Another victory against forced electroshock. Simone D. wins!

Simone D. is a psychiatric inmate in the Creedmoor psychiatric institution in New York State.

New York State’s Office of Mental Health (OMH) aggressively pursued obtaining a court order to give Simone D. forced electroshock over her expressed wishes.

Simone D. had clearly said electroshock caused her pain and suffering. She knew what she was talking about. Simone D. had previously had 200 electroshocks.

Making it worse, Simone D. speaks only Spanish, but for years she's been denied counseling or even staff fluent in Spanish, except for a few week period.

Today, Simone D.'s attorneys announced that she won!

This morning a court ruled that the two-year-old order to give her forced electroshock had been set aside.

Tags: Recovery, electro-shock, legal victory

New AHRQ Guides Summarize Effectiveness, Side Effects of Antidepressants

The Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ)'s new plain-language guides outline the latest scientific evidence on antidepressants, including how well the medicines work and their potential side effects. The guides-one written for clinicians, the other for patients-explain that about 6 in 10 adult patients get some relief from the drugs. In addition, about 6 in 10 experience at least one side effect, ranging from nausea to sexual dysfunction.

AHRQ's new guides summarize information on a dozen second-generation antidepressants: bupropion (sold as Wellbutrin), citalopram (Celexa), duloxetine (Cymbalta), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac), fluvoxamine (formerly sold as Luvox), mirtazapine (Remeron), nefazodone (formerly Serzone), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft), trazodone (formerly Desyrel), and venlafaxine (Effexor).

The guides can be found on the AHRQ Web site, http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/.

Justice Talking NPR Archives

AAPD is participating in this NPR show. They have several shows on
disability issues which are now archived on the site. The latest
archived show is:

Rights of the Mentally Ill:
State laws permit the involuntary commitment of people suffering mental
illness if they are a danger to themselves or others. But how do these
commitment laws work in practice? Do laws aimed at protecting patients'
rights prevent those people from getting ...

Tags: Recovery

Heat Death and Neuroleptics

MindFreedom Warning:

The combination of a heat wave along with laws requiring people to
take powerful psychiatric drugs in their own homes on an "outpatient
basis" can kill.

Media are not adequately warning the public: Neuroleptics, also known
as "antipsychotics," can suppress the ability of the body to adjust
to heat.

MindFreedom is pro-choice about people's decisions to take
psychiatric drugs. But the lack of information and services during
recent heat waves, plus court-ordered forced drugging of people in
their homes, is a recipe for a deadly disaster.

Read more:

http://mindfreedom.org/kb/psychiatric-drugs/death/heat-wave-forced-neuroleptics-death

Or if that web address does not work use:

http://tinyurl.com/2v9q3f

Recovery

From Gerald Butler

8/13/07

The ‘Recovery’ band is on the move spreading the message of Peer Support and recovery throughout the community through our music, and we are pleasantly surprised by the responses we have been getting. We are finding a community with 1) tons of resources and natural supports that are valuable to our recovery process 2) a community willing to help us, provided they are made aware that we can and do recover. So everywhere the band plays now, we are sure to let folks know we came about due to Peer Support and Person Centered Planning. Plus we are growing personally in the process, for instance: about five months ago, when we first started the band, Lamasa (keyboard player) was totally afraid of playing in front of a crowd of strangers. This past weekend we played an 80th birthday celebration for a member of the community and Lamasa opened the show on her own.

‘Arise Detroit’ is a collaboration of some 300 community groups, service providers, neighborhood block clubs, financial institutions, Detroit Public Library, the Institute of Arts, community collages, housing specialists, and business leaders. On August 4^th Arise Detroit sponsored a “Neighborhood Block Party” in which close to 100 community organizations held events around the city simultaneously. Not only were there block parties, but also health fairs, a basketball tournament, guest speakers, parties along the river and at Belle Isle. Mayor Kilpatrick even joined in the fun. Luther Keith (Arise Detroit/ founder, CEO) states: “We are thrilled by the citywide response to the first annual Neighborhoods Day. We needed a day to connect the entire metropolitan community in a demonstration of solidarity, working as one unit, providing hope for a brighter future”

The ‘Recovery’ band and those we represent are proud we were asked to be a part of this event. We are Peer Support in the flesh and don’t mind telling our recovery stories to anyone willing to listen. Of particular interest to us are those going through what we have already been through. Each one of the band has a deep down hope that after the show one or more consumers will say ‘Thanks, you gave me hope’. Besides the birthday party I mentioned earlier, the band has played a Synergy event, in which Robert Ficano (Wayne County Exec) and other County personnel attended. Although things did not work out, Maryann Bozenski ( President/ Children and Family Council) invited the band to play at CFAC’s annual picnic on Belle Isle, and for that we are pleased. This Saturday at 12:00 noon, we will be playing at the ‘Summer Blast’ along the Detroit Police band The Blue Pigs, and the ‘Girlies’ singing old Motown songs.

So as everyone from the Governor’s chair to us on the front lines work as one towards transforming the system, we look towards a future where ‘Recovery’ will be the norm not the exception. A future where we are judged not by the disease we have, but by the type of human beings we are. Yes, the train has left the station and it is no longer a matter of if, but more a matter of when we will be free to pursue our hopes and dreams.

