Sigh

I've felt off today, not depressed or blah even, just kind of blunted and quiet and unmotivated. It was an okay day. I'm taking my meds regularly. I haven't gotten much sleep this weekend and I haven't eaten the best, but other than that things have gone pretty well. A coworker rubbed my shoulders earlier and she said I was really tense, but that's not unusual. My stomach and head hurt a bit and I'm one of those people who carry a lot tension in the body a lot, so that's telling. I don't know what's going on. I'm going to go to bed early and see if tomorrow is any better. I've been pretty happy and relaxed lately, but who knows what's going on with my neurotransmitters. This is why I keep a mood diary and try to stay aware of how I feel. Today I knew things were off but I can't figure how or why. It's frustrating living in my head sometimes.

This is such a powerful song, full of raw emotion and pain

Written and recorded shortly before a near-fatal overdose, written at rock bottom, a cry for help, and showing how complicated those feelings can be, when nothing takes away the pain. Demi Lovato has been publically candid with her history of depression, bipolar disorder, bulimia, and chemical dependence/addiction. The Grammy's were her first performance publically since that time. It is so good to see her back. I know there are many people, myself included, this song will call to.

Demi Lovato Makes a Powerful Confession at the Grammys: The pop star’s first new song since a near-fatal overdose offers no comfort other than the mere fact of its existence.

At the Grammy's...so much emotion. I don't watch these sorts of shows, but I heard about this on the radio, and had to watch this clip, and I was blown away.



The lyric video...

Stop the stigma

My Name is Wil Wheaton. I live with chronic Depression, and I am not ashamed.

Who knew Wil Wheaton and I shared so many similarities? He's just a little better at describing everyday life with depression and anxiety disorders than I am. I'm going to take a page from his book and start writing that I live with mental illness, but it does not define me. I live with bipolar disorder, social anxiety, generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hoarding syndrome, driving anxiety, among other things. I am afraid almost every moment of my life. It's crippling at times, but I still get up and go to work each day and take one step at a time. I take a good blend of medication -- a mood stabilizer and atypical antipsychotic (I'm not psychotic, but it works for other things, and you shouldn't give someone worth bipolar disorder SSRI antidepressants, as they can trigger mania), and an anti-anxiety medication. That helps immensely. Therapy has helped, too. But I will never be cured. I know that ust like I live with chronic diabetes that can be managed, but never really completely cured, no matter what some people claim in diet books. It's another type of illness, just an imbalance in my brain chemistry rather than the hormone imbalance behind diabetes. It's nothing to be ashamed or stigmatised by, although it often is. So I'm writing about this now. I live with mental illness every day. It is a constant companion questioning my every move. But I'm ultimately the one on the driver's seat. It is my life. I struggle, but I choose to live as fully as possible

This time last year

I was finishing up an excellent evidence-based course for the family members and loved ones of those with mental illness (called Family-to-Family) presented by our local chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). I subsequently underwent training to teach it, and spent most of the summer doing that.

Yesterday brought all that learning to the test, and not in a theoretical, academic way, but rather through real-world crisis. As I suspected, our lesson on communication was absolutely the most important one for dealing with someone endangered by their illness. The knowledge I had learned about illness, medication, and the mental health system also helped a great deal. In the aftermath, self-care became important as well, as yesterday was all about the other person’s needs, and I didn’t take any medicine, get much rest, barely ate, and only managed to get a shower late in the day. Today was about trying to get back on track and rest.

In retrospect, the main things I might have done differently was 1) contact the specific healthcare provider in this situation and alerted them to the episode. Instead I tried to handle it on my own, which, while making sure things didn’t escalate, perhaps the person would have been safer, and 2) stayed with the person for the duration of the episode. I did actually leave the person sleeping for a couple of hours to facilitate an agreed-upon option we had discussed. The person was asleep, and was the entire time I was gone, but in hindsight, I shouldn’t have left anyone in that situation alone, even for a bit.

But hindsight is 20/20, of course. I’ll learn from this. Crises of this type are thankfully, few and far between, and I think I have a better sense of the triggers and situations that contributed to it and can therefore be on the lookout for future problems.

