"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.

Parity bills at Critical point

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law <bazelon@mail.democracyinaction.org> wrote:
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:32:19 -0500 (EST)
From: Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law <bazelon@mail.democracyinaction.org>
To: stants201@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Action Alert: It's Time for Parity

Help Make Mental Health Parity a Reality!
You and other advocates across the country did good work! Broad support for
ending health-care discrimination helped pave the way for this year's unanimous
Senate passage of S. 558 and approval by three committees of H.R. 1424, the
Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Equity Addiction Act of 2007. (See the Bazelon
Center's latest Mental Health Policy Reporter for a side-by-side chart).
However, few legislative days remain. Lawmakers need your support to enact
meaningful mental health parity legislation this year. The message is clear.
Without delay, Congress must assign priority to mental health parity that
will help millions of Americans.
Fuel the momentum. Phone or email your Senators and Representative today.
Go to congress.org and enter the name or the house and your state to find your
lawmaker's phone number. If you can't phone and must use email, click on
the link to the member's own website and email through the link there (outside
emails are often ignored!).
Please keep the heat on and demand enactment of a strong parity bill this year.

------------------------------

---
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Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
1101 15th Street, NW, Suite 1212
Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202-467-5730
Fax: 202-223-0409
Email: webmaster@bazelon.org

Tamiflu Warning To Include Psychiatric Effects Could Be Due To Flu

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Pediatric Advisory Committee recommended to the agency yesterday, Tuesday 27th November, that makers of the flu drug Tamiflu be urged to change the drug's warning label to include the fact that the psychiatric symptoms experienced by children on the drug could be caused by having the flu.

.....

According to a report in WebMD, the FDA panel's vote was 8 to 6, and reflected the agency's uncertainty about whether the drug or the condition led to nearly 600 reported psychiatric incidents worldwide, most of them in Japan, since the drug was introduced. The incidents, of which 20 per cent were in the US, included self-harming behaviour, delirium and suicide attempts. 25 of them were fatal, with 3 of the deaths being in the US.

The drug's warning label was changed last year following reports of psychiatric symptoms in patients taking the drug. But the panel is not asking for the warnings to be removed, only that information is added to explain that the symptoms could be caused by the flu itself.

Wayne PSS Training

from Gerald Butler

11/26/2007

The first Peer Support Specialist training to be held in Wayne County was completed Friday the 9^th of this month at St. Paul’s Retreat, and hopefully there will be many more to come. Veda Sharp (Detroit-Wayne County Mental Health) and Michelle Vasconcellos (Customer Services Director) presented certificates on Thursday just after dinner. The entire movement towards "Recovery with Dignity” has taken a giant step into the future. Through Peer Support we are now able to turn our poisonous past experiences into medicine to help heal others who are where we used to be. The only downer was that the person who was most instrumental in bringing Peer Support to Michigan ‘Irene Kazieczko’ could not attend due to ill health. That’s okay because at least we know she was there in spirit.

Friday, the 16^th was the Recovery Council meeting at which it was announced that Wayne County CMH and the Guidance Center have been awarded the ‘Virtual Center of Excellence’ grant. I spoke with Kari Walker (Dir. of Programs) and David Cherry (Program Development) of the Guidance Center, both of whom promised to put consumers first, so this was exciting news. The afternoon was filled with Yale University’s Dr. Pricilla Ridgeway’s (Pathways to Recovery) presentation titled “Implementation of Recovery Enhancing Environments” and it was super. Dr. Ridgeway has developed a method of enhancing the recovery process that everyone (from the consumer to the Physician) can utilize, raising the odds of a successful recovery journey. Even her satisfaction survey is unique in that it forces us to consider how much we are contributing to our own recovery.

Someone suggested it might not be a wise idea for consumers to have confidence in such lofty ideas as successful recovery. The Michigan Department of Community Health gave us Person Centered Planning and today Michigan is a national model of that program. Michigan’s WRAP program, also championed by MDCH, is providing consumers across the State with vital tools needed in the recovery process and it too is showing promise of becoming a national model. Larry Fricks and Ike Powell, the designers of Peer Support, have offered their highest praise and excitement for our efforts here in the State. Every member of the Recovery Council is more than capable of telling the difference between beneficial and non-beneficial methods. Taking all these things into consideration, I feel every consumer in the State can and should have faith and trust in Dr. Ridgeway’s “Pathways to Recovery”. After all, when it comes to making our dreams a reality, MDCH has not let us down so far and I don’t feel they are about to start.

