suicides are 15 times the rate in the rest of Louisiana and suicide attempts are 79 times greater. •70 percent of adults who were not able to access medical care cited financial difficulties as their main reason. •56 percent of study participants did not have any form of health insurance.

Hmm. That doesn't sound so good. Nor does Time magazine's article "The Storm Lingers on: Katrina's Psychological Toll," whose subhed is: "Depression, suicide, drinking and domestic abuse are up in New Orleans, which is ill-equipped to offer much counseling help, and the hurricane's one-year anniversary only makes it worse."

Posted by liz at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Ocean fm in Donegal, Ireland:

Mental illness problem greatest in rural areas
Certain rural parts of Donegal have higher levels of people suffering from mental illness than the larger urban centres according to a local councillor. Fine Gael Clr. Terence Slowey said the entire issue of mental health has been the "Cinderella" area of the health service which suffers from a lack of investment.

He said that up to 10% of the population encounter psychiatric problems with 75% of people taking part in a recent survey knowing somebody who suffers from a mental health problem.

Posted by liz at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think we all need some happy posts. And we're in luck: I took a ton of photos at Barcelona's zoo. I like this one because of the lemur's tongue. It's subtle, but achingly cute once you spot it.

For more of my photos (she says immodestly), go here.

Posted by liz at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Given all the anniversary memorials to commemorate Katrina, it's crucial that we pay attention to the mental health crisis that is the legacy of the storm. From Forbes.com:

Anecdotal reports indicate the city's suicide rate has tripled, depression is widespread, and federal agencies estimate that 500,000 people are in need of mental-health care.

"All that is really directly related to the slow pace of recovery," said Dr. Janet Johnson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. "People are still struggling with insurance and living in trailers and under very, very stressful conditions. We've really got a crisis going on."

"People are having problems with depression and anxiety, and a fair number are also having PTSD," added Dr. Richard Weisler, an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The depression and anxiety can be quite profound, so that a lot of people appear to be reaching levels of major depression."

The article, which is excellent, is about New Orleans, but it's important to remember that there are survivors in other cities and states as well. I heard a BBC report today about a coastal town in Mississippi that was completely destroyed—and a year later, still looks pretty much as it did just days after the storm. People there are disheartened and depressed too, and mental healthcare efforts need to be broad-based.

The Human Cry in New Orleans

Posted by liz at 02:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Connecticut mother, Judith Scruggs, was charged in 2003 of contributing to her son Daniel's suicide after she filed a suit against her son's school because they didn't protect him from bullying, which she claimed was the reason the 12-year-old (pictured) hung himself with a necktie in his closet. Judith was then put on probation for allegedly having a home environment that was damaging to the child's mental health.

This week, however, the conviction was overturned by the Connecticut Supreme Court, which seems like the right move to me, though I'm no lawyer. The horror of losing your child to suicide would be gruesome enough; to be held legally responsible for it would be unbearable, I'm guessing.

On the other hand, the first article below, from PreventSuicideNow.com makes the argument that Scruggs was, in fact, partly to blame for her son's death. It's an interesting dilemma, but I worry. Once you open the door to blaming survivors for their loved one's suicides, it's that old proverbial slippery slope.

Judith Scruggs Receives Probation for Contributing to 12-Year-Old Son’s Suicide
Conviction in son's suicide overturned

Posted by liz at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just read another article in the Chicago Tribune about West Hollywood's Christina Ellman (pictured), the 21-year-old bipolar girl who was thrown from a seventh-floor unit in the Robert Taylor Homes after being sexually assaulted there. She'd come to the housing project in a profound state of disorientation, having been released from a nearby jail just hours before into one of the highest-crime neighborhoods in Chicago. She'd never been there before.

Having nowhere to go, and without any friends and a dead cell phone, she wandered into a store and asked for a bottle of water to take a pill with. People who encountered her said she was barely coherent—a seemingly drunk white woman stumbling through a black neighborood in tight shorts with a blond ponytail. She was bound to be noticed.