I am very thankful for my boss, who came and asked me about how I was doing today. I’d e-mailed both bosses that I was having a family crisis and would most likely be back today. I explained what had happened. She was very supportive and reiterated the need to take care of myself.

Today has been a bit of a blur. I went into work early. My blood sugar was high from not taking my insulin yesterday (and I’ve been trying to stabilise it over the last few days anyway, as I’ve had some issues). I went out of the house today without the long-acting insulin, so that didn’t help. I’m not used to it being so high, and felt very torpid and had trouble feeling awake and alert most of the day. I did manage to do the most pressing things at work, but barely. I will have to play catch-up on my data entry tomorrow. When I got off work, I had a little trouble driving home—my blood sugar was a little high, but mainly, I was just that tired. I felt utterly drained. I came home, took my insulin, ate something, and then took time to get some rest, sleeping from about 6 pm to 8 pm. I feel marginally better.

So now I’m charging my phone, and I’m considering tackling the kitchen dishes and straightening up there a bit, because while the house is in better shape than it has been, it still needs some work. I arose from my nap feeling pretty decent; in the hour I’ve been up, I’ve gone back to feeling tired and spacey. I think I’ll go check my blood sugar and see if it’s okay, and then go from there. Maybe I should just put on some soothing music and relax. Emotions ran high yesterday, and while I was able to put them aside to some degree and function, I think there’s a rebound where what could have been sinks in and all the fears become absolutely real. My mind keeps going to the ‘what ifs’. Funny, in the game, in a difficult situation, I often freeze, afraid to make the wrong decision. In real life, I often go ahead and deal with the situation at the time, making decisions that may or may not be best, but which are utterly necessary at the time, and then I fall apart later. So today has been a sort of frenzied panic now that the situation is improved. Even last night, I was ready to run out of the door in shorts on a cold night due to a dropped call, where I thought the situation had escalated again. The only thing that allowed me to sleep was plenty of Loreena McKennitt music. So I think I’ll go try to relax, listen to the rain, and some music, and be glad that things stabilised, rather than playing the ‘what if’ game in my mind.

Good night.

#IamStigmaFree

This is Mental Illness Awareness Week

One in five adults in the United States, approximately 43.7 million, experiences mental illness in a given year. One in 25 adults, about 13.6 million, will experience a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activity. Current research reveals that only 41 percent of adults in the nation with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year. Research also suggests that half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24, and despite effective treatment options available, there are generally long delays – sometimes decades – between the onset of symptoms and treatment.

According to the American Journal of Psychiatry, serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year. The Department of Health and Human Services states mood disorders, including major depression, dysthymic disorder and bipolar disorder, are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the United States for both youths and adults ages 18 to 44. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, the third leading cause for people ages 10 to 24 and the second leading cause for people aged 15-24. Ninety percent of children who die by suicide have a mental health condition, and each day an estimated 18 to 22 veterans die by suicide.

For more information on mental illness, check out the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). It's a great organisation, and I can proudly say I am a member. I've both taken and taught an excellent, evidence-based class for family members and loved ones of those with mental illness, sponsored by NAMI, called Family-to-Family. I've also battled mental illness myself for most of my life, including bipolar disorder. I'm lucky--I've gotten the help I need medically, both in terms of medication and therapy, and I have very understanding loved ones. But many people do not even seek out help because of the stigma that still remains. Mental illness, which takes many forms, is a biological disorder of the brain chemistry. It should be seen as one might see diabetes or heart conditions--natural diseases that affect certain aspects of a person's life and can be life-threatening, but although incurable at present, they are also treatable. So stamp out the stigma. Talk to your loved ones, whether you're concerned they may be affected by mental illness, or if you, yourself are. Be stigma free. Reach out. Life can get better; find the support you need.

This is so sad

Young black man jailed since April for alleged $5 theft found dead in cell: Jamycheal Mitchell, 24, had been held in Virginia jail without bail for nearly four months, accused of stealing a Mountain Dew, Snickers bar and a Zebra Cake

But the hospital said it had no vacancy and the 24-year-old was therefore detained in jail until his death on 19 August, according to Adams, Mitchell’s aunt, who said she had tried to assist the hospitalisation process herself but was left frustrated.