Gerald Butler

"Mad Historian" is next guest on:

"Mad Historian" is next guest on:

MINDFREEDOM FREE LIVE CALL-IN INTERNET RADIO!

People have been labeled "mad" for centuries.

Does this community of people have a "mad history" to tell in their
own words?

Hear an interview with a professional archivist and historian from
Toronto, Canada who is a psychiatric survivor: Geoffrey Reaume.

You can phone in to the show LIVE with your comments and questions.

How do You Build Self-Determination?

From Ron Green

Erin, Yesterday, I told you of a true story I heard from the ADA Coordinator at SMART Transit Authority, about a building in downtown Detroit. The management had to modify a drinking fountain to bring it up to standards with the ADA law. They brought in contractors and decided to go with a system that would allow the fountain to move up and down electronically, which cost over $10,000 to build.

When completed, a person confined to a wheel chair was asked how he or she liked it? The disabled person responded by saying, "A Dixie Cup Dispenser would have been just fine!"

Erin-The point of my story about the $10,000 water fountain is that "THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BUILDING, WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A LOT BETTER results, IF THEY CONSULTED WITH THE DISABLED PEOPLE, BEFORE THEY BUILT IT! +

Jeff G. and I are ready, willing, and dyeing to do this at the SD Pilot Work Group, [and others may as well.] We feel LEFT OUT, by not being asked to do so! I don't know if you realize that, but it's true!

PS. At the very first State SD conference I went to some three or four years back, the keynote speaker was Rick Crowly. He was a consultant on the very first SD Pilot Project in the country, [I believe it was in Florida.] His main point was,

If you want to be successful in your approach to developing a Self Determination initiative, you should have a Work Group comprised of 50% Consumers or as close to that number as possible when designing and implementing it.

-Ron

Refusal Of Medical And Surgical Interventions Common Among Chronically Ill Elderly

Chronically ill older persons frequently refuse medical and surgical interventions recommended by their physicians, according to a recent study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The study suggests that physicians continue to recommend invasive or risky interventions for people with advanced illness despite the patient's view that these treatments may be too burdensome, or that the treatment doesn't fit with their goals of care.

"Physicians need to offer treatment alternatives that better fit their patients' goals and preferences," said first author Marc Rothman, M.D., postdoctoral fellow in geriatrics in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale.

Capitol Hill Watch | Bill Would Allow Flexible Spending Accounts To Include Long-Term Care Insurance

A bipartisan group of House members last week introduced a bill (HR 3363) that would allow flexible spending accounts to include long-term care insurance, CQ HealthBeat reports. The legislation -- sponsored by Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) and co-sponsored by Reps. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Kenny Hulshof (R-Mo.) -- would allow employees to pay for long-term care insurance premiums with pre-tax dollars. According to supporters, the bill would help millions of baby boomers save for long-term care costs (CQ HealthBeat, 8/8).

Low-Tech Interventions Reduce Bed Sores By 70% At New Jersey Hospitals

A group of 150 New Jersey hospitals, nursing homes and health care agencies reduced the number of patients with bedsores by 70%, "thanks mostly to low-tech interventions," according to a study conducted by the New Jersey Hospital Association, the New York Times reports. The study found that the initiative decreased the number of patients with bedsores -- caused by unrelieved pressure or friction on skin -- from 18% in September 2005 to 5% in May 2007. In addition, 48 of the institutions reported that none of their patients has had a bedsore in the first quarter of this year. To reduce the incidence of bedsores, participating facilities performed a skin evaluation on each patient within eight hours of being admitted.

Another step was the implementation of a record-keeping system that allowed nurses to recognize immediately if a patient's skin condition was deteriorating. Increased communication between facilities when patients were transferred also was credited as a factor.

Tags: LTC, pressure sores, intervention

National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives

The National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives (NRC-PAD), located at http://www.nrc-pad.org , is continuing to provide new information for consumers, family members, clinicians, and policy makers interested in PADs.

They have recently added a new blog that they invite you to regularly visit.
They will also be having a live web conference, hosted by Mary Blake, who will discuss her experiences writing her own PAD.

Psychiatric Advance Directives: What Every Consumer Needs to Know
Thursday, August 23
2:00 PM EST
Mary Blake, Public Health Advisor, SAMHSA/CMHS/DSSI/Commmunity Support Programs Branch

To Join by Phone:

1) Dial 1-888-346-3950

2) At system prompt, dial entry code 9552012(#)

Press *6 to mute/unmute your phone, and *0 for operator assistance

To Join By Web:

1) Point your browser to www.infiniteconferencing.com/join

2) Select the Role of Participant

3) Type 9552012 in the "Participant Code" field

4) Type your Name, Company and Email in the fields provided

5) Click the Log In button

Science, Service and Recovery Conference to Be Held in Chicago

A national conference on the convergence of science, service and recovery for people with serious mental illness will be held in Chicago October 2-3, 2007. Organized by Thresholds Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centers, the conference will convene researchers, providers, government leaders, advocates, consumers and family members to discuss topics including evidence-based practices, recovery-oriented psychiatry, consumer-run services and peer support, legal issues, co-occurring disorders, strategies for addressing cultural differences, trauma, health and wellness, and other such topics. The registration deadline is September 1, 2007. More information.