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A Novel Mental Health Treatment Program Dramatically Reduces Suicides

2011-01-04T16:57:28Z

If you've seen the photos of crumbling Detroit buildings that are being circulated lately, you'd probably expect the whole city to be full of miserable, despairing people, a place where a suicide rate of zero is unthinkable. Think again! Detroit is struggling but not nearly as badly as those photos suggest, and this Crain's article on the Henry Ford Health System that serves southeast Michigan suggests that "perfect" depression care is entirely possible even in an area that's going through tough times:

"The bigger issue was this culture change that we eventually implemented which simply did not accept the notion that people would kill themselves, the idea that zero would be our goal," says Ed Coffey, a physician who is vice president at the Henry Ford system and CEO of its behavioral health services division. The division has a staff of about 500 and provides mental health and substance-abuse services through its integrated delivery system of two hospitals and 10 clinics that serves Southeast Michigan and adjacent states. "That to me was the biggest thing and the key lever that allowed us to accomplish the success we had," he said.

...The Perfect Depression Care initiative includes six major tactics: commit to "perfection" (zero suicides) as a goal; develop a clear vision of how each patient's care will change; listen to patients regarding their care redesign; conceptualize, design and test strategies for improving patient partnership, clinical practice, access to care and information systems; implement relevant measures of care quality, assess progress and adjust as needed; and communicate the results.

Within the first four years of the program, the annual rate of patient suicides in the behavioral health services department dropped 75 percent to about 22 per 100,000 -- the average rate between 2002 and 2005 -- from 89 suicides per 100,000 at the baseline in 2000, according to an April 2007 article in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. In the past two years, or the last 10 consecutive quarters, the department has not seen one patient suicide.

Clearly other mental health treatment professionals need to look into this system and consider ways to learn from its success.

A Novel Mental Health Treatment Program Dramatically Reduces Suicides originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 at 16:57:28.

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Mental Health and the Holidays

2010-12-21T17:20:49Z

As Christmas and New Year's draw closer, many of us are bracing for changes to our routines that could shake anyone's mental health. Travel and jetlag, a break from the rigid schedule of work or school, meals at unusual times, and the distractions of family can all contribute to forgetting to take medication. Many therapists and other mental health providers are out of reach while they enjoy their own celebrations (and hard-earned rest). Holiday stress may worsen mental health conditions, and while holiday joy is a wonderful thing, January can be a real let-down.

Here's how to get through these busy days and long winter nights:

Make sure you take all your medication as prescribed.
Be prepared for mental health emergencies and have a plan for how to handle them, especially while you're away from home or your regular treatment provider is on vacation. If you're your own primary caregiver, carry a paper copy of your emergency plan and share it with a family member or friend who will be spending time with you.
Get your prescriptions refilled with plenty of time before you travel. You may need an extra note from your doctor if you're taking heavy-duty meds and want an early refill, so start the process now. If you think you might need to increase your dose or take extra meds to get through the holidays, now's a good time to consult with your doctor about that too.
Use these smart tips for traveling with prescription medication. You don't want your life-saving pills lost, damaged, or confiscated!
If travel, family, and parties are difficult or tiring--as even the most loving and wonderful family can be--get through them with some holiday stress-busting tips that will help keep you on an even keel. (Got your own tried-and-true techniques? Share them here.)

May your holidays be healthy and happy!

Mental Health and the Holidays originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 at 17:20:49.

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APA Releases New Depression Treatment Guidelines

2010-10-01T11:50:50Z

The American Psychiatric Association (not to be confused with the American Psychological Association) has released new treatment guidelines for depression. According to Medscape Today, the guidelines include:

A clinician- and/or patient-administered rating scale for psychiatric symptoms to help with treatment strategies;
A recommendation for the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT or "shock therapy") to treat depression if many other treatments have been tried unsuccessfully, along with monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), transcranial magnetic stimulation, and vagus nerve stimulation as other potential options;
Aerobic exercise or resistance training to improve mood symptoms, especially in older adults with other physical or mental illness; and
Consideration of long-term maintenance treatment, especially for patients at risk for recurrence.

It's worth noting that Reuters reported that first suggestion as follows: "Doctors should use rating scales to assess their patients' conditions and tailor treatment according to the severity of symptoms. They can adjust various strategies such as medication, healthy behaviors, exercise and therapy." This implies that current treatment for depression takes a one-size-fits-all approach, which of course is not at all true. Doctors already tailor treatment to patients. The important part of this recommendation is the use of rating scales for various symptoms.

