Doctor confronts mental health stigma

From the August 30th edition of The Edmonton Journal:

Gov't pledges $50M to improve service to young people at risk

By Alexandra Zabjek

EDMONTON - Raj Sherman stood on the side of a highway, staring at the approaching headlights, then deliberately stepped in front of an oncoming car.

He was 16 years old, the child of an immigrant family in small-town British Columbia, where many children's parents either worked two jobs or didn't work at all.

Luckily, that night the car swerved and just grazed his side. He later told his family the bruises were from sports injuries and told his teachers he had hurt himself at work.

Now parliamentary assistant to [Alberta] Health Minister Ron Liepert, Sherman recounted the story Friday morning at a funding announcement where his government pledged to pump $50 million into children's mental health services over the next three years.

"The reason you have to tell these stories is to break down the stigma about mental health," Sherman said of his experiences.

The funding plan sets benchmarks for how long it should take for children to receive mental-health services in the province -- those in crisis should receive care within 24 hours, those with less urgent cases within two weeks, and those with scheduled visits within 30 days.

To read the entire article, click here.

Photograph of Dr. Raj Sherman by Candace Elliott, The Edmonton Journal.

Three cheers for outspoken health bureaucrat

From the August 28th edition of The Chronicle Herald:

By Marilla Stephenson (pictured)

CHERYL DOIRON is one of those bureaucrats who, happily for us, is more concerned about doing the right thing than she is with fawning over her political masters.

That’s why the deputy health minister is on the top of my Three Cheers list for her honest assessment of the dismal state of mental health services in Nova Scotia.

Even better, Doiron’s explosive missive was delivered in public, damn the torpedoes and other potential consequences.

She is exactly the kind of bureaucrat Nova Scotia could use more of.

At the Canadian Mental Health Association’s national conference in Dartmouth last weekend, Doiron issued a plea for mental health organizations and the public to push harder to have politicians direct more money into mental health services.

"It’s very hard to get it to be the primary issue, particularly for politicians who are making budget decisions . . . because they are not getting the same pressure about mental health as they get about cancer and coronary disease and diabetes," Doiron told delegates in a speech.

"We, working from the opportunity we have within government, organizations such as (the national association) and the Nova Scotia (association) and other groups, and all of us, collectively need to be doing something much more significant to make this a burning-bridge issue for decision-makers."

Doiron’s primary concern is the long wait times for psychiatric care for people suffering from mental illness, especially children. She noted that while spending for mental illness by her department has increased in recent years, the percentage has decreased in proportion to the total health-care budget.

To read the entire article, click here (as of February 8th, 2010, the entire article is no longer available).

Photograph of Marilla Stephenson courtesy of The Chronicle Herald.

Mental health patients more likely to be Tasered, says foundation

Posted by 3news.co.nz on August 28th:

People experiencing mental illness will suffer more from the introduction of Taser stun guns into frontline policing, says the Mental Health Foundation.

It says the Taser was fired in 50 percent of cases involving mental health emergencies, but only 11 percent of criminal cases in its year-long trial, according to an analysis by the New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses.

To read the entire article, click here.

Also see:
Media Release 29-8-08: The Use of Tasers

Tasers: People with experience of mental illness will suffer


Thanks go to Chris Summerville for bringing this article to my attention.

Photograph courtesy of 3news.co.nz.

Schizophrenia / Hearing [our] Voices -- Dartmouth Visit

September 22nd to 30th

Alderney Gate Public Library
Dartmouth

Hearing [our] Voices is a research-based poster exhibit exploring dilemmas of care and control in the lives of people with schizophrenia. It illustrates the challenges that people with mental illnesses have in finding and maintaining stable housing, and it is intended to raise awareness about the connections between schizophrenia and homelessness.

The exhibit is based on a participatory research project by Professor Barbara Schneider at the University of Calgary. It involved, as co-researchers, nine members of the Unsung Heroes Peer Support Program at the Calgary Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta, all of whom have schizophrenia and have experienced housing instability. Under the guidance of Professor Schneider, the members of this group conducted interviews and focus groups with other people who live with schizophrenia and have also experienced homelessness or housing instability. They are now participating in a range of dissemination activities, including a documentary film, a graphic book, and this traveling poster exhibit. Detailed information about the Hearing [our] Voices project is available by clicking here.

The exhibit will be open to the public from Monday, September 22nd, to Tuesday, September 30th, at the Alderney Gate Public Library, 60 Alderney Drive, Dartmouth.

For further information, contact Stephen Ayer, Executive Director, Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, by phoning (902) 465-2601 or 1-800-465-2601 (toll-free in Nova Scotia) or by sending an email to sns@ns.sympatico.ca.

Continual struggle

A letter to the editor published in today's The Chronicle Herald:

Re: "A passionate call for mental health services" (Aug. 23).

It is disheartening to see the continual struggle for the mind and brain to be given equal treatment to the heart, cancer and pancreas. This state risks institutionalizing the stigma described in Michael Kirby’s Senate report "Out of the Shadows at Last."

A wait of six to 12 months for a child or youth feels like a lifetime. Lest children’s mental health service is kept as the "orphan’s orphan," we would like to note a few points.

Most mental disorders in adults begin in children and youth. Parity of resources, clinicians and research funding for child and youth mental health is even more dramatically unbalanced than for adults. Many of the problems in childhood have long-term consequences for adult functioning and multiple service problems and needs. In a knowledge-based economy, without helping all children and youth reach their optimal mental health, we sacrifice the economic health of our society.

