Sharon Fawcett, Canadian author of Hope for Wholeness: The Spiritual Path to Freedom From Depression, wrote to TTWS about the Ask Amy post.

I was once the depressed spouse causing my family much stress and heartache. During my nine years of clinical depression (and 80 weeks in psychiatric wards) I was blessed to have a husband who took his marriage vows seriously and remained committed to me with a love beyond affection. Many would have left a marriage that didn’t meet their needs, and a partner who was unable to contribute anything to the relationship. My husband sacrificed much to stay with me and care for me (and our young daughters), and his steadfast love gave me the strength to endure depression.

I cannot speak for the man who is the subject of the letter to Dear Amy, but I suspect his illness is causing him to make these decisions that are difficult for his family. I know what it’s like to be so depressed that you just want to run away, and to feel as though your daily presence is a burden to your family. This notion nearly led me to suicide. Maybe the reader in Oregon should be grateful her husband is choosing to move out for a brief time, rather than to permanently end his life.

For all those who love someone with depression, I’d recommend Anne Sheffield’s book, How You Can Survive When They're Depressed.

Thanks for sharing, Sharon.

Posted by liz at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've published "Ask Amy" questions before, but this one is really tough. I feel for this woman.

Dear Amy: I have been married for 11 years. My husband suffers from severe seasonal depression, for which he refuses to seek treatment because "there is nothing they can do."

It is difficult for the rest of his family to cope with his depression, but we continue to try and support him.

My husband is in one of his depressive periods, and he announced today that he will be moving out and renting an apartment until the depression passes. This could mean he will be gone a month or more.

I am extremely upset because he didn't think the decision warranted having a discussion with me.

Most of all, I resent the fact that he thinks he can just "check in" and be a part of the family, then "check out" whenever it suits him without consideration for others. Part of my resentment stems from other behavior, such as thinking he should be able to make large purchases without consulting me or acknowledging that it will affect anyone besides him.

My husband thinks I am unreasonable.

I believe we should go to a counselor, but if my husband won't seek medical treatment for his physically disabling depression, there is no way I will be able to get him to see a marriage counselor.

A READER IN OREGON

To see Amy's response, go here.

Posted by liz at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

From the BBC:

Suicide risk was 'not removable'

Is it ever removable?

Posted by liz at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here we have Eva, a psychologist, talking about her faux patients. Judging by her accent, I'm guessing she's from Spain. If she's not, she should move there immediately. She speaks very quickly, pero si ustedes hablan espanol or quieren aprender, escuchela.

LingusTV bills itself as a fresh new way to learn Spanish. If I were still teaching it, I would definitely use videos like this one.

Posted by liz at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've always thought it was kind of weird that if you say even the slightest thing about wanting to kill the prez, you risk being incarcerated. Most people kind of wish Bush ill these days, don't you think? Not death, necessarily, but, like, a bad cold at least.

Here's the headline from one of Jim Romenesko's sites. I love Romenesko. I think he's being wry here.

President Bush is now safe from one mentally ill homeless man

Posted by liz at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, folks, everything goes video eventually. Now I'm doing some video book reviews, and the series kicks off with my assessment of My Life in Porn, by Bobby Blake.

Posted by liz at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The elderly in nursing homes have long been overmedicated, but because of societal prejudices and disregard, little attention has been paid by the mainstream media. Now, however, one of the most popular stories on the New York Times website is one about this very problem, but in specific, the issue of using antipsychotics.

Interestingly, when my grandmother was in her nursing home, the Fountains, she alleged she was being given sleeping pills or sedatives that weren't explicitly prescribed for her. She was lucid and didn't suffer from dementia, but it was hard to believe -- that they were doping her up? These days it seems less fantastic.

From the Times:

The use of antipsychotic drugs to tamp down the agitation, combative behavior and outbursts of dementia patients has soared, especially in the elderly. Sales of newer antipsychotics like Risperdal, Seroquel and Zyprexa totaled $13.1 billion in 2007, up from $4 billion in 2000, according to IMS Health, a health care information company.