She would never have been there at all if it weren't for the fact that Chicago police arrested her the day before at Midway Airport. She was trying to get on a flight home, but she was off her meds, and too out of control to know what to do. Her father wanted her to be held somehow until family could come get her, but she was thrown into a jail cell rather than a hospital.

She protested, knowing even in her manic state that she needed help. Her pleas to the guards to take her to a hospital were ignored, and even mocked. The police fielded phone calls from her parents, who told them repeatedly she had bipolar disorder and was without her meds. Still, she was kept in a cell without medical attention, violating every rule of dealing with a mentally ill person. Then she was released, and was later found on the ground in her underwear.

Of course, after a fall like that, she's a mess. She's in a brain-injury unit in a hospital, barely able to move. She's enduring intense therapy in the hopes she can one day take care of herself a little. But at the moment, she only makes fleeting eye contact, and it's unclear how much she even understands.

Her parents have moved into temporary housing to be near to her while she's in the hospital. After suffering through the pain of having a child with mental illness, they're now dealing with what is, in some ways, a graver situation. Even when Christina was ill, her parents had their daughter. Now she's in limbo—both physically and mentally. How much more can her parents take? Of course, they're very, very angry. They're suing the city of Chicago for $100 million. They should get every last cent.

Why blog about this now when it happened months ago? I guess I'm just feeling overwhelmed by the details of the story, which I never allowed myself to read. I've never related so strongly to a story like this before, and I've read hundreds of articles over the years about mental health—cases involving murder and suicide and gruesome inmate deaths. Something about Christina's story, though, really compels me. I guess it's because that could've been me. The story brings back so many memories.

My illness was at its worst when I was 21, as Christina is now. That was the year of my first hospitalization, which came when I was in a mixed state. My apartment was a disaster area: a disgustingly dirty single room with a second-hand mattress and the smell of decay. (The adjoining apartment was occupied by Daniel Johnston, if that gives you any idea.) A boy I was dating came over, against his instincts, and slept with me in the unwashed bed. I begged him to stay, but he ran out the door. "Don't leave," I yelled after him, knowing if I was alone things would unravel.

And they did. I somehow cut myself with a knife, not in a suicidal gesture but in an altered state. I called my therapist and told her I wanted to cut my thumb off. She told me to go to the state hospital, around the corner. I stashed the knife in my bag and drove myself over there. It was about two blocks away. When I got there I was put in a curtained cubicle, where I used my knife to slash the mattress and tear the sheet apart into strips. They tried to admit me but I wouldn't relinquish the knife.

I left, driving wildly, and went to another hospital. They wrestled the knife away and admitted me. In a strange way it was one of my happiest moments of my life. I felt safe. I cried a lot. I got medicated for the first time. I got help. I could see myself more clearly, though I was talking in a weird baby voice. I missed my cat. I wanted never to leave. I got kicked out because my insurance ran out.

It was the beginning of hell. Everything fell apart, but I finally went home to be with my parents, who saved me. I cannot imagine the pain of being Christina, trying desperately to get home, knowing that was safety, and not being able to get there. The frenetic phone calls to friends and family; the desperation of a mind clouded by odd thoughts and noise. She wanted to be well, like I did, but she didn't know how. She was on the cusp of help, though, until the Chicago police intervened. Mind you, this is a police force that has been specifically trained to deal with people who suffer from mental illness. Hard to believe.

People feel for the parents, as do I. I think of my mother's face when she greeted me in my altered state. I think of the tears in my father's eyes. But I think more about Christina, and the strange feeling you have when the mix of lucidity and madness takes hold. You think, "I know I'm off. I know I shouldn't be saying these things. I'm a freak. Or am I? Someone help me." It's utter despair. It's no wonder so many people with biploar disorder commit suicide.

The years that followed for me included more manic episodes with more painful moments than I can bear to recall. Sometimes one of those moments will pop into my head, and I think, “My God. How did I live through that?” So many people who loved me but couldn’t save me. So many humiliations and disappointments. Above all, so much fear.

