CMHIP closes treatment program over staffing

That is the name of this article I reviewed today. "'A 20-bed program that treats patients for both drug addiction and mental illness is being closed at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo so its nursing staff can be used elsewhere in the hospital, state officials confirmed Tuesday. They called it a temporary closure. That’s not how it was described to patients. 'My son waited for seven months in jail to get in the CIRCLE program because a judge said us it was the gold standard,' a Western Slope woman told The Pueblo Chieftain. 'He finally got a bed on May 30 and now we’re told the program is closed and we don’t know what his status is.'" In 1992 it was the best drug and alcohol program in the state and I guess it still is. When they moved me in the state hospital to ward 69 the first day I asked to go to the CIRCLE program because I knew that I would need that to get out.  The first day I was there I was wrote up for walking on the carpet early in the morning to use the phone to tell my people that I was there.  The second day there I was put in charge I had the keys to let everyone get there towels for showering. It is  a strict program that includes cleaning the shower after use getting up ant six in the morning and having your clean and inspected.

The article goes on to say: "'The CIRCLE program is a 90-day residential program and it is rare because it treats people suffering from both addiction and mental illness. 'This is a terrific program,' said a young woman patient who called the newspaper. 'I don’t know how they think the 19 staff members of this program are going to fix the staff shortage at this hospital. They’re moving us out of here.' The state Department of Human Services, which oversees CMHIP, said all the patients are being transferred to other programs. They said the shutdown was temporary and caused by a staffing shortage elsewhere in the hospital. 'This is a temporary measure and the transition specialists and community partners in the region are working very closely to ensure that every patient is transitioned into a program that provides treatment for their needs,' the statement said. The Western Slope woman whose son just got in the treatment plan was frustrated by that. 'From what we understand, there isn’t any other suitable program for people like my son,' she said. 'We were waiting for this one.' She acknowledged he’d failed other treatment programs, largely because of his mental health issues.'" Another thing I had to do because I was from the state hospital if I seen any of my friends on the campus I was not allowed to talk to them.  Also mainly I remember that if you told war stories you could get written up. I remember one guy getting written up for this. It is because you get to telling about your drug days and you start wanting to use. Closing this program for even a little while is not right.  I do know someone while I was there using and you can tell my me just handing out towels she would get the towels and not shower.  The found all the towels in her drawer she never showered.

The article ends: "'Staff who work in the program were upset Tuesday. 'We have 110 people on waiting lists to get treatment here,' one staffer said. 'We’re in the process of trying to find places for these patients to go but there really isn’t anyplace like this.  'Callers to the newspaper said no staff are losing jobs. Just being reassigned. 'This isn’t a new problem,' said Sen. Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, who checked on the status of the program Tuesday. 'The staffing problem at CMHIP is well-known. It is competing for the same (medical staff) that Parkview and St. Mary-Corwin (medical centers) are trying to recruit.' Garcia said officials told him Tuesday the closure was temporary, but didn’t say when it would reopen.'" When I was there it was the main job for people in Pueblo. My counselor from the ward I had just got transferred from his wife worked at the circle program. Callers to the newspaper said no staff are losing jobs. Just being reassigned.

'This isn’t a new problem,' said Sen. Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, who checked on the status of the program Tuesday. “The staffing problem at CMHIP is well-known. It is competing for the same (medical staff) that Parkview and St. Mary-Corwin (medical centers) are trying to recruit.”
Garcia said officials told him Tuesday the closure was temporary, but didn’t say when it would reopen. By me asking to go there I was treated better because to want to change yourself is good. The only thing I did not like were all the videos we had to watch about our inner child. My inner child was not damaged and I did not understand that I  had a good childhood.  I was always quiet and did have friends.  I forgot the person who made those videos but I did not like him at that time. I did not have to do the whole ninety days because like I said I was a leader there. The liked me so much the are the ones who got me social security the doctor there wrote for me to get it when I was released. The waiting list is long it is the best program in the state of Colorado. By closing it. It will hurt a lot of people.

Colorado will no longer lock up people who are suicidal or in mental health crisis

That is the title of this article I reviewed today. "It soon will be against the law in Colorado to lock people in jail when they are picked up on mental health holds. The legislation signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper on Thursday also increases funds for a network of crisis-response teams, walk-in mental health treatment centers and transportation to treatment from rural areas. The legislation, which takes effect Aug. 9, was passed in combination with a state human services department budget request to spend $9.5 million in marijuana tax funds, which will pay for two-person mobile crisis teams to intervene in mental health-related police calls, among other new services." Why am writing about Colorado is because I was in jail when I had my breakdown for committing a crime while I was mentally ill. When I first arrived at the jail they had me visit a psychiatrist she took an immediate dislike to me. She told me she did not like me and would not put me on medication. I went back to the cell block six and  for the first time in all the time I did in prison and the county jail I got into a fight. They put me in the infirmary and I did about four months there. I never ordered commissary all the time I was locked up I had money but I thought the jail was trying to get my signature and would not sign for my commissary.  I did not buy cigarettes until I was at the state hospital and on medication. Usually when you go to jail your actually go to the commissary and purchase without your signature. Although because I was in that fight I never went back to general population. When I was at the state hospital I tried to get out and had to meet the board and who was on the board but that psychiatrist and she went out of the room I did not bring up what she did to me because I wanted out. I did not get out.
The article continues: "'Colorado had been one of only six states that allowed putting people who are suicidal or having mental health episodes behind bars. The law, Senate Bill 17-207, bans the use of jails to house people who are a 'danger to themselves or others' but have not committed any crime.
'This bill is a huge step toward removing the stigma associated with mental health crises,' one of the legislation’s sponsors, Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, said in an emailed statement. 'We want people to know that a crisis is not a crime, and that they can get the help they need in times of emergency.'" Why do I feel this is a good idea and practice is because it is hard if you are insane and in jail. I did not get out of the state hospital that time and I said to myself the only way I will get out is myself so I asked to go to the circle program at the time it was the best drug and alcohol treatment center in Colorado. After I did three months there I did about six more months and they release me on conditional release that was five year of UAs and other hoops to get off.
The article ends: "Current state law allows for detainment in a jail for up to 24 hours for a person on a mental health hold. Within a day, the person must go to a health facility for evaluation and treatment, but in rural areas, the nearest mental health center often is hours away. The situation leaves sheriff’s departments with three options: driving the person to another town and leaving the community with one fewer law officer; holding the person in jail; or releasing the person back to the community." I was respected though in jail when I came back to Denver to ask the Judge to release me and I was on medication they other inmates did not mess with me this time because they found out I was from the state hospital and did not mess with me or my things in fact I was on the phone and a guy who stole some cigarettes from me gave them back when I was on the phone and said he was sorry so there is a lot that goes on in jail considering mental illness.