Part of this increase can be traced to prescriptions in nursing homes. Researchers estimate that about a third of all nursing home patients have been given antipsychotic drugs.

The increases continue despite a drumbeat of bad publicity. A 2006 study of Alzheimer’s patients found that for most patients, antipsychotics provided no significant improvement over placebos in treating aggression and delusions. ...

The agency has not approved marketing of these drugs for older people with dementia, but they are commonly prescribed to these patients “off label.” Several states are suing the top sellers of antipsychotics on charges of false and misleading marketing.

Ah, the good old off-label prescribing. I wouldn't be well if it weren't for off-label, but it is, as they say, a slippery slope. And in this instance, and for children, I think it has to be used with great caution.

I know the elderly isn't anyone's target demographic. I know we value children more because they represent the future. But I refuse to consign anyone to the past. It's never acceptable to be finished with another human being. I'm glad the Times is on this.

Doctors Say Medication Is Overused in Dementia

[Photo by Miguel A. Lopes "Migufu" via Flickr.]

Posted by liz at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last week I was asking for names of our favorite troubled celebrities. Most suggestions after my initial suggestions were people in the music biz, which I'd forgotten about. If we were including substance abuse, it would get ridiculous, so these are people I think have some other something that goes beyond burning the inside of their nostrils with cocaine.

The one I don't know about is John Lennon. Really? My sweet John? Eccentric, to be sure.

Billie Holiday
Kristin Hersh
Whitney Houston
Nick Drake
Exene Cervenka
Elliott Smith
Robyn Hitchcock
Darby Crash
John Lennon
Marianne Faithful
Lou Reed
Mark Eitzel
Chet Baker
Alex Chilton
Daniel Johnston
Keith Moon
Townes Van Zandt
Ian Curtis
Jeff Tweedy
Tatum O'Neill
Heath Ledger

So far, however, the hands-down favorite is Hugh Laurie. I too love love love Mr. Laurie, and am glad he has so many fans. I think he was especially hilarious in the BBC comedy Blackadder, as he's pictured here.

At any rate, House's star suffers from clinical depression, and finds it hard to be happy. He does, however, enjoy the idea of his soon-to-be-delivered Burger King Crown Card, which is only given to special celebrities. See "Actor Sparks BK-Card Freakout" in AdvertisingAge to get the total blogosphere story.

Posted by liz at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

You know how sometimes you read about a celebrity having problems, and your heart feels like it's being squeezed until it bleeds, even though you've never met the person and you know it's ridiculous to care? There are some people who just make me feel immediate sympathy due to the combination of their mental health problems and their talent and that undefinable je ne sais quoi. I asked around the PW offices, and we came up with a list of our favorite famous people who have been, as they say, touched by fire.

Robert Downey Jr.
Amy Winehouse
Stephen Fry
Carrie Fisher
Margot Kidder
Chandler Bing
Mark Summers of Double Dare
Courtney Love
Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power
Natasha Lyonne

Honorable mentions: Britney Spears, Owen Wilson, Gary Busey

Who are your favorites?

Posted by liz at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says gays and lesbians do, in fact, have biological differences that suggest homosexuality is determined during fetal development. Gay men's brains are configured more like heterosexual women's brains, while lesbians' brain are configured more like those of heterosexual men.

The study, which was done at the Stockholm Brain Institute in Sweden, has caused some strange headlines. The UK Register , for instance, wrote: LESBIANS LIKE STRAIGHT MEN, RESEARCH FINDS. Do they really? That might be a surprise to their girlfriends.

The comments thread on the Chronicle of Higher Education has people asking thoughtful questions, such as, is the study's sample size (90 people) large enough to draw wide-ranging conclusions? Do we need longitudinal studies? Is it relevant to pursue such studies of the "gay brain" when we don't have headlines like "Is There a Straight Brain?" Do such studies ignore the variations of the Kinsey Scale (i.e., what about bisexuality)? And finally, is this kind of study too rigid in terms of gender identification?

