"Hannity's America" TV Show Looks at Psychiatric Drugs & Youth

This is a video from Sunday night, 16 December 2007 via Fox News, of
the television show "Hannity's America" with Doug Kennedy on the
subject of the alleged role of antidepressant psychiatric drugs in
incidents of violence. [This video is not by MFI.]

MindFreedom Campaign: "Youth Voices for Choices in Mental Health"

MindFreedom’s youth campaign has made another step into the digital
world. MindFreedom Youth Coordinator Martin Rafferty joined together
seven different youth, with very different backgrounds, on a panel.

Most youth had labels pasted on them by the mental health care system
and were prescribed many psychiatric drugs. Others escaped
psychiatric attention. Each youth was asked to share their unique
opinion about the current state of the mental health system.

Massachusetts Mental Screening of Youth May Lead to More

Today's Boston Globe has a front page story about how nearly 500,000
Massachusetts youth on Medicaid will be required, starting Monday, to
undergo psychiatric screening. Experts are concerned this will lead
to lots more youth on psychiatric drugs without adequate advocacy,
alternatives, information or rights.

Cutting

Can someone explain to me where the stigma around cutting comes from?

Obviously I am not promoting cutting. It’s not healthy. And if someone’s cutting themselves because they feel like they deserve to be mutilated, well… that’s a different ball game. But I’ve met people who cut as a coping mechanism for stress. Several of them have said the same thing: that it clears their mind, allows their thoughts to stop racing, allows a kind of quiet and stillness. That sounds awfully similar to what I get out of meditating. (And yes, I’d recommend meditation and would NOT recommend cutting.)

Center helps mentally ill in crisis

Until now, people in Milwaukee County who suffered a mental health crisis, especially after-hours, often ended up in one of three places: a hospital emergency room, the county’s psychiatric hospital, or jail. And often they didn’t belong in any of them.

That changed this month with the opening of the Crisis Resource Center on Milwaukee’s south side, a round-the-clock program aimed at stabilizing patients and then connecting them with services in the community they need to guide their own recovery.

A collaboration of a dozen or so organizations that serve people with mental illness, the center is thought to be the first of its kind nationally to pair nurses and peer support specialists - individuals working through their own recovery - to address not just the crisis at hand but the myriad other problems that might bring a person to the center’s doors.

Even Here, Recovery has an Impact

A How to Guide for Designing and Implementing Peer Services in the VA Healthcare System

Presenters: Charles Drebing, Dolly Sadow, Patricia Sweeney, Sherry Roege-Pederson, John Posselt

Oh NO! We've Hired Consumers Presenters: Joshua Koerner & Deborah Max

Peer-Run Programs: Using Outcomes to Facilitate Recovery, Modify Programming, and Sustain Funding Presenters: Renee Kopache, Angela Ostholthoff, Chris Pedoto

A New Wind Direction from Peer Mentorship Fills the Sails of Recovery Presenters: John “JJ” Posselt, Sherry Roege-Pederson, John Derouen

Just...talk

I am 28 years old.

It took me 28 years to figure something out. Something rather simple.

That simple thing is this: to have a conversation with someone, I just have to open my mouth and say whatever I’m thinking.

Sounds ludicrous that it took me so long to figure out that, doesn’t it? And yet it’s true.

That truth hit me like a spiritual revelation this summer. I was walking on my lunchbreak, with a coworker, to the corner pizza shop, and noticed myself thinking about the appearance of the fountain on the square. And without thinking about it, I opened my mouth and said what I was contemplating.

And my coworker responded with a comment.

And we had a conversation.

And that was it.

Alright, maybe someone out there is laughing. Go ahead, because yeah, it’s rather absurd that this was a revelation.

But it’s true–for the previous 28 years, I had thought that the way to have a conversation with a casual acquaintance was to think up something to say. It was very freeing to realize I didn’t have to put all that work into chatty conversations, after all.