One evening comes back to me too clearly. I was living in yet another dirty apartment with heaping cat litter and bugs in the bathroom. I walked into the bathroom and saw a huge roach in the tub. Unable to think clearly, I went and got a fire-starter you use to light stove burners with, and came back to the bathroom. I got into the tub and sprayed the roach with Raid until it was sluggish, though not dead. Then I set it on fire while I scrunched my legs beneath me, and screamed as I watched it burn—slowly. The stench of chemicals filled the tiny room, but I couldn't leave. And I couldn't stop screaming. I was so afraid. I wanted to set myself on fire.

I think it was later that night when I tried to kill myself, using a recipe from a book on euthanasia. Or maybe that was another night, and I’m conflating the two for drama’s sake. I don’t know. But I do know Christina could’ve been on the way to wellness and safety.

Christina’s story hits me hard. I’m so sorry for her, and I’m so sorry for her parents, Rick and Kathy Paine. I wish them the best of luck. They need it.

She begged for help; guards said, `Shut up'

Posted by liz at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

I got a new computer today, and the funnest thing about it so far is that I was able to render this comic-book image of me. My whole life, I've wanted nothing more than to be in a comic, as I am a true comix nerd. Now technology has made it possible. Paging Alan Moore ...

Posted by liz at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's the bad news: Two people died at Northwest Habilitation Center, a mental health facility in suburban St. Louis. One of them choked on a pen; the other was critically burned after being placed in hot water.

Here's the good news: The AP reports that the Missouri state Mental Health Commission issued a report Tuesday recommending ways to better protect patients, "including providing for more independent investigations and making some information on abuse and neglect reports public." There's also a panel the governor appointed looking at ways to make change.

It's the appropriate response (or at least the beginning of one) after two tragic and unecessary incidents.

Mental Health Commission calls for changes

Posted by liz at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Praise for mental health services

Unfortunately, the article itself is three lines long. But I love the name of the publication: Barking and Dagenham Recorder. Doesn't that sound like a business out of a Monty Python sketch? It's worthy of Evelyn Waugh, or better still, Mark Helprin's Freddy and Fredericka, which I'm reading now and which is totally delicious Brit satire.

But a good headline!

Posted by liz at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Indo Asian News Service (where I get all the good stuff):

Eating berries may be good for mental health, shows a test conducted on mice, though scientists say it is too early to apply the findings to humans. Barbara Shukitt-Hale and colleagues at Tufts University studied 60 young male rats, splitting them into three groups, reported the online edition of the health magazine WebMD.

One group of rats got plain chow with no berries. A second group got the same chow laced with strawberry extract. The third group got chow laced with blueberry extract.

After two months of such a diet, the researchers measured the rats' brain levels of dopamine, a chemical that has many functions in the brain. A decrease in dopamine can cause a drop in memory, attention and problem solving skills. The researchers found improvement in the health of the brain of the rats that had eaten berries.

Shukitt-Hale's team, however, does not tout any particular type of berry as having the best brain benefits. 'Berries vary in their nutrient mixes and may have different brain effects, but that's not certain yet,' said the researcher. Diets rich in berries may help the aging brain stay sharp, the researchers write in the online edition of the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

The scientists are not making any promises for people just yet. 'It's unknown if these findings apply to human brains,' said Shukitt-Hale.

Yesterday

[Photo by Jeff Kubina]

Posted by liz at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the enduring problems with treating schizophrenia is that, when it gets right down to it, clinicians don't know where or why the disease originates. There aren't any blood tests you can take to rule out the illness, which means people with vague psychiatric symptoms can be misdiagnosed and suffer without treatment for years. (Or, conversely, they can be diagnosed with schizophrenia when they don't actually have it, and treated with hardcore medicines they don't actually need.)