The consumer band ‘Recovery’ gig for ‘Corrections to Work’ at the Charles H. Wright Museum was not only a hit, but we demonstrated that consumers are capable of giving back to the community. It has been my experience that it takes years for any band to play such a venue, yet we have been together a mere 8 months. By applying peer support to everything we do: our rehearsals become more productive, we demonstrate to other consumers and society that we can and do recover, because we know each others story, we develop an appreciation and respect for each other uncommon in most other bands. We like to consider ourselves as Peer Support in the flesh.

Yes, the Freedom Train has left the station and more and more folks, consumers and professionals alike, are climbing on board daily. HOPE, is what we live for, it is why we arise in the mornings. Consumers in Michigan have every reason to have hope and trust in the future.

Ideas on Treating Schizophrenia Have Come Full Circle

[Updated] Ideas about treating schizophrenia seem to be gradually coming full circle. What began as little more than blaming, shaming and confining, evolved over hundreds years into a state policy of institutional care with "humane treatment". Over the next hundred years treatment has evolved into primarily a highly professionalized medication regime with an inconsistently available community based supports.

Now there is evidence that early intervention in the course of schizophrenia with psychotherapy, medication, and consistently applied community based supports may sometimes prevent the usual long-term permanent disability. Medication alone is not sufficient treatment. What has always been assumed as a manifestation of the illness, may in fact be a by-product of a paternalistic and de-humanizing treatment by the community and service agencies as well as isolation due to the pervasive experience of stigma and discrimination by the individual.

Mental health parity can boost productivity and retention

Forging their own path, some employers are providing mental health parity in their employee benefits plans without it being required by law, while legislators in Congress and statehouses continue to debate mental health parity bills. What's more, companies are finding that parity improves productivity and retention.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., a Houston-based oil exploration and production company, has provided mental health parity for years - meaning that the mental health coverage is equivalent to the medical coverage when it comes to visit limits, deductibles, copayments, lifetime benefit limits and annual benefit limits.

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).

Brainstormdocumentary

Interesting recovery site. Large scale, flamboyant layout. Worth a look...

UCC Mental Illness Network

n 1992 the Mental Illness Network began with a grant from the then American Missionary Association of the United Church of Christ. We began as a response to the need for families and others to communicate among themselves about their experiences as families, and in congregations. We are, therefore, a network and not a committee.

You, who are the Network, are in hundreds of congregations. You are the ones in touch with families who need support and understanding. You are the ones doing street ministry with the homeless, writing newsletters for your church, running a drop-in center, doing displays for Association/Conference meetings, providing transportation to appointments and a dozen other things. You are the families caring for loved ones experiencing a mental illness, and some of you are those persons. It is a moving experience to be in touch with you and know something of what you are doing.

Every two years there is a Network display at our national General Synod meeting. This display reaches out to new people and is a witness to our National and Conference Staff about this important ministry. We collaborate with Disabilities Ministries on various projects such as (twice a year) an insert in the UC News.

Shannon: My Story

My illness began to take its effect on me about 8 or 9 years ago. I managed to get by until around 6 years ago, when I was 43. I had been working an impossible job as a restaurant manager for 23 years and at about the same time my husband asked for a divorce. We had been married 27 years. That was it. I broke. I was hospitalized for a month, two weeks before Christmas and three weeks before my son’s wedding. Fortunately they arranged temporary release for me during Christmas and so I could attend my son’s wedding.....

Good News for Writers?

While the news of Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader could signal a changing trend in the way that readers consume their information, unremarked upon is how the rise of the e-book reader will eventually change the world for writers.

If readers can download books into their Kindle (or Sony Reader), what’s to stop them from cutting out the middleman and downloading directly from an author?

What’s happening to the news media (blogs vs. newspapers) and music (free downloads vs. buying a CD) and video (YouTube or downloads vs. buying a DVD) will happen with novels: the middleman will become unnecessary.

Currently, it is extremely difficult to get a novel published.

Next on MIndFreedom Radio

Next on Free MindFreedom Live Call-In Web Radio:

What to do about America's epidemic of despair? Bruce E. Levine:
psychologist & author.

This Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 4 pm ET just click on:

http://prncomm.net

Bruce E. Levine, PhD is author of a new book, "Surviving America's
Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a
World Gone Crazy." Phone in with your questions & comments live.
Host: David Oaks.

More info on the next MF Radio show:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/next-radio

The USA Population is in Crisis of Despair -- What to Do?

Ask Bruce E. Levine:

"The rate of depression in the U.S. has increased more than tenfold
in the last fifty years. By not seriously confronting societal
sources of despair, American mental health institutions have become
part of the problem rather than the solution. The good news is that
age-old wisdom and legitimate science -- uncorrupted by the profit-
margin pressures of pharmaceutical and insurance corporations -- have
much to inform us about revitalizing depressed people and a
depressing culture.