We applaud Deputy Health Minister Cheryl Doiron’s alert to society that we must all attend to mental health, and in particular we support the need to bring services for the minds and brains of children and youth up to par with other systems and organs of the body.

Margaret Steele, MD, President,

Wade Junek, MD, President-Elect,

Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

A passionate call for mental health services

From today's edition of The Chronicle Herald:

By John Gillis, Health Reporter

Deputy minister makes rare appeal for public support

Nova Scotia’s deputy health minister called on mental health organizations and the public Friday to help her light a fire under politicians to do more to help people with mental illnesses.

In a passionate off-the-cuff speech at the opening of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s national conference in Dartmouth, Cheryl Doiron said her department has put more money into mental health services over the years, but spending has declined as a proportion of the overall health budget.

"It’s very hard to get it to be the primary issue, particularly for politicians who are making budget decisions . . . because they are not getting the same pressure about mental health as they get about cancer and coronary disease and diabetes," she said.

"We, working from the opportunity we have within government, organizations such as (the national association) and the Nova Scotia (association) and other groups, and all of us collectively need to be doing something much more significant to make this a burning bridge issue for decision makers."

Mental health spending accounts for just over 3.5 per cent of the $3.2-billion provincial health budget.

Ms. Doiron said the relatively small amount of funding for those services means the province is failing to provide "absolutely essential help" to children and others.

She gave the example of an adolescent mental health program at the IWK Health Centre. The in-patient treatment lasts 12 to 18 months. But the 13- to 19-year-olds who might benefit from the intensive program have to wait that long just to be admitted.

Ms. Doiron said she pleaded the case to cabinet and was able to secure extra funding of $1.5 million this year and about $2 million in subsequent years to expand to 18 beds from 12.

An enduring bias against people with mental illness means people are often reluctant to speak about their conditions, and society doesn’t know they should be treated just like people with physical ailments, Toronto psychiatrist David Goldbloom told the conference in his keynote address.

"I think one of the challenges around mental illness is that its unique properties include affecting our thinking, our moods and our behaviour: the very dimensions that define us as individuals," he said. "That makes it a lot tougher to separate the illness from the person."

And while growing numbers of people report in surveys that they have had direct experience with mental illness, either personally or through a friend or relative, the perception that people with mental illnesses are dangerous or violent has increased, Dr. Goldbloom said.

That attitude is exemplified by reporting on events such as the recent beheading of a passenger on a Greyhound bus and crime dramas like CSI and Law and Order, he said.

"The reality of mental illness, its mundane reality, is virtually never depicted," he said. "The same applies to the newspapers, because somebody recovering from mental illness or somebody simply making a great adaptation to mental illness is about as newsworthy as a plane landing safely at the airport."

Dr. Goldbloom said research shows that negative perceptions are formed very early, so young children should be a focus of efforts to erase stigmatization.

Workplaces should be another major target, he said.

Finding and keeping meaningful work goes a long way toward helping a person with mental illness develop a sense of self and social connections; mental illness is the leading cause of short-term disability keeping people out of the workforce, Dr. Goldbloom said.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada, of which he is vice-chairman, says mental illness drains $51 billion from the Canadian economy each year.

But there is hope that negative attitudes can be broken down, Dr. Goldbloom said.

He recalled that when he was an intern in the early 1980s, hospital staff were "terrified" of the gay men who appeared with symptoms of what was later identified as HIV/AIDS, only touching them with triple-gloved hands.

"Think of how far it has come in the ensuing 25 years," Dr. Goldbloom said. "It’s really an extraordinary social transformation. Mental illness has not come anywhere near as far as HIV."

Photograph of Cheryl Doiron courtesy of The Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Mentally ill being 'set up for failure' with short hospital stays

From the August 22nd edition of The Province:

By Becky Rynor, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA - Hospitals may be discharging patients with chronic mental conditions like schizophrenia too quickly, suggest new statistics released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

"We're kind of setting people up for failure," said Schizophrenia Society of Canada president Pamela Forsythe. "If we send people out before there's been a chance to arrange appropriate follow-up services or address issues around inadequate housing or access to appropriate supports and treatments . . . the gains that may be starting to appear from the time in hospital are very quickly lost."

To read the entire article, click here.

Apartment complex to be built for people with addictions, mental illness

From cbc.ca - August 20th

A new affordable housing complex for people living with addictions and mental health issues is set for construction in Halifax.

The federal government announced $1.9-million on Wednesday for a 20-unit building on Maynard Street.

An additional $150,000 has been provided to partner with the Mi'kmaq Native Friendship Centre in Halifax to provide support to homeless people or those at risk of becoming homeless.

The announcement is part of the federal government's two-year Homelessness Partnering Strategy. The program, which was announced April 2007, is to provide $269.6 million to help communities combat homelessness.

Randy Cross, a recovering alcoholic, said affordable housing worked for him. Before moving into a subsidized apartment in Dartmouth seven years ago, he lived in a rooming house.

Cross found it impossible to ignore the drug dealers who sold outside of his building.

"Pure hell, pure hell," Cross told CBC News. "And the drugs being out there drove me to find another place."

Paul O'Hara, a social worker with the Metro Non-Profit Housing Association, said the apartment building will be staffed with support workers to help tenants get back on their feet.