“He was just deteriorating so fast,” she said. “I kept calling the jail, but they said they couldn’t transfer him because there were no available beds. So I called Eastern State, too, and people there said they didn’t know anything about the request or not having bed availability.”

When asked which state agency was ultimately responsible for ensuring Mitchell was transferred to the hospital, the court clerk said: “It’s hard to tell who’s responsible for it.”

Officials from the court, the police department and the jail could not explain why Mitchell was not given the opportunity to be released on bail.

The young man, who reportedly had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, apparently starved himself to death and refused to take his medication. But the system failed Jamycheal Mitchell terribly, and this is another example of how those with mental illness wind up warehoused in jails rather than receiving help in hospitals, and how easy it is for someone to fall through the cracks in the system.

Class went really well tonight

So after work, I headed over to class because A was working late, and he couldn't make it. I got there early, did a few things on the phone, read a library book on my Kindle, that sort of thing. There was a lot of participation this time; this was the class on empathy. I disclosed my own diagnosis tonight, which I've been very careful about so far, but it was at an appropriate time, somewhat ironically about 'coming out' with mental illness. I always think of my co-teacher as the 'main' teacher and myself as the 'supporter', but people are coming up to me with questions during break and after class, and it feels nice that they feel comfortable doing that. It's hard to believe we only have four more sessions to go! Next week involves an interesting communication exercise, and I'm curious to see how people react to that.

After class I went over to my friends' house, to see if they needed anything, as YKWIA had indicated he'd like me to earlier, but the house was dark, they were obviously asleep, and so instead of rousing the dogs by knocking without a porch light on or anything, I called to see if they might be awake at all. There was no answer, so I went on, checking as I went to see that the bedroom light was also dark. I'll catch up with them later.

Tomorrow I'm going in to work early for a birthday breakfast. They have it twice a year, the administrator makes us omelets, and otherwise it's a free breakfast bar served by the directors. Although my birthday was in April, it falls in this particular breakfast. Unfortunately, I have a doctor's appointment (which fortunately isn't fasting) at 8:30 am, so I'm going to go into work, eat breakfast, go to my appointment, and then go back.

I'm feeling good about work lately. Today I sent my boss an interesting article on the use of codes during active shooter situations and using plain language, and she really appreciated it. I'd found it on Facebook last night as a link via The Joint Commission. Also, in my other job in the revenue cycle position, I've found several things lately in reconciliation that translate to quite a bit of money. So I'm feeling like I'm contributing. Despite that, I really need to step up my job search, as my job is not going to the new medical centre and it's going to take awhile to find one, particularly if I want to stay a librarian (which I do, if at all possible).

Okay, I'm home, I'm in comfy clothes, and I've had a couple of peanut butter sandwiches. I spent my last five dollars on menstrual pads, 79 cent marked-down bread, and fruit spread. Sigh. I do wish things would get better financially, but I don't see that happening. I have a quarter of a tank of gas in the car, too, and that's certainly not going to last a week till I get paid. :( Tomorrow I need to call and make arrangements for an extension on my electric bill, or it'll be shut off Friday.

Oh, well. I think it's time to finish getting ready for bed, take my contacts out, snuggle up in front of the fan, and hopefully have pleasant dreams, for the morning comes early. Good night!

A very interesting look at bipolar disorder (and lithium)

‘I Don’t Believe in God, but I Believe in Lithium’: My 20-year struggle with bipolar disorder.

The manila folder is full of faded faxes. The top sheet contains a brief description of my first medically confirmed manic episode, more than 20 years ago, when I was admitted as a teenager to U.C.L.A.’s Neuropsychiatric Institute: “Increased psychomotor rate, decreased need for sleep (about two to three hours a night), racing thoughts and paranoid ideation regarding her parents following her and watching her, as well as taping the phone calls that she was making.”