Anti-Psychotics Don't Kill Patients. Lack Of Health Care Does

That is the title of this article I am reviewing today. "In my last blog post, I talked about the shameful way that many with schizophrenia are treated (or not treated) for their other co-existing medical problems, like diabetes. There is ample evidence that this lack of proper medical treatment and the failure to exercise preventative measures for conditions like cardiovascular disease results in a shortened life span. The latest research just released from California show that women with serious mental illnesses are not routinely screened for cervical cancer compared to women without mental illness. Despite the weight of all this evidence, the common belief among the anti-psychiatry, anti-medication group is that this reduced life expectancy for those with serious mental illness is the result of the medication they are given. That was one of the comments on my previous blog and it is the opinion of journalist Robert Whitaker of Mad in America fame." Which I disagree with if I had not started medication I would still be mentally ill.  If you want to go to groups and you think that will cure you go for it. I for one am thankful for the medication it allows me to work and do whatever I feel like it in society.
The article goes on to say: "'The question we should be asking is what is mortality for those who do not take anti-psychotic medication, which is the standard starting treatment for people diagnosed with schizophrenia. If anti-psychotics are responsible for the shortened life span, then not taking them when diagnosed should result in less mortality. The answer to that can be found in one commentary published this month, in the Lancet, and a study published in Schizophrenia Bulletin. Mortality is quite a bit higher in those not properly treated with anti-psychotics than in those properly treated.
In the British Journal, the Lancet, author Cherrie Ann Galletly states that 'Mortality in patients with schizophrenia seems to be highest among those who do not take antipsychotic drugs.' The shocking extent of that mortality was demonstrated in a new U.S. study that just appeared in Schizophrenia Bullentin. Michael Schoenbaum and colleagues examined the long-term patterns of treatment for those with health insurance in the U.S. aged 16-30 receiving a first observed diagnosis of psychosis in 2008-09. They limited their sample to only those with health insurance because, sadly, not having health insurance is itself a barrier in the U.S. to receiving proper medical care. Those identified for the study were followed for a year to find information on mortality, treatment and health resource utilization.'" People with mental illness have to find treatment if they have insurance.  I do not how long I will live although I take precautions as to have insurance for my grand kids and daughter. Like I told the cancer doctor I am not afraid to die because I am prepared for that day.  Although most people with mental illness can not afford to get medical treatment or even psychiatric treatment if they do not have insurance or someway to get medication and treatment.
The article ends: "They found 154,322 people with psychotic illnesses. However, they limited their study to only those with a psychotic diagnosis while aged 16-30, continuous insurance coverage for the 12 months prior to diagnosis and 12 months after and a second psychosis diagnosis. This group comprised 1357 people. The second group was made up of 5488 people who had insurance at the time of diagnosis, but not for a year before and after and had only the one diagnosis. Almost two-thirds of the people (61 per cent) did not fill their prescriptions for anti-psychotics in the year after diagnosis and 41 per cent did not receive any psychotherapy. Mortality for this group was anywhere between 24 times to 89 times greater than comparable for those aged 16-30 in the general U.S. population. The authors commented that 'in the general population, only individuals over 70 years of age have all-cause mortality approaching the rate we observed among young psychosis patients here.'
The study also found that there was very little medical oversight of these patients and only 'modest' psychosocial treatment. Those who died in the 12-month period received the least amount of outpatient care. Premature death for those with schizophrenia is complex and not as simple as the anti-psychiatry crowd suggests. It results from a combination of poor treatment and preventative care these people receive from the medical system, and the failure to treat their mental illness appropriately and aggressively. In the U.S., it appears to be confounded by the lack of universal health care.'" Yes I do know it is hard for people because when I was on social security and had medicaid they put me on so much medication and I had to get off it when I recieved regular insurance and now it is starting all over so much medication and it is expensive regardless if a person has insurance. I for one am watching what happens in the healthcare field with a new President.

Nerve-signaling protein regulates gene associated with Schizophrenia

That is the title of this article I am reviewing today. "Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, have identified a protein that regulates a gene associated with schizophrenia. The study, published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, was chosen as an APSselect article for January.

Schizophrenia -- a chronic mental illness that affects a person's thoughts, feelings and behavior -- is determined in part by genetic makeup. The DISC1 gene is associated with developing schizophrenia. DISC1 is involved in the growth of nerve cells, proper nerve signaling and the ability of the brain to grow and adjust (neuroplasticity) throughout a person's lifetime. Loss of DISC1 function can interrupt the normal signaling pattern, which may lead to schizophrenia-like symptoms, such as movement disorders, memory problems and reduced expression of emotions."I do not have to bad of memory problems I can still remember numbers great.  I also watch how my memory is on other things and I think it is normal. Although I do know people with mental illness that have memory problems. As for reduced expression of emotions I think I fall into that category although I have nothing to base it on.
The article continues: "Caveolin (Cav-1) is a cell membrane protein that promotes nerve signaling and neuroplasticity in the nervous system. In this study, the research team looked at the interaction between Cav-1 and DISC1 in the nerve cells of mice. The team is the first to find that Cav-1 regulates the function of DISC1. Mice that did not express the Cav-1 protein had less DISC1 expression in the brain and showed symptoms on the molecular level similar to that seen in brains afflicted with schizophrenia. When the researchers reintroduced Cav-1 specifically in nerve cells of these mice, DISC1 protein, in addition to proteins critical for synaptic plasticity (the ability of neurons to grow and form new connections), returned to normal levels."  Now that sounds promising because if they can find medication that returns synaptic plasticity that would be great for all that have schizophrenia. Even though it would not help me I think it would be great for all other's that suffer this disease.
The article ends: "'The study's findings have significant implications for schizophrenia treatment. 'While pharmacological treatments such as antipsychotics are available for schizophrenia, these classes of drugs show poor efficacy for most patients, especially in reversing cognitive abnormalities,' wrote the researchers. 'Further understanding of how Cav-1 modulates DISC1 to maintain and organize neuronal growth signaling and proper function is of upmost importance to better understand and identify potential molecular targets for treating schizophrenia.'"What they have for medicine now is not all that great.  I do OK now but I have to always remember that after I take my medication I could fall asleep in the next two hours a side effect.  New medication that help a person grow is of the uppermost urgency.

Study identifies key indicators linking violence and mental illness

That is the title of this article I am reviewing today. "'New research from North Carolina State University, RTI International, Arizona State University and Duke University Medical Center finds a host of factors that are associated with subsequent risk of adults with mental illness becoming victims or perpetrators of violence. The work highlights the importance of interventions to treat mental-health problems in order to reduce community violence and instances of mental-health crises. 'This work builds on an earlier study that found almost one-third of adults with mental illness are likely to be victims of violence within a six-month period,' says Richard Van Dorn, a researcher at RTI and lead author of a paper describing the work. 'In this study, we addressed two fundamental questions: If someone is victimized, is he or she more likely to become violent? And if someone is violent, is he or she more likely to be victimized? The answer is yes, to both questions.' The researchers analyzed data from a database of 3,473 adults with mental illnesses who had answered questions about both committing violence and being victims of violence. The database drew from four earlier studies that focused on issues ranging from antipsychotic medications to treatment approaches. Those studies had different research goals, but all asked identical questions related to violence and victimization. For this study, the researchers used a baseline assessment of each study participant's mental health and violence history as a starting point, and then tracked the data on each participant for up to 36 months.'"They are forgetting substance abuse.  I am not violent although when I had an episode for the second time and I drank I was violent and went to the state hospital because of a crime that happened when I was psychotic and drunk.
The article goes on to say: "'Specifically, the researchers assessed each individual's homelessness, inpatient mental-health treatment, psychological symptoms of mental illness, substance use and as victims or perpetrators of violence. The researchers evaluated all of these items as both indicators and outcomes -- i.e., as both causes and effects. 'We found that all of these indicators mattered, but often in different ways,' says Sarah Desmarais, an associate professor of psychology at NC State and co-author of the paper. 'For example, drug use was a leading indicator of committing violence, while alcohol use was a leading indicator of being a victim of violence.' However, the researchers also found that one particular category of psychological symptoms was also closely associated with violence: affective symptoms. 'By affect, we mean symptoms including anxiety, depressive symptoms and poor impulse control,' Desmarais says. 'The more pronounced affective symptoms were, the more likely someone was to both commit violence and be a victim of violence. 'This is particularly important because good practices already exist for how to help people, such as therapeutic interventions or medication,' she adds. 'And by treating people who are exhibiting these symptoms, we could reduce violence. Just treating drug or alcohol use -- which is what happens in many cases -- isn't enough. We need to treat the underlying mental illness that is associated with these affective symptoms.'" That is what worked for me to stop drinking and it has been 27 years since I last took a drink.  Since then I have not been stopped for a crime or been charged with anything alcohol is bad for me and I know it.
The article ends: "'The research also highlighted how one violent event could cascade over time.
For example, on average, the researchers found that one event in which a person was a victim of violence triggered seven other effects, such as psychological symptoms, homelessness and becoming perpetrators of violence. Those seven effects, on average, triggered an additional 39 additional effects. 'It's a complex series of interactions that spirals over time, exacerbating substance use, mental-health problems and violent behavior,' Van Dorn says. 'These results tell us that we need to evaluate how we treat adults with severe mental illness,' he adds. 'Investing in community-based mental health treatment programs would significantly reduce violent events in this population,' says Desmarais. 'That would be more effective and efficient than waiting for people to either show up at emergency rooms in the midst of a mental-health crisis or become involved in the legal system as either victims or perpetrators of violence. 'We have treatments for all of these problems, we just need to make them available to the people that need them,' Desmarais says.'"You have to recognize the problem and then deal with it.  I did not need AA even though I had to go my crime was so bad in my mind that I did not want to drink again. I have not went to AA for the last twelve years because I will never drink again I hit the bottom and do not need alcohol to put me back in jail.