I don't know about the reliability of this particular study, but I can say that my sexual preferences seemed hardwired early on. Though I have often had long-term relationships with men (and currently live with a man), I have always been more physically attracted to women and thus have had relationships with women as well. Sometimes I have identified as gay, sometimes as bisexual -- but never straight. Recently, I decided to jettison labels entirely and just be me, but it's hard to explain myself in a culture that is suspicious of such fluidity.

How did I know I was attracted to women from the start? Well, my friend in grade school, who I'll call Julia, came over to my house one Sunday and told me she had something to show me. We were about 8. She grabbed the comics section of the Philadelphia Inquirer and told me to look at Dagwood from the Blondie strip. She said he was "sexy." She said if I looked at him I would start to feel funny but there were things I could do to make it go from funny to really nice.

I had no idea what she was talking about. I stared at Dagwood as long as I could, but nothing happened. She kept trying to explain. Finally, I let my eyes wander to Blondie, with her long, pretty legs and bouncy hair and I felt funny. I told her I understood but I didn't mention Blondie. Even then, I knew it was wrong to prefer a girl over a guy.

The incident--which would be repeated not in its particulars but in its generalities countless times to come--made me understand who I was. I've always had a soft spot for Blondie since then.
Gay Men, Straight Women Have Similar Brains

Posted by liz at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

A very small AP report. (Don't sue me, AP!)

Two-month old baby missing in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Philadelphia police are searching for a baby girl who has been missing for almost two days.

Police say the child's mother entrusted 2-month-old Shaniyah Granby to a woman she knows only as "Crystal" around 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The 26-year-old mother called police 24 hours later when her daughter wasn't returned.

Police say the mother is suspected to have mental health problems. She told police "Crystal" was an acquaintance who asked to take the baby shopping. Police say neither woman knows where the other lives.

Posted by liz at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We haven't done one of these for a while, so I thought I'd share this, from The Onion's YouTube channel. From what I understand from the comments, the woman who participated as the "guest" may have a muscular disease that simply resembles anorexia. Just FYI.

Posted by liz at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

According to the Mayo Clinic and PsychCentral, rural women suffer a serious depression risk:

In a recent study, researchers for the Mayo Clinic discovered unmarried women living in rural areas have lower self-rated health status than their married counterparts. This lower health status often includes greater instances of self-assessed feelings of depression.

For single women, the problems are greater.

“Economic problems increase feelings of emotional stress. People today are worried about, among other things, the mortgage crisis and high gas prices. Many are left wondering how they are going to pay for necessities. Statistically, rural, unmarried women are more often economically depressed than their married counterparts,” says [the Mayo Clinic's] Dr. [James] Rohrer.

Depression Risk for Rural Women

[Photos of Country Woman cover girl Rosemary Corte, a peanut farmer.]

Posted by liz at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Marya Hornbacher, who last wrote about suffering with an eating disorder, has now published another book -- this time on living with bipolar disorder. I'm working on my own memoir now (or working on thinking about working on it), so I understand the urge to purge (metaphorically) in print. But something about writing multiple accounts of multiple disorders kind of makes me queasy. Augusten Burroughs did is quite deftly, I thought, and perhaps Hornbacher has pulled it off as well.

It seems Hornbacher, like many other chroniclers of bipolar disorder, struggles primarily with mania. Stay tuned for my book, which is going to be called: Rarely Manic, But Depressed As Shit.

Posted by liz at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

According to Gawker, Tom Cruise's people went a little nuts when Dr. Drew Pinsky implied the megastar Scientologist might have been neglected as a child:

But Tom Cruise has allowed his lawyer to compare "Dr. Drew" to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, because the doctor told Playboy the following about movie star Cruise's fevered devotion to the Church of Scientology:

A lot of people in the public eye who behave strangely have mental illness we can learn from, and much of it is based on childhood trauma, without a doubt. Take a guy like Tom Cruise. Why would somebody be drawn into a cultish kind of environment like Scientology? To me, that's a function of a very deep emptiness and suggests serious neglect in childhood - maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect.

