Mental Health Notes

May 17th, 2008

Saturday Sanity: Light Your Fire

Here at Mental Health Notes and b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, it’s become the trend for every week to feel just as busy - if not busier - than the last. I love it, mind you. I just think I need to sit down and seriously re-evaluate my current system of organization.

Anyway, on to what went on this week in the world of mental health!

Here at Mental Health Notes, I was all over the place. From sharing a few thoughts about LiveJournal to reviewing Google’s top five results for “brain games” to offering resources for help with cyberbullies in light of Megan Meier’s suicide and Lori Drew’s indictment, the topics this week were certainly diverse at Mental Health Notes. Too, I had to lash out about the battle against abusing mentally ill patients, pass up the opportunity to present an A.S.S. Award, share a little mental health humor, and remind everyone about the current Mental Health Notes Birthday Giveaway and This Is Why I ROCK! series!

Mental health advocacy group news was definitely a challenge to keep up with this week - there was so much! The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) is reminding everyone about registration discounts for their Power of Peers conference in September, as well as their upcoming June webinar course Not a Pity Party: Effective Peer Support Groups. Mental Health America sent around a reminder for us to urge our House representatives to support including a delay on the Medicaid regs in the war funding supplemental bill. And TIME Magazine has named Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., who speaks at many National Alliance on Mental Illness conferences and is president of NAMI Indiana’s Greater Bloomington affiliate, one of “the world’s 100 most influential people.”

Of course, keeping up with mental health in the news is always a busy time. Ira Katz, the VA’s director of mental health, has apologized for his email discussing veterans’ suicide attempts - you know, the one that read “Shh!” in the subject line. An study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry suggests low levels of vitamin D and high levels of the parathyroid hormone could lead to depression in older adults. After recent studies, researchers are paying more attention to the role a distinctive pattern of the genetic variations single nucleotide polymorphisms may be playing in the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. And, assistant professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Roberto Fernández Galán, Ph.D., used math and a computer model of brain activity (and no rats) to show new looks at the dynamics of the brain’s cortex.

And finally, perhaps the easiest thing to keep up with this week was the b5media Health & Wellness Channel’s involvement in the world of mental health. Because May is Mental Health Month, our monthly theme day was focused on the topic of mental health. I hosted the event, so make sure you check out what all my fellow bloggers had to say! Also, the Health & Wellness Channel bloggers got together and shared their versions of “Top 5″ posts. Find out which posts I chose, and check out the rest of the channel’s lists courtesy of Kendra James!

That’s all for this week’s Saturday Sanity. If you have any news you’d like to share, send it my way for next week!

All images (except for the b5 logo) courtesy of Newscom.

Remember! You have until May 31, 2008 to enter the Mental Health Notes Birthday Giveaway, and forever to join the This Is Why I ROCK! series!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 0 comments

May 16th, 2008

Mental Health Humor Update: Chato B. Stewart’s Two New Cartoons

What do cows and business plans have to do with mental health?

Remember Chato B. Stewart? The owner of Mental Health Humor and the first participant in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes?

Well, Chato has added two new hilarious mental health cartoons to his already hilarious (and fortunately growing!) cartoon archive, and I don’t know which one is funnier!

Be sure to check them out to find out the answer to the question above, and let Chato know what you think!

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Remember! You have until May 31, 2008 to enter the Mental Health Notes Birthday Giveaway, and forever to join the This Is Why I ROCK! series!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 0 comments

May 16th, 2008

Top 5 Posts I Had The Most Fun Writing For Mental Health Notes

Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, we’re always doing something.

This week, we’re rounding up our “Top 5″ posts.

Some bloggers are focusing on their top five most popular posts, their favorite posts, and even posts that aren’t very well known to their readers.

Because Mental Health Notes is still celebrating its one-year anniversary, I thought I’d go retro with it and list the top five posts I had the most fun writing within the first five months Mental Health Notes was live. (Five just seems to be a common number here, so I’ll stick with it.)

So, without further ado…

May 2007 - Brush Up On Your Health Literacy - This post was actually part of a Mental Health Month series I ran in May 2007. For each day of the month, I offered a “tip” to help better manage mental health. The main reason I enjoyed writing this post is because health literacy was, at that time, completely new to me. So, I was learning while I was passing along information to you.

June 2007 - Is There a Line That Separates Politics and Human Compassion? - I had some trouble choosing a post from this month. Initially, I wanted to select DMB Takes a Stand Against Inadequate Mental Health Care because - hello - Dave Matthews Band is the best. band. ever. However, the related petition was expired, so I moved on to Is There a Line That Separates Politics and Human Compassion? While the information in that post isn’t exactly up to date, it’s still very relevant in today’s politics. And it was fun to write, because I just don’t like Ann Coulter.