I believed I had special powers, the report noted; I knew ‘‘when the end of the world was coming due to toxic substances’’ and felt that I was the only one who could stop it. There was also an account of my elaborate academic sponsorship plan so I could afford to attend Yale — some corporation would pay for a year of education in exchange for labor or repayment down the line. (Another grand delusion. I was a B-plus student, at best.)

After I was admitted to the institute's adolescent ward, I thought the nurses and doctors and therapists were trying to poison me. So was the TV in the rec room. I warned my one friend in the ward that its rays were trying to kill him. The generator outside my window was pumping in gas. The place, I was sure, was a death camp.

I refused meds because they were obviously agents of annihilation. It took four orderlies to medicate me: They pinned me to the floor while a nurse plunged a syringe into my left hip. Over time, I became too tired to refuse medication. Or perhaps the cocktail of antipsychotics started working. The Dixie cup full of pills included lithium, which slowly took hold of my mania. After a few weeks, I stopped whispering to the other patients that we were all about to be killed. Eventually, I stopped believing it myself.

I've never been psychotic, and there's some debate over whether I have been merely 'hypomanic' or truly 'manic', but I have bipolar disorder, officially diagnosed as Bipolar Disorder II. My main drug is not lithium, but lamotrigine, also known as Lamictal. It is a mood stabilizer. Apparently standard antidepressants, SSRIs (selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors) are often prescribed to people who present with depressive symptoms, and while usually they work, occasionally they have a tendency to send a person into a full-blown mania, indicating that the diagnosis should actually be Bipolar. So while they are sometimes still used in someone who has bipolar disorder, they usually have a mood stabilizer in there as well. I also take aripiprazole, Abilify, which is an antipsychotic, even though I'm not psychotic. The two together work to keep me on an even keel, and it's been years since I've been too down or up in mood. I'm lucky. They found a good combination for me that worked pretty much from the get-go. I am very compliant in terms of medication, missing only occasionally, like today, when I didn't realise my pill-reminder box was empty. I'll fill that up tonight. They are just like any other tablet I take for my 'physical' conditions. (I put those quotes in, because psychiatric illnesses such as Major Depressive Disorder or Bipolar Disorder are the result of physical imbalances in brain chemistry, even if they are classed as mental illnesses.) By taking those medications, I am a productive member of society who pays her taxes and holds down a job, etc.

My biggest fear as I go forward in the next couple of years is that my job will be ending in 2017 unless I find something else before then, and that means I'm going to lose my insurance. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) may be my salvation. I am terrified of going off my meds, and not just the ones for diabetes, but the ones for my bipolar disorder as well. I didn't do all the crazy things that this writer did, but I did crazy things that affected my credit, my relationships, my schooling, my job, and my own sense of self worth. I don't want to be actively crazy again, ever.

I can relate so much to this article. Medication = a mostly decent, normal life. Off medication = chaos. It's pretty simple. My brain is not my friend. There is something seriously wrong with me, but it can be helped. I realise this. I have the insight, which is why I take my tablets every day. I want to be in control of my life, not at the mercy of it.

In case you didn't know

May is Mental Health Month. You can go to the national NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) organisation web page for information on mental illness and finding support, and sign the stigma-free pledge, if you'd like, or go to the the NIMH (yes, as in The Rats of NIMH, the National Institute of Mental Health) website for a wealth of information. Jared Padalecki's description of the stigma of mental illness from the second article mentioned in the last post pretty much sums it up. The statistics are one thing. Living with mental illness, or loving someone who is struggling with mental illness, is very hard. I know that from personal experience. NAMI Lexington's Family-to-Family class, which was free, really helped me understand mental illness better, to learn to communicate better, and to care for myself and my loved one. I hope to go through training soon to teach the class to others. It's a mixture of learning facts and sharing your own story in a supportive environment, and for many it's been a life line. Here's a video about the class:



If you are having suicidal thoughts, in the US there is: 1 (800) 273-8255 [National Suicide Prevention Lifeline], Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week, Languages: English, Spanish, Website: www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

If you or a loved one is in crisis, or otherwise you need guidance, call 1 (800) 950-6264 for the NAMI Helpline.