Bipolar in Louisville

I indicated in the entry immediately prior to this that I was to have what I consider to be the great honor of receiving training to be considered for Peer [mental health] Specialist in this state. I did want to drop notes in over-paucity and in some exhaustion from the intensity of this encounter: therefore I cannot do anything like justice to this quality time. So I shall just pen out a kind of "lead" journalistically (who what where how; why being left for me and the other participants to live, better than convey in words.) Then I shall with equal brevity suggest some of the potentials this boon to the spirit may produce, immediately and in time.

Still another recovery blog

Being a peer specialist is hard work. Before becoming a peer specialist, I was employed in another entry-level mental health position, in a day treatment program.

Although work in the day treatment program was challenging, I have found that my work as a peer specialist is even more so. Perhaps because the peer support program is new, and helping to establish a new program is always tough; perhaps because there are few established tools and protocols to help peer specialists do their jobs; perhaps because my job responsibilities as a peer specialist are more varied; perhaps because I do more in-depth work with my peers in my current position; perhaps because I never have a “typical day” or set schedule as a peer specialist; or perhaps because I have to tell my own story over and over (and over) in this position (that can be emotional!)…. whatever the reason, or combination of reasons, I’m finding the peer specialist position to be challenging.

Stress can be a huge contributing factor to bringing out symptoms of mental illness. There’s evidence that people with mental illnesses produce more cortisol in their bodies when they become stressed, and that it takes them longer to return to “baseline”–or “normal”–levels of cortisol in their bodies....

And one more

http://www.northernlakescmh.org/blog/2007/10/28/nannette-my-story/

I was in a horrific car accident with my boyfriend at the age of seventeen. We had all been drinking. I ended up with broken pelvic bones and a closed head injury. It took 15 weeks before I was healed and out of the hospital. It was months before I could ride with other people driving and I have never been completely comfortable with others driving since. I started having panic attacks. Even the thought of having to ride in a car made me nervous. I ended up dropping out of high school and wasn’t able to graduate with my class – one of the many bad choices I would live to regret. Post-traumatic stress was something I had to educate myself about because, before, I believed that only soldiers suffered from this disorder....

Another Peer Blog

http://www.northernlakescmh.org/blog/2007/10/19/mary-beth-life-times-three/

I knew something wasn’t right because all I did was cry day and night. I was engaged to be married, had a house, a job and reliable transportation. Money wasn’t an issue; I had enough to more than get by. So why then, was I crying continuously?

I made an appointment at mental health to see if they could “fix” my problems of crying. I went to see an intake worker who said I didn’t meet criteria for services because my primary diagnosis was substance abuse.

Two weeks later to the day I made my first suicide attempt. Nine state cops and three hours later, I was getting a free ride in the back seat of a trooper’s car to be involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital. I was mandated by the court system to not only be admitted to the hospital, but to receive mental health counseling for no less than six months.

Upon discharge, I found myself single, homeless, and jobless.....

Peer Blogs

The recovery movement is producing some great blogs. I'm going to point you to some samples, as sources of news, ideas, and hope:

http://www.northernlakescmh.org/blog/2007/10/01/ernest/

I live in the woods near Roscommon, Michigan, in the upper part of the Lower Peninsula. I am 62 years old and lived as a hermit for 12 years. I am now a consumer of Mental Health services served by Northern Lakes Community Mental Health (NLCMH). I came out of the woods to get back into society around seven years ago. I started volunteering for the Crawford County Sheriffs Department as a Certified Victims Advocate which later dissolved, then went on to volunteer in the mental health system, and have not turned back to living as a hermit.

Let me tell you a bit about my life and how I came to be a hermit in the first place. I was raised in Rochester, Michigan. A somewhat happy life but had a father who was an alcoholic and a very loving mother who was beaten by him. I have an older brother and sister. I started realizing I was developing a mental illness when I was 20 years old. I first entered the mental health system in 1965. At that time the basic treatment was with drugs and psychoanalysis, the ones of choice at that time were Stelazine and Thorazine. Both of these drugs just controlled the problem but would not give lasting treatment. You were put in the mental health system and discharged after a maximum treatment of 20 times, no matter if you were stable or cured or not. This was a revolving door for me. Mental Health Parity did not exist then (Parity is the equal medical treatment of physical and mental illness). I did not get the appropriate diagnosis or medication to let me return to a good way of life. I was hospitalized on four different occasions with the same result, still not stable. Because of my poor physical and mental health my families suffered the consequences of this problem.....