Group urges Congress to pass mental health parity this year

More than 180 organizations, including the American Hospital Association, on Dec. 10 urged Congress to pass a “strong mental health and addiction parity law this year.”

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Mental Health Liaison Group said Congress is “poised to pass historic full parity legislation if policy differences can be resolved to produce one bill that is acceptable to both the Senate and House. We have appreciated your longtime support for this issue. Please work with committee chairs and parity sponsors to pass strong parity legislation and send it to the President before the end of this year.”

Comment on NIMH Strategic Plan

You have six (6) more days to e-mail to USA
National Institute of Mental Health about their
"Strategic Plan." Deadline: This Fri., 21 Dec.

NEEDED: Voices for Choices in Mental Health!

Why you ought to call on NIMH for research on more
CHOICES in mental health system other than drugs,
drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs and more drugs.

One of the biggest funders of research in the mental health field on
Earth is the USA National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

NIMH is requesting public comment, which you can e-mail to them,
about a draft of their "Strategic Plan" about NIMH research goals
over the next three to five years. Their deadline to receive e-mail
comments is *this* Friday, 21 December, 2007.

E-mail to: strategicplanning2@mail.nih.gov

Why Bother?

MindFreedom International has a copy of the 26-page NIMH Draft
Strategic Plan.

To help you understand it here is...

~~~~~~~~~~~

NIMH DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN -- BY THE NUMBERS!

98 - number of times NIMH draft uses any of words "drug, medication,
biological, illness, disease, genetics"

38 - number of times NIMH draft uses word "brain"

16 - number of times NIMH draft uses word "recovery"

2 - number of times NIMH draft refers to the "mind"

0 [zero] - number of times NIMH draft uses any of the words
"counseling, consumers, survivors, peer, mutual support, empowerment,
self-determination, rights, employment, jobs, housing, psychosocial,
wholistic, holistic, psychotherapy"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, the lion's share of NIMH research on mental wellness
in the past has with few exceptions gone to the following ten (10)
research areas:

drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs

NIMH is considering getting into an 11th area.

And that would be "more drugs."

Seriously, MindFreedom is pro-choice about personal health care
decisions, and many MFI members choose to take prescribed psychiatric
drugs. But we all stand UNITED in saying that the corporate drug
industry model is choking out non-drug choices, including jobs,
housing, peer support, psychosocial approaches, and more.

Only one choice is no choice at all!

So why bother to e-mail in your comments?

Because, at least, that way NIMH can't claim they never heard from
citizens with another point of view!

~~~~~~~~~~~

* * * ACTION ACTION ACTION * * *

VOICES FOR CHOICES IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE!

ACT NOW! DEADLINE: This Friday, 21 December 2007.

E-mail in *your* comment to NIMH.

Sample message: Ask in your own words that far more non-drug choices
be included in the draft plan!

E-mail your comment TODAY to NIMH to:

strategicplanning2@mail.nih.gov

If you wish, bcc to news@mindfreedom.org for possible publication on
the MFI web site.

~~~~~~~~~~~

MORE INFORMATION ON NIMH REQUEST FOR COMMENTS

You can read about the NIMH request for comments here:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/strategic-planning-reports/nimh-draft-
strategic-plan.shtml

or use this web address:

http://tinyurl.com/2w2fwq

You may download a PDF (789 kb) draft of the NIMH strategic plan here:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/strategic-planning-reports/nimh-draft-
strategic-plan.pdf

or use this web address:

http://tinyurl.com/37bzv7

You may e-mail your comment to NIMH to:

strategicplanning2@mail.nih.gov

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why You Ought to Bother to E-Mail Your Input Into NIMH About their
Draft Strategic Plan!

by Tom Wilson, MindFreedom Lane County Advisory Committee

This is an opportunity to contribute your thoughts to the direction
and funding of mental health research in the USA over the next 3 to 5
years.

If we do not respond we can expect more of the same:

New drugs and more new drugs.

As we know, silence gets us no where, please respond!

If we want to get past temporary stability at a terrible cost through
drug therapy it is imperative that we get research dollars focused
dollars elsewhere also.

MindFreedom board member Al Galves, PhD, said,

"I believe it is important to continue studying the brain, nervous
system and its functioning. However, the scientific evidence is that
direct manipulation of brain chemistry and brain structure through
psychotropic drugs, electroconvulsive treatment and other
psychosurgery is only marginally effective in helping individuals who
are diagnosed with behavioral health disorders when compared to
placebo and is very harmful.

"I would encourage the NIMH to put a significantly larger percentage
of its budget and its effort into research on a wide variety of
interventions that are more likely to be helpful to persons diagnosed
with behavioral health disorders and less likely to harm them.
Examples of such interventions include:

" * All kinds of non-drug psychotherapy - not just the ones that can
be manualized. Included should be Gestalt therapies, psychoanalysis,
other psychodynamic therapies, expressive therapies, narrative
therapy, solution-focused therapy, hypnotherapy, modern group
technique (based on Hyman Spotnitz' work), body-centered
psychotherapy, Reikian therapy, etc., etc., etc

" * Other forms of intervening to help persons diagnosed with
behavioral health disorders including employment assistance,
supportive housing, peer specialist training, Soteria-type houses,
expanded clubhouses, traditional education, non-traditional
education, self-directed care (giving patients control over some the
money that is allocated for treatment), etc., etc., etc.

"The bottom line is that I encourage NIMH to spend a much larger
percentage of its budget on research and demonstrations that promise
to help people in the immediate future, i.e. within five to ten
years. That is not true of brain research."

- end of alert -

E-mail your comment to NIMH by Friday, 21 December 2007:

strategicplanning2@mail.nih.gov

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More news at the MindFreedom News Web Site:

http://www.mindfreedom.org

Don't see a news item? Submit it to news@mindfreedom.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Build united strength in numbers!

JOIN MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL!

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

* Win human rights campaigns in mental health.

* End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry.

* Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors.

* Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental health.

MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor
and affiliate groups with individual members.

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent activist
groups in the mental health field with no funding from governments,
drug companies, religions, corporations, or the mental health system.

All human rights supporters are invited to join or donate here:

Proactive Mad with Krystal Klarity

I was sitting in a public place yesterday and could not help but hear a conversation that was taking place between to people acting out their assigned roles. I feel so more in tune with this since I have been on both sides of this experience as a ‘helper’ and also as the one being ‘helped. It has given me a more complete view of the total experience you might say. Although I must admit I was more on the side of the ‘helped’ than the helper even before I got psychiatrized myself for seeing what ‘others’ (who are usually the ones helping to reduce my awareness for me) did not see.

Resident Education and Perceptions of Recovery in Serious Mental Illness: Observations and Commentary

OBJECTIVE: Recovery is emerging as a guiding influence in mental health service delivery and transformation. As a consequence, the expectations and curricular needs of trainees (as future stakeholders in a transformed, recovery-oriented system) are now of considerable importance. METHOD: To this end, resident-led focus groups were held at the Medical College of Georgia to obtain perceptions of the Recovery Model. Certified Peer Support Specialists (CPSS) attended and topics covered were the Recovery Model, the CPSS training curriculum, and developing a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) with consumers.RESULTS: Advantages and disadvantages of the Recovery model were discussed, with residents generally expressing cautious optimism regarding implementation of these principles, yet concern regarding the potential for diminishing confidence and support for traditional professional services.