"Self-esteem is the issue for anybody who's got addiction and poverty issues," O'Hara said.

"They don't feel very good about who they are and they get reminded by anyone who looks at them on the street," he said.

Construction of the housing complex will begin this fall.

Letter to the Editor ...

... published in today's edition of The Chronicle Herald.

Poor choice of words

I commend the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) for considering mental illness to be a priority for inclusion in the eighth annual National Report Card on Health Care.

This study found that "a majority of Canadians (60 per cent) agree that the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness are underfunded, while a greater majority agrees that funding for mental health issues ought to be on par with funding for physical health issues, like cancer and diabetes (72 per cent)."

Against this backdrop of interesting data, the CMA posted an article on its website which focuses on stigma, including a bullet which states "almost half of Canadians (46 per cent) think the term ‘mental illness’ is used as an excuse for bad behaviour." I find the CMA’s wording of this bullet disturbing because the statement used in the survey was: "We call some things mental illness because it gives some people an excuse for their poor behaviour and personal failings."

Looking at the survey responses to this statement – i.e., 22 per cent completely disagree; 13 per cent somewhat disagree; 15 per cent neither agree nor disagree; 25 per cent somewhat agree; and 21 per cent completely agree – I am led to conclude that the statement was poorly worded and resulted in a random distribution of responses.

Stephen W. Ayer, Executive Director, Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia

From the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service:

Nova Scotia Legal Aid (NSLA) has approved funding for poverty law cases for the next six months. We really need to take advantage of this opportunity to show NSLA that there is a real need for funding for poverty law. If you have a client facing legal issues around:

• Income Assistance Appeals through the Department of Community Services
• CPP and Disability Appeals
• Tenant Rights issues or Residential Tenancies applications
• Consumer or debtor problems
• Human rights issues
• Difficulty in accessing services and supports in the areas of income support, health, education
  

Please encourage them to go to their local Nova Scotia Legal Aid office and ask for help.

I have attached a couple of quick posters outlining the information [click here]. They apply to HRM mostly, since the poster also encourages people to come to Dalhousie Legal Aid. Feel free to tweak them to your community, and include the phone number for your local legal aid office. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the pressing need for legal representation around social and economic rights!

Thanks,
---
Megan Leslie
Community Legal Worker

Dalhousie Legal Aid Service
2209 Gottingen St.
Halifax NS B3K 3B5
t: 902.423.8105
f: 902.422.8067

Two articles published ...

... in the August 19th edition of The Washington Post:


40,000 Potential Tragedies

Tragedy Can Be Averted

Survey shows mental illness now better understood

But more public education still needed

From today's edition of The Chronicle Herald:

By John Gillis, Health Reporter, and The Canadian Press

A new national survey shows Canadians’ attitudes toward mental illness are changing for the better, says the executive director of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia.

The report, released Monday by the Canadian Medical Association and based on an Ipsos Reid survey, shows 75 per cent of Canadians disagree with the idea that people with mental illnesses could "just snap out of it" if they really wanted to and an overwhelming majority believe mental illness requires treatment by a health professional, said Stephen Ayer.

"What this report says to me is . . . people are becoming educated," he said. "This is good news."

The results also indicate Canadians believe the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses is underfunded and should be on par with funds allotted to diseases like cancer and diabetes.

In 2006-07, Nova Scotia spent less than four per cent of its health budget on mental health.

Mr. Ayer said the report underlines the importance of educating young people about mental illnesses. He said half of people who develop a mental illness begin to have symptoms by age 14.

Medications that help people cope with and recover from mental illness began to appear in the 1960s.

"In the past, it’s always been that if you got a mental illness, you were basically doomed to an asylum," Mr. Ayer said. "But that’s no longer the case. People are starting to recognize that."

A release accompanying the Canadian Medical Association’s eighth annual National Report Card on Health Care focused on some of the more negative attitudes found in the survey, including that 46 per cent of Canadians think some people use the term mental illness as an excuse for bad behaviour.

Mr. Ayer called that question ambiguous, noting the responses were quite evenly spread across the scale used in the national survey.

Only half of those surveyed would tell friends or co-workers that they have a family member suffering from a mental illness. That compares to 72 per cent who would openly discuss a diagnosis of cancer in the family.

"This year’s report card shines a harsh, and frankly unflattering, light on the attitudes we Canadians have concerning mental health," said Dr. Brian Day, president of the Canadian Medical Association.

"In some ways, mental illness is the final frontier of socially acceptable discrimination.

"Can you imagine the public uproar if mental health was replaced with race, gender or religion?"

The survey also found troubling attitudes toward people with drug and alcohol addictions, with less than half of respondents believing addiction is a mental illness.

Only one in five would socialize with someone who has a drug or alcohol addiction and less than five per cent would hire someone who has a drug or alcohol addiction.

"These figures show clearly the insidious stigma still associated with mental health and mental illness," Dr. Day said in a statement released with the report card.

"These are the attitudes that have kept mental health on the outside for far too long."

The mental health results, from an Ipsos Reid online survey of 2,024 Canadian adults, are considered accurate within 2.2 percentage points.

The Canadian Mental Health Association’s national conference begins Friday in Dartmouth.

Dr. David Goldbloom, a Toronto psychiatrist and vice-chairman of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, will give the keynote address called Stigma and Mental Illness: Past, Present and Future.