NAMI Launches Veterans Resource Center On Mental Health; Online

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has established an online Veterans Resource Center http://www.nami.org/veterans to help support active duty military personnel, veterans and their families facing serious mental illnesses such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and schizophrenia.

"We are a nation at war," said NAMI executive director Michael J. Fitzpatrick. "The war includes mental illness. Many veterans who return from active duty face a second war at home, confronting profound mental health problems. Their families also are affected."

MindFreedom Needs Help with Wikipedia

Wikipedia is an online encylopedia that anyone can change and edit,
and thousands read it.

MindFreedom has had an entry on Wikipedia for some time, and it's
been 'challenged':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfreedom

Please see an urgent message from member Mike T. ***BELOW***. He's
formed a MF Wikipedia Team.

If you can help, please e-mail Mike T. soon off-list at
miketierney2@gmail.com, and please copy that to me at
oaks@mindfreedom.org.

Note: This is *not* just 'piling on' of numbers of people. This
*does* take a bit of skill and dedication. But do not be intimidated
either, it's fairly easy to learn how to help edit entries.

In the big picture, Wikipedia does have major flaws. On the other
hand, it is possible for grassroots groups to document legitimate
knowledge items and get them in there. If you enjoy the web, and want
combine that with doing some some good, here's a chance! Once the MFI
entry is taken care of, there are dozens of entries that could use
the perspective of MFI members.

Again, if interested, e-mail SOON to miketierney2@gmail.com and copy
to me at oaks@mindfreedom.org

HERE is Mike's message to you! THANKS!

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Mike Tierney" <miketierney2@gmail.com>
> Date: November 5, 2007 9:59:05 AM PST
> Subject: call for a MF-Wikipedia-Team

> This is a call for a 'MF-Wikipedia-Team '
> I have begun to document 'wikipedia- friendly' entries for our
> wikipedia mindfreedom entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> MindFreedom_International , but I need help. I need tech-savvy,
> patient, academic mindfreedom members who can read wikipedia's
> rules and guidlines wrt references and 'neutral point-of view' or
> 'POV' in w-pedia- speak, and update our entry per their wikipedia
> rules with outside media & scholarly references.

Job posting

Greetings,

My name is Curt Oostveen and I have been asked by the current board of directors of the Recovery Cooperative of Muskegon to share these exciting job opportunities with you. Allow me a moment to tell you what the Recovery Cooperative of Muskegon is. The Recovery Cooperative is a peer-run organization that is just now starting to get off the ground. It has been in the planning and very early development stages onset February of this year. In April it then became incorporated formally with the state of Michigan and procured its EIN # shortly thereafter and has applied for its 501c3. During this time it wrote an RFP and later acquired funding through the Mental Health Block Grants.

The Recovery Cooperative is currently seeking a director (Head Recovery Coach) and an Account/Consultant. The applications may be downloaded from http://recoverycooperative.org and mailed to: Recovery Cooperative of Muskegon

Attention: Jennifer Faunt

% CMHS Youth Services

173 E. Apple Ave.

Muskegon, MI, 49442

The application deadline for both positions is November 14^th 2007.

The Recovery Cooperative of Muskegon, located in downtown Muskegon, will be a service unto the mental health/disability community which will be offering recovery-oriented education such as WRAP, cultural diversity sessions, and micro-enterprise start-up assistance and displaying them unto the business community. This is just to name a few of the exciting things that have been planed to occur within.

If you would like to know more information regarding this exciting new enterprise, feel free to contact me at recovery@recoverycooperative.org

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, Curtis Oostveen, CPSS. CWRAP

Certified Peer-Support Specialist

Certified Mental Health Recovery Educator & WRAP Facilitator

Madness, Citizenship, and Social Justice

This public conference, hosted by the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University, will take place at the SFU Vancouver campus, British Columbia, Canada on Thursday June 12th through Saturday June 14th, 2008. Our objective is to provide a forum in which critical topics and issues related to madness, citizenship, human rights and the role of the ‘psy’ professions can be explored across a range of intersecting positions and perspectives. Participants and delegates will include academics, users/survivors, activists, advocates, practitioners, and community workers from the local Vancouver area, across Canada and around the world.

In China, Brain Surgery Is Pushed on the Mentally Ill

NANJING, China -- Mi Zhantao, a poor 25-year-old living with his parents outside this provincial capital in eastern China, was battling depression and had trouble socializing. Doctors said he had schizophrenia. They recommended brain surgery.