Smoking greatly reduces life expectancy for those with serious mental illness

That is the title of this article I am reviewing today. "'Smokers with serious mental illness have their lives cut short by about 15 years, compared with people who have never smoked and who do not have serious mental illness, research from the University of Michigan shows. They also die 10 years earlier than those with serious mental illness who have never smoked. This means smoking may account for nearly two thirds of the overall difference in life expectancy between individuals with serious mental illness who smoke, and never smokers in the general population, says Jamie Tam, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the U-M School of Public Health, who conducted the study. 'Smoking reduces life expectancy for everyone but we tend to underestimate the importance of smoking for people with comorbidities,' Tam said. 'We know from existing research that people with mental illness live shorter lives, but what wasn't known is how much of that is due to their mental illness and how much is due to the fact that many of them are smokers.' About 42 percent of people with serious psychological distress are smokers, compared with the general population at less than 20 percent.'"  If most smokers are people with mental illness then with these new taxes what are they going to do.  I know when I smoked eighteen years ago I would spend most of my social security check on cigarettes and hardly any food.  I know others will probably do the same.
The article goes on to say: "To find out the contribution of smoking to reduced life expectancy among people with serious psychological distress, Tam and School of Public Health faculty members Kenneth Warner and Rafael Meza analyzed data from 328,000 individuals 25 years and older from the National Health Interview Survey gathered from 1997-2009. They linked it with the 2011 National Death Index. Tam said a disproportionate number of those with serious mental illnesses—including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and major depression—live in poverty, as they are often unemployed and many face homelessness and social conditions that increase their likelihood of smoking and in turn their risk of other health conditions. Deaths by suicide and accidents also occur more frequently in this population. Among those with serious psychological distress, the researchers found that 47 percent of the deaths are due to the three leading health complications associated with smoking: heart disease, cancer and stroke."  I quit because my daughter told her mom that she would not let my granddaughter who was just born in a house that had smoke.  So I decided my granddaughter was more important than smoking.  I was smoking about one and half packs a day. I had to have at least three cigarettes every morning just to start my day.  I quit with wellabutrin. There were so many side effects that I did not have time to think about smoking and I wanted my granddaughter at my house that when a month had past my doctor gave me a refill although I did not use it because I just did not smoke and did not want the side effects that was eighteen years ago and I do not miss it.
The article ends: "'This highlights the need to prioritize preventive care, including smoking cessation programs, for people with mental illness,' said Meza, senior author of the study and assistant professor of epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health. Many people with mental illness lack adequate health care—only 32 percent of those with serious psychological distress report seeing a mental health professional—and many don't get their physical health care needs met, Tam said.
'A large majority of people with mental illness don't access mental health care, and even when they do, other health concerns like smoking are not addressed,' she said. 'There have been calls to integrate smoking interventions into mental health care but these recommendations haven't been fully implemented.'"  They really need to have something that does  not have side effects for the people to quit.  I heard it is hard but with medicines you also need willpower or a good reason to quit. I had a reason and I just did not need the headache of the medicine that was supposed to help.

The Worst Part Of Schizophrenia Isn’t What You Think It Is

That is the title of this article I am reviewing today and this is the last part of two parts. "'It’s like having a personal trainer in the gym, keeping you in just the right zone to build strength and fitness, without slacking or overtraining. And like a physical fitness regime, improvement only comes with persistence — Vinogradov’s experiments typically involve up to 50 hours of training, given over 8 to 10 weeks. 'If you don’t do it intensively, you’re not going to get the same results,' Vinogradov told BuzzFeed News. 'You need to come back every three days, and do your reps again.' After his first psychotic episode, Staglin returned to his classes at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, but his grades plummeted. He was eventually able to drag them back up, but only by isolating himself socially to devote his mental energy to his studies. Reading was an effort. He felt socially awkward and struggled to make friends. After college, Staglin worked for a satellite engineering company in Palo Alto, California, and was applying to grad school at MIT when the pressure became too much again. 'I had to resign from my job. I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t concentrate,' Staglin said.
It wasn’t until the late 1990s that Staglin took part in some of Vinogradov’s earliest experiments, which were designed to help people with schizophrenia make sense of speech and other sounds. Among other tasks, he had to tell whether a rapidly played tone was rising or falling in pitch. Staglin diligently did his reps and saw some benefits after many years of struggling with the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.'" After my first episode of mental illness I do not think I could concentrate on anything.  An example when I had a episode in the state hospital I was in school there and could not concentrate on anything I asked the teacher to take me back to the ward.
The article goes on to say: "'For Staglin, realizing that he was getting better at the games boosted his confidence. As his performance improved, he became more outgoing. 'I think it’s because of the cognitive benefits of being able to perceive and understand conversations better,' he said.
Despite the initial experiment’s benefits to Staglin and other volunteers, it took several years to win funding for the work. In their first major study, published in 2009, Vinogradov’s team invited people with schizophrenia to visit their lab and play a variety of games to improve how they understood sounds. As well as distinguishing the rising or falling tones, they also had to distinguish between distorted syllables containing similar sounds, such as 'pag' and 'bag,' and were given more complex tasks including remembering details from conversations played on the screen. The volunteers who’d trained on these tasks subsequently took tests in which they had to recall words. They performed better than a control group who had trained on computer puzzle games. They also did better on general tests of cognitive ability. Encouragingly, the gains were about twice as large as those typically reported in previous cognitive training studies. And the benefits could still be seen six months later.
Since this initial success, Vinogradov and her colleagues have experimented with different training games, some targeting brain circuits that process social information — for example, by asking volunteers to read the emotions on pictures of people’s faces. The researchers have also tried to intervene earlier in the disorder. (Like Staglin and Webster, most people with schizophrenia experience their first psychotic episode as young adults.)  Last year at the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research in Colorado Springs, Vinogradov’s team reported that the training did more than boost the cognitive abilities of recently diagnosed young people: It also seemed to reduce the severity of their psychotic symptoms, measured six months later.'" The games I played did not have sounds they were pictures of birds and you had to remember them.  They were not all birds but picture of things that you had to remember that is why the guy that took them with me said they did not work because it was memory.
The article ends: "'That doesn’t mean that brain training can replace the drugs that keep hallucinations and delusions at bay. But it suggests that the games may help to protect the brain from the disrupted wiring that is thought to be the root cause of schizophrenia’s symptoms. The researchers want to turn the cognitive improvements into real life-changers, but it’s not yet clear whether the training can make a big difference to holding down a job and building friendships. Vinogradov thinks this may require combining the computer games with other treatments, such as occupational therapy to help people with schizophrenia manage everyday tasks, and low doses of stimulant drugs that can improve focus. Webster got involved in Vinogradov’s research last year, volunteering for a study to see whether the training would work on an iPad — so that young people with schizophrenia can give their brains a workout at home. Like Staglin, Webster had struggled with mental tasks and felt socially isolated. These problems were compounded, he said, by several concussions during his time in jail, when he was beaten by fellow inmates. Unfamiliar with the jail’s unspoken rules, he first got into trouble by sitting in a part of the canteen claimed by black prisoners. After his release, Webster found it difficult to resume his studies. 'I would do homework and I would feel that I had to get up and stop and go listen to music or something,' Webster said. Trying to keep working wasn’t a good idea, he found: 'I get extremely frustrated when I’m in that state. I’ll start slamming doors and stuff, and throwing things across the room.'  Webster felt that the iPad training helped. 'I started noticing that I was less anxious when I was in public,' he said. 'My thoughts became less disorganized.'
Games designed to help a patient understand what they are seeing, in particular, seemed to boost his peripheral vision, increasing his awareness while driving. And his mom noticed that he responded more quickly when they talked — previously, their conversations had been punctuated by long pauses. Still, Webster would often quit the games before he was supposed to, because he found the exercises boring. 'I was supposed to do five hours a week. I ended up doing three,' he said. 'With schizophrenia, it’s really common to have a lack of motivation.' Cameron of UC Davis, who has collaborated with Vinogradov’s group, believes that the computer games industry — masters of cliff-hangers and cinematic thrills — should be able to solve that problem.  Vinogradov's team is  now concentrating on intervening even earlier, in young people who haven’t experienced a full-blown psychotic episode but are starting to behave oddly or having trouble distinguishing dreams from reality. The researchers have already shown that the training helps young people rated at high risk of developing psychosis get better at remembering words. But the idea of starting treatment before people have experienced a psychotic break is controversial. 'Attenuated psychosis syndrome,' intended to describe people at risk of schizophrenia, was rejected  as a new psychiatric diagnosis in 2012. Critics argued that more than 70% of young people who have strange thoughts and minor hallucinations do not go on to develop schizophrenia. If this diagnosis became mainstream, they worried, it could lead to a massive and unwarranted expansion in the prescription of powerful antipsychotic drugs. Getting young people to play computer games doesn’t arouse quite the same fears. 'Cognitive training is probably benign enough,' Allen Frances of Duke University, who led the opposition to the proposed diagnosis, told BuzzFeed News by email. But he remains worried about young people who may never develop schizophrenia being stigmatized by an 'at risk' label.
Webster would have welcomed the opportunity to seek early treatment. He began to have problems concentrating from the age of 14, and found it hard to socialize with other kids. 'I think my life would have different,' he said, 'if they’d caught this disease before I had a full-blown episode.'" Yeah you have to worry that the games get boring.  That is what happened to us that tried the games here at work. I could do better at remembering everyday that I would not play it every morning like I was supposed to.