Stigma attached to mental illness a "national embarrassment": CMA

From cma.ca - 18 August 2008:

By Patrick Sullivan

The stigma attached to mental illness is so pervasive it can affect almost all aspects of Canadians' lives, from the people they marry to the workers they hire, a new poll conducted for the CMA indicates.

"The results don't paint a very flattering picture," CMA President Brian Day said of poll, which was part of the CMA's 2008 National Report Card on the state of Canada's health care system. "When only 50% of us would tell a friend that a family member has a mental illness while 72% would disclose a cancer diagnosis, there's something seriously wrong.

"We are looking at the final frontier of socially acceptable discrimination," he added. "It's a national embarrassment."

The mental health results, from an Ipsos Reid online survey of 2,024 Canadian adults, have a margin of error of ± 2.2%. The survey was conducted prior to the CMA's Aug. 18-20 annual meeting in Montreal, where mental health issues took centre stage. Other findings included:

• almost half of Canadians (46%) think the term "mental illness" is used as an excuse for bad behaviour;


• a solid majority of Canadians would not have a family doctor (61%) or hire a lawyer (58%) who has a mental illness;


• 55% would not marry someone who has a mental illness;


• 27% of respondents are fearful of being around people experiencing serious mental illness;


• 15% of respondents had themselves received a previous diagnosis of clinical depression, the most common mental illness.
  

Despite their generally negative attitudes, almost three-quarters of respondents (72%) agreed that funding to treat mental illness should be on a par with funding for physical illnesses such as cancer. The Ipsos Reid overview of the results (www.cma.ca) concluded: "In the view of most Canadians, mental health is not given the priority it ought to have within the health care system."

To read the entire story, click here.

To read the full Ipsos Reid survey, entitled 8th Annual National Report Care on Health Care (August 2008), click here.

Misunderstanding Defines Most Americans' View of Schizophrenia

From the August 15th edition of Psychiatric News:

By Eve Bender

Services and support are seriously lacking for people with schizophrenia and their caregivers, according to the results of a recent NAMI poll.

Schizophrenia is an oft-misunderstood disorder that remains shrouded in mystery, according to the results of a poll released by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in June.

The survey, titled "Schizophrenia: Public Attitudes, Personal Needs: Views From People Living With Schizophrenia, Caregivers, and the General Public," examined attitudes about the disorder from the perspectives of those who have firsthand knowledge of the illness as well as the general public.

To read the entire article, click here.

Also see:

Schizophrenia: Public Attitudes, Personal Needs

Schizophrenia: Twice as Common as HIV/AIDS, But Survey Shows Americans Misinformed

Sarah’s worthy cause

From the August 9th edition of The Chronicle Herald:

When Sarah, Duchess of York, speaks at the Halifax Metro Centre on Sept. 16, a portion of the proceeds of the event will help support the one in five Nova Scotians who are living with a mental health issue.

The Duchess is pleased that part of the proceeds from the event will be directed to a cause in which she believes.

A limited number of premium seats are available by calling the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia at 464-6000. Information on VIP packages for An Evening with the Duchess of York is available at www.mentalhealthns.ca.

The Duchess is tremendously supportive of causes related to health and homelessness and we are delighted that Nova Scotians with mental illness will be benefiting from her visit.

The Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia is pleased to be a part of Mount Saint Vincent University’s World Podium influential leaders speaker series.

Myrtle Corkum, executive director,

Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia

Suicide's genetic key discovered

From the July 31st edition of The Globe and Mail:

By Carly Weeks

Canadian researchers may have discovered the underlying cause that leads some people to commit suicide or suffer major depression, a finding that could revolutionize how mental disorders are treated.

After examining the brains of people who committed suicide, a team of scientists discovered an abundance of protein affecting a particular gene that controls anxiety and stress compared with the brains of people who had died of heart attacks or other natural causes.

The study is part of the burgeoning field of epigenetics that examines how genes are regulated, or turned on and off.

"It's a really new avenue of research," said Michael Poulter, lead researcher and professor in the physiology and pharmacology department at the University of Western Ontario.

"There's only a few people around the world that are doing it."

In this study, researchers found that people who committed suicide had elevated levels of a specific protein.

They believe the abundance of the protein alters or modifies a gene that normally helps people cope with stress. As a result of the change, the gene shuts down and malfunctions, inhibiting the individual's ability to handle stress and cope with anxiety.

The researchers, whose findings were published in this month's Biological Psychiatry journal, aren't sure why some people have higher levels of the protein. But Dr. Poulter believes it is somehow linked to stressful life events and how people may cope with them in different ways.

To read the entire article, click here.

Thanks go to John Devlin for bringing this article to my attention.

Gene-Hunters Find Hope and Hurdles in Schizophrenia Studies

From the July 31st edition of The New York Times:

By Nicholas Wade

Two groups of researchers hunting for schizophrenia genes on a larger scale than ever before have found new genetic variants that point toward a different understanding of the disease.

The variants discovered by the two groups, one led by Dr. Kari Stefansson of Decode Genetics in Iceland and the other by Dr. Pamela Sklar of Massachusetts General Hospital, are rare. They substantially increase the risk of schizophrenia but account for a tiny fraction of the total number of cases.

This finding, coupled with the general lack of success so far in finding common variants for schizophrenia, raises the possibility that the genetic component of the disease is due to a large number of variants, each of which is very rare, rather than to a handful of common variants.