Mr. Mi's family spent about $4,800 -- the equivalent of four years' income, and more than their life savings -- on the operation, at No. 454 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Nanjing. The highly controversial procedure involved drilling tiny holes in the young man's skull, inserting a 7½-inch-long needle and burning small areas of brain tissue thought to be causing his problems.

Let's Launch Twenty New MFI Affiliates!

by Frank Blankenship, Chair, MFI Affiliate Support Committee

A number of exciting things are in the works now regarding affiliate
formation at MindFreedom International. If we work together we will
have a much better chance of bringing these things to fruition.

We want to expand the MFI presence into places where it has not been
felt to work on local issues.

We have set the goal of forming twenty new affiliates in 2008, and we
need your help to achieve this.

Do you have an affiliate yet in your area? Do you know an interested
person in another region that doesn't have an affiliate? Consider
introducing this person to our organization and its affiliates.

For those of you who have already expressed interest in starting an
affiliate, now is the time to re-double those efforts!

You all have an excellent opportunity to help us spread the word
about MFI and perhaps even to establish a foothold where none has
previously existed.

CMH Board ASsociation Conference

10/27’07

This years annual fall conference of the Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards theme was 'Year of The Child', and I can say this much, they're going to need a bigger place. As folks from across the State and the Nation get wind of how well Michigan is doing transforming the system of treatment and recovery, what was large hall 3 years ago, was merely sufficient in size this year. My one beef has always been that each of the many workshops contain such valuable info, it’s always hard choosing which one to go to. So this year I made sure I at least got handouts from the ones I could not attend. And if I was lucky enough to meet the person giving a particular workshop I found them just as interesting.

The cool thing was the large amount of folks in attendance who had given up on the system years ago, but their interests have been aroused by what's been coming out of Lansing over the last few years. Wrap, Advanced Directives, IDDT, Cultural Diversity, to name just a few, plus many consumers are beginning to question them about Peer Support. I met what can best describe as a lovely couple in Dr. V. P. Veluswamy and his wife Angammal (New Center/ Detroit) and both stated how they’ve been waiting years for the changes they are seeing today. It made me feel like a winner to have someone like that, talk with me and not at me. I think you can call them change agents as they demonstrate that for system transformation to be successful, individual attitudes and approaches play a major role.

To get a copy of the agenda and a list of workshops go to the web site www.macmhb.org. I will speak about the one that affected me the most. I am bi-polar and until recently had no idea that I needed to maintain a proper diet and get the right amount of rest to deal with my disease. Larry Fricks (Vice Pres. of Peer Services/ Depression and Bi-Polar Support Alliance) Irene Kazieczko, and Pam Werner (Michigan Department of Community Health) hosted a workshop entitled 'Michigan Peer Led Health Self Management' in which they spoke on the effects physical health have on mental health. I am willing to utilize any and all tools available to help me in my recovery, and the idea that by sleeping and eating right I have greater control over my disease is just plain deep. I don't know how or even if these things affect others but this is such a basic but vital issue that from no on physical health will be a priority when I speak one on one with my brothers and sisters in recovery.

This year, I was a recipient of the 'Partners in Excellence Award’, which is given annually by the MACMHB. I am still having trouble believing it because it is so easy for me to do what I do. All I have to do is think back 10 or 20 years and I know just how a consumer is feeling. I also know the amount of hope a kind word, a listening ear, and an open heart can provide. I certainly do not mean to lessen the value of the award I received, but the greater reward is to have a consumer give me a sincere hug and say 'Thanks'. This is the type of hug I owe to Dr. Michele Reid (Medical Director/D-WCCMHA) and Veda Sharp (Interim Director/ Detroit Wayne County CMH). Not only did they nominate me for this award, but also during a recent crisis they basically said, “How can WE work together to make sure you don’t go through again”. As a result I heard about the relationship between physical health and mental health for the first time in my life. A persons true stature is measured in not how big they are, but in how far they are willing to bend down to help another human being up.

By giving me this prestigious award the MACMHB is proving how deeply the State of Michigan is committed to both personal and system wide efforts to put consumers first. I now have a clearer understanding of what Martin Luther King meant when he said he had been to the mountaintop and looked over to see a new day. If I can literally come from deaths door, to receiving a top State honor that means there are many more to follow and that soon we will be seen in a whole different light. We will be viewed as people with problems that can easily be solved as long as the right methods are used. We will no longer look at our past history as something negative. Instead we shall value it because through it we learned certain life skills that are of immense value to those going through what we went through.

