Worries About Weight Tied to Teen Suicide Attempts

US News & World Report
5/18/09

Teens who are overweight—or believe they are—are more likely than other teens to attempt suicide, according to a new study. Researchers looked at more than 14,000 high school students to determine if there is a link between suicide attempts and body mass index. The study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that teens who were overweight and those who believed they were overweight were more likely to attempt suicide than those who weren't and those who didn't believe they were overweight.

Mad Pride

Newsweek
May 2, 2009

A new generation of activists is trying to change the treatment and stigma attached to mental illness. Welcome to Mad Pride, a budding grassroots movement, where people who have been defined as mentally ill reframe their conditions and celebrate unusual (some call them "spectacular") ways of processing information and emotion.

Read the full story and comments expressing caution and and assessment of the reality of mental illness.

SAMHSA Report States Majority of America’s 2 Million Adolescents Suffering from Depression Episodes Did Not Receive Treatment in the Past Year

A new report, Major Depressive Episode and Treatment among Adolescents, reveals that 8.2 percent (2 million) youths aged 12 to 17 experienced at least one major depressive episode in the past year. Only about two-fifths (38.9 percent) of these adolescents received treatment during this period according to the report by the Substance Abuse and mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The report is drawn from SAMHSA’s 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which collected data from a representative sample of approximately 22,000 adolescents throughout the United States. The full report is available here.

Even meager levels of physical activity can improve the mood of people with serious mental illnesses

from: Science Daily January 15, 2009

A new study from Indiana University suggests that even meager levels of physical activity can improve the mood of people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) such as bipolar disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia.

"We found a positive association between physical activity level and positive mood when low to moderate levels of physical activity are considered," said study author Bryan McCormick, associate professor in IU's Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies. "Physical activity interventions that require lower levels of exertion might be more conducive to improving transitory mood, or the ups and downs people with SMI experience throughout the day."

McCormick said physical activity often is advocated in addition to psychiatric treatment for people with SMI because of the significant health concerns common to this population. The low levels of physical activity also common to this population poses a major hurdle, however.

For this study, physical activity is considered most forms of sustained movement, such as house cleaning, gardening, walking for transportation or formal exercise.

"The challenge is how to use naturally motivating activities that people have in their everyday lives to get them out and engaged," McCormick said.

HealthyPlace.com Mood Tracker

from: www.healthyplace.com/mood-journal/

The HealthyPlace Mood Tracker is a unique, easy to use, daily tracking system that enables you to keep track of your moods and the feelings and actions behind them. In addition, the HealthyPlace.com Mood Tracker, using a scientifically validated algorithm, measures when your mood is dangerously depressed or elevated (manic) and can send an alert to your doctor or therapist via email or fax and include a copy of your recent mood journal entries (with your authorization, of course). Our mood journal system can also send a text message alert to a family member or caregiver’s cell phone advising them to look in on you.

Many mental health professionals recommend the use of a mood journal as a tool for managing bipolar disorder, depression, or other mood disorders. By using the mood tracking system on a regular basis, you can begin to see patterns evolve and learn to detect the early onset of cycles so you can take preventative action. The mood journal also allows you to see other factors that have a positive or negative effect on your moods and symptoms so you can concentrate on the positive and avoid the negative ones.

Being Bullied Linked to Future Psychiatric Problem

Children who are repeatedly bullied are twice as likely to have psychotic symptoms as children who aren’t abused, researchers say. A study asked 6,437 children about bullying and psychiatric symptoms when they were turning 13. The researchers, who report their findings in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that children who were bullied repeatedly between ages 8 and 10 were more likely to have psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, or thought disorders. (US News & World Report, 5/4/09)

American Heart Association Urges Screening Cardiac Patients for Depression

From the LA Times

Healing an injured or poorly functioning heart requires attention to a patient's mental well-being as well as to his or her physical health -- so much so that in October [2008], the American Heart Association recommended that doctors screen all heart patients for depression with a short questionnaire.

The American Psychiatric Association also endorsed this advisory, but some researchers think the blanket recommendation goes too far.

Dozens of studies have found depression occurring alongside heart disease. Whereas 4% to 10% of the general population reportedly suffers from depression, that number shoots to 15% to 40% in heart disease patients. But a survey found that about half of cardiologists don't address their patients' mental states.

"Depression is diagnosable, easily treatable and can make such a difference in the long-term outcome," says Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, a psychiatrist in Washington, D.C. If doctors heed the new advisory, she says, "I think we will save a lot of lives."