“What is beginning to emerge is that a lot of the risk of brain diseases is conferred by rare deletions,” Dr. Stefansson said. The three variants discovered by his group and Dr. Sklar’s involve the deletion of large sections of DNA from specific sites in a patient’s genome.

To read the entire article, click here.

Also see:

Gene flaws link to schizophrenia

Genetic hot spots tied to schizophrenia

To Whom It May Concern

Four years ago, a friend passed away from schizophrenia. Several years previous, I had lost contact with him; then he 'suddenly' reappeared in my community. After this unexpected meeting, I wrote the following poem as a tribute to the man; he not only lost, but his family and other friends [did] as well. We mourned him not only after his diagnoses, but his untimely death as well.

I guess after all this time, I wanted to share [the poem] with others. In sharing it, I hope it does not offend anyone. It is meant as a tribute to my friend, he was generous and intelligent beyond belief.

Thank you for your time.

Michelle Anthony


THE STOLEN SOUL

A jumbled knot of long hair
and unkept beard,
You called my name.
For endless moments~
with all energy
pounding in my throat,
I searched your face.

Who are you?
How do you know my name?
Then with electric epiphany
I looked beyond your scruffy being
and into your eyes.
Those blue eyes that once held such piss and vinegar ;
now held no soul.

With question, I spoke your name.
My heart pounded~
not with the excitement of meeting
a dear old friend,
but in likeness of passing a stranger
on a deserted, darkened street.
My mouth begged for drink.

You spoke of times I knew ;
and of times I knew never existed.
“Gotta smoke?” you queried.
As I delivered the cigarette
across the table, I watched my hand tremble.
Were you capable of physical harm?
I lowered my eyes -ashamed at my own thoughts.
The fear of you sensing any fear from me,
scared me and yet shamed me.

A man with good intentions asked
if you were bothering me.
“No” I replied in honesty.
The man did not know
the soul you once held,
the friend you once were.

The old folks asseverate that “you are crazy”.
The young utter “too many drugs”-
some with a glint in their eyes
at the prospect of permanently
being in a state of never, never land.
None of these know you.
None of these know who you were.
Scared of wild blue eyes,
many avoid you.

Do you remember who you were?
Do you know who you are?
Living in endless torment~
incapable of a moment’s peace
I beg to ask of those who judge
Who has stolen the soul
of those blue eyes?


© 2008 J. Michelle Anthony. All Rights Reserved.

Mental Health First Aid

First aid strategies that are helpful to young people developing a mental disorder: beliefs of health professionals compared to young people and parents

To read this article by Anthony F. Jorm, Amy J. Morgan, and Annemarie Wright, click here.

Thanks go to Chris Summerville for bringing this article to my attention.

Also see:
Mental Health First Aid: The ‘Earliest’ Form of Early Intervention for Psychosis (PDF)

Graphic courtesy of the Canadian Mental Health Association- Edmonton Region.

SSC NEWS RELEASE

Schizophrenia Society of Canada Supports The Violet Bloom Campaign to Raise Awareness About Suicide Prevention

WINNIPEG, JULY 31, 2008 - Chris Summerville, Interim CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada (SSC), is pleased to announce the SSC’s involvement in, and support of, The Violet Bloom Campaign created and designed by Toronto film writer/director/producer Silvia Kovatchev. Dedicated toward raising awareness about suicide prevention, the Campaign is designed to support the work of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, along with Kids Help Phone, the National Network for Mental Health, and Active Minds in their efforts to better educate people about suicide prevention, and create the necessary educational materials used by these organizations in their work.

The highlight of the Campaign is the production of a film entitled: 2Violet, a story about the unusual relationship that Nona, an actress with schizophrenia, and her teenage daughter, Violet - an aspiring writer – have with Sal, an independent filmmaker. The story intertwines reality with the realities of mental illness and an artist’s imagination, which are often indistinguishable as they form an endless continuum. All these realities are driven by different forms of love.

The Violet Bloom Campaign will go through a variety of stages:

• raising awareness about suicide prevention and funds for the production of the upcoming feature film 2Violet
• production of the film
• screening the film at different festivals
• special screenings of the film at university campuses, schools, corporations, organizations, followed by Q&A sessions with cast, crew, representatives from the non-profit groups
• based on the film, creating educational materials that the non-profit groups can use in their work
• development of an ongoing discussion board on www.2Violet.com where people share their reasons to live and read why others think life IS worth living
  

“We are very pleased to be a part of this wonderful and much-needed campaign, says Mr. Summerville. “Unfortunately, there remains a deafening silence in our society when it comes to talking about suicide. The subject is definitely ‘taboo’ in many circles, so any opportunity we see to support a campaign that helps stop the suffering of those who are caught in this silence, we are delighted to do so.”

FACTS ABOUT SUICIDE

According to the World Health Organization, someone around the globe commits suicide every 40 seconds, while every three seconds, someone attempts to take their own life.

Some other important facts:

• Suicide rate is the highest among young adults (age 16-24)
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death in this age group
• In Canada, adolescent suicide has increased four-fold since the 1960s
• Approximately 3,500 Canadians take their own life each year, while another 50,000 attempt to do so
• Suicide rates are five to seven times higher for First Nations youth than for non-aboriginal
• While up to 40% of those living with schizophrenia will attempt suicide, 10% will die by suicide
• Depression is the most common mental health issue for those contemplating suicide.
  