Patrick Barrie (MDCH Deputy Director/Mental Health & Substance Abuse Administration) gave a presentation on the differences between the old system and a transformed system. In it he spoke of a concept he called 'Capability Depravation'. The system of maintenance was designed to assure we could ruction on a day-to-day basis. The disadvantage of this old way is that it also keeps us from growing and reaching our full potential. We become angry at the system for not giving us an opportunity at success, and then we are labeled as non-compliant. The leaders of a transformed system will be those under whose tutelage consumers will thrive and become productive citizens.

You may remember how I said how the Go-Getters Drop In Center never turns anyone away, no matter the situation. Now they are in need of your help. Two gentlemen recently lost everything they own in a house fire, and any sort of help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Go-Getters= 313-842-4046. Finally, the Recovery band will be playing the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History this Thursday and of course we are honored and excited about it. However, the main thing is that since we are donating our services, we are showing that consumers in recovery are quite capable of giving back to society. Yes, the 'Freedom Train has left the station and this is that time we get to apply all those principals and philosophies of do unto others and treating the least of his brethren as you would yourself.

Gerald Butler

CPSS

Consumer Advocate

Some patients' bad memories haunt Oregon State Hospital's history

Betty Jackson remembers waking up from coma therapy in a fog of pain and confusion.

In 1953, Oregon State Hospital doctors prescribed insulin coma therapy for Jackson, then in her early 20s.

The treatment consisted of daily insulin injections that caused her blood sugar to plummet and rendered her temporarily comatose. Doctors and nurses brought her back to consciousness with feedings of glucose.

More than 50 years later, Jackson, 76, describes the long-discredited therapy as cruel and degrading.

30+ Resources For US Politics On The Web

The United States election for President is over a year away (November 3rd, 2008), but from the fervor in the press, one might think it’s tomorrow. With the primaries still looming, now is the time to start looking in to the information out there on the web, and we’ve gathered 30+ tools to help you do just that!

Nursing homes take in mentally ill

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Some northeastern Ohio nursing homes use a Medicaid loophole to accept hundreds of mentally ill patients discharged from hospital psychiatric wards, spending millions of taxpayer dollars to house patients who often do not qualify for nursing-home care, a state investigation found.

Mentally ill patients are eligible for nursing home care paid for by Medicaid if they need 24-hour supervision or hands-on assistance, but an investigation by the Ohio Department of Mental Health found that 60 percent of the psychiatric patients admitted into Cuyahoga County nursing homes don't need such intensive care, The Plain Dealer reported.

Medicaid pays about $148 a day to house such patients, about three times what it would cost to care for the patient in a group home.

Tags: Recovery, institutions

NARPA National Conference

Passing The Torch:
New Advocates, New Skills, New Alliances

Every day, behind closed doors, human rights violations are occurring on a regular basis - and Americans don't know about it. America's mental health system is still the shame of the nation. NARPA, the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy, works to expose abuse and to shed light on coercive and dangerous practices. NARPA is an independent organization, solely supported by its members. It is a unique mix of people who've survived psychiatric intervention, advocates, civil rights activists, mental health workers, and lawyers. NARPA exists to to protect people’s right to choice and to be free from coercion, and to promote alternatives so that the right to choice can be meaningful. Read about NARPA's history of human rights advocacy, check out the ADA Case of the Week archives, and more.

Tags: Rights, NARPA, conference

Visions of Recovery

from Gerald Butler:

10/22/06

Of the myriad disciplines in the medical profession there is one thing all have in common: prior to treatment it is vital the patient have confidence that the treatment will be successful. Without this trust, the odds of positive outcomes lessen. Being on the front line so to speak, Peer Supporters can help provide consumers the trust in the system necessary for good outcomes. The important thing is that we are not running errands, parking cars, or doing janitorial tasks. Peer Supporters are there to welcome the new consumers into this complicated system and provide them the optimism needed for the healing process to begin. And working side by side with Case Managers, we can assure a healthy start on the road to recovery. .

A friend asked me to attend the Breast Cancer Survivors walk the other day and being a male I felt out of place going. First of all I was pleasantly surprised by how very warmly I was welcomed, and second I was caught off guard when I noticed the similarities between breast cancer survivors and Peer Supporters. Of course we could go all day discussing differences but the likeness' are: 1) We have suffered through some dark times in our lives and through them we have become stronger, 2) we want to provide hope of a future to those currently going through what we have gone through. I had my own preconceived notions that were quickly proven wrong, and why I advocate inviting the community at large to every event we have. As long as we stay separated from the community, stigma will continue to exist. By not knowing us, folks have no other choice but to assume the image of us they get from television is true.