Good for them

'Supernatural' Actors Jensen and Jared Help Raise Awareness for Depression, Admit They Have Gone Down the "Dark Road"

With their charity campaign ‘Always Keep Fighting’, ‘Supernatural’ actor Jared Padalecki raked in the necessary funds for non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms to reach their goals in supporting individuals experiencing addiction, depression and suicidal tendencies.

In addition, the 32-year-old actor also drew attention to raising awareness for mental illness after the suicide of a close friend or family member.

With the aid of ‘Supernatural’ fans, who continue to support the series even if it is already headed towards its season 10 finale, the T-shirt campaign has already gained considerable success.

Now, Padalecki has joined forces with co-star Jensen Ackles and the duo has already come up with a joint fund to promote a number of causes and support people suffering from mental illness and mood disorders, among others.

Why Supernatural Star Jared Padalecki Is Speaking Out About Mental Illness

It's really hard to put into words. It's been amazing. Hopefully it's helping to destigmatize these issues, because it's all around us. It's ubiquitous, and people hide it. If somebody has cancer, they're not embarrassed to have cancer – they know it's not their fault. They know it's a struggle. But, for some reason, if someone says they're depressed, they assume that people are going to look at them like they have three heads. Hopefully, this is helping to start a conversation.

Very good news, indeed!

Experts praise 'historic' mental health, addiction parity rule

The rule guarantees that health plans’ co-payments, limits on visits to providers and deductibles for mental health benefits match those for medical and surgical benefits. It also ensures equal treatment for residential and outpatient care, a long-sought benefit in the mental health community.

The rule could affect 62 million Americans, including about 23 million Americans who meet the criteria for substance abuse disorder, administration officials said.

“For way too long, the health care system has openly discriminated against Americans with behavioral health problems,” Sebelius told reporters on a call after the announcement.

When I first got my job at age 30 and finally enjoyed having health insurance after years of not having it, I finally was able to get help for issues such as bipolar disorder II. But I discovered that my mental health care had co-pays at twice the rate of going to other medical providers. That eventually changed, and I am very glad I have decent behavioural health coverage that has good parity with other medical coverage now. But many people in our country are either not covered for mental health, or have substandard coverage or more costly coverage. It's important that this be more readily available, as you only have to turn on the news to see the consequences of untreated mental illness, such as mass shootings (although actually, mentally ill people are much more likely to be victims of crime than instigators). I'm so glad that this is being put into effect. And treating substance abuse is just as important. This will save lives, hopefully.

I have accomplished everything I set out to do today, yay!

Everything I mentioned earlier got done, and I went over and did the grocery run and then watched an episode of 'Alphas' with YKWIA. Plus, I had A over tonight (at my house) without going all nervous and anxious at all, and we watched the movie Silver Linings Playbook, which was quite excellent. The acting was great, and the issue of mental illness was handled well. As someone with bipolar disorder (thankfully controlled with medication, which I take regularly), I could relate and at times felt uncomfortable in how close it hit home, but it was nevertheless a lovely and uplifting story. I had a lot of plot points figured out, but that was actually kind of nice. It was certainly never boring. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper did such a good job, and Robert DeNiro was great as the father who in some ways, was the craziest in the whole family. I loved the mother, Jacki Weaver, who I think was the sanest.

Now I've taken him home and I'm just relaxing. It's nice not to have to stay up really late or get up super early to finish the notes; they're already in my Dropbox folder and ready to access tomorrow. The voice recorder is in my backup; the batteries are charging. I'm not 100% sure we'll be playing tomorrow, but I'm ready if we are.

YKWIA shared a bit of trivia with me today. Ryan Cartwright, who played Gary Bell in 'Alphas', always seemed familiar to me. Turns out he also played Vincent Nigel Murray in 'Bones'. He was actually one of my favourite characters on that show. I haven't seen many episodes of 'Bones', but I saw most of the ones he was in, and the last episode he was in. He has a very good American accent on 'Alphas' (he's British), and does an excellent job in both roles, but especially that of someone with autism in 'Alphas'.