July 2007 - Harry Potter: A Cure for Depression? - Choosing a post for this month presented a dilemma, too. I thought about highlighting Damage Control: How To Deal With Losing Mental Health Care Coverage (it is extremely beneficial information, after all), but I ultimately chose the Harry Potter post because it was the funnest to write.

August 2007 - Reduce Stress The Interactive Way - This was by far the funnest post to write during August 2007, because the research that went into writing this post was fun!

September 2007 - Long Abandoned Suitcases From A State Mental Institution - I didn’t have to think too long about this one. Writing about the Willard Suitcase Exhibit was not only fun; it was fascinating.

That’s all for the top five posts I had the most fun writing during the first five months of Mental Health Notes. Did I include any of your favorites?

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Remember! You have until May 31, 2008 to enter the Mental Health Notes Birthday Giveaway, and forever to join the This Is Why I ROCK! series!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 4 comments

May 16th, 2008

Resources To Protect Yourself Against Cyberbullying

Last night I wrote about Lori Drew’s indictment on charges related to Megan Meier’s suicide. While no on has been convicted of anything yet, and Drew denies creating the MySpace account as well as sending Meier messages, the fact remains that someone committed a horrible offense against this girl - one that may have ultimately led to her death.

Megan Meier didn’t know she was the victim of cyberbullying. She didn’t know she was on the receiving end of online harassment. Like many people (trusting and innocent youngsters especially), Megan really believed the person talking to her online really was who “he” said “he” was - a 16-year-old boy named Josh.

In any event, Megan’s suicide is a very extreme - and very real - consequence of cyberbullying.

I think now is as good a time as any to point you in the direction of resources to protect yourself, your children, and your friends from online harassment.

1. By Parents-For Parents dedicates a section of their Web site to tips on how to protect against online harassment. Cyber-Bullies: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Daughter may have “daughter” in the title, but let’s not be naive. Sons are just as at risk as daughters. The article offers suggestions on watching for warning signs, establishing boundaries, encouraging communication, developing a response plan, and teaming up with members of the community.
2. WiredSafety claims to be “the world’s largest Internet safety and help group,” and it definitely offers a wealth of information for parents, teachers, law enforcement, and kids. Check out WiredSafety’s frequently asked questions about cyberstalking and harassment, and then check out their free online courses. WiredSafety is also affiliated with WiredKids, Net Bullies, and Stop Cyberbullying.
3. The Educational CyberPlayground dedicates a page of resources regarding cyberbullying, including informational videos, privacy rights, and a slew of articles.
4. The 2learn.ca Education Society presents “‘Net Know-How,” which includes on overview on cyberbullying as well as resources for students, parents, and teachers.
5. And finally, the National Crime Prevention Council offers up an entire cyberbullying campaign complete with public service announcements, tips to prevent cyberbullying and stay safe, and free banners you can use on your own Web sites.

Do you have any experiences with cyberbullies and online harassment? How did you handle it?

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Ken Jensen is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 1 comment

May 15th, 2008

Lori Drew Indicted In Relation To Megan Meier’s Suicide

The teenage years can be confusing and difficult enough on their own. Add into the mix mental health problems and a neighbor, who’s more than three times your age, harassing you online, and you have the makings of…well, even more confusing and difficult times.

In the case of Megan Meier, you have the makings of the most devastating and final breaking point.

On October 16, 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier, who was on medication and being treated for attention deficit disorder and depression, hanged herself after her online boyfriend/crush/flirt “Josh,” whom she met on MySpace, told her the world would be a better place without her in it.

We now know that “Josh” never existed. He was allegedly created by Megan’s 49-year-old neighbor Lori Drew (and apparently other “coconspirators,” like one of Drew’s employees, 19-year-old Ashley Grills). Drew, Grills, and whomever else (if anyone else - I’m not sure) allegedly used “Josh” to talk to Megan, who used to be friends with Drew’s daughter, to find out what, if anything, Megan was saying about Drew’s daughter.

I keep saying “allegedly,” because Drew denies the charges and, well, nothing’s been proven in court just yet.

Grills admitted to creating “Josh’s” MySpace account, and even being the one to send the message about the world being a better place without Megan; however Drew was the only one indicted today on any charges at all. They were charges of “conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else’s computer.”