Going by the DSM-IV guidelines, if you meet more than a certain number of criteria you are diagnosed with depression. The new approach gets rid of the "has depression/doesn't have depression" binary and replaces it with scales that measure the severity of your symptoms. Some of the questions might look like this: How unhappy do you feel on an average day? How often do you have difficulty getting out of bed in the morning? How frequently do you think about suicide? Using rating scales like this, doctors can get a much better idea of what sort of treatment will be useful, and can also provide treatment to people who have a few signs of depression but would not be "diagnosable" under the old guidelines.

These guidelines hadn't been updated in over ten years, so I'm glad to see that the APA isn't waiting for the DSM-V to release this very important update that will hopefully improve diagnosis and treatment for many, many people who suffer from depression.

APA Releases New Depression Treatment Guidelines originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, October 1st, 2010 at 11:50:50.

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Can Toxoplasmosis Cause Schizophrenia?

2010-08-05T15:25:35Z

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that infects mice and makes them less afraid of cats. The fearless mice are more likely to be eaten by cats, and the parasite reproduces in the cats' digestive tract. Toxoplasma's ability to alter mouse behavior has led to a bit of evidence and a lot of theories about how human brains might be affected by the parasite. Since about a third of adult humans worldwide have toxoplasmosis, this is a pretty important question.

The most obvious starting point is behavior driven by fear or fearlessness. According to Stanford researcher Robert Sapolsky,� "Two different groups independently have reported that people who are Toxo-infected have three to four times the likelihood of being killed in car accidents involving reckless speeding." Patrick House of Slate observes that countries where rates of toxoplasmosis are higher have better soccer teams. Less obvious but perhaps more intriguing is a possible link between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia. According to Physorg:

Evidence that T. gondii infections may be a cause of schizophrenia, while not yet conclusive, is growing, [Johns Hopkins researcher] Yolken said. A review of past studies, published last year by Yolken and Torrey, collected a variety of intriguing correlations. For example: People with schizophrenia have a higher prevalence of T. gondii antibodies in their blood. There are unusually low rates of schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis in countries where cats are rare, and unusually high rates in places where eating uncooked meat is customary. And some adults with toxoplasmosis show psychotic symptoms similar to schizophrenia.

Studies have linked a history of toxoplasmosis with increased rates of other mental changes, too, including bipolar disorders and depression. A 2002 study in the Czech Republic noted slowed reflexes in Toxoplasma-positive people and found links between the infection and increased rates of auto accidents.

A University of Maryland study last year found that people with mood disorders who attempt suicide had higher levels of T. gondii antibodies than those who don't try to take their own lives. Still, the links between schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis are not simple. For example, most people infected with T. gondii never become schizophrenic. And not all schizophrenics have been exposed to Toxoplasma.

Even seemingly clear-cut research results are open to interpretation: witness Sapolsky talking about recklessness while the Physorg article connects the auto accidents to slow reflexes. The practical question of whether the symptoms of schizophrenia can be effectively and efficiently reduced by treating toxoplasmosis--which is itself a difficult task due to T. gondii's talent for hiding and protecting itself--remains to be answered. Nonetheless, it's always interesting to see physical causes suggested for mental illness, even as we stay wary of anyone offering a simple cure.

Can Toxoplasmosis Cause Schizophrenia? originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 15:25:35.

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May is Mental Health Month

2010-04-28T14:31:50Z

May is Mental Health Month.

Across the country the National Alliance on Mental Illness will be hosting walks and other events to address the need for an improved mental health treatment program.

Date	Walk Site	Location
May 1, 2010	NAMI Fresno	Fresno, CA
May 1, 2010	NAMIWALKS Ventura County	Ventura, CA
May 1, 2010	NAMI Delaware	Wilmington, DE
May 1, 2010	NAMI Greater Orlando	Maitland, FL
May 1, 2010	NAMI Kansas	Topeka, KS
May 1, 2010	NAMI Metropolitan Baltimore	Baltimore, MD
May 1, 2010	NAMI Maryland	College Park, MD
May 1, 2010	NAMI North Carolina	Raleigh, NC
May 1, 2010	NAMI New Mexico	Albuquerque, NM
May 1, 2010	NAMI Greenville	Greenville, SC
May 1, 2010	NAMI Dallas, Inc.	Dallas, TX
May 1, 2010	NAMI Metropolitan Houston	Houston, TX
May 2, 2010	Greater Philadelphia NAMIWalk	Blue Bell, PA
May 8, 2010	NAMI Johnson County	Iowa City, IA
May 8, 2010	NAMI Maine	Portland, ME
May 8, 2010	NAMI New York City Metro	New York, NY
May 8, 2010	NAMI Hamilton County	Cincinnati, OH
May 15, 2010	NAMI Colorado	Denver, CO
May 15, 2010	NAMI Connecticut	Hartford, CT
May 15, 2010	NAMI Massachusetts	Boston, MA
May 15, 2010	NAMI Berkshire County	Pittsfield, MA
May 15, 2010	NAMI South Dakota	Sioux Falls, SD
May 15, 2010	NAMI San Antonio	San Antonio, TX
May 15, 2010	NAMI Washington State Walk - May 15, 2010	Seattle, WA
May 15, 2010	NAMI Greater Milwaukee	Milwaukee, WI
May 22, 2010	NAMIWalk San Francisco Bay Area	San Francisco, CA
May 22, 2010	NAMI Mercer NJ	Titusville, NJ
May 22, 2010	NAMIWALKS Oklahoma	Oklahoma City, OK
May 22, 2010	NAMI Waukesha	Waukesha, WI
May 23, 2010	NAMI Long Island/Queens Area Walk	Wantagh, NY
May 23, 2010	NAMI Northwest Walk	Portland, OR
May 29, 2010	NAMI Arkansas	North Little Rock, AR
May 29, 2010	NAMI St. Louis	St. Louis, MO