But that's not the Funday good news. The good news is that some researchers are now saying that they may be able to determine if a person has the disease using spinal fluid as an indicator. From Medical News Today:

In their search for biomarkers, Bahn and colleagues examined the levels of different molecules present in the cerebrospinal fluid of 82 patients with schizophrenia and 70 healthy controls. Of the patients, 54 had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia (or a similar illness called brief psychotic disorder) and had not yet taken any schizophrenia-specific drugs. The remaining patients were undergoing treatment with a range of antipsychotic drugs. The researchers found different levels of certain molecules in the spinal fluid of newly diagnosed patients who had never taken schizophrenia drugs compared with healthy individuals of the same ages. These molecules might therefore turn out to be useful biomarkers for schizophrenia.

Veddy interesting.

Metabolic Profiling of CSF: Evidence That Early Intervention May Impact on Disease Progression and Outcome in Schizophrenia

Posted by liz at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by liz at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is by Squarepusher. If I heard it in a club, I would run for the bathrooms, but I'm strangely hypnotized by this video accompaniment.

Posted by liz at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Two things I care about that are utterly unimportant:

1. Whether John Mark Karr did it
2. Whether Brangelina will remain intact

Posted by liz at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Though Philadelphia's mayor isn't known for being especially personable, his affection for his BlackBerry has been remarked upon in the press as real evidence that he's capable of feeling love. If a new report is right, that might explain why he's fricked up the city to such a degree. ("Fricked up" is my new substitute for "effed up," which I think is just so last-century.)

A forthcoming report from Rutgers (go Jersey!) says employers who provide BlackBerries to their employees could be liable for said employees' addiction problems—and treatment.

“The fast and relentless pace of technology-enhanced work environments creates a source of stimulation that may become addictive,” the researchers write in the report. “Information and communication technology addiction has been treated by policy makers as a kind of elephant in the room—everyone sees it, but no one wants to acknowledge it directly."

BlackBerries damage mental health

Posted by liz at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A UPI report:

Canadian scientists are using a breed of permanently 'cheerful' mice to research a new treatment for clinical depression. By breeding mice with an absence of TREK-1—a gene that can affect serotonin transmission in the brain—researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain.

'Depression is a devastating illness, which affects around 10 percent of people at some point in their life,' said Dr. Guy Debonnel, a psychiatrist and professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Debonnel, principal author of the new research, notes current medications for clinical depression are ineffective for a third of patients, which is why the development of alternate treatments is so important. The so-called knock-out mice were created in collaboration with Michel Lazdunski, co-author of the research, in his laboratory at the University of Nice, France.

'These `knock-out` mice were then tested using separate behavioral, electrophysiological and biochemical measures known to gauge `depression` in animals,' said Debonnel. 'The results really surprised us; our `knock-out` mice acted as if they had been treated with antidepressants for at least three weeks.'

The research—representing the first time depression has been eliminated through genetic alteration—is detailed in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Isn't that delightful? I love the idea of those happy mice running on their wheels and grooming each other and generally enjoying life, perhaps with extra corn kernels. Could this be important to the development of preventive medicine for depression? It's hard to imagine how the research could transfer to treatment. I suppose you could get a fairy godmother to turn you into a happy mouse, but then you'd have to contend with an abbreviated life, and no movies.

[This image is of Little Gray and White, may she rest in peace. She loved playing on the kitchen table.]

Posted by liz at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This was written during a manic period during which it seemed urgent to chronicle every flicker of my fascinating intellect. I was always writing random notes to myself, including this one about being obsessed with men. Thing is, I was only obsessed with men when I was manic, making the logic sadly circular. The best thing about this piece of ephemera is there's a guy's phone number written on it, which you'll see since I've posted this sideways. The irony.

Thing is, people imagine mania as fun—even people who've gone through it before. It's not really fun. Here's what I wrote at the end:

I am inhabiting my body again (i.e., reality) but I can feel myself pushing the emotions that took over aside while I assert the in-control, rational, intellectual me. Who controls me? My emotions fight it out with my intellect. In this place my emotions gain ground. That's when I find it so frightening. I don't feel safe here.