Okay, I think I'm going to listen to some music and then maybe read a bit. Have a good night.

Food for thought

A mother's anger: Stop linking autism to violence

I've just listened to NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre suggest we need guns in our schools because "our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters."

I cringed.

After his further suggestion that the United States create a nationwide database for the mentally ill, I got angry. Leaving aside the issue of medical privacy laws, I found it ironic that an organization so vehemently opposed to gun registration would propose such a measure.

A perspective from the front lines

I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother by Liza Long

Three days before 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year-old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.

"I can wear these pants," he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.

"They are navy blue," I told him. "Your school's dress code says black or khaki pants only."

"They told me I could wear these," he insisted. "You're a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!"

"You can't wear whatever pants you want to," I said, my tone affable, reasonable. "And you definitely cannot call me a stupid bitch. You're grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school."

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.

Thanks to Brandon for sharing.

The thing is, mental illness is a horrible thing. I know--I am bipolar and in the course of trying to get the right diagnosis and medication I racked up a whole slew of secondary diagnoses--social anxiety, OCD, borderline personality, among others. I went through two psychiatrists before a mental health nurse practitioner, of all people, sat down and said, I think you have this, and need this, and I've been on an even keel now for years. It wasn't just hell for me, but for the people around me. Just the other day, my closest friend, who went through hell and high water when I was at my worst, told me he could never go through that again. Through it all, I kept a job, but had emotional storms where I didn't care whether I lived or died, and constantly found ways to hurt myself financially, physically, and emotionally. But most of my rage was turned inward. For some, it goes out to others.

The majority of the mentally ill are not violent--they're actually more likely to be victims than perpetrators, from what I've read, but those who are can be terrifying. Our health system in this country is broken, and the mental health aspect of it is just as broken as the rest. There have been some good things over the years that have helped. Mental health awareness is increasing. Groups like NAMI: the National Alliance on Mental Illness lend support. I remember when I first went to a psychiatrist, my co-pay was much higher than a regular doctor not because she was a specialist, but because it was mental health. Now that's not the case.

But the mental health world is very convoluted. There are parents, loved ones, spouses, children, friends, all hoping they can find help for a loved one, and often at the end of the day, even with what help they can get, they feel at the mercy of the mental illness. Also, mental illness often means that the person is increasingly shunned, becomes a loner, or drops off the map in some way, so in some cases, there is no safety net of loved ones to help.

I don't have solutions, really. I do have a great deal of empathy for this woman and for the people out there everywhere who are dealing with loved ones who scare them. I hope "Michael" gets the help he needs. But we must work together to provide services to the mentally ill and identify those who are actually a danger to others, keep them from having guns, help protect them and society as much as possible. In the meantime, I take care of me--take my meds, fall back on past counseling when needed, and try to keep some insight into my daily mental health so that my friends don't have to worry about me, because those of us with mental illness also have a responsibility to ourselves and others to seek help and foster treatment if we're functioning enough to do so, and because I love the people in my life and never want to scare them again.

Not to be ignored

1 In 5 Americans With Mental Illness, National Survey (that's just adults)

Also from the article:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in developed countries mental illness accounts for more disability than any other group of illnesses, including heart disease and cancer.

Hmmm....

Do some cultures have their own ways of going mad?

Anyone who follows psychiatry has noticed that the field is now in the midst of a debate that galvanizes its members every 10 to 20 years. At the center of the hubbub is psychiatry’s most sacred text: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The DSM, for short, is a compendium of over 350 ways our minds can fail us, from autism to kleptomania to voyeurism. What makes it onto the list matters: The DSM’s definition of “mental illness” can dictate whether an insurance company covers a treatment, or even whether a murderer is fit to stand trial. With the American Psychiatric Association gearing up to revamp the manual for the first time since 1994, mental health specialists have begun jostling over some of the most divisive issues in the field: whether someone mourning the death of a loved one can be justifiably treated for depression, for instance, or whether overdiagnosis and a black market demand for Adderall have trumped up a false ADHD epidemic.