Does the Media Unfairly Portray Mentally Ill People as Violent?

That is the title of this article I am reviewing today. "Nearly 40 percent of news stories about mental illness report a mentally ill person committing violence toward others. These numbers paint a misleading portrait of those with mental illness, because in reality, less than five percent of violence in the United States is directly related to mental illness, according to a new analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers, who studied news articles from top-tier media outlets over a 20-year period, say that this heavy reporting of such a small figure unfairly alters the perception of the readers to believe that most people with mental illness are prone to violence when extensive research has shown that only a small percent ever commit such acts.

The researchers were quite surprised at how little has changed regarding this subject over the last several decades. In fact, the portrayals may have increased the stigma toward people with mental illness. For example, in the first decade of the study period (1994 to 2005), just one percent of newspaper stories linking violence with mental illness appeared on the front page, compared with 18 percent in the second decade (2005 to 2014). 'Most people with mental illness are not violent toward others and most violence is not caused by mental illness, but you would never know that by looking at media coverage of incidents,' says study leader Emma E. “Beth” McGinty, Ph.D., MS, an assistant professor in the departments of Health Policy and Management and Mental Health at the Bloomberg School.'" A person with mental illness gets very tired of hearing all theses stories of violence and mental illness.  It has been twenty seven years since I had a drink of Alcohol and twenty eight years since I have been locked up for any crime under the influence.  Twenty eight years since a police officer has even stopped me.
The article goes on to say: "'Despite all of the work that has been done to reduce stigma associated with mental health issues, this portrayal of mental illness as closely linked with violence exacerbates a false perception about people with these illnesses, many of whom live healthy, productive lives.
'In an ideal world, reporting would make clear the low percentage of people with mental illness who commit violence.'  In any given year, 20 percent of the U.S. population suffers from mental illness and, over a lifetime, roughly 50 percent receive a diagnosis. For the study, the researchers studied a random sample of 400 news articles that had covered some aspect of mental illness over a 20-year period. All articles appeared in 11 high-circulation, high-viewership media outlets in the United States. The findings show that the most frequently mentioned topic across the study period was violence (55 percent), with 38 percent mentioning violence against others and 29 percent linking mental illness with suicide. Treatment was mentioned in 47 percent of the stories, but just 14 percent described successful treatment for or recovery. 'Stories about successful treatment have the potential to decrease stigma and provide a counter image to depictions of violence, but there are not that many of these types of narratives depicted in the news media,' McGinty says. A deeper look into the media coverage found that stories of mass shootings by individuals with mental illness increased over the course of the study period, from nine percent of all news stories in the first decade to 22 percent in the second decade.'" I hate to admitted it but I had some violence on my record and went to prison for two years where I had my first breakdown before I won my appeal.  I was provoked although that is not an excuse but I would have only done six months in the county jail instead of prison but the judge did not want to give me the law because she knew I would win.
The article ends: "'The number of mass shootings, however, has remained steady over that time period, according to FBI statistics. Among the stories that reported violence toward others, 38 percent mentioned that mental illness can increase the risk of such violence while only eight percent mentioned that most people with mental illness are never or rarely violent toward others.
The specific mental illness most frequently connected to violence in the news was schizophrenia (17 percent) and the two most frequently mentioned risk factors for violence other than mental illness were drug use (five percent) and stressful life events (five percent). One limitation of the study is that it did not include stories from local television news, where a large proportion of Americans get their news. McGinty says that the negative reporting adds to the perception that people with mental illness are dangerous. This is a stigmatizing portrayal that prior studies have shown leads to a desire for social distance from people with mental illness. She concedes, however, that it may be difficult for members of the news media not to assume mental illness is in play because of the idea among many that anyone who would commit violence, especially mass shootings, must have mental illness.
'Anyone who kills people is not mentally healthy. We can all agree on that,' McGinty says. 'But it’s not necessarily true that they have a diagnosable illness. They may have anger or emotional issues, which can be clinically separate from a diagnosis of mental illness.' 'Violence may stem from alcohol or drug use, issues related to poverty or childhood abuse. But these elements are rarely discussed. And as a result, coverage is skewed toward assuming mental illness first.'" I know all my times being arrested were the result of alcohol. After twenty eight years of not drinking I do not miss it at all.  For me it a matter of being free to do what I want to do. I can say today if I was provoked again I would walk away it is wrong for me to put my freedom in the hands of others.  Plus I now have my grandkids that I do not want to grow up the way I did I do not blame anyone but myself because I was a lot smarter than that but alcohol changes a person to make stupid mistakes.

Culturally Guided Family Therapy for Schizophrenia Helps Individual and Caregivers

That is the title of this article I am reviewing today. "Schizophrenia is a difficult mental illness that affects about one percent of the population in the United States. The condition is chronic, severe, and disabling often preventing an individual from living independently.  Approximately 60 percent of those suffering from this condition live with a relative. Despite the fact that family interventions have shown to significantly improve outcomes for individuals with schizophrenia, only about seven percent of patients with this illness receive any family therapy.  To address this void, a new culturally-informed treatment strategy focused on caregivers of people with schizophrenia as well as the individual. The protocol utilizes the cultural believes, values, and behaviors of caregivers to help them cope with the stress of caring for a loved one with schizophrenia.  'We wanted to develop a treatment intervention that taps into cultural beliefs and values that we hypothesized would make the treatment more engaging and relatable to many ethnic minorities that do not necessarily embrace the current mental health care system, said Amy Weisman de Mamani, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at the University of Miami.  'We hoped to develop a treatment that was not only aimed at benefiting patients, but explicitly focused on reducing caregiver distress as well.'"It is a good turnabout from years ago and needed.  When I first was incarcerated at the state hospital they did not like that all I did when I had the chance was talk to my family on the phone.  The doctor their asked my mom to let me go sink or swim on my own.  The did not promote family.
The article goes on to say: "Since the degree of perceived burden and emotions that we experience are tied to one’s cultural view of the world, the project examined the effect of adding culturally based segments to an already established family focused treatment for schizophrenia. For the study, participants undertook a 15-week family-focused, culturally-informed treatment for schizophrenia (CIT-S). The researchers incorporated modules on spirituality, or religion and family collectivism to already established psychoeducational and communication modules.  Sixty percent of the participants were Hispanic, 28 percent Caucasian, eight percent African American, and nearly four percent identified as “Other.” The researchers believe that the treatment is not specific to particular group, but rather may be helpful to all ethnic, racial, and cultural groups.  Study results show that the new treatment markedly reduces caregiver burden, shame, and guilt, implying an improvement in the quality of life for caregivers and patients alike.  The research appears in the journal Psychotherapy of the American Psychological Association." When you have problems sometimes only family can help you solve it. I know it was important very much when I first came back to Denver from Pueblo. If it was not for my brother I would not have found housing I was looking wrong.
The article ends: "'Caring for a patient with severe mental illness can have adverse consequences for the caregiver and ultimately for the patient,' said co-author of the study Giulia Suro, Ph.D.
'These include reduced opportunities to earn an income, socialize, and take care of one’s own personal needs.' The results show that CIT-S and the psychoeducation-only family intervention were equally and highly effective in reducing shame, although CIT-S markedly outperformed family psychoeducation in reducing caregivers’ burden and guilt. In the spirituality module, the study aimed at helping families’ access beliefs and practices that could help cope with the illness, such as prayer, meditation, volunteerism, and attending religious services. Family members that did not subscribe to any particular religious practice or belief participated in parallel exercises that didn’t specifically reference “God” or “religion.” In the family collectivism module, the study assessed and encouraged the ability of family members to develop the perspective that they are part of a unified team working towards common goals. The study is a follow-up of a study in which the authors shared the first findings about the effect of the CIT-S on patient’s psychiatric symptoms, showing that CIT-S is better at reducing patients’ psychiatric symptoms, than the psychoeducation-only intervention." Well it seems so long ago that I was out and meditation was important.  Also talking to my mom about college since she had went years ago. It helped even though I had different problems happening it helped me see I could finish and be successful.