Posted by liz at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...but USA Today continues to do good mental-health reporting. From Sunday's issue:

Despite its stigma, a growing number of employers and employees are addressing a topic that has long been taboo: mental illness in the workplace. Employees' emotional health, a topic that once seemed incongruous with the survival-of-the-fittest corporate arena, is getting attention as a real bottom-line issue. Employers are beefing up mental health services as new research shows the staggering cost of mood disorders—depression, anxiety and panic disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder—can have on businesses.

The rest of the article is well worth reading, though I can't help question the anecdote that closes the item, to wit:

Southwest Airlines employees sometimes pull pranks on co-workers once they've passed their probationary period. But customer-service agent Marcie Fuerschbach says this joke went too far.

At the end of her probation at her job in Albuquerque, co-workers got police officers to handcuff her in a mock arrest. By the time she was in on the joke, she was crying and scared, according to the lawsuit she filed. Later that day, found crying in the bathroom, Fuerschbach was sent home. She says she had to see a psychologist and was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. She settled her case out of court with police. She lost her case against Southwest.

Oh, tee hee. What a funny joke! I wish my co-workers were more prank-minded. Maybe I'd end up in a straitjacket in our conference room.

The piece ends with the information that Fuerschbach now takes Lexapro, "which is used for treating depression and anxiety."

Workplaces quit quietly ignoring mental illness

Posted by liz at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, here I am, back at my desk littered with cereal crumbs, old coffee cups and random slips of paper I know are important but will inevitably be ignored until they get moldy. It's hard to come back from vacation and feel on top of things. But you know what? Vacation is the greatest recharge. I feel clearer and less inclined to judge. Noisy people on the train home from the airport just seemed colorful, rather than annoying. And this morning I didn't even blink as I trudged through the subway halls. I feel high and nonexistent. This jetlag stuff is dope.

My initial task this morning has been to scour the news for the latest mental health salvos. And the first thing I came to, at USA Today, was an article about Tom Cruise being fired by Paramount because of two things: his altercation with Brooke Shields and his anti-psychiatry rants, and his weird relationship with Katie Holmes. While I don't condone his being penalized for the latter, I do feel that there is serious progress to be noted in the midst of this fluffy news item.

To me it indicates that these days, being critical of taking antidepressants is seen as ignorant and insensitive—even to the point that it seems deviant. The norm, then, has become an acceptance of psych meds, and thus further acceptance of those who take them. Talking freely about the need for medication has always been hard for those of us who rely upon them, especially with employers. The pendulum is swinging in a different direction now.

Cruise not of Paramount importance
Tom Cruises mission aborted at studio

Posted by liz at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Monday is coming to a close here in ol' España, as is my trip. I'm sweltering in depression at the thought of coming home. I mean, no offense to Philadelphia, but like, Barcelona is better. There are things that make it similar to Philly, though. One thing is that there are odd and unpleasant smells every few blocks. You constantly find yourself sniffing then scowling. Also, the Metro stations are frickin' hot. This is also a problem at the City Hall trolley stop. Finally, I discovered the children at the Zoo were all extremely excited, such that they tripped over my feet and rammed their little heads into my back and knocked my backpack off screaming, "Mama! The monkey is scratching itself!" I guess that's true everywhere.

This is a photo I took at the top of ... wait, I don't actually remember where I took this, and I'm still here. Pathetic. But as always, I'm more interested in other people than in the rest of everything. You'll notice the background is quite dramatic.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I'll be traveling and unable to check in, most likely. I'll see you all back here on Wednesday with the best in mental health news as filtered through my jetlagged brain.

Posted by liz at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

That's how you say "tourist bus" in Catalan, the language of native Barcelonans. Vince and I adore the Bus Turistica here; this image is us in the bus' double-deck mirror. I'm the one holding the camera; he's the one shielding his eyes from the horrors of my constant picture-taking. You'd think after doing all this walking around, hanging on the beach, sitting on a double-decker bus and eating in cafes, I'm get at least a smidgen of a tan. But no. I'm as pasty as ever.