For more information on NAMI and the walks this month, visit the NAMI Website.

May is Mental Health Month originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 14:31:50.

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Shootings at Fort Hood; alleged gunman is mental health worker

2009-11-06T11:53:33Z

Thirteen people were killed and several more wounded in a shooting in Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday.

The alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist at Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, has been taken into custody.

Hasan is a licensed psychiatrist and has treated soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder. Military officials say Hasan had recently received orders to deploy to Afghanistan.

For updates, see CNN.com.

Shootings at Fort Hood; alleged gunman is mental health worker originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 11:53:33.

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Trauma Therapy from the Client's Perspective

2006-07-28T06:26:48Z

Bonnie Burton is a trauma survivor who writes about therapy from the inside. As a gifted writer, she conveys some essential truths about the process of therapy, and shatters some stereotypes along the way. Her experiences with good therapists and not-so-good therapists are essential reading for client and therapist alike.

Ms. Burton's own experience of therapy convinces her, for example, that trauma survivors don't always make the best trauma therapists. This is especially true if they never completed their own therapy. She has seen them react with fear and dissociation in response to traumatic material or negative emotions expressed in a session.

While we don't learn who her current therapist is, it is clear that they are working together toward healing. She writes with clarity and maturity; and without a chip on her shoulder. It is a privilege to publish an article from a guest author who is such an articulate therapy client. This article will help me be a better therapist.

Read Bonnie Burton's insightful article.

Trauma Therapy from the Client's Perspective originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 06:26:48.

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Resilience

2006-07-26T06:33:45Z

Why do some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder after a trauma and others remain symptom free? We are still trying to understand resilience, one characteristic of good mental health.

Researchers studying survivors of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack have been surprised to find many of them to be free of PTSD symptoms. Resilience was less common among people who were actually in the buildings or in the immediate area, but the researchers report that even for "highly exposed individuals" the frequency of resilience never fell below one third.

Resilience originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 06:33:45.

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Sustained Release Schizophrenia Drug may be available Soon

2006-07-24T06:26:03Z

AstraZeneca announced last week that they have submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA for a sustained release version of their antipsychotic medication Seroquel (quetiapine). The company reports the new medication has a "short titration period" - meaning that patients may receive a therapeutically effective dose of the medication as soon as the second day of treatment.

Drug companies come out with new versions of their medications just before the patent on the existing version expires, but Seroquel's patent does not expire until 2011. Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals filed an FDA request to produce a generic version of quetiapine last year and they were promptly sued by AstraZenica. Was this a factor in the early request for a sustained-release version? ...

Sustained Release Schizophrenia Drug may be available Soon originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Monday, July 24th, 2006 at 06:26:03.

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FDA issues an advisory on the Use of Triptans and Antidepressants

2006-07-21T06:47:55Z

The U.S.Food and Drug Administration has issued a public health advisory about potential risks of taking certain migraine medications - triptans - together with certain antidepressants. The advisory states, "A life-threatening condition called serotonin syndrome may occur when triptans are used together with a SSRI or a SNRI."

Serotonin syndrome occurs when the body has too much of serotonin, a chemical found in the nervous system. Serotonin syndrome may be more likely to occur when starting or increasing the dose of a triptan, SSRI or SNRI. Symptoms of serotonin syndrome may include:

restlessness
hallucinations
loss of coordination
fast heart beat
rapid changes in blood pressure
increased body temperature
overactive reflexes
nausea
vomiting
diarrhea

FDA issues an advisory on the Use of Triptans and Antidepressants originally appeared on About.com Mental Health Resources on Friday, July 21st, 2006 at 06:47:55.

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