The mother and daughter team of Shirley Cockrel & LeAnn Norris run the Go-Getters Drop In Center and both received their Peer Support Specialist Certificates recently. Along with Deb Parker and her daughter Fawn that makes two such teams in the Peer movement that I know of. Shirley is 64 years old and due to budget concerns she took an early retirement, yet she continues to put in the same amount of hours and dedication at Go-Getters.

I asked her why?

We work with the chronic homeless, the people no one, not even some family members, knows of or cares whether they are alive. Having been there myself, I know just what they are feeling and I also know just what they need. They need Hope, Compassion, and Support.

How many people who are classified as chronically homeless would you say you have helped get back on their feet and into housing?

Our paper work says we have helped over 500 consumers get back on their feet. In reality it is many more and the reason is this: being homeless for years these folk have lost everything, including their identification, without which we cannot get them into the system. But I feel that by the time someone knocks on our door, there is no one else who will help him or her. So we open our doors and our hearts to anyone asking for our help.

You once said that you no longer gauge the value of Go-Getters paper reports only, but by the amount of folks that are truly helped. What did you mean by that?

This cuts to the core value of the Peer Support Movement, the concept of peers welcoming peers into the system really works, something we consumers have known and practiced for years. Now it has been made official by the Peer Support There is just something natural about Peer Support and the best way I can explain it is that you just had to have been there. All I know for sure is that it works. It is really encouraging now that ‘Peer Support’ is Medicaid reimbursable.

This coming Friday Go-Getters will be holding a Silent Auction, SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! HELP SPREAD HOPE. Go-Getters provides with the very basic needs such as toothpaste, deodorant, a change of clothing, warm clothing and those kinds of things. So they hold the Silent Auction around this time every year as we know winter is upon us and people are going to need coats, blankets, warm socks and such. The problem is that as funding has been reduced statewide more individuals who are homeless, are coming in for support. Go-Getters need your help to help others. Please attend the Silent Auction with voices loud and strong of support and hope. The drop in centers needs people to donate and/or bid on items. To learn more about the Silent Auction scheduled for this coming Friday the 19th contact the Go-Getters Clubhouse at 313-842-4046.

In my previous newsletter I mentioned that Andria Jackson has joined the Recovery Band as a singer. On the 1st of November Andria will be making her debut when the band plays at the Charles H Wright Museum. She will be telling a story and singing a gospel standard made famous by Mahalia Jackson called 'How I got Over'. Andria has also taken on another interesting, worthwhile, project when she is not at work. The Matrix Theatre (Oct. 14th, Det. Free Press, page 2 G) production of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest' is generating interest around the Nation. The cast consists of professional actors and consumers. According to the Free Press you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference. "Of course it's possible for a person with mental illness to be a professional actor, and vice versa" If we can come up with enough folks to make it worthwhile, Matrix will put on a special showing at reduced pricing. During her off hours, Andria is contacting Clubhouses, Drop In Centers, and Providers, hoping to be able to provide our brothers and sisters in recovery a treat by getting them to this super production.

As system transformation moves forward, we are witnessing more and more consumers actively participating not only in our own recovery process, but also the recovery of others, and the recovery of the Community. We are dealing with stigma on a daily basis by demonstrating to everyone how capable we are. We are working side by side with professionals who believe in us helping to implement change in the system of treatment and recovery. We look forward to the day when upon entering the system, everyone will be able to take recovery for granted.

Gerald Butler

CPSS

Peer Advocate

Policies about "Behavior"

I have been working in the disability community since 1970. When I first started, people were using cattle prods to alter the behavior of children with autism, based on research done a few years before. I saw this done. I wish I could tell you that I opposed its use, but I was 23 at the time, and still bought into the "cure" model of dealing with disability. I found it "disgusting, but necessary".

Over time, I saw the limitations and the cruelty of aversive behavior management techniques, and I came to oppose their use as an advocate both inside and outside the mental health system. As another example of my naivety, I thought that such opposition by advocates and activists would eliminate the use of aversive techniques.

Well, recently, I reviewed a draft of a behavior management policy for the Michigan mental health system that was strong on rhetoric, but didn't actually disallow the use of any aversive technique. A couple of years ago, the State Board of Education created a behavior management policy with the same rhetoric and the same kinds of loopholes.

The problem isn't just the policies. It is the rabid, panicky desperation in the eyes of the supporters when the use of such techniques is questioned or opposed. The use of such techniques is not some academic quest for the most effective form of treatment. Those who use aversives in school, mental health, or other treatment settings view these techniques as the only defense they have against total chaos in their work environments.

The professor who taught my Abnormal Psych class in college (many decades ago) had 8 years as an orderly in a State hospital before deciding to go to school in psychology. When we (as his students) would get too academic about the concepts, he would tell us stories about people he knew in the hospital, to re-focus us on the individual humanity of each person, and the similarities between us and individuals who, by circumstance, happened to be in an institution.