Those with Severe Mental Illness Rarely Tested for Diabetes Despite High Risk

That is the title of this article I am writing about. "Despite the fact that individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) are two to three times more likely to have type II diabetes than the general population, low-income patients on Medicaid are rarely screened for it, according to a new study led by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).  The findings support growing efforts to integrate mental health services with primary care to improve diagnosis and treatment of health issues associated with mental illness, the researchers said.  Although many factors contribute to the increased risk, treatment with antipsychotic medication raises the risk for diabetes even further. The American Diabetes Association and American Psychiatric Association both recommend that physicians conduct annual diabetes screening for any patients taking antipsychotic medications, but until now it has been unclear how often screenings actually occur.  For the study, researchers examined diabetes screenings in a group of 50,915 publicly insured adults with SMI who were on antipsychotic medication. The findings showed that over 70 percent of these patients did not receive a diabetes-specific test. However, those who had at least one primary care visit in addition to mental health services were twice as likely to be screened.  Our health care system is fragmented for people with mental illness. For example, the mental health electronic medical record is totally separate from their primary care electronic record, truly limiting the quality of care this vulnerable population can receive,' said Christina Mangurian, M.D., M.A.S., associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the UCSF School of Medicine and lead author of the study."I have labs done every three months. I diet controlled diabetes.  My doctor said because of the antipsychotic medicine I have to work harder to control that it does not come back. I walk and watch the corn fructose syrup that is a bad one I try and stay away. I do not like the taste of diet pop either.
The article goes on to say: "As a community psychiatrist, I see so many people who are untreated or under-treated for physical health problems because of this lack of integration.'  'Many of these patients are dying of premature cardiovascular disease,' said Mangurian. 'They tend to smoke cigarettes, hardly exercise, and may deal with food insecurity as a result of financial problems.'
Even further, their antipsychotic medication disrupts metabolic function, causing them to gain weight rapidly, which can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes.  The study is the first to examine diabetes screening in this high-risk population served in community mental health clinics. In an effort to integrate primary care and mental health, the California Department of Health Services’ Data and Research Committee combined public mental health and medical records during a State Quality Improvement project. This allowed the researchers to compare individuals across the two datasets.
The findings showed that about 30 percent of the patients with severe mental illness received a diabetes-specific screening and about 30 percent received no medical tests at all. Patients who had at least one primary care visit were more than twice as likely to be screened for diabetes as those who did not.  Integrated health care would make it easier for patients to get screening and treatment, said study co-author Penelope Knapp, M.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at University of California, Davis." I hope people with mental illness take this serious because it is.  Last week I told people in the blog that I was worried because of my lungs. I still am worried but I thought about it last night whatever is wrong I will beat it I have overcome so much in my life. I will overcome this also. Like I always say those grand kids need me and I need them.
The article ends: "'We can do better,' Knapp said. 'It’s really important for individuals with medical and mental health problems to have their health care in one system. It’s a no-brainer that these should be integrated.'  There are many factors that could explain why the majority of SMI patients in this study were never screened for diabetes, Knapp said. The study examined people with Medicaid, a program that provides health and medical services for low-income individuals and families.
'One of the barriers for not-so-wealthy people is that they can’t see two providers on the same day. If the psychiatrist prescribes antipsychotics, that person may not be able to take off work another day for a followup appointment with a physician,' Knapp said.  An integrated health care system would allow mental health and medical records to 'talk' to each other, an essential asset for patients with mental illness. If the physician could access mental health records, they could see the diagnosis and prescription and immediately understand the risk of diabetes, Mangurian said. This is especially important for young patients.  “The young adults who develop a psychotic illness in college or high school — they are the ones I’m worried about,” Mangurian said.  “Diabetes in a young adult is not on a primary care doctor’s radar. These doctors need to learn that if their patient has a diagnosis of schizophrenia or is taking an antipsychotic medication, they are at increased risk.” I let my doctor know that I am taking antipyschotic medicine and that I have paranoid schizophrenia.  It is important that you share everything if you want to get treated in the right way. You don't want something that will cause a reaction with your other medicines.

Scans Show People Have a Brain 'Fingerprint,' Researchers Say

That is the title of this article I am writing about. "People appear to have their own individual fingerprint of brain activity, one that might be used to predict the risk of mental illness and see the effects of medical treatment, researchers reported on Monday.  The pattern of brain activity is consistent — and the research team at Yale University could turn it around and identify specific individuals based on the pattern.  "The patterns were different enough that we were able to pick people out of a crowd regardless of what people were doing," said Emily Finn, a graduate student who led work on the study.  They even used it to show differences in what's called fluid intelligence — quick thinking and problem solving.  'We demonstrate that it is possible, with near-perfect accuracy in many cases, to identify an individual from a large group of subjects solely on the basis of his or her connectivity matrix,' Finn's group, led by Todd Constable, director of MRI research at Yale, wrote in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The team used data from multiple functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans of 126 volunteers. They're all taking part in a bigger study called the Human Connectome Project, which is looking to see just how different parts of the brain work together." This sounds promising.  If they can help people with mental illness that would be great.
The article goes on to say: "They found a distinct pattern of activity in each person, which held true when they were doing something and when they were just sitting there. It's not so much showing that one brain region is connecting to another as showing that two or more regions are functioning in synchrony at certain times, Finn said. 'It's definitely not easy to see,' she said. The effect wasn't visual, but could be seen in the streams of data coming from the scans. 'It was about the pattern,' she said. 'It wasn't necessarily that people had overall strong connection strength or overall weak connection strength.' It's step towards applying the benefits of fMRI to individuals. 'In the past, in an fMRI you would image a bunch of people doing the same thing and you would average together the data from many people and see how the brain lights up,' she said. 'The dogma has always been that it is hard to get any meaningful information from a single person's scan because this method is so noisy and crude.'  The Yale team's approach found that you could, in fact, find out quite a bit about an individual from his or her fMRI.  'Characteristic connectivity patterns were distributed throughout the brain, but the frontoparietal network emerged as most distinctive,' the team wrote.  These are regions associated with fluid intelligence, Finn said." They can tell from the brain how it is working. All I have seem of MRI's is brain lighting up when we are using certain parts.
The article ends with: "These two lobes, the prefrontal and parietal, are some of the most recently evolved parts of the brain,' she said. They're linked with attention and memory. Not that this means brain scans will replace IQ tests. 'It is a lot easier to give someone an IQ test than to put them in a scanner,' Finn said. 'The real potential in this is not predicting IQ per se, but thing that are harder to predict in a test like who is going to go on to develop mental illness,' she said. 'Maybe we could find a way to predict it so we can intervene and prevent mental illness,' Finn added.  There aren't drugs or treatments that can do that now but there may be in years to come, she said.  It might be useful in predicting or measuring someone's response to drug education programs, or to other therapies, she added."  It would be nice to see if they can predict when people are going to get mental illness.  If they can stop before people go through hell that would be great. I know this will take years before anything can be done.  They do not have medication that helps everyone right now.

Belief That Mental Illness Can Be Contagious Contributes To Isolation

That is the title of this article I am writing about. "Many illnesses are contagious. You'd do well to avoid your neighbor's sneeze, for example, and to wash your hands after tending to your sick child. But what about mental illness? The idea that anxiety, autism or major depression could be transmitted through contact may sound crazy — and it probably is. There's a lot we don't know about the origins of mental illness, but the mechanisms identified so far point in other directions. Nonetheless, we do know that people's emotions can be affected by the emotions of those around them — a phenomenon known as "emotional contagion" — and that specific symptoms of mental disorders, such as binge eating, can sometimes spread among peers. We also know that many people hold scientifically unfounded views about transmission. For instance, some people believe that organ transplant recipients can acquire the personal characteristics of their donors, a view for which there's no serious scientific support. So, could it be that some people believe psychiatric disorders can be contagious? And, if so, does this belief have consequences for their willingness to interact with people diagnosed with those disorders?" Well what people believe.  I have worked for over six years and no one has caught schizophrenia from me.  I know some people can catch colds from someone else in the family or school or work but not a mental illness.
The article goes on to say: "A recent paper by Jessecae Marsh and Lindzi Shanks, published in the journal Memory & Cognition, suggests the answers are "yes" and "yes." Many of their participants agreed that mental disorders can be communicated from one person to another, and individuals' views about the communicability of a disorder strongly predicted their willingness to interact with a person having that disorder. In their first study, Marsh and Shanks presented 45 undergraduate participants with 12 different mental disorders that ranged from alcohol abuse and ADD to schizophrenia and generalized anxiety disorder. For each one, participants were asked to rate how likely they thought it would be for someone to catch the disorder through close contact with a person who had it, with ratings on a scale from 0 percent probability to 100 percent probability. Ratings varied strongly across disorders, with the highest average estimated transmission rates for alcohol abuse (56.0%), anorexia (35.7%), major depressive disorder (32.2%), and hypochondria (30.6%). The disorders with the lowest estimated transmission rates were Tourette's disorder (4.2%), autism (5.3%), schizophrenia (7.4%), and bipolar disorder (11.2%). Participants answered a variety of additional questions, including how willing they would be to interact with someone with each disorder. For example, they rated their agreement with statements like, "I would be willing to work with a person with anorexia," or "I think someone with schizophrenia is dangerous." The study's central result was this: People's willingness to interact with someone with a given disorder was best predicted by their belief as about the communicability of that disorder, with other beliefs — about, for instance, the disorder's psychological basis and the extent to which an individual can control the symptoms she displays — playing a much smaller role. A second experiment helped establish that this predictive relationship was actually causal: It was indeed beliefs about communicability that caused different attitudes towards personal interaction. " I believe this when I was looking for an apartment me and my sister went to look at one when I told the landlady that I had a mental illness she stopped talking to me and started talking to my sister.  Like I was not there.  Of course she did not give me the apartment but played it off that there was another reason.  It is illegal to discriminate against people with disability.
The article ends: "But how, exactly, did people think the transmission of mental illness from one person to another actually occurred? A follow-up study with 122 undergraduates probed more deeply into people's beliefs about the mechanisms involved. Diseases like chicken pox and the flu were overwhelmingly thought to be transmitted through physical contact on a relatively short timescale (e.g., being sneezed on or touching the same object). But the most common mechanisms of transmission for mental illness involved social interactions and were generally believed to operate on a much longer timescale — closer to years than to minutes. Not surprisingly, though, the responses participants provided were pretty light on specifics. For instance, one participant explained that generalized anxiety disorder can be transmitted because "the person's anxiety will rub off." For alcohol abuse, a participant explained: "If you hang out with someone that drinks all the time, you will soon be drinking a lot as well." People who suffer from mental illness face a variety of challenges, often including stigma and social isolation. The findings from these new studies help identify one factor that may contribute to both: people's beliefs about the transmission of mental illness from one person to another. The thing is, these beliefs about transmission are almost certainly false. This may seem disheartening, but it also makes room for a sliver of hope: the hope that a small bit of education could go a long way."Some how we have to get rid of stigma and these beliefs. They only see what is on TV and they do not interact with people that have mental illness to find out we our not contagious and really would not wish this disease on anyone.