We're having a lovely time, but it feels like it's going too fast. I keep having work anxiety dreams. Maybe I'll break my leg and have to stay until it heals. Mentally speaking, my health is holding up (knock wood). I'm back on schedule, and the Effexor withdrawal is basically over.

I'll post more when I can.

Posted by liz at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hola, amores. This viaje is killing me. I have some weird pain in my back--typical Jewish psychosomatic hypochondriac. I can't leave home without having an illness or injury befell me. I'm having trouble getting access here, so I've just posted this image of a bar I stopped in for a Coca Cola Lite (pronounced la-eet) and some tapas.

Posted by liz at 02:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, here I am in Spain. Barcelona, to be exact. It's pretty lovely, but yesterday was trying: I only got three hours of sleep in 24 hours, despite the fact that I took a full complement of my meds. Thus I did things like run into the ocean in my dress while the attractive topless Spaniards gaped. We walked on La Rambla, the big strip of walkway cutting through Barcelona; we walked by the port and look at pretty ships; we went to the beach; we went to a weird sort of Spanish architectural Disneyland.

The subways are stiflingly hot and graffiti is everywhere--which of course I love. I'll be posting more photos later, but for now I give you this amazing image that practically made me cry. We were on the Metro and I had Vince take a photo of me waving at you guys. But then I looked over and saw this guy wearing a 76ers shirt. WTF? It was like a little slice of heaven.

"See?" I said to Vince. "Philadelphia is everywhere."
"Yeah," he replied. "Wherever the cream cheese is sold." The ultimate diss. I had to not talk to him for a while.

The only other drama was that I couldn't find my meds. I thought I left them in the plane, and I just sat down and exploded into tears. Vince said it was ridiculous-looking, like I was a cartoon character with tons of tears springing out of my eyes, going, "Wahhh!" But then I found them and calmed down.

I'll try to write more later. It's hard because I'm supposed to be on vacation. But I want to share, of course. So here's the photo.

Posted by liz at 04:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think you'll agree my camera battery died at just the right moment.

Posted by liz at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Though I'm not leaving for my vacation till tomorrow, I feel I can't stay at my desk without shooting up, preferably with Ativan, but heroin would probably work too. I get so incredibly nervous about flying—and now I'll have to do it without the benefit of a soothing toothpaste tube.

I won't be blogging at all tomorrow, but hopefully by Wednesday evening I'll have access. Of course, it's possible I'll think, "Blog? ?Qué blog? I'm on vacation!" In which case you'll have to bore yourself to death reading past posts.

I'll try to make a video before I go, but if not, well, consider this my farewell post. And to the terrorists who might bomb my plane, I say—to quote a great leader (ahem)—"Bring it on!"

Posted by liz at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I read a headline today that said something like, "Treatment for Depression Without a Pill." I guess some people think you need meds to conquer depression, and for intractable clinical depression that might be so. But as many pills as there are, there are also other proposed solutions. The below list comes from PsychEducation.org. I think it pretty much sums it up, but click here for the website's very detailed articulation of these points, as well as other suggestions. It's specifically addressing bipolar disorder, but the information works for unipolar sufferers as well.

•Maintain a regular daily schedule -- especially sleep hours, exposure to light, and perhaps even to darkness
•Get exercise nearly every single day: clearly it's an antidepressant, and it probably also has mood stabilizing effects
•Have a social support system: family, or friends, or a therapist; preferably all of the above if possible
•Have a plan for when you're having a lot of symptoms
•Have a means for figuring out what's you, and what's your illness (many use a therapist for this)
•Work, or volunteer, or have some other focus outside yourself

[This image is the fluke I'm going to eat tonight for dinner. Eating healthy definitely helps my mood.]

Posted by liz at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

White-collar criminal in New Zealand gets off due to bipolar disorder. Good thing he didn't live in Texas.

Tolich discharged without conviction

Posted by liz at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new study from Ohio University says that people saddled with depression can gain positive outcomes from getting married.

