I first wrote this article on my Revolution Health blog, and thought my regular readers would benefit:

A Swiss study has substantiated the fact that substance abuse and mental illness are often linked and both biologically based.

“People with manic symptoms and bipolar disorder type II are at significant risk of later developing an alcohol abuse or dependence problem, a long-term study conducted in Switzerland confirms.”

The results of the study were published in the January 2008 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry by lead researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program.

Click here to read the update.

This data should convince families and community services to treat addicts under a medical model rather than using the long-failed, crime & punishment, “war on drugs” approach. Let’s stop the insanity of wasting time and resources, and destroying relationships. Let’s treat these people with dignity, respect, and efficacious medicine.

I just completed a nearly-hour long teleconference with Michael Corbin, one of the founders of everyminute.org, a website mobilizing mental health advocates into a lobbying power in support of innovative research.

Corbin’s take: “We are a beacon of hope for mental health similar to what the Susan G. Komen or the ONE campaign are doing in their respective fields. We are the only youthful, grassroots campaign for mental health solely focused on prevention and the possibility of finding a cure through accelerating the public funding of research.

“everyminute.org exists because <the> one out of four Americans affected do not yet have a unified voice to be fairly represented when the government makes appropriations.”

I’m grateful that Michael and his business partner Jace are making the effort to change that underrepresentation. As I work to spread accurate information about mental illness, diagnosis, treatment and recovery across all strata of American culture, I’m excited that others are doing the same. Educating our communities is the first step toward eradicating profound societal challenges that include limited research into mental health causes and treatments, the lack of mental health care parity, criminalization vs. medication, and the increasing number of suicides by American youth.

I am an advocate of hope. I know the significant difference appropriate medical care and proper support systems can make in the lives of those diagnosed with a serious mental illness. I embrace the opportunity to join forces with individuals and organizations with similar agendas.

I am proud to become affiliated with everyminute.org. Like the Jed Foundation, everyminute.org is working to ensure early and effective identification, diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses in order to save lives.

How could I not be proud of those affiliations?

I spent two hours this evening with an amazing woman named MJ. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 39, MJ has spent the last 8 years working hard toward wellness and balance. She’s done a marvelous job.

Insightful and honest, MJ self-evaluates and practices good self care. She monitors her wellness, sees her doctor regularly, complies with her medical team’s guidance; and she journals as a method of understanding herself, her mind and her moods. She is utterly amazing.

I only met MJ because she read my book, Mommy I’m Still in Here, and felt compelled to contact me through my website. I am grateful. I feel blessed.

Every day I receive affirmations that this is my work and that it has great value. And it gives me immense joy and satisfaction. I am lucky!

Thank you MJ.

Thank you world!

What are you grateful for? What in your life is wondrous? Tell me!

How do you live with it?

How do you do it?

How do you get through a day?

That, my friends, is how you live with it, how you do it.

You simply get through the day.

Today.

And then again tomorrow.

The AA mantra, one day at a time, is an elemental factor in everybody’s wellness. Whether battling addiction, dealing with depression, living in chronic pain, or fighting other personal demons, you only have to do it today. In fact, break that day down into smaller increments. One day, one hour, one minute. Now. You only have to get through now–this moment. And then move on to the next. There is a lot of power in living in the now. You can achieve mastery one minute at a time. You can be perfect, now.

This line of thought is not meant to  be esoteric or obscure. It is real. It is the basis of all true happiness and success. Now. Be here. Be present. Be alive, making right choices, right now.

You can do this.

You get through the minute, the hour, the day.

And then another.

That’s how you do it.

That’s how you live with it.

That’s how.

Just now.

Now.

I have a good friend who’s lived with extreme anxiety for as long as she can remember. Her parents called her a “nervous” child. She carried labels like ‘goody-good’, ‘worry wart’, ‘pessimist’, and ‘doubting Thomas’ for most of her life. It wasn’t until she had children of her own that the overwhelming worry forced her to talk to her doctor about her symptoms.

“I worry about everything, anything, almost constantly now. I’m sure something horrible is going to happen to my husband or the kids. Even when I know that no problems lurk on the horizon, I get upset by the possibility of problems. I can’t fall asleep at night. I can’t focus my mind  during the day. Worst of all, I’m irritable and angry all the time.”

After a few clarifying questions her doctor told her, “This sounds like Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and it’s treatable. You don’t have to worry.”

What a relief!

WHAT IS GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER?

Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD, seems to run in families, but doctors don’t know for sure why some people have it and others don’t. Like chronic depression, GAD is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain that can be corrected with medication.

WHAT ARE THE COMMON SYMPTOMS OF GAD?

• excessive worry about everyday things for a period longer than six months, even when there is little or no reason to worry
• inability to control worry and distress
• know that you worry more than you should
• cannot relax
• difficulty concentrating
• easily startled
• difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
• feeling tired for no reason
• headaches, muscle aches, tension
• difficulty swallowing
• trembling or twitching
• irritability
• profuse sweating
• nausea
• light headedness
• feeling out of breath
• frequent need for urination
• hot flashes

HOW IS GAD TREATED?

While there is no cure for GAD, doctors are successful in treating it; and most physicians prescribe medications including:

• antidepressants
• anti-anxiety medicines
• beta blockers

They also recommend that patients with GAD consider talk therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy with a licensed counselor, psychologist or psychiatrist to change patterns of behavior and thought, and to learn how to feel less anxious and fearful once medication is doing it’s part.

Yesterday I received a phone call and learned that my son Michael, 23, was admitted to another treatment facility. If you follow my posts, you’ll recall that a month and a half ago I was excited that we’d gone through an entire year without one of the kids in the hospital.