Smoking Rates Still High Among Mentally Ill

That is the title of this article I am writing about. "Despite a major decline in cigarette smoking in the general adult population, smoking rates in people with mental illness have remained the same for a decade, according to new research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
In fact, one-third of current adult smokers suffer from some type of mental illness, and so far, anti-smoking efforts have not seemed to affect this particular population.  'Individuals with mental illness represent approximately one-third of the adult smokers in the U.S., and we need to develop alternative tobacco control strategies, including targeted treatments for this vulnerable population,' said Marc L. Steinberg, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and lead author of the study." I know from reading a lot of them have a hard time quitting.  I quit seventeen years ago.  I did so my granddaughter could come and visit in a smoke free house. My ex was supposed to quit but I am the one that ended up quitting it took me  a month with welbutrin there were so many side effects I quit in a month.
The article goes on to say: "'Tobacco control has been relatively successful in helping some groups quit smoking, but the remaining smokers may be the ones who are the hardest to treat. We need to address the health disparities of the remaining smokers, such as those with lower socioeconomic status and mental health problems.'  For the study, researchers analyzed data of New Jersey residents who had been surveyed by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. In this system, data was collected from telephone surveys independently conducted in all 50 states that compiled chronic health information from adults aged 18 and older and then pooled by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The findings show that during the 10-year period examined by researchers at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, smoking prevalence was greater in people suffering with behavioral health conditions, compared to persons with better mental health.'" I hear talk that the new quitting is using e-cigarettes.  To me that is not quitting.  I remember when I had to give up coffee because it made my symptoms come through.  The  first thing my counselor asked it is what did you replace it with and my answer was water. I can now drink coffee now that I am on a different medication.
The article ends with: "'Our research found that while smoking rates have been going down in New Jersey adults without mental health problems, they have remained steady for those with mental health problems,' said Steinberg.  'This suggests that tobacco control strategies are not reaching those with poor mental health, or, if they are, their messages are not translating into successful cessation.'
Steinberg and his colleagues also examined quit attempts by current smokers. They found that those with poor mental health tried to quit just as often as those who were mentally healthy, but tended to relapse and start smoking again.  “Evidence shows that there has been a significant decrease in smoking in adults, and our data indicates that people with mental illness attempt to quit smoking at the same rate as those without mental illness, yet they are not as successful,” said Steinberg."I had to quit the side effects were to much I quit in a month because I did not want to take anymore of that welbutrin. I had a friend who gave me a list of the side effects and I had everyone on that list. I did not even think about smoking I was wondering what would happen next.  Although I am glad that I quit the first time I tried to quit.

Voices in people's heads more complex than previously thought

That is the title of this article I am writing about today.  "Voices in people's heads are far more varied and complex than previously thought, according to new research by Durham and Stanford universities, published in The Lancet Psychiatry today.  One of the largest and most detailed studies to date on the experience of auditory hallucinations, commonly referred to as voice hearing, found that the majority of voice-hearers hear multiple voices with distinct character-like qualities, with many also experiencing physical effects on their bodies.  The study also confirmed that both people with and without psychiatric diagnoses hear voices.  The findings question some of the current assumptions about the nature of hearing voices and suggest there is a greater variation in the way voices are experienced than is typically recognised.  The researchers say this variation means different types of therapies could be needed for voice-hearers, such as tailored Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) geared towards distinct voice sub-types or patterns of voice hearing.  Current common approaches to help with voices include medication, CBT, voice dialogue techniques and other forms of therapy and self-help.  The researchers say this variation means different types of therapies could be needed for voice-hearers, such as tailored Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) geared towards distinct voice sub-types or patterns of voice hearing.  Current common approaches to help with voices include medication, CBT, voice dialogue techniques and other forms of therapy and self-help.  Auditory hallucinations are a common feature of many psychiatric disorders, such as psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but are also experienced by people without psychiatric conditions. It is estimated that between five and 15 per cent of adults will experience auditory hallucinations during their lifetimes.  This is one of the first studies to shed light on the nature of voice-hearing both inside and outside schizophrenia, across many different mental health diagnoses.
Lead researcher Dr Angela Woods, from the Centre for Medical Humanities at Durham University, said: "Our findings have the potential to overturn mainstream psychiatric assumptions about the nature of hearing voices." I heard voices once in the state hospital so I do not know to much about them.  The voices kept telling me that my sisters were being held on a ward across from mine.  I went over to that ward and it was empty.  I did get in trouble although I was insane and really did not understand.
The article goes on to say: "'We call into question the presumed auditory quality of hearing voices and show that there is an unrecognised complexity in the 'character' qualities of some voices.  'It is crucial to study mental health and human experiences such as voice-hearing from a variety of different perspectives to truly find out what people are experiencing, not just what we think they must be experiencing because they have a particular diagnosis. We hope this approach can help inform the development of future clinical interventions.'  The researchers, funded by the Wellcome Trust, collected answers to open- and close-ended questions through an on-line questionnaire focused on description of experiences from 153 respondents. The majority of respondents had been diagnosed with a psychiatric condition but 26 had no history of mental illness. Participants were free to respond in their own words.  The large majority of respondents described hearing multiple voices (81 per cent) with characterful qualities (70 per cent).  Less than half the participants reported hearing purely auditory voices with 45 per cent reporting either thought-like or 'inbetween' voices with some thought-like and some acoustic qualities. This finding challenges the view that hearing voices is always a perceptual or acoustic phenomenon, and may have implications for future neuroscientific studies of what is happening in the brain when people 'hear' voices.  66 per cent of people felt bodily sensations while hearing voices, such as feeling hot or tingling sensations in their hands and feet. Voices with effects on the body were more likely to be abusive or violent, and, in some cases, be linked to experiences of trauma.  While fear, anxiety, depression and stress were often associated with voices, 31 per cent of participants said they also felt positive emotions.  Co-author Dr Nev Jones from Stanford University said: 'Our findings regarding the prevalence and phenomenology of non-acoustic voices are particularly noteworthy. By and large, these voices were not experienced simply as intrusive or unwanted thoughts, but rather, like the auditory voices, as distinct 'entities' with their own personalities and content. This data also suggests that we need to think much more carefully about the distinction between imagined percepts, such as sound, and perception.'" I really cannot tell you who my voices sounded like as it happened so fast and then I was on medication.
The article ends: "Case study
Rachel Waddingham is an independent trainer and consultant with Behind The Label and a trustee of the National Hearing Voices Network and the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis.
Rachel hears voices, sees visions and has struggled with overwhelming beliefs.
Rachel explains: "I hear about 13 or so voices. Each of them is different -- some have names, they are different ages and sound like different people. Some of them are very angry and violent, others are scared, and others are mischievous. Sometimes, I hear a child who is very frightened. When she is frightened I can sometimes feel pains in my body -- burning. If I can help the voice calm down, by doing some grounding strategies, the burning pains stop.
'Since going to a Hearing Voices Group, I have found ways of making sense of and coping with my voices. I no longer feel terrorised by them even though some of them say some very frightening things. I now have a family of voices and have a better relationship with them. I can make a choice about how I respond to them -- whether I listen to them, and how I reply. Some of them are now much more helpful -- they can be a window to my feelings, letting me know about a problem that I have in my life that I need to address.  'Although in our society, people who hear voices are often seen as 'mad' or 'crazy', I do think things are changing. I find that lots of people are interested in voice-hearing. Many people have told me about experiences they have had -- either in their childhood, or as an adult. It's as if by talking about voices we are starting to de-stigmatise the experience and opening the door for others to speak openly too.  'As long as we believe that voices are signs of pathology and illness, it makes little sense to really explore a person's lived experience. Instead we try to suppress or eliminate the voices as far as possible. Listening to them seems 'crazy'. Still, in my experience it can be really useful to be interested in people's lived experience of voice-hearing. Every one of us is different, and being curious about my experiences was one of the first steps to dealing with them.  'This research is a step forward. If we want to understand more about voice-hearing, it makes sense to ask a voice-hearer -- and be willing to modify our perception of what it means to hear voices based on their answers. For me, the word 'voices' isn't sufficient. I use it, but it hides the embodied parts of my experience for which I have few words to describe.  'I would like to live in a world where we are curious about one another's experiences and seek to understand rather than pathologise. Everyone has a story and the world would be much kinder if we started to listen to it.'" She talks the truth although I know it is frightening hearing voices.  Even though I only experienced it for awhile.  I know having a mental illness really changed me and I know I never want to lose control of myself ever again.