From All Headline News:

After studying more than 3,000 people a team of students and professors found that marriage enhances mental health but noticed an extreme change in those who were depressed before their first marriage. PhD Sociology Student Adrianne Frech said the team actually expected to find opposite results. In fact, they thought one spouse's depression would cause problems in the marriage.

"Just mattering to someone can alleviate symptoms of depression," Frech said.

Assistant Professor of sociology Kristi Williams said "Depressed people may be just especially in need of the intimacy, the emotional closeness and the social support that marriage can provide. If you start out happy you don't have to go as far."

On the same tip, this is a photo of my ex-husband. I wasn't in great shape when we got married, but there's no question cementing the relationship in that way gave me hope. Though we're no longer married, we are still best friends, and I do think the marriage was a positive agent for change for me.

Posted by liz at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Has anyone commented here in the last few days? I have no comments, and I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with the system. If your comment hasn't appeared, and you'd like it to, please write to me at lspikol@philadelphiaweekly.com. Thanks.

Posted by liz at 01:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Well, not really, but that was the most optimistic thought I could come up with. This weekend I'll be busy writing my column (about Israel, so it's liable to piss people off, no matter which side I take) and packing for my trip. Yes, that's right—I am finally going on vacation! I'll be flying off to Spain, after a no-doubt lengthy wait at the airport, and most important, I'LL BE BLOGGING FROM SPAIN. Has there ever been a mental health blog comin' at you from Spain? I'm glad you asked. Thank you. Below are some Spikol-endorsed mental-health-related sites that originate in Spain.

Lanzadera.com
Asociacion Bipolar de Madrid
Esquizofrenia Online
La Confederación Española de Agrupaciones de Familiares y Personas con Enfermedad Mental

I couldn't find any blogs per se. I'll be around a wee bit on Monday, but I'm taking time off to, well, FREAK OUT. And I think I've got to start the total-breakdown-and-resulting-Ativan-scarfing this afternoon, so let's just call Funday a Doneday. Hee.

[This is a photo of me FREAKING OUT. It's part of a series of photographs I'm trying to create about what it's like to feel psychotic. I tried to make myself especially ugly. Aren't my pores huge?]

Posted by liz at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hello everyone. Auntie Lizzie says today is a fun day. She says I should show a picture. I picked this one even though it is kind of sandy. It is of baby Shackleton sitting on Uncle Vinny's shoulder but also leaning on the couch. If you look very close you can see that in front of him is the mealworm tip he did not eat, and behind him is a poop he gave to Uncle Vinny. The fun part was that Uncle did not know he had the poop on him for a long time.

The babies now are almost as big as Mama and Papa (but not as big as me because Auntie says I'm fat). Auntie and Uncle had people come and hold Shackleton and Rosemary. I think these people are going to take them away, but I can't talk about that because today is a fun day, not a sad day. The babies had fun the other day because they ate a whole measuring tape, and then their bellies were very full.

Bye!

Posted by liz at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes it's tough to find the happy stories. From the Detroit Free Press:

Mental health unit may become independent

he Wayne County Commission will take up a proposal Aug. 29 to convert the county-run Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency into an independent authority. Critics have said the county has mismanaged the agency and that removing it from county control would improve services to the more than 40,000 people who use them.

Well, yay!

Posted by liz at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, so while it's not good that this man killed his stepfather and wounded his mother with a "decorative martial arts sword," it is good that he's not just being tossed in with a mainstream prison population, which wouldn't do anyone any good at all. Also, the court says he'll be provided with antipsychotics. Even if you're anti-psychiatry, I think we can all agree that after you've tried to kill your parents, medication might be helpful.

Man sent to mental health facility

[This image is, of course, from Seven Samurai, the Japanese Western by Akira Kurosawa. I just watched the movie again in the last few days, and it's simply amazing. The commentary by Michael Jeck for the Criterion edition is really good too. So ... that's another Funday happy thing.]

Posted by liz at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Let's start a day of positive new off right: with a study that shows promising results for a new treatment modality for bipolar disorder, one modeled on the way diabetes and asthma are treated.