SAMHSA and Ad Council Unveil National Mental Health Anti-Stigma Campaign

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in partnership with the Ad Council, today launched a national awareness public service advertising (PSA) campaign designed to decrease the negative attitudes that surround mental illness and encourage young adults to support their friends who are living with mental health problems.

Local organizing Teleconference

nterested in organizing LOCALLY in your town, city, region?

Interested in joining or starting an affiliate or sponsor group?

MindFreedom is having a special MF-GRASSROOTS teleconference *this*
Sunday, 16 December, about local organizing and activism and
affiliate building!

The time will be: 1 pm pacific USA which is 4 pm eastern USA. Outside
USA that would be 2200 in Germany, 2100 UTC, 8 am in Melbourne, etc.

Of course, all of you are invited!!!!!!

Celia Brown, MindFreedom board president, will be on to say a few
words about local organizing and answer questions. I'll be on too to
answer questions.

We can also hear about your suggestions and ideas for local
organizing, including your ideas and experiences. We can exchange
support and ideas, and build the EXCITEMENT AND PASSION for local
organizing!!!

If you are interested e-mail us OFF LIST at news@mindfreedom.org

I will then e-mail you the call-in information and passcode to get on
the call.

There is no extra cost for your call, but it's not toll free. It's
just a 'regular' long distance phone call, and then you can be on the
teleconference with others.

Again, to be on the call you need to let me know soon, e-mail us off
list at news@mindfreedom.org

And a reminder:

* There is a MindFreedom e-mail discussion list about local
organizing called mf-grassroots. About two dozen members are already
exchange tips and ideas, asking questions. Frank Blankenship, chair
of the Affiliate Support Committee, moderates it, and helps answer
questions. I'm on it, as are Celia and Mary from the board. You are
invited to join that list here:

http://www.intenex.net/lists/listinfo/mf-grassroots

* There is newly-organized info about AFFILIATES and local organizing
here on our web site:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/as

Mental health parity law will help get care to those who are in need

A sharply divided Congress apparently still can't agree on a farm bill. It lacks the votes to override presidential vetoes on key federal funding bills. It also has no single answer on how to get health-coverage for America's 47 million uninsured. The list of pressing issues that lack consensus and appear likely to be deferred to "next year."

With congressional leaders bogged down on divisive issues, they risk losing the opportunity to pass legislation on which there's widespread agreement. For example, Ohio stands to lose if Congress fails to pass legislation to end insurance-discrimination based on mental illness -- so-called "mental health parity."

Care for some humor?

The satiric publication Onion has been skewering the rampant use of
psychiatric labeling, drugging and abuse for years. Find a link to
the most recent piece along with more than a dozen other examples here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-arts/humor/onion

Common Dreams

Martha Rosenberg on the Common Dreams website explores the
pharmaceutical industry's reach:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/psych-drug-corp/many-faces-of-big-pharma

or go directly to:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/05/5622/

Willard Suitcase Project Exposes Psychiatric History

The New York Times ran an article about a special exhibit in New York
that exposes the history of the psychiatric system in a very personal
way.

MFI board president Celia Brown lives in New York said, "I'm so proud
of the work that Darby Penney and Peter Stastny did. I remember when
they were researching the suitcases from WIllard. I also think the NY
Times did a great job in reporting and nice quotes from Darby. This
is the kind of story that can educate the public on the horrors of
the mental health system."

More info:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/history/ny-times-willard-suitcase

Or go directly to:

http://tinyurl.com/27clzh

Ratify UN Treaty on Disability Human Rights!

MindFreedom International had a team led by MFI board president Celia
Brown inside the United Nations for several years worked in a spirit
of mutual cooperation with disability groups from all over the world.

The result was a United Nations treaty on disability rights that
could also help people in the mental health system. But now that
treaty needs to be ratified by nations all over the world. Disability
activists have created a campaign to win that ratification. Here's a
news release for the campaign and web site, RatifyNow.

More info:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-global/united-nations/
disability