Schizophrenia Society of Canada

The Schizophrenia Society of Canada began in 1979 and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for those affected by schizophrenia and psychosis through education, support programs, public policy and research. The Society works with 10 provincial societies in a federation model to: raise awareness and educate the public in order to reduce stigma and discrimination; support families and individuals; advocate for legislative change; and support research through the SSC Foundation and other independent efforts.


For further information, please contact:

Chris Summerville
Interim CEO
Schizophrenia Society of Canada
Tel: 905-415-2007
Email: Chris@schizophrenia.ca

Charity to mark 'first real national push' on mental health

From today's edition of The Globe and Mail:

By Erin Anderssen

OTTAWA — Canada's leading champion of mental health will create a new national charity to raise research money for illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia – an effort to make funding and public awareness of the issue equal to cancer and heart disease.

The charity, tentatively called Mind and Brain Canada, will initially raise funds to develop programs to help hard-to-reach groups such as youth, who have some of the highest rates of mental health problems.

“This is the first real national push,” said former Liberal senator Michael Kirby, chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. “How do we keep mental health out of the shadows forever?”

Mr. Kirby said a prominent fundraising body similar to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Heart and Stroke Foundation is necessary to fight the persistent stigma surrounding mental illness and the lack of funds available to help the one in five Canadians who will struggle at some point in their lives with a mental-health problem.

To read the entire article, click here.

Thanks go to John Devlin for bringing this article to my attention.

A Future With Hope

The Schizophrenia Society of Canada (SSC) publishes its A Future With Hope newsletter three times per year. It provides information on SSC and other Schizophrenia Society activities, current and emerging issues, and other relevant topics. To view the Summer 2008 issue, click here (PDF).

Man dies after being Tasered

Winnipeg police used stun gun after reportedly confronted by knife wielder

From today's edition of The Chronicle Herald:

WINNIPEG — Winnipeg has joined a growing list of Canadian communities where a confrontation involving a police Taser has ended in death.

On Tuesday, a young adult male died in hospital after police used a Taser to subdue him. They had gotten a call for help from a residence at about 3:50 p.m.

"Upon attending, officers encountered a male at the rear of a residence," said Const. Jacqueline Chaput. "This resulted in an officer deploying his electronic control device. The male who was struck . . . was conveyed to hospital in critical condition and he succumbed to his injuries in hospital."

To read the entire article, click here.

Also see:
Ex-cop may be charged in case of man Tasered to death

Photograph by J. Star. This photograph is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

American Medical Association (AMA) Calls for Remedies for Psychiatric-Bed Shortage

From the July 18th edition of Psychiatric News:

By Mark Moran

Physicians from all specialties emphasized the scope of the problem and that it is embedded in other, larger problems in American health care, such as the rising number of the uninsured and the closing of psychiatric units.

Diminishing access to psychiatric beds and the resulting overcrowding of emergency departments is an urgent crisis and a national disgrace, said psychiatrists, emergency department specialists, and other physicians at the AMA's House of Delegates meeting last month in Chicago (see Psychiatry-Related Issues Prominent on AMA Agenda).

With virtually unanimous support, the AMA house called for efforts to facilitate access to both inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services and the continuum of care for mental illness and substance abuse as a means of relieving pressure on emergency departments (EDs) across the country that have been forced to board patients in crowded hallways—sometimes for days—before available beds can be found.

The recommendations were part of a report titled "Access to Psychiatric Beds and Impact on Emergency Medicine," prepared by the AMA's Council on Medical Service.

Experimental Schizophrenia Drug Shows Encouraging Results

From the July 18th edition of Psychiatric News:

By Joan Arehart-Treichel

A small study of patients with schizophrenia taking an alpha-7 receptor agonist (DMXB-A) found a lessening of negative symptoms in those taking the experimental compound. Subjects also reported better organized thinking and behavior.

For a few years now, Robert Freedman, M.D., chair of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and colleagues have been undertaking a valiant quest to find a drug that improves cognition and eradicates negative symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia—something that available medications for schizophrenia generally fail to do.

Specifically Freedman and his team have been trying to determine whether drugs that soup up the action of the alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain—the so-called alpha 7 receptor agonists—might be the answer.

Two years ago, they reported very preliminary, but heartening results for an alpha 7 receptor agonist called DMXB-A. Eleven subjects with schizophrenia were found to experience significantly better cognition a day after receiving DMXB-A than a day after getting a placebo. Improvement in attention was especially notable. Results were published in the June 2006 Archives of General Psychiatry [AJP] (Psychiatric News, July 21, 2006).

Now Freedman and his group report more encouraging results regarding DMXB-A. The results, which first appeared online in AJP in Advance on April 1, will be published in the August print edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry. Freedman is editor in chief of the journal.

To read the entire article, click here:

Also see:
Initial Phase 2 Trial of a Nicotinic Agonist in Schizophrenia

Molecular model of the alpha-7 nicotinic receptor courtesy of Dr. Jerrel L. Yakel.

Public engagement in setting priorities in health care

From the July 1st edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal:

By Rebecca A. Bruni, BA, BScN, Andreas Laupacis, MD, MSc, and Douglas K. Martin, PhD, for the University of Toronto Priority Setting in Health Care Research Group.