The model brings together psychiatrists and nurses as a team to treat the patients. Psychiatrists monitored symptoms and handled medications. Nurse care coordinators worked with veterans during group education sessions.

During the weekly group sessions, nurses discussed topics such as medication side effects and early warning signs for symptoms, which in bipolar disorder range from bursts of optimism and impulsive behavior during manic episodes to fatigue, social withdrawal and suicidal thoughts during depressive episodes.

During the sessions, patients discussed coping skills, got feedback from the group and created personal action plans.

The intervention was tested for three years. The results: Under the new model, patients saw a significant reduction in symptoms, including five fewer weeks experiencing mania during the three-year study period.

And the approach saves money too. Fabulous!

New treatment for bipolar disorder promising

Posted by liz at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wrote a cover story. Please click below to check it out. It has nothing to do with mental health, but it'll probably make you hungry.

Cornering the Market

Posted by liz at 04:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search is on for escaped mental health patient

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. - Authorities were searching on Thursday for an escaped mental health patient.

Armando Gonzalez, 34, escaped from an Alexandria behavior health hospital Wednesday.

The escape appeared to have been pre-planned, authorities said. Gonzalez jumped a facility fence and hid in the brush. He was seen getting into a dark green car driven by a woman.

Police said Gonzalez had been placed at the hospital for a variety of mental health reasons. He's believed to be headed to the Willmar or Sacred Heart area, then possibly on to Texas.

Armando is described as 5-foot-8, and between 130 and 140 pounds.

Posted by liz at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Maybe someone has to explain this to me, as I don't know anything about football. Dolphins player Manuel Wright has been missing practices because of his depression. He wants to leave the team, but the coach, Nick Saban, won't let him. Saban told Florida's Sun-Sentinel:

"Our players do not determine what their outcome is relative to their future. They should be focused on what their responsibility is to be a part of this team. When guys don't do those things there are consequences for it, and they don't determine what the consequences are.

"We don't have any of this stuff, 'When it doesn't work here, let me go someplace else.' That's not how it is. This is the real world. It's business. You have a job and a responsibility. If you're not capable, we'll certainly support you and help you. But if you're not interested in doing that, then we determine your fate. You don't."

Who the hell is he? Donald Rumsfeld? This is a 22-year-old kid struggling with a serious illness. Where's the compassion?

Battling depression, Manny Wright asks for Dolphins release; Saban says no

Posted by liz at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can't wake up today. I took too much Ativan last night to try to counter the anxiety I felt about getting a migraine so late. Now every time I get out of bed, I feel dizzy and exhausted. But hey, I don't have a migraine! Success.

Posted by liz at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I took this picture, I was living with my parents and out of a job, spending every day sick. The fact that the photo came out this way—without my face or features—seemed right to me. I felt like a ghost, not a real person.

Posted by liz at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week I wrote a Top 5 of the Moment for our newspaper, which is merely a list of things the writer is excited about. I mentioned Edible Arrangements, but it turns out that Philadelphia has a fruit-flower war of sorts going on. Incredibly Edible Delites has been serving the Delaware Valley for more than two decades, while Edible Arrangements arrived a few months ago.

Apparently, the two companies are very similar, and I don't mean to say one pineapple flower is better than another, because really, once it's a flower carved out of a pineapple and a melon ball, isn't that enough? Anyhoo, click here for the controversial column, which I would print below, but I'm trying to drive you to our website proper, so I can get props from the higher ups. (Props for the proper—I couldn't resist).

[Illustration of moi by James McHugh}

Posted by liz at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John McCusker, a photographer for the Times-Picayune—who'd probably seen much of the devastation wrought by Katrina—tried to commit suicide by provoking police officers into killing him. The ostensible reason for his behavior is that he was despondent after learning insurance won't cover the cost of rebuilding his home.

N.O. man arrested after chase

RELATED: Article says storms’ mental damage costly

Posted by liz at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was so excited when I saw the first part of this headline in my in box. Cake? For depression? Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

Depression cake offered slice of hope during war

Posted by liz at 02:19 PM |