Wellness Advice Often Lacking for Mentally Ill

That is the title of this article I am writing about.  "A new study finds health care providers often fail to provide dietary and exercise advice to patients with diabetes, or to those who display symptoms of mental illness.  People with mental illness are often at high risk for diabetes as well as other “lifestyle” diseases.  During the investigation researchers discovered more than half of patients with symptoms of mental illness, and nearly one-third of those who also had diabetes, failed to receive appropriate health education.  The study has been published in the journal Diabetes Educator.
Although exercise and dietary recommendations have been a mainstay of diabetic care, researchers say those with mental illness can also benefit from a wellness lifestyle. Appropriate amounts of physical activity and healthy dietary choices can improve the quality of life and prevent debilitating health problems for diabetics and for those with mental illness. Providers should not miss the opportunity to advise people with mental illness on health promotion and lifestyle changes, said researcher Xiaoling Xiang of the University of Illinois. 'It is important that providers counsel people in this population as early as possible about exercise and nutritional changes that reduce the risks associated with diabetes — before risk factors such as hypertension and high cholesterol manifest,' said Xiang, a doctoral candidate in social work. People with mental illness have significantly higher rates of health problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol that could be prevented or alleviated with lifestyle modifications. They are also at increased risk of premature death, according to the study." People need to know before they develop theses diseases.  I know for one I do not want any health problems in my life.  I know that walking helps and I do walk.  The treadmill also helps.
The article goes on to say: "In the current study, participants ranged from 18 to 70 years old. The prevalence of diabetes was 15.6 percent among people in the data sample who had symptoms of serious psychological distress, compared with 7.9 percent of their peers.  Rates for all of the clinical conditions that predispose patients to diabetes were significantly higher among participants with symptoms of mental illness than among their counterparts.  More than 70 percent of those with mental illness had body mass indexes above 25, compared with 64.3 percent of their peers. They also had significantly higher rates of hypertension (42.1 percent, compared with 25.6 percent), hyperlipidemia (42 percent, versus 30.6 percent), and cardiovascular disease (29.7 percent, versus 14.7 percent).  People with symptoms of psychological distress who had not been diagnosed with diabetes at the time of the study had an average of more than three diabetes risk factors, compared with their counterparts, who averaged 2.4 risk factors.  The likelihood of patients receiving lifestyle counseling increased in accordance with their number of risk factors, however. While only 10.4 percent of patients who had no diabetes risk factors said they had received dietary advice from their health care providers, more than 65 percent of people with five or more risk factors had received dietary counseling." I know that before I had a mental illness and stopped smoking I hardly had to worry about my weight.  Now I have to lose a least twenty pounds and I still will not be at the weight I was before all this happened.
The article ends with: "'Given the elevated risk for diabetes among individuals with symptoms of psychological distress, even greater numbers of clinicians in the study sample should have been providing lifestyle counseling,' Xiang said.  'However, the increase in the rates of diabetes and diabetes risk factors seems to have outpaced the increase in the rates of provider advice for this population.' Because people with mental illness tend to utilize outpatient, inpatient, and emergency services at much higher rates than the general population, clinicians have increased opportunities to educate patients about the benefits of a healthy diet and physical activity, Xiang said.
Researchers used data from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. This survey interviews a nationally representative sample of participants multiple times over a two-year period about their health and use of medical services. Subjects in the data sample who had symptoms of mental illness had scored 13 or higher on the six-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, also called the K6, a screening tool that has been shown to be strongly predictive of serious mental illness." I do not want diabetes.  I do what I have to make sure I do not get it. I do need to walk more or get on the treadmill more than I do.  I will just have to make the changes to make sure I do.

Scientist spends nine months in max-security prison to learn how prisons manage mental illness in inmates

That is the title of this article I am writing about. “Case Western Reserve University mental health researcher Joseph Galanek spent a cumulative nine months in an Oregon maximum-security prison to learn first-hand how the prison manages inmates with mental illness. What he found, through 430 hours of prison observations and interviews, is that inmates were treated humanely and security was better managed when cell block officers were trained to identify symptoms of mental illness and how to respond to them. In the 150- year-old prison, he discovered officers used their authority with flexibility and discretion within the rigid prison structure to deal with mentally ill inmates.  Galenek’s observations and interviews with 23 staff members and 20 inmates with severe mental illness, are described in Medical Anthropology Quarterly article, ‘Correctional Officers and the Incarcerated Mentally Ill: Responses to Psychiatric Illness in Prison.’ The National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health supported his research. ‘With this research, I hope to establish that prisons, with appropriate policies and staff training, can address the mental health needs of prisoners with severe mental illness,’ said Galenek, PhD, MPH a medical anthropologist and research associate at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences’ Begun Center for Violence Education and Prevention Research at Case Western Reserve.” He looks like he has the skills necessary to find out how to best treat mentally ill prisoners.  I know that this is a prison and they are there to do time.  Although I was once one of them and there is nothing crueler than being mentally ill while you are locked up.
The article goes on to say: “ Additionally, he said, ‘I show that supporting the mental health needs of inmates with severe mental illness concurrently supports the safety and security of prisons, and that these two missions are not mutually exclusive.  With the number of prisoners with severe mental illness increasing, efforts need to be made by all prison staff to ensure that this segment of the prison population has appropriate mental health care and safety.’ Galanek saw how administrative policies and cultural values at the prison allowed positive relationships to develop between officers and prisoners diagnosed with severe mental illness, among the prison’s 2,000 inmates. In this maximum-security prison, left unidentified for the study to protect the confidentiality of officers and inmates officers received training to identify symptoms of mental illness, which, in turn, led to better security, safety and humane treatment of potentially volatile inmates.  But officers were also able to use their discretion in handling some situations. Galanek observed, for example, the following instances where an officer’s decision—rather than rigidly enforcing prison rules—helped mentally ill inmates and maintain order within the institution.” It is always better when you can work a situation for the better for both parties involved.  A person just wants to make life easier for themselves and all.  If no inmates get hurt in prison it would be all the better.
The article ends with: “Prisoners are required to work 40 hours at an assigned job.  But one inmate chose to remain in his cell instead of reporting to work—a prison offense.  The inmate told the officer he was experiencing auditory hallucinations.  Instead of sending the prisoner to a disciplinary unit, the officer allowed the prisoner to remain in his cell until the hallucinations passed.  A correctional officer confronted a violent prisoner, who was off his medication and began smashing a TV and mirror and threatened other prisoners.  Instead of disciplinary confinement, the officer conferred with mental health workers, who sent the prisoner to the inpatient psychiatric  unit to get him back on his medication.  Prisoners aren’t allowed to loiter or talk to other inmates outside their cells.  But a high-functioning inmate with a bipolar disorder worked a janitorial job that allowed him to talk to other mentally ill inmates.  Through those conversations, he was able to let officers know when inmates were exhibiting symptoms of their mental illness.  That information allowed officers to quickly address potential problems and decrease security risks.  Conversely, Galanek said, if these inmates were sent to the segregation unit (“the hole”) to sit isolated for hours their thoughts could lead to agitation and hallucinations that often bring on prison security problems.  Mentally ill prisoner’s work was important and meaningful because it acted as a coping mechanism to decrease the impact of psychiatric symptoms, he said.  To gain such access to prison culture is highly unusual.  In fact, such ethnographic studies have declined in past 30 years due to perceptions that researchers are seen as security risks within these highly controlled environments.  But as a mental health specialist in Oregon’s Department of Corrections from 1996-2003, Galanek was uniquely prepared to navigate the prison for his research. ‘They trusted me,’ he said. ‘I knew how to move, talk and interact with staff and inmates in the prison.