"We would advocate that clinicians be more aware of depression. . . . We're just not advocating that everyone be handed a questionnaire." says lead author Brett Thombs, a psychologist at McGill University in Montreal.

Read the full article.

PBS Program: Mental Illness and Life after Prison

A rare and intimate look into the lives of mentally ill offenders struggling to make it on the outside. This year alone, over 700,000 people will leave prison, more than half of them mentally ill. Typically, these offenders leave prison with a bus ticket, $75 in cash, and two weeks worth of medication. Within 18 months, nearly two-thirds will be re-arrested.

View Frontline's new program ' The Released,' which documents what happens to offenders with mental illness when they leave prison.

Libraries do balancing act as mentally ill find refuge

From the Denver Post
4/29/2009

They're gathered outside the library before the doors open — the man in the Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt talking loudly to no one, the guy crouched behind the book drop, his torn backpack overflowing with everything he owns.

Some, the ones sleeping on the streets, head straight for the bathroom to wash their faces and brush their teeth. Others immediately stake out a nook in the four-story Denver Public Library near downtown, settling in for the day.

Many libraries across the country have become day shelters for the mentally ill, a consequence of the country's lack of treatment programs for people with mental disorders, experts say.

Read the full article.

Teen Online-Moderated Support Groups

From Families for Depression Awareness

FFDW has launched a Teen Forum, please spread the word! The teen online-moderated support groups are a safe place for teens (ages 12-19) to talk about issues related to their own or a family member's mood disorder. This is a supportive environment, moderated by adults, in which teens can share ideas and thoughts about how to help one another.

Click here to download the flier and spread the word!

Live Your Life Well

From Mental Health America:

Live Your Life Well is a website designed to help people cope better with stress and create more of the life they want.

Maybe you're holding down two jobs or can't find work. Maybe you're the parents of young children or the children of aging parents. Maybe you face a rush of daily demands or one potentially life-changing challenge. Whatever your situation, this site is designed for you.

The non-profit Mental Health America has been working for 100 years to promote well-being for all Americans. Now we have put together the 10 Tools to Live Your Life Well. Based on extensive scientific evidence, these tools can help you relax, grow and flourish. They can help you Live Your Life Well.

Study Gives Broader Picture of College Mental Health

One in every four college students who has sought mental health assistance in campus counseling centers has seriously considered suicide, according to a new study. The study, which was released by the Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State University, found that of the 28,000 students questioned who received mental health services at 66 campus counseling centers nationwide, 11 percent had seriously considered suicide only before they began college, six percent only after starting college, and eight percent both prior to and after beginning college. (The Harvard Crimson, 4/23/09)

Mental Health Family Tree

To help you uncover personal and family behavior patterns that may be associated with depression or bipolar disorder, Families for Depression Awareness developed the Mental Health Family Tree builder. After completing a simple questionnaire, you can print an easy-to-read "family tree" that maps the existence of behaviors associated with depression or bipolar disorder in your family. You can then share this family tree with your doctor or family.

"If I had built my Mental Health Family Tree earlier, it would have given my doctor and me a clearer picture of what I was dealing with," says Renee Rosolino. "It would have helped us realize that my father's constant mood swings and irritable behaviors may have been more than upsetting personality traits - he may have had bipolar disorder. Knowing this earlier could have helped my doctor differentiate my bipolar disorder from depression, and led to effective treatment and the happier life I have now much faster." - Renee Rosolino, Patient

"The Mental Health Family Tree is very useful in helping guide the differential diagnosis process (between depression and bipolar disorder) and in helping determine which treatment may be best for the patient." -Jean Endicott, Ph.D, Columbia University

Federal Government Seeks Public Comment on Issues Related to the Implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act signed into law in October 2008 consolidated longstanding efforts at the national and state level to establish parity between the financial health coverage for mental health/substance abuse conditions, and physical health disorders. The three federal government agencies principally responsible for implementing this law – the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service -- are issuing a request in the Federal Register seeking information and advice from the public addressing critical issues surrounding the best ways to implement the law and fulfill its objectives.

Among the issues that the departments are seeking information on are issues related to the most efficient and cost-effective ways of implementing this law. In addition, this request for information seeks information that would be helpful in the development of regulations needed to implement this law.

The Federal Register announcement can be accessed at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-9629.pdf

Want information on Federal mental health grants, publications, meetings, policies, programs and other useful material for mental health consumers? Join the CMHS Consumer Affairs Listserv at: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/listserv/