July Is National Minority Mental Health Month
In 2008 Congress declared the month of July as
- Improved access to mental health treatment and services and public awareness of mental illness are of paramount import- ance; and
An appropriate month should be recognized as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month to enhance awareness of mental illness and mental
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Bipolar Disorder | Depression | PTSD | Borderline Personality Disorder | Eating Disorders | OCD
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Peer Run Services Playing Pivotal Roles in Promoting Health, Recovery
Judi Chamberlin’s seminal 1978 book about:
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Sharing, validating and normalizing similar experiences
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Building empathy, sharing opportunities for connection and knowledge
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Building honest mutually responsible relationships
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Based on the intention to change patterns and get unstuck
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Full respect for each person? unique process of change
Willingness to challenge each other
Peer support offers people an alternative to traditional treat-ment relationships peers have often found pathologizing, distanc-ing and alienating, judgemental and/or artificial, culturally un-aware and/or insensitive, controlling and/or rescuing, infantilizing and disempowering.
Too often, people’s… story, is defined and mirrored back by our system as “snapshot of me at my worst moment” and one that nei-ther promotes hope, dignity and full citizenship or healing and spirituality.
Peer support has been seen as a different way of forming rela-tionships and sharing power. It offers a new way of thinking about help and helping that is open to new ways of thinking about our experiences and ourselves. In peer support, we teach and learn from each other, we challenge our status quo and move towards what we want, in an atmosphere of full respect for the individual process of change.
At its purest, peer support is about the quality and integrity of relationship, often unconnected with service models. Peer support values do, however, drive the nature of peer-run services like:
Peer Drop-in centers: a safe haven for peers to combat isolation and loneliness, meet others and participate in social, educa-tional and vocational activities.
Peer Crisis Diversion services: warm, home-like environments where peers can learn to manage stress and find compassion and understanding from a trained peer staff, as well as learn new skills to cope and prevent relapse, such as Mary Ellen Copeland’s Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP).
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Peer Advocacy services: Helps peers become more aware of men-tal health policies and issues, and encourages them to become more involved in planning and delivering mental health ser-vices and developing mental health policy.
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Peer Employment supports: Helps peers obtain and keep jobs.
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Peer Bridger services: Helps ease the transition from the hospital into community life and to significantly decrease people?s need for readmission.
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Peers are poised to play yet another major role in emerging new responses to help those with complex medical, mental health and substance abuse conditions.
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Peer services are an approach whose time has surely come, whether it be to promote recovery, empowerment and employment or to provide timely interventions to help people avoid crisis and improve their health and wellness!
Source: Mental Health News, Summer 2009 Mental Health News, Summer 2009
Depression Gene? Maybe Not, Study Shows Gene Has No Effect on Major Depression
New research dismisses the widely held notion that a “depression gene” makes a person facing stressful life events more likely to develop depression.
WebMD Health News, June 16, 2009
In 2003, mental health researchers announced that a genetic variation that affected the body’s serotonin levels increased a per-son’s risk for major depression if they endured several emotional events. Yet efforts to repeat and confirm that study’s findings have been inconsistent, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
The research team went back over data from 14 studies from 2003 through 2009 and analyzed the data collectively. Among the 14,250 patients in the studies, 1,769 had depression; 12,481 did not.
The analysis showed a strong association between depression and stressful life events across all the studies, confirming earlier research. However, the team could not find a link between the serotonin transporter gene and major depression. They also found no association between the gene and stressful life events on de-pression risk.
The scientists say their findings show why it is so important to confirm results that reveal any type of genetic association for a disease.
“A more serious concern … is that the findings of this [earlier 2003 study] and other nonreplicated genetic associations are now being translated to a range of clinical, legal, research, and social settings such as forensics, diagnostic testing, study participants, and the general public,” writes Neil Risch, PhD, of the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues. “It is critical that health practitioners and scientists in other disciplines recognize the importance of replication of such findings before they can serve as valid indicators of disease risk.”
If you think you might have depression, seek medical help. There are a number of different treatment options available to make you feel better. Depression is different for everyone. In gen-eral, symptoms can include:
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Persistent feelings of sadness, anxiousness, restlessness, and/or irritability
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Feeling hopeless
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Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and helplessness
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Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed, including sex
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Fatigue, feeling “slowed down,” or decreased energy
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Difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions
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Sleeping troubles, including insomnia, waking up too early or sleeping too much
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Changes in appetite, which can lead to weight loss or weight gain
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Thoughts of death or suicide; suicide attempts (Seek help right away if this happens.)
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Physical symptoms that do not go away or get better with treatment, such as headaches, stomach problems, and chronic pain .