Setting priorities in health care means allocating limited resources so that some programs are supported and others are not (Box 1, below). For more than a decade, patients, scholars and government reports have asserted that the public should have greater involvement in setting health care priorities (1), but progress on this front in Canada has been slow. We believe the merits of public involvement are compelling and in keeping with a democratic society's desire for an informed, fully engaged citizenry. In this commentary, we review the value of public engagement, address the perceived barriers and suggest ways forward.


Reference:
1. New B, editor. Rationing: talk and action in healthcare. London (UK): Blackwell BMJ Books; 1997.

To read the entire article, click here (PDF).

On the road to reduce poverty

From the July 7th edition of The Toronto Star:

By Carol Goar

The experts and activists have spoken. Now the Senate committee examining urban poverty wants to hear from the people.

This summer, Senator Art Eggleton and his five colleagues (three Liberals, two Conservatives) head out to ask Canadians what they want to see in a national poverty reduction plan, how it should be designed and who should pay for it.

They'll visit eastern Canada in August, Toronto and Montreal in September and the four western provinces in October.

The committee will provide witnesses with a 90-page report that distills the testimony it has heard over the past 18 months and sets out a list of options – 103 in fact – ranging from the complete replacement of the current income support with a guaranteed annual income to a few low-cost adjustments.

Even those who don't plan to attend the hearings will find Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Issues and Options (available at by clicking here) an excellent primer.

To read the entire article, click here.

Photograph of Senator Art Eggleton courtesy of the Senate of Canada.

North Carolina Teen Shocked By Taser Died From Change In Heart Rhythm

Posted July 3rd on WSOCTV.com:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Autopsy results released this week reveal why a 17-year-old who police shot with a Taser died in March.

Darryl Turner was in an altercation with his boss at the Food Lion on Prosperity Church Road in north Charlotte when someone called police. Police said he was highly agitated when an officer shot him with a Taser. Turner was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.

Turner's autopsy says the stress of the situation and the shock from the Taser was too much for his body to handle. It says he died of acute ventricular dysrhythmia and ventricular fibrillation. In other words, his heart was pumping so fast and irregularly that he died.

The report states Turner did not have heart problems and he didn't have drugs in his system except for the medicines emergency workers used trying to save his life.

Turner's grandfather, Donald Fontenot, saw the report and said he's angry.

"Very much so. Why wouldn't I be? You know, you take a 17-year-old child away," he said.

Turner's family has not said whether they plan to sue police. They hired an attorney in March after a witness said Turner was obeying the officer’s commands when he was shocked. Police said Turner had been threatening the officer.

Police are doing their own internal investigation to see if the officer who used the Taser followed the rules. That officer is back on active duty after being put on administrative leave following the incident.

Critics say N.S. restrictions on stun guns do nothing to clarify use of weapon

From The Canadian Press - July 10th:

HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia government issued new restrictions on the use of Tasers on Thursday, claiming the measure will help clarify when the powerful devices are deployed.

Justice Minister Cecil Clarke said he would immediately limit the use of stun guns to instances where police officers face "violent or aggressive resistance or active threat to the law enforcement officer, the subject or the public."

Clarke said the interim guideline is aimed at ensuring the controversial weapons are used appropriately by police forces in the province. An earlier study done for the province found police officers have become increasingly reliant on the so-called Conducted Energy Devices.

But Clarke refused to impose a ban on them despite lingering questions over the death of Howard Hyde, a Dartmouth, N.S., man who died after being Tasered by police last year.

"There is no moratorium," he told reporters at the legislature after the release of a 36-page report, which was prompted by Hyde's death.

"In the vast number of occasions the Taser has been effective and safe when deployed."

But critics panned the announcement, saying it will do nothing to create clear standards for Taser use and doesn't differ greatly from existing guidelines on when the devices should be used.

According to the old language, the device should only be discharged where there is "risk from aggression, violence or other reasonable conditions exist ... in the interests of public or officer safety."

NDP justice critic Bill Estabrooks said the measure is merely a stalling tactic and fails to provide any clear guidance on when the weapons are used.

"I'm disappointed in the delay, I'm disappointed in the lack of clarity," he said.

"I was expecting that they were going to make some clear decisions, particularly when it came to restrictions, use and accountability. I mean, the buck stops at the minister's desk."

Clarke called for the two-phase review by a panel of health, police and justice officials eight months ago, following the death of Hyde. The 45-year-old man died about 30 hours after he was Tasered by Halifax police.

Hyde, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, was arrested at his home for spousal abuse and was taken to police headquarters where he was shot with a Taser more than once.

He died after struggling with guards in a Dartmouth jail, leading to calls for an examination of the devices.

Stephen Ayer of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia said he was also disappointed with the review because it didn't include a ban or adequately study the issue of mental illness and how people with disorders are affected by stun guns.

He said the review should have included a recommendation that paramedics be on scene when someone with a psychiatric disorder or who suffers from acute agitation is hit with a stun gun.

"In my mind, there should be a moratorium," he said, noting that it's not known what caused Hyde's death since the autopsy results have yet to be released.

"The minister talks about violent or aggressive resistance. I'm concerned about that because someone who's acutely agitated would probably be putting up aggressive resistance."

The 50,000-volt weapons can be shot from a distance or in up-close stun mode - a pain likened to leaning on a hot stove, sometimes blistering the skin.

Nova Scotia's review is one of several across Canada ordered in the wake of the death of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died after he was Tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14.