Cruise's high-powered attorney, Bert Fields, a frequent client of convicted wiretapper and racketeer Anthony Pellicano, called Pinsky an "unqualified television performer who is obviously just looking for notoriety," adding, "The last time we heard garbage like this was from Joseph Goebbels."

Tee hee. So funny. I mean, you just have to laugh at Cruise at this point.

Posted by liz at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Then I come back to this:

A world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist whose work has helped fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic medicines in children earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 but for years did not report much of this income to university officials, according to information given Congressional investigators.

According to the New York Times, Biederman's work "helped to fuel a controversial 40-fold increase from 1994 to 2003 in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder ... and a rapid rise in the use of antipsychotic medicines in children. .... But youngsters appear to be especially susceptible to the weight gain and metabolic problems caused by the drugs, and it is far from clear that the medications improve children’s lives over time, experts say."

That's a significant understatement. I have said, several times, that I do not believe children should be prescribed antipsychotic medication to treat childhood bipolar disorder, which is a diagnosis I am deeply suspicious of to begin with. In fact, my emotions are so caught up in this that I was unable to respond rationally to the Newsweek cover story on childhood bipolar disorder, which essentially painted a portrait of a child whose life was hopeless -- despite the fact that he's only 10 years old. It was a preposterous assumption to make: that his life was over. Yet that's what the article did. If anything, his life was being severely compromised by the fact that he was medicated first as a toddler, when he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Can you imagine diagnosing a child of two with such an illness, and then treating that child with something like Seroquel, which has dubious impact and efficacy in treatment of the illness overall? It's appalling.

As for the Congressional investigation, I know what some clinicians will say: that Biederman and his colleagues are forced to rely on Big Pharma funding. That's where the money is. But even a Harvard spokesperson and an NIH representative say that the violations in this case cross a line. The sad thing is that it's a matter of disclosure that's being questioned. No one's worried about contaminated research because research is so difficult to do in the absence of pharma funding. So if you worry about this research, you essentially have to question it all. What a mess.

Researchers Fail to Reveal Full Drug Pay

Posted by liz at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

I read it and thought they meant the band, but this is even cooler:

The team found that the component in human DNA, which activates depression, was also present in dinosaurs and would have helped determine their moods.

via MedIndia.com

Posted by Alli at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Times profiled Dr. Galynker, a psychiatrist who concentrates not on treating the family of people with bipolar disorder, but using them to help the patient:

“It can be something as subtle as a change in lipstick shade,” Dr. Galynker said. “Only a person who knows them very, very well would know.”
Patients often do not recognize the symptoms. “Because the mania feels so good, there’s no way for me to know that I’m doing it,” Mr. Cunanan explained. “That’s why it’s so important to have the family
involved.”

Posted by Alli at 05:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Seems like a no-brainer, right?

Alli here, blogging for Liz while she finds her inner cowgirl, presumably with this guy, and avoids all work-related mental health problems minus possible lack of internet access.

Ha ha, I kid. But work-related stress can be a serious problem, according to researchers at the University of Melbourne. They report that about one in six workers with depression can trace it back to work-related stress.

Associate Professor Tony LaMontagne argues that the study suggests not just correlation between depression and job-related unpleasantness (which really is a no brainer), but causation, too. And he thinks he has an idea why:

"It's a matter of not having the ability to decide how to get the work done that they're asked to do," he said.

"The combination of high demands and low control in a job is what makes it particularly bad."

And Associate Professor LaMontagne says the tendency for women to inhabit lower paid jobs means they're more at risk than men.

"There's still, I think, persisting power and balances as between men and women in the workplace that also are in the wider society," he said.

Posted by Alli at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)