I could be upset or disappointed, but I’m not. Michael only recently decided to go back to his psychiatrist and began taking medication after several years of “doing it myself.” I cannot tell you how happy that decision made his father and me. This hospitalization seems like a natural next step on his journey toward wellness and good self-care.

Michael has abused substances since he was fifteen and struggled with addictions nearly as long. For almost a third of his life illicit drugs and alcohol have been a driving force. Less than two years ago he finally took responsibility and began to seek sobriety in earnest, after Mark and I had already “put him through” no fewer than a half dozen rehab programs.

The trouble is, rehab is hard. Recovery is a process, and relapse is a part of that process. Until a near-fatal overdose a year ago, every time Michael relapsed he used larger quantities of more serious substances. Almost dying scared him. His relapses this past year have differed in that he didn’t go to extremes and took quick action to clean up again. Yes. He continues to relapse. But there is progress.

So now my sweet son is in a detox program that has a convenient outpatient follow-up component. I hope this works. So does he.

Progress…Recovery…a process.

Blessings!

Kate

Click here to watch the MTV series on schizophrenia.

Learn-Understand

Read below for some facts…

Schizophrenia is one of the three most common major mental illnesses, along with major depression and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia affects over 2 million American adults, or about 1 percent of the population age 18 and older. Often feared and misunderstood, schizophrenia is a treatable medical condition.

Schizophrenia often interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, to distinguish reality from fantasy, to manage emotions, make decisions, and relate to others. The first signs of schizophrenia typically emerge in the teenage years or early twenties, often later for women. Most people with schizophrenia contend with the illness chronically or episodically throughout their lives, and are often stigmatized by lack of public understanding about the disease.

Schizophrenia is not caused by bad parenting or personal weakness. A person with schizophrenia does not have a “split personality,” and almost all people with schizophrenia are not dangerous or violent towards others while they are receiving treatment. The World Health Organization has identified schizophrenia as one of the ten most debilitating diseases affecting human beings.

The symptoms of schizophrenia are generally divided into three categories — Positive, Negative, and Cognitive:

• Positive Symptoms, or “psychotic” symptoms, include delusions and hallucinations because the patient has lost touch with reality in certain important ways. “Positive” refers to having overt symptoms that should not be there. Delusions cause individuals to believe that people are reading their thoughts or plotting against them, that others are secretly monitoring and threatening them, or that they can control other people’s minds. Hallucinations cause people to hear or see things that are not present.
• Negative Symptoms include emotional flatness or lack of expression, an inability to start and follow through with activities, speech that is brief and devoid of content, and a lack of pleasure or interest in life. “Negative” does not refer to a person’s attitude but to a lack of certain characteristics that should be there.
• Cognitive Symptoms pertain to thinking processes. For example, people may have difficulty with prioritizing tasks, certain kinds of memory functions, and organizing their thoughts. A common problem associated with schizophrenia is the lack of insight into the condition itself. This is not a willful denial but rather a part of the mental illness itself. Such a lack of understanding, of course, poses many challenges for loved ones seeking better care for the person with schizophrenia.

To learn more about schizophrenia, visit NAMI’s Information Page.

I just finished reading Wasted and Madness by Marya Hornbacher.

Spellbinding!

Ms. Hornbacher shares her personal story with absolute candor, taking the reader on a visceral odyssey through bulimia, anorexia, substance abuse, cutting, suicidality and ultimately, a bipolar disorder diagnosis and all that it entails.

Frank.

Stark.

Honest

Real.

I better understand my children’s pain thanks to Hornbacher’s openness.

I better understand the art of memoir thanks to Hornbacher’s brilliant writing.

Below is an article released last week by St. Joseph’s University.

It’s a great follow up to my last two posts.

If you’re concerned about yourself or another student ask for help.

It’s natural for first-year students to encounter challenges associated with the transition to college life. For many students the academic demands are great, dorm-life may be their first experience sharing a living space, and there is so much unstructured time to manage.

As director of Saint Joseph’s University’s Office for Student Success, Kim Allen-Stuck, Ph.D., has some advice to help students ease into the college experience.

1) Manage your expectations
How many times have you heard “College is the best four years of your life?” It can be, but it isn’t true every minute of every day. Adjusting to college life can take time, and everything won’t be perfect that first week. Be open to what college can be (there will be new opportunities everywhere); don’t limit yourself to thinking about what it should be.

2) Friendships take time
Sometimes freshmen make friends quickly based on proximity (the people who were assigned randomly to live in your hallway become your immediate friends). Sometimes that works. Other times, you need to involve yourself on campus to find friends with similar values and interests.

3) Your roommate won’t be just like you
The college roommate relationship comes with a lot of pressure. The truth is your roommate is just one of the many new people you will meet in college. Since you’re sharing a small space, mutual respect and honesty will be key to making the relationship work. Roommates may not be best friends, but they do need to work together to create an academically supportive space.

4) Admit when you need help
Colleges have many resources available to help with academic difficulties, health issues, emotional distress, financial issues and much more. It’s important to recognize when you’re having trouble, and seek assistance on campus.

5) Explore the world outside of campus
You probably chose your college because of where it’s located or the neighboring city or town. Get out there and learn about the area - the geography, the people and the history. If you end your freshman year not knowing about your surrounding area, you have missed half of the experience.

6) Maintain support systems
For many students with a documented learning disability in high school, they may consider stopping their medication or regular counseling sessions with the transition to college life. While this may sound like a good idea, with all of the new challenges you’re facing, it’s important to keep that support in place.

USA Today published a compelling article on mental health in college students. Read it.

If you know a college student share it. You may save a life…or at least make one happier.

Help is always available.

One great resource: The Jed Foundation