When we discussed behavior modification, he pointed out that the most powerful consequence to any behavior is the relief of pain or anxiety. He said that many of the behaviors of addicts aren't a result of the physical tolerance to the drug. Rather, the behaviors arise from the terror of not being able to control the withdrawal. He said that the same applies to adult behavior that leads to relief. His example was putting a child in a time out room. Whether it changes the child's behavior is immaterial as long as it relieves the parent's pain. Time out will continue to be used.

I think something similar occurs in systems that use aversives. Their use is maintained by the fear of staff and management over the personal consequences if the techniques are no longer available.

Psychologist-Activist Helps Screen American Psychiatric

Strangeness, abnormality, weirdness and nonviolent activism mix on
the MFI Radio Show this Wednesday, with an author asks you to, "Dance
With Your Dark Side."

This Wednesday, 17 October 2007, at 4 pm ET, "click and listen" to a
free live web interview on MindFreedom Radio with Al Galves here:

http://prncomm.net/

You can phone in LIVE with your comments, questions, news and views.

Al was part of a team of this past Thursday of "Normality Screeners"
who screened the American Psychiatric Association main headquarters
for "normality." Hear about the fun this nonviolent and peaceful
event caused, when the APA closed down their 20th floor entrance to
the public, for the day. Ah, the power of rubber chickens and a red
nose.

You can read about the normality screening on the MindFreedom blog,
that also has a link to photos, here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/mfi-blog

Al is a psychologist and activist for more choices in the mental
health system. He is also the author of a brand new book, "Lighten
Up: Dance With Your Dark Side."

Al will also report about lobbying in Washington, D.C. today, 15
October, as part of the conference of the International Center for
the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (ICSPP). Ron is on their board.

Phone in with your questions & comments live on this radio show. Host
of the MindFreedom Live Free Internet Radio Hour is David Oaks.

How to Screen Yourself for Normality for Free!

Thursday, 11 October 2007

How to Screen Yourself for Normality for Free!

by David W. Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Today has been declared "Mental Health Screening Day" by the psychiatric industry.

But wait! Don't panic!

MindFreedom International, a nonprofit human rights coalition of 100 groups, launches a campaign today to "Screen the World for Normality"!

You can screen yourself *now*, wherever you are, in five easy steps.

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

NORMALITY SCREENING SELF-TEST

1. Make an animal noise. Now. At your computer screen or wherever you are. Make any animal noise: Meow of a cat. Moo of a cow. Anything. Louder the better.

2. Evaluate yourself. Here is how:

3. Did you make an animal noise of any kind? You show no sign of normality. Congratulations!!

4. Did you did *not* make an animal noise of any kind? You show no sign of normality. Congratulations!!

5. Spread the word: Encourage others to take this simple Normality Screening Self-Test!

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

WHY SCREEN YOURSELF FOR NORMALITY?

This screening was designed by experts. Every normality screening brings Earth that much closer to declaring victory.

Seriously: End the discrimination and segregation of "mentalism" in the mental health system today! All of humanity are in the same mad boat. It is time to ask some of those "Officially Labeled Mad" for navigation tips.

We normality screeners thank the amazing physician-clown Patch Adams and his international clown network. Their clown troupe in Florence, Italy, helped devise and inspire this normality screening effort.

The Normality Screening campaign is sponsored by MFI's "Voices for Choices in Mental Health Care Campaign" in cooperation with the Mad Pride Movement and the International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (IAACM), which is a real organization that Martin Luther King, Jr. called for creating more than ten (10) times.

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

PLEASE LET OTHERS KNOW about this Normality Self-Screening Test both on and off Internet!

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

STAY TUNED HERE for more news.

Just a few hours after e-mailing you this, I and a wonderful MindFreedom Normality Screening Crew -- that includes both a physician and a psychologist -- cross the Potomac River with our rubber chickens and squeaky red noses to peacefully screen for normality directly in front of the American Psychiatric Association headquarters.

Really.

Watch here for results.

We are optimistic.

But then again, we're just not normal.

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

A FEW NON-NORMAL WEB LINKS FOR MORE INFO about...

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

Screenfor Normality Campaign

Other successful MAD PRIDE activities this week include Belgium (featuring an appearance by Dan Taylor of MindFreedom Ghana Africa)... An Australian music concert... UK's Bonkersfest doing normality screenings... a photo op at the Alternatives 2007 conference in St. Louis:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride/screen-normality

or go here: http://tinyurl.com/3dudcq