Giving the lie to the common assertion that Congress accomplishes nothing, in the 110th Congress, in 2007, Rep. Albert Wynn, a Democrat from Maryland who represented the 4th district from 1993 to 2008, brought to the floor a bill for which… Continue Reading
Today begins Mental Illness Awareness Week. Established by Congress in 1990 thanks to efforts by the tireless National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), it occurs every year during the first week of October to raise awareness about mental illness. According… Continue Reading
You might think mental illness (MI) affects only a small few–but you’d be thinking wrong. According to Kessler et al in the “Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication,” published in 2005, 26.2% of Americans… Continue Reading
My father has a phenomenal memory. Truly out of this world. For example, he remembers the 10 best meals he ever ate (Meal #1: Zalacain in Madrid, 1971, he and my mother, Young Pigeon Salad with Apple Vinegar). About 15 years… Continue Reading
“The largest mental health provider in the state of Illinois is the Cook County Jail.” ~ Tom Dart, Cook County (IL) Sheriff Thus Tom Dart welcomes you to the largest mental health facility in the state of Illinois–Cook County jail. Just… Continue Reading
You know what I like? A little good news. It doesn’t really seem like all that much to ask. You know, just not the constant drumbeat of gloom and doom. But apparently ever since T.S. Eliot had the brilliant insight… Continue Reading
So you may recall from my mentioning in previous posts – and I most certainly hope you do not – that my ECT treatments combined with my bipolar disorder (BD) have left me, well – how do I say this… Continue Reading
Did you ever get the feeling that someone didn’t like you? I mean–really, really didn’t like you, perhaps even saw you as beneath contempt? And–did you get that feeling before there was any interaction between you and the aforesaid person?… Continue Reading
Unlike most of the Awareness Months, Weeks, or Days I cover, Mental Health Awareness Week is a grassroots public education campaign–it wasn’t designated by the Senate, it isn’t supported by an organization that’s been around since the time of… Continue Reading
I don’t always trust the way the government uses its funds to research on health. If you ask me why all that negativity, I turn to you: Do these studies look like good ways of using around a couple hundred… Continue Reading
Do you remember that I told you that bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia have been considered completely different illnesses for. . .well, pretty much forever? Until researchers started getting a look at people’s brains? And then it seemed possible–just possible–that… Continue Reading
Although there’s no reason to doubt that schizophrenia is as old as mankind, the name didn’t come into existence until 1910, when the Swiss psychiatrist Paul Eugen Bleuler termed the illness such, with the Greek words schizo (split) and phren (mind)… Continue Reading