Reviews have also been ordered in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and nationally by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Canadian Police Research Centre.

RCMP Supt. Blair McKnight of the Halifax division said the province's new restriction doesn't differ greatly from the Mounties policy on usage and that they're trying to align several different policies on when the devices should be used.

The RCMP announced last month that it will restrict Taser firings in the face of mounting public pressure on the national force to rein in what critics call "usage creep."

The Mounties said officers will have clearer direction on how and when the weapons should be wielded following renewed calls for action by the RCMP complaints commission.

Commission chairman Paul Kennedy released a final report echoing his interim call to limit Tasers to clashes where suspects are combative or risk serious harm to themselves, the police or the public.

Nova Scotia also announced it will appoint a co-ordinator who will establish new standards for the use of stun guns by law enforcement officers and conduct a full policy review.

Also see:
Nova Scotia restricts Taser use until review completed

Clarke tightens Taser use

Limits applied to Taser use

Image

Nova Scotia Justice Minister Cecil Clarke announces restrictions on the use of stun guns. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

Death Of Psychiatric Patient At New York Hospital Underscores Mental Health Care Crisis

A July 4th posting by Medical News Today:

The reported death of a woman at King's County Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., illustrates the dire need for more public services for individuals with mental illness, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

According to news reports, a woman who was suffering from agitation and psychosis, was kept waiting in the emergency room for almost 24 hours because the hospital reportedly did not have a bed available for psychiatric patients. She collapsed onto the floor and then lay there for approximately one hour before emergency room personnel tried to revive her. Tragically, the woman died of causes that have yet to be determined.

"The question is how and why hospital personnel could ignore a person who fell to the floor in an emergency room and stood by or walked around her while she died," said APA president Nada Stotland, M.D. "Still, the lack of emergency services for psychiatric patients is only one part of an overall health care crisis, which extends to and includes mental health services."

To read the entire article, click here.

Worsening of Symptoms Prevented by Early Detection

From the July 4th edition of Psychiatric News:

By Mark Moran

Negative symptoms such as cognitive deficits and lack of affect and volition have long been considered unmodifiable and appear to represent core neurobiological deficits of schizophrenia.

Reducing the duration of untreated acute psychosis in first-episode patients appears to prevent the worsening of negative symptoms—such as cognitive deficits and lack of volition, among others—at two-year follow-up.

That finding, from analysis of a public health intervention in Norway, suggests that early identification and treatment of acute psychotic symptoms may affect the core neurobiological deficit process of schizophrenia, and through this alter the course and prognosis for the better.

To read the entire article, click here.

Also see:
Prevention of Negative Symptom Psychopathologies in First-Episode Schizophrenia: Two-Year Effects of Reducing the Duration of Untreated Psychosis.

Insel: 'Different Kind of Science' Poised to Transform Psychiatry

From the July 4th edition of Psychiatric News:

By Mark Moran

Understanding genomic variation and how it affects normal or abnormal development of brain circuits in different ways at different points in time will help push psychiatric diagnosis and treatment into the 21st century.

Psychiatry is still awaiting the "disruptive innovations" in scientific research that have helped to reconceptualize disease in other areas of medicine, said Thomas Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), at APA's 2008 annual meeting in Washington, D.C., in May.

The study of genomic variation and its role in leading to changes in complex brain circuitry, recognition of the longitudinal and developmental nature of disorders, and the discovery of biomarkers linked to a more precise understanding of the pathophysiology of disease are the tools of a 21st-century science promising to transform the treatment of mental illness.

Insel said those same tools have been applied in other areas of medicine to reconceptualize the nature of disease and to reduce mortality dramatically for people with such disorders as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

In contrast, the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, he said, have been stuck in a 20th-century model.

To read the entire article, click here.

NIMH Director Thomas Insel, M.D.: "Genes code for proteins that play out in particular brain areas at particular times to change the way brain circuitry develops. It's all about variation and how it plays out at each of these levels."

Photo credit: Mark Moran

Milestone for this Weblog

Today this weblog had its 25,000th visit since November 25th, 2006. That works out to an average of 1,320 visits per month!

The first post to this weblog can be viewed by clicking here.

Thank you for visiting!

Painting by Louis Wain.

A new vision for mental health

From the Future Vision Coalition (United Kingdom):

Cabinet champion needed for better mental health for all, says new coalition

20 June 2008

The Prime Minister should appoint a Cabinet-level champion for mental wellbeing, according to a report produced by a coalition of seven leading health organisations.

'A New Vision for Mental Health' from the Future Vision Coalition, calls for action to build on the successes of the National Service Framework (NSF) for Mental Health, to put mental wellbeing at the centre of public policy and to improve the quality of life of all people with mental health problems.

It argues that action is needed to promote better mental health for all and to identify children at risk of mental distress for targeted support. It calls on mental health services to focus on helping people to get their lives back, not just to manage their illness, and to give those who use services more control over how money is spent on them.

A New Vision for Mental Health says that mental wellbeing is the business of the whole of government, not just the Department of Health. It needs a champion in the Cabinet to ensure all departments are working together to promote good mental health and to bring the voices of those who have mental health problems to the centre of government.

To read the entire press release, click here.

Recovery from Schizophrenia: An International Perspective

To read Rachel Jenkins' review of this book, published in the July 2008 edition of The British Journal of Psychiatry, click here.

To purchase Recovery from Schizophrenia: An International Perspective, click here.