As far as I can tell, Grills hasn’t been charged with anything; however, I may have missed something somewhere, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

This is undoubtedly a parents nightmare, and my heart truly goes out to Megan’s family. Not only are they dealing with the suicide of their daughter, but because of the circumstances, they have to relive it every single time there’s a “news break.” I honestly have no idea how I would deal with something like this.

Information and quotes in this post came from Yahoo! News article Woman Indicted in Missouri MySpace Suicide Case.

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Ken Jensen is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 2 comments

May 15th, 2008

Mental Health Care: You Get What You Pay For?

I sat on this story for a little while - since May 4 - thinking that if I let myself cool down first I’d be more likely to sound rational when I posted about it.

Well, I’ve not cooled down one bit. In fact, I’m probably more enraged now than I was when I first read it.

The gist of the story, Records show abuse, violence in state mental hospitals, is pretty much summed up in the first sentence of the Houston Chronicle article:

More than 70 employees at Texas’ 10 state mental hospitals have been fired and dozens others disciplined since 2005 over allegations of brutal beatings and other physical abuse, according to a newspaper report.

Naturally, finding out about such abuse infuriated me. However, that’s not the information within the article that really stuck with me. What really stuck with me - what really soaked into my bones and festered and forced me not to delete the bookmark I’d set for this article and eventually led to writing this post - were the following two paragraphs:

Texas juvenile prisons, group homes for the disabled, and state schools for people with mental disabilities all came under fire last year for reports of widespread physical and sexual abuse. The state psychiatric hospitals, like other systems for vulnerable Texans, are chronically starved for cash, advocates of more state funding say, and services at the local level can’t keep up.

“You get what you pay for,” said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who has bipolar disorder. “When you financially dumb something down, you make services cheap, something’s got to give. Unfortunately, it usually ends up being a mentally ill or disabled Texan.”

You get what you pay for…? Excuse me? Excuse me?! I’m sorry, Mr. Coleman, but you are gravely mistaken if you expect me to believe that the lack of funding means you have no other choice but to hire abusers. And you are beyond gravely mistaken if you expect anyone to believe the lack of funding means these mentally ill patients shouldn’t expect anything other than poor medical treatment and abuse.

I get poor. I understand lack of funding. I know what it means to be without health insurance and have to rely on state-funded services. I know it firsthand.

However, I also know there are good - genuinely good down to their bones - people out there who aren’t so consumed with the almighty dollar that they won’t take job positions that don’t pay out the wazoo. I know there are people out there who will not see low-paying jobs as invitations to beat the hell out of, rape, and overmedicate patients.

I know that lack of funding doesn’t mean that someone out there can’t get up off his or her ass and pay attention.

Other disturbing quotes from the article include:

“Disciplinary records obtained by The Dallas Morning News show the violence against patients included chokeholds, headlocks and threats.”

“But some advocates fear the mentally ill patients may face greater risks. Patients of the psychiatric hospitals are largely indigent, transient and not connected to their families, so they have few allies as they bounce through the mental health system.”

” ‘It’s a population that’s easy to abuse because they’re not on the radar in any way,’ said Richard Hansen, a Texas mental health advocate who was chemically restrained, shackled and beaten to the point of broken ribs years ago while suffering from bipolar disorder in a New York mental hospital.”

“Other employees were punished for offensive treatment, from using racial slurs on patients to making verbal threats and sexual advances. Some ignored patients’ cries for help while they watched TV, played video games and wrote text messages. Others stole state property and sold tobacco products to patients.”

According to the article, Texas “funds just 27 percent of mental health needs in the community.” Advocacy Inc. mental health policy specialist Aaryce Hayes told the newspaper, “If we said we were serving just 27 percent of people who had cancer, or diabetes, nobody would be comfortable with that.”

Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not attacking Texas. I understand that this is a nationwide problem, and I’m equally frustrated with every state. God knows, living in West Virginia I have no room to point fingers. Too, I am truly grateful for folks like Hansen and Hayes who dedicate themselves to advocating for mentally ill patients.

However, I’d be lying if I said I weren’t completely and utterly disgusted and enraged right now.

Image: Newscom

Ken Jensen is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 0 comments

May 15th, 2008

Mental Health Notes Giveaways And Series Reminders

I’m doing some housekeeping here at Mental Health Notes, and have two reminders/requests to pass along to you fantastic readers:

1. The Mental Health Notes Birthday Giveaway is still open for entries, so make sure you head on over before midnight on May 31, 2008 for your chance to win one of three Silver Ribbon products.
2. The This Is Why I ROCK! series in now running indefinitely, which means the original deadline of April 30, 2008 was removed, as was the final series date of May 31, 2008. I extended the series to give everyone a chance to warm up to the idea of tooting their own horns - sort of surprisingly, that doesn’t seem to be a popular activity, ha. Don’t be shy - tell us why you ROCK!