Many mental illnesses reduce life expectancy more than heavy smoking

That is the title of this article I am writing about today.  “Serious mental illnesses reduce life expectancy by 10-20 years, an analysis by psychiatrist has shown—a loss that’s equivalent to or worse than that for heavy smoking.  Yet mental health has not seen the same public health priority, say the scientist, despite these stark figures and the similar prevalence of mental health problems.”  If you smoke and you have mental health problems I guess you are in worse shape.  Although they compared the results for smoking and mental illness and they saw that mental illness was worse.

What are the actual years? “The average reduction in life expectancy in people with bipolar disorder is between nine and 20 years, while it is 10 to 20 years for schizophrenia, between nine and 24 years for drug and alcohol abuse, and around seven to 11 years for recurrent depression. The loss of years among heavy smokers is eight to 10 years. Dr Seena Fazel of the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University said: ‘We found that many mental health diagnosis are associated with a drop in life expectancy as great as that associated with smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day.” When they put it in those terms and associations it looks bad for people with a mental illness including me.
They must have reasons for stating this: “One problem is the tendency to separate mental and physical illness, explains Dr Fazel.  ‘Many causes of mental health problems also have physical consequences, and mental illness worsens the prognosis of a range of physical illnesses, especially heart disease, diabetes and cancer.  Unfortunately, people with serious mental illness may not access healthcare effectively,’ says Dr Fazel.”  That is one good reason to at least exercise.  I want to live longer but not sicker I want to have a good quality of life in my old years.  Mostly everybody I feel wants that too.  All three are bad to have diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
What can be done to help so this does not all come true? “Dr Fazel is certain: ‘All this can be changed.  There are effective drug and psychological treatments for mental health problems.  We can improve mental health and social care provision.  That means making sure people have straightforward access to health care and appropriate jobs and meaningful daytime activities. It’ll be challenging, but it can be done.’”  Maybe with the new health care law and more people getting insurance they can get the healthcare they need.  Hopefully the will do what the doctors say.
People with mental illnesses need to get in and see doctors so they can work on their health. I know that goes for me even though I lost some weight I have to get serious again to lose more. I have not been doing as much walking as I used to.  Back to the treadmill I king of lapsed working at that.  I always go to the doctor and as for my working out I am in good shape.  With more people getting Medicaid and other insurance and hopefully both their psyche doctors and their primary doctors they can get the help they need to make sure they live long and satisfying lives.

Crime Rarely Associated with Mental Illness

That is the title of this article I am writing about. I was going to write about how people with mental illness die younger then I found this article and I think it is a better article I will write the other next week.  I can attest to the article since I had my mental illness and was released from the state hospital I have no contact with the law.  This is from a person who they always stopped and even my friends would get stopped thinking they were me.  You hear about the crimes that are committed usually shooting’s that make the news.  They do not happen all the time.

What the article is saying is that they are arrested and it has nothing to do with the mental illness symptoms. Last week’s blog talked about the people that were incarcerated.  Here is some news about solitary confinement there is a bill in the house .It is bad for people with mental illness to be locked up with people who committee crimes.  The last time I was locked up was in the state hospital.  I believe that I had to prove myself that I wanted to be free.  I was on something called conditional release.  You see my sentence to the state hospital was one day to life.  To be free I had to do five years conditional release and that included UAs every month for five years.
If it had been prior to my mental illness I could not have done five years conditional release.  I could not even do one year parole without be locked up for parole violation.  Although being in the state hospital I had a chance to change my life around and I did it.  That meant giving up alcohol and drugs because with them you have no chance of turning things around.  If you take all the people locked up with and without a mental illness most are in because of alcohol and drugs when they committed their crimes. If you ask am I satisfied with my life today I would say yes.
I would not have known my grandkids except through pictures and stuff because I would have always been locked up that was the way my life went back then.  To not watch them grow up would have been hard. As I said last week people and mental illness do not need to be locked up in prison or jail they need the state hospital.  It feels good knowing that I can walk the streets now and not worry about being stopped or walking on the wrong lawn and getting arrested. It feels good getting to see my grandkids and know they can come over to visit.

Life is Hard

Well last week I was off for a few days and I thought I would be able to blog anyway although my computer went down just as I was trying to write something. Isn’t that the way it usually goes?  Here is an article to also read about mental illness I think it is interesting.  Why do I say life is hard when I now use positive thinking? If I say that than what I go through now is not as tough as some of the stuff I went through just to make it.  Whenever I am walking in the cold all I have to remember is the time I was at the state hospital and I had to walk in a blizzard to and A.A. meeting just so I could get released from the state hospital.
It was cold and I was frozen but I did it. I prove I would do anything for my freedom. Life is a lot easier than my past although that does not mean everything is roses. I have bad days where everything goes wrong.  I know that those days will pass and everything will turn out OK.  It’s not very easy believing that it will turn out right when it looks like your world has turned upside down.  Just like when I was at the state hospital you take every day on its own and plug through until it changes and it does sooner or later.  You just have to keep trying until you find the answer.  It is easier said than done.  My computer was acting up as I am trying to write this blog.  I went to another computer and the same thing.
The only way I was able to fix it was to rewrite and that is not right when you have what you want to say and then you cannot write it because you’re having problems with the word program.  Although I found a solution and now I am back to writing this blog and it seems to be going better.  What I am trying to say is that there is always an answer to all problems you just have to keep tinkering to you find the right solution. As I wrote two weeks ago it is called being resilient.  We all have that and can use it.  We all been through a lot and came out better people for it.  I know when I walk in the cold now it is not as bad as when I was at the state hospital.  I just remember that night and I can do anything.
This illness does rob you of who you were before although I think it gives back a better person who has to realize that they have to take a different road than the one they were on.

Staying Positive

That is hard to do with all the news being negative and life just getting a person down in the dumps.  I am doing better than I used to be at staying positive.  I can remember why I started reading positive books when I was going to college and had just been released from the state hospital.  Nothing went right before that when I received my driver’s license at sixteen I had just backed my car into my uncle’s car that he had just fixed up a 1966 Chevy super sport he forgave me but that is how my life went negative. It seemed nothing went right.  I was always in trouble and my uncles would always bail me out.  The news now has a lot of people that do things that are not because they have a mental illness.
If they do have a mental illness they make the news right away.  Delusions I can understand although these people without a mental illness I do not understand what makes them that way.  If you do have a mental illness they stick you in jail where you should not be. As this article says. Which I agree with is why I am putting up the link.  I still get down now days after reading all those positive books years ago.  Life has a way of doing that to a person.  Although I also know that I will get through those bad days and they will look sunny again.  You just have to have the hope that the future will be better again.
I don’t say the affirmation’s like I used to although if times get really tough I will.  I have been locked up before and know that sooner or later you get out and life hopefully will be better.  It takes work though you have to work on yourself.  I know that going to groups and working on your self requires a lot although a person is worth it. As I wrote last week and the week before college was no walk in the park.  I wanted it more than anything I knew I did not want to go back to work construction it would mean driving again and when I did work construction I was drinking and that was before I was twenty one.  I remember my girlfriend saying one night when I came home from work you’re already drunk and you just got off work.
We would get off work and have shots in a parking lot that is how bad it was.  I never want to repeat those days.  I only hit a parked car and it is only by the grace of God that did not hit another car and kill someone.  I was not even nineteen when I hit that parked car. It was the beginning of jail for me and it never ended until I went to the state hospital and changed my life around.  Everyone does not get the time or work to put in too lead two different lives.  I did and I still have compassion for my fellow man when I read they have a mental illness or a substance abuse problem.  I was there and that is all takes to remember and stay positive because I went through a lot.
I can always think of how my life could have been different if I would have stayed in school and went to college before I was middle aged.  My uncles that went through a lot to always bail me out their life might have been better also. I will never know.  Through it all I have to stay positive and help and guide my grandchildren so they do have the chance to go to college when they are supposed to a live a good life.