Or go directly to: http://www.ratifynow.org/

Today, 10 December, is International Human Rights Day! More info:

http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007

RECOVERY PSYCHOLOGY

The Council for Recovery Psychology is an independent organization and makes no assertions or claims of affiliation or endorsements of any organizations, agencies or service providing companies. Although its members may be professionally employed by or involved in such separately, no such relationship or partnership with any other entities is implied by the council. The Council suggests no expertise or authority on an academic level; nor does it claim Recovery Psychology as its own intellectual property; recovery belongs to those who recover.

The Vision

Recovery as the rule not the exception in all mental health care; and all persons knowledge of mental health. It is an expeirince equal to pathology, and should discussed equally.

The Mission

To produce research and publication of information on "recovery" behavior, To validate the social and behavior sciences of recovery and direct these efforts toward the academic and professional strata.

The text as it stands today (12.09.07)

About the textbook “Recovery Psychology,” the text available at www.lulu.com entitled “Recovery Psychology” with all the disclaimers and the buyer beware warnings, it is a work in progress. A person buying it should only do so; if they understand that it a sample of what could be. The Lulu version was last updated on 08.15.07 with disclaimers on the back cover…The original version was entitled “The Psychology of Recovery” or “Psychology of Recovery,” this idea began around 03.04.04 when I graduated from peer support and this idea had been brewing up and morphing along ever since. On 03.19.07 I had ran off a print from Lulu that was blank, it was merely just a cover on a hardbound textbook typically used in academic instruction, this was referred to as the “blank”. The next version to have been printed was a sample with about 15 pages with words and pictures in it, and another 735 or so pages that had no words in it, this was referred to as the “sample.” Sadly enough it is a sample of a sample or example; of what a college textbook on mental illness should contain.

Congressional Negotiators Hitting Roadblocks on Mental Health Parity Legislation

Sponsors of the House and Senate versions of legislation (HR 1424 and S 558) that would require most health insurers to provide equal levels of coverage for physical and mental illnesses are "bumping up against" conflicts in negotiations that could "thwart" the bill's passage this year, CongressDaily reports. Over the last month, House sponsors Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) have met with Senate sponsors Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to discuss possible compromises. "We are at a delicate point in the negotiations," Ramstad said (Johnson, CongressDaily, 11/19).

The House bill includes provisions not included in the Senate legislation, including a broader definition of medical conditions that insurers would have to cover. In addition, the Senate bill would take effect one year after the legislation becomes law, while the House bill would be implemented Jan. 1, 2008 (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/17).

Domenici said that the talks have been difficult.

Medical model vs. recovery model

A lot of people ask me what the difference is between a medical model of treatment for mental illness and a recovery model.

You want to know what that difference is, in a nutshell?

The medical model treats me like a disease; the recovery model treats me like a person.

Next on MF Free Web Radio: Live Open-Topic Call-In Show!

his Wednesday, 5 December 2007, at 4 pm ET, "click and listen" to a
MindFreedom Live Free Web Radio Show.

Click here at that time:

http://prncomm.net/

Then phone in LIVE from anywhere in the world (toll free in the USA)
with your questions & comments. Host of MindFreedom Free Live Web
Radio is David Oaks.

The MindFreedom News host is David Oaks, who also sums up the latest
"Mad News," before getting to an hour of YOUR calls.

Phone numbers to call in live will be announced throughout the show.
You can phone in toll-free in the USA. A special phone number is also
given for international calls, so you can call in from anywhere in
the world. If you can't get through keep trying.

You are invited to speak out on any topic, especially human rights
and alternatives in mental health.

* Talk about your experience with the mental health system.

* Let people know about an alternative to the traditional mental
health system you like.

* Ask questions about advocacy and activism to change the mental
health system.

You may instead e-mail in any questions, comments or technical
problems at any time. Your comments may be read live during the show.
E-mail to: radio@mindfreedom.org

The live show, with your call-ins, will be archived for others to
hear, too, via the web. If you or others miss the live show Wednesday
at 4 pm ET at http://prncomm.net/, recent shows from the MindFreedom
News Hour are archived by Progressive Radio Network here:

http://oaks.progressiveradionetwork.org

Older archives for free download can also be found here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/media/mfradio/archived-shows

R.I. Congressman Advocates for Mental Health Parity

Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy spent the weekend in Iowa stumping for U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, who is campaigning for president. He said while he was there he had an opportunity to speak with members of the International Fire Fighters Union who told him about 50 percent of the phone calls they receive from their membership are related to drug and alcohol addiction.

“Our health care system is ignoring two-thirds of its population,” by not covering many of these mental health and addiction issues, Kennedy told a group of mental health experts and advocates at the Legislative Office Building Monday. He said the health care system would save money if it addressed these issues because the suicide rate and the number of alcohol-related accidents would go down.

Recovery Support

I dislike intake appointments. They make me feel worse when they’re over than I did beforehand.
The last intake appointment I had was with my new psychiatrist. She was very kind, professional, validating, and not at all shaming. She is a lovely psychiatrist.
But she’s not perfect.
And the intake form she used was not perfect, either.

Letter from Anonymous

My Story

This is my story when I was growing up, especially when I was going to elementary school. I am the oldest of four sisters. Well, I had some pretty hellish stuff happen to me. When I was about 8 or 9 years old. I was molested by an old White man while I was going to the store. It was wintertime: I was supposed to get some bread from the store and this person grabbed me and pulled me into an abandoned car and fondled me. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. When this person let me go I ran home, I was scared. When I got home I got a spanking for making my father late for work, I couldn’t tell my parents what had happened.

Then I had an incident with a medicine bottle. My sister was playing outside and cut her knee real bad. So my mom brought some medicine for my sister’s knee. The medicine bottle was somehow emptied; I think someone must’ve wasted it. Well, I got blamed and punished for it, but I didn’t bother that medicine.

So I was playing around with a rope, pretending to hang myself, just playing around. My dad found out and he took that rope and put it around my neck and just about lifted me off the floor. Then he made a statement saying, “You said you want to be a boy, I’m going to show you how fathers beat their sons”. He beat the hell out of me where I couldn’t go to school for 3 days. My dad didn’t realize what had happened to me and I couldn’t tell him.

Then I had another incident where I was traumatized. I lived in the Jeffries Projects; I was about ten at the time. I was lured into a basement of this older boys house, he said he had some baby kittens he wanted to show me. When I got to the basement this boy pulled out a large butcher knife and threatened to cut my throat if I didn’t do what he said. I was sodomized, and raped, among other things. When I got away, I went home but I couldn’t tell my parents what happened. Instead, my mom gave me a ‘Whuppin’ for not combing my hair.

I started having trouble in school so I had to go and see all them psychiatrists and doctors, I couldn’t tell them either. I was really confused and messed up. I was sent to Lafayette Clinic for several months for observation. I didn’t understand what happened to me. I was put on medication, (it was three kinds of medication). I was in special education up until I was thirteen; I stayed with an aunt for the summer. When she was drunk, she was very abusive and would egg my mom on. I tell you I carried around a lot of anger, so I expressed myself through my drawings. My mom and aunt didn’t understand, so I got ‘Whuppins” for that. It took me a long time to get over my anger and rage. I can relate to and help any person who has been through some hellish s_ _ t like that.

Now I am grown and have a family of my own and my husband is such a blessing, he understands me. I have two wonderful children. With the help of my peers I am doing a lot better. It took me a long time to open up and tell my story: you see, that’s the only way you ‘gonna’ heal. Keeping stuff like that inside can mess you up really bad. It’s like a festering wound with all that poison going through your system, so it has to be lanced to let all that poison out.

My being a consumer doesn’t mean that I can’t overcome a bad childhood, because I can. You can see what I can do because of Gods help. See, now I play with a band called ‘Recovery’ and I am enjoying my new life. I know what it is like to feel worthless: there were times I felt like taking my own life because that’s how worthless I felt. Now that I am enjoying my life, I just want to help somebody else have some hope. People tell me that is peer support.

H.R.1424 - Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007

Heath Shuler has joined 39 Republicans and 230 Democrats in cosponsoring the Wellstone Mental Health Parity Act. Folks have been trying to get this bill passed for years, and it’s back for another day in the sun. This time it has broader support than ever before. The Act will require insurance companies to carry mental health coverage on their group insurance plans. The Act also orders a study to see how implementation of the Act affects costs across the health system.