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Ken Jensen is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 1 comment

May 14th, 2008

Review: Google’s Top 5 Brain Games

I’ve been working on a review of Google’s top five results for “brain games,” and as promised I’m ready to present them to you.

1. Games for the Brain - This clean, well-organized Web site offers quizzes, memory games, and trivia games in 17 different languages. Games for the Brain also includes a variety of traditional games, such as checkers and chess. My favorite thus far? TriviaNut.
2. Neuroscience for Kids - Brain Games - This Web page, which is part of the Neuroscience for Kids Web site, is geared toward K-12 students. It isn’t as “clean” as Games for the Brain, but it does offer up some brainy-esque images for your viewing pleasure. It offers many brain-related games; however, you’ll have to do a bit of scrolling to find the one(s) you like. Some of the games are also available in more than one language. My favorite thus far? Hmm…it’s probably a tie between Brain Hieroglyphics and Neuro-Jeopardy.
3. Brainist - Brain Games - This Web site claims to be “for educational purposes dedicated to online brain games for free mainly for adults,” but don’t let the bolding fool you - it’s free, but it’s totally kid-friendly (at least, as far as I can tell). At Brainist you’ll find puzzles, strategy games, optical illusions, trivia, and - yuck - math games. There’s a lot of text on the front page, but if you’re not into reading descriptions of every single game, don’t worry. Just skip it and click on the game! My favorite thus far? The riddles.
4. FunBrain.com - FunBrain.com, geared toward younger students, is focused more on all sorts of educational games, rather than just brainy- or memory-type games. The Web site is very colorful and, er…fun looking, with sections for parents and teachers, too. My favorite thus far? The Grammar Gorillas, naturally.
5. Kaboose - Brain Games - Like FunBrain.com, this is another colorful Web site dedicated to kids. Also like FunBrain.com, Kaboose includes a variety of online games for kids, too, such as sports games, holiday and seasonal games, and music games. My favorite thus far? The wizard games - hello! You can’t beat anything that deals with Hedwig and the golden snitch!

Remember, these five online brain games are just the top five Google results - there are many online games for your brain and mental health on the Internet.

Do you or your children have any favorites?

Image: Newscom

Ken Jensen is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 1 comment

May 14th, 2008

Know Of Any Good Mental Health Road Games?

I’ve been in the car a lot over the past week - making long trips, making short trips, stuck in delays because of road work - and at some point during that time I started thinking about road games (car games, travel games - whatever you like to call them). I don’t know why, as I was never one to play road games during trips. My sister and I (and especially my best friend, whenever she traveled with us) always made up our own games.

Lip-syncing to whatever was on the radio to entertain the people in the vehicles behind us was always a favorite.

Anyway, like I said, I started thinking about road games. Which led me to think about mental health road games. Which led to a Google search of “mental health road games.” Which led to a bunch of stories about road rage, MADD, and video game obsession as a form of mental illness (I wrote about that once, remember?).

And some stuff about math. But honestly, who cares about math?

So, do any of you know of any road games related to mental health? Or road games designed to keep the ol’ brain sharp (teasers, trivia, and the like)?

Except for those related to math. Because really, math sucks.

In the meantime, I’m working on a review of Google’s top five results for “brain games.” (I chose not to use “mental health games” because many of the results weren’t actually games.)

Image: Newscom

Ken Jensen is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 2 comments

May 13th, 2008

Accepting Reservations For The Funny Farm

So, while I’m sitting in the waiting room at my dentist’s office today, a man walked in. There’s nothing really distinct about this man - just your regular ol’ Random Joe. Looked to be about 65 years old and in good health.

Apparently he’s well known by the various secretaries, dental assistants, etc. who were milling about at the time he walked in, as they all greeted him when he came through the door.

Anyway…

Random Joe: Walks through the door.
Staff: “Hi [Random Joe]!”
Random Joe: “Hi, [dentist office staff people]!”
Staff: “How are you?”
Random Joe: “Ah, if I was any crazier, they’d put me in a rubber room at the funny farm!”

A rubber room. At the funny farm.

*sigh*

I don’t think it’s even worth an A.S.S. Award.

Image: Newscom

Ken Jensen is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!

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By Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader -- 0 comments