And then there’s the back of the book.

If you turn to page 898 of the current edition — past the glossary and the alphabetical index of diagnoses — you’ll find a list of 25 little-known illnesses. These are the “culture-bound syndromes”: mental illnesses that psychiatrists officially acknowledge occur only within a particular society. Take, for instance, susto — a distinctly Latin American fear that one’s soul has panicked and left one’s body. Or pibloktoq, also known as “arctic hysteria,” in which Greenlandic Inuit strip off all their clothes and run out into the subzero Arctic tundra.

Depending on whom you ask, the notion that some cultures have their own ways of going crazy is either the ultimate in cultural sensitivity or the ultimate in Western condescension. And although these syndromes haven’t attracted nearly as much attention as Asperger’s or binge eating disorder, they are starting to come under fire from critics who don’t think that the appendix belongs in the book at all. Since the last edition of the DSM, in lectures and research journal articles around the world, a cluster of psychiatrists, anthropologists, and historians has attacked the validity of specific disorders on the list. To these critics, the very notion of a “culture-bound illness” is an outdated relic from the days of European empires.

Half of Americans will suffer from mental illness over a lifetime

It's 4 in the morning, so I'll likely write about this in full later, but here are a few links. The report points out that stigma and high costs impede treatment.

The actual report from the CDC:
Mental Illness Surveillance Among Adults in the United States

What others are saying about it:
CDC: Half of Americans will suffer from mental health woes

CDC: Mental Illness costing Americans $300 annually

Half of Americans Will Suffer From Mental Illness, Southeast the Worst Off

This man was terribly mad (in both senses)

and it's a shame his mental illness drove him to violence and eventually led to his death during a standoff.

Suspect had long protested Discovery programming: Website talked of his wanting networks to expose civilization 'for the filth it is'

James J. Lee, the suspected gunman who held three hostages for hours at the Discovery Communications building in Maryland on Wednesday, apparently had a long history of contempt for the company, which includes the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel and Planet Green networks.

His website, SaveThePlanetProtest.com, was essentially a screed against Discovery, urging the company to expose civilization "for the filth it is" and to puts its focus on "how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution."

Then, almost as a business-like afterthought, it said: "A game show format contest would be in order."

It's an interesting but very sad look into the actions of someone who was obviously insane. Fortunately the hostages are safe, the situation is resolved, and everyone except the gunman could go home at the end of the day. But I wish he could have gotten help before it went this far.

I glanced at one of the televisions in the hospital lobby this afternoon, which was how I found out about the story. But it demonstrates the usefulness of Twitter, as the tweets spread the news and pictures long before the media got involved. We truly live in a world where information spreads like wildfire. Of course, the quality of the information is anybody's guess.

For some, the war lingers for a long, long time

US soldiers returning from Iraq face 'invisible wounds'

As troops return home from 12 months of deployment, experts warn of what many refer to as "the invisible wounds".

Depression, isolation, stress, anger, divorce and suicide are just part of the emotional challenges facing some of the troops.

Scott Swaim, a Gulf War veteran and a therapist at Spring Valleys in Washington DC, says when troops first come home they initially go through "the honeymoon period"

But the images of horror many of them have seen are not memories they can easily leave behind.

"The depression is huge and suicide rates are off the charts," says Mr Swaim.

"Because there's a lot of stigma with mental illness. A lot of people never understand it and in the military there's a double stigma - we're soldiers, not victims," he adds.

Just this month a US Department of Defense task force reported that between 2005 and 2009, more than 1,100 members of the Armed Forces committed suicide.

The military tends to let people fall through the cracks once they're back on US soil, living 'normal' lives after months or years of experiencing horrible things on a daily basis. I hope the brass is waking up to this problem, and that our government is appropriating more resources to help save our veterans' lives and sanity, both in country and back home.

How...odd, but at least the puppy's in good care now

Puppy thrown at German biker gang

A German student "mooned" a group of Hell's Angels and hurled a puppy at them before escaping on a stolen bulldozer, police have said.

He'd gone off his meds, you see. Poor puppy. Hopefully it's alright.