Biofeedback and Mental Health

BEFORE I GET INTO The BLOG, I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND OUR READERS THAT The RECOVERY BLOG IS MOVING TO A NEW LOCATION: OUR BLOG WILL CONTINUE FROM OUR NEW HOME:  http://www.mhcd.org/blog

There are many types of mental health conditions which affect different kinds of people with symptoms that range from mild to very serious and even life threatening such as having a psychotic illness. Each of these mental health disorders need monitoring of these people and they also require support in order to gain both physical and mental recovery.

Today, the conditions suffered by those with a mental health disorder are treated by most doctors using medications such as antidepressants, psychotropic’s, or antipsychotics in tandem with therapies’ such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) or DBT (Dialectic Behavioral Therapy) as well as others which may be therapeutic. Another form of treatment used in less debilitating forms of mental illness involves relaxation exercises, muscle relaxation, breathing exercises and Biofeedback. 

Biofeedback Healing Information

Biofeedback is a treatment which helps those individuals suffering from depression or an anxiety disorder. This form of treatment involves and individual being monitored by a recording device which is fed back to the person so that they can recognize and identify how their body reacts during relaxation and how they react during stressful situations.

There are advantages to the use of Biofeedback as a treatment for those of a mental health condition. One is that it helps the affected of such a condition whom might be unaware of other feelings or emotions which may let a person know when they can achieve a relaxed state of mind as opposed to when they are more in tune to their negative symptoms. As many people experience negative symptoms, they find they do not like taking medication due to misconceptions and stigma of the results of taking a medication, yet Biofeedback can provide an alternative for those who are suffering from a mental illness and the stigma’s associated with obtaining help for their affliction. Last but not least, a person through the use of Biofeedback becomes more aware of their physical feelings and eventually requires Biofeedback to a lesser degree, obtaining the ability to eventually control their negative responses, without the use of medications.  JUST A REMINDER THAT THE RECOVERY BLOG IS MOVING TO A NEW ADDRESS: OUR NEW HOME IS: http://mhcd.org/blog

Wriiten By Donald Sammons

Mentally ill in Prison

They have mentally ill prisoners in Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. That is what this article says: “Inside the nation’s most locked-down federal prison, inmates shout, cry, talk to themselves and bang on their cell walls for hours at a time, according to a new lawsuit filed in Denver.” It is the most horrible thing to be locked up when you are mentally ill. I remember, I stayed in my cell and when they asked if I wanted to leave to go to population I would say yes. Then when it was time to move I would get paranoid and not leave.
In this prison they are locked up for twenty three hours a day. “They swallow razor blades, smear feces around their 12-foot-by-7-foot cells and mutilate themselves with sharpened chicken bones. One inmate amputated two of his fingers.” You are not right in the mind so of course they do those things to themselves. A sane person would go insane in the regular prison. I can understand why they would file a lawsuit to get out of there.
The suit says: “…alleges that Bureau of Prisons official are transferring prisoners with diagnosed mental illnesses to Supermax, in violation of the bureau’s policies against housing such inmates there. The suit claims that the prison then basically stops treating those inmates’ mental illnesses including sometimes taking the inmates off prescribed anti-psychotic drugs-making it difficult for the inmates to ever prove they can be transferred out of Supermax. The strict security often worsens the prisoners’ mental-health problems, the suit alleges. That was the worse when I was locked up, being off medication or not having any medication.
I can only hope they fix the problem even if the only way is a lawsuit. I was locked up in eighty nine. There was not that many mentally ill in prison at that time. I know it is worse by now. They would ask why I was not in population. I would never say because I did not understand myself. It is hard on the mentally ill and also on the other inmates.

In most cases the strategy to subdue someone who is mentally ill, suffering from their symptoms, is to role play or lecture the consumer. There are instances where reality becomes twisted. Police officers are trained to make decisions every day which either guide people to understanding through the use of performed attitudes, free of prejudice or stereotypical approaches. Two police officers forgot this line of training and brought about the death of a man who was mentally ill. Why did a man, sitting in a public place, mentally ill and homeless, meet with fate at the hands of trained law officers? There is no real answer, though they dispense the law they have now come before the scales of justice, because they did not perform their duty with beneficence or in a just manner. The problem lies there in also with the incompetence of the mentally ill, not being able to understand those whom are trying to communicate with them or the authorities of the office they are in care thereof. This theme is the same throughout the United States; it’s the complex nature of law enforcements responses to people with mental illnesses which has become the issue of concern, and politicians, people in the community and the general public whom are demanding some constraint to the growing problem of the mentally ill. As to the reasons the mentally ill are being singled out as a growing problem, this seems to be that the mentally ill when detained by the law are generally seen at some point as being incompetent and are not able to understand, being without a mediator of the mental health system they may even proceed to trial as defendants as such while they are at times unable to access the help they need from the mental health system or to be processed through the mental health system. There was no place for this homeless man as there seems to be no place for many whom have met with incarceration for weeks or even months; finding brutality or worse, then finding they are nowhere, alone and vulnerable or suffering from their symptoms without any kind of understanding except to be encroached by the law or even worse then again the criminal elements thereof. This is the danger the mentally ill and homeless face, once you are suspected of a crime, you become the target, unless someone is your guardian angel or there happens to be a Good Samaritan understanding the needs of a person of weakness. Written by Donald S.

Colorado Lawsuit

I was reading the paper yesterday and I came across this article about a lawsuit inmates made about being in jail and not knowing when they are going to get medication or if they are going to get a mental evaluation so they can use the insanity defense or be incompetent to stand trial. They can wait two months or more when they could make a deal and get out or go to trial. "All people accused of a crime are guaranteed the right to understand the charges against them and participate in their own defense. Those with mental illnesses sometimes require treatment before they meet that level of competency." They have a right even if there are budget cuts. It is a good thing that this was passed. “The hardest thing about the wait is you’re not getting any help” One reason is: “it’s dangerous to sit in jail.” It sounds different than when I was mentally ill and in jail.
When I was there mentally ill for seven months before I was sent to the State Hospital, it was the hardest being there. The psychiatrist told me she was not going to give me medication because she did not like me. This was in the late eighties. There was not that many mentally ill at that time. When I was on medication and went to the county jail, I enjoyed the status that being mentally ill brought me. No one bothered me or my stuff. I know it is different nowadays. "A court compromise announced Monday means hundreds of mentally ill people accused of crimes in Colorado each year could spend less time waiting for state doctors to determine whether they're ready for trial and to provide treatment if they're not." It is the first time in the nation that this has been done.
There are a lot more mentally ill in jail than at that time. I have not been back to jail since that time so I only know what I read. It sounds like this lawsuit brought a good result. They do not have to wait being mentally ill in jail that long. When I was mentally ill for those seven months it was hard. Normally I like visits when I was in jail. Although when I was ill and they came and visited me I never talked. Could not even understand why they were there and it was my birthday. This lawsuit should help a lot of mentally ill people waiting in jail.