Some interesting new data about marijuana use is coming out of an Australian study of 3100 young adults. Bottom line: Prolonged, regular use of cannabis often leads to the development of hallucinations, delusions and psychosis.

“Compared with those who had never used cannabis, young adults who had six or more years since first use of cannabis [i.e., who commenced use when around 15 years or younger] were twice as likely to develop a non-affective psychosis and were four times as likely to have high scores on the Peters et al Delusions Inventory [a measure of delusion],” wrote Dr. John McGrath, of the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Park Centre for Mental Health in Wacol, and colleagues. “There was a ‘dose-response’ relationship between the variables of interest: the longer the duration since the first cannabis use, the higher the risk of psychosis-related outcomes.”

The connection between psychosis and marijuana use is not as elemental as it may appear, however.  McGrath and his colleagues found that those who experienced hallucinations earlier in life were most likely to have used marijuana longer and with greater frequency.

“This demonstrates the complexity of the relationship: those individuals who were vulnerable to psychosis [i.e., those who had isolated psychotic symptoms] were more likely to commence cannabis use, which could then subsequently contribute to an increased risk of conversion to a non-affective psychotic disorder,” wrote the study authors.

Small Ideas That Make a Big Difference

Start making a difference.

Every individual can take action to help solve homelessness.

Here are five small things you can start doing now:

Make eye contact: Say hello - greet homeless individuals the same as you would a friend or colleague.

Give small supplies: Instead of money, give Ziploc bags of toiletries, socks, food or grocery coupons. Keep a supply in your car.

Donate clothes: Give your gently worn clothes to a local homeless facility.

Watch your mouth: Don’t call people experiencing homelessness “bums,” “transients,” or even “the homeless.” They are still people first.

Volunteer: Work directly with people experiencing homelessness.

Bust the stigma and share stories: Feeling support and being part of a community is empowering to those struggling with a mental illness. By listening to others or by sharing personal experiences, you help to break the silence that keeps people from being open about their illness.

Special acknowledgment and thanks to TAKE PART- The Soloist.

My beautiful son Michael has his own beautiful son.

After years of struggling with addiction and bipolar disorder, Michael has spent months working hard at sobriety and medical compliance. He’s in school, working and dedicating himself to his young family.

I share this to encourage you.

If you or someone you love deals with a serious mental illness, addiction or both, take heart, have faith and maintain hope. Michael was terribly ill for nearly 7 years. His dad and I were repeatedly told to “let it go” and “give it up.” We didn’t. We’re glad.

I’m not telling you to tolerate the intolerable, but I am urging you to maintain relationships, continue to love, and offer help and support when it’s solicited.

The rewards are SO worth the challenge.

And if you ever need to share your story or vent your feelings, I’m just a click away.

Lovingly,

Even if teens act as if they don’t need their parents’ help, research proves that they do.

Teenagers usually think of their friendships as their most important relationships; but new research shows that support from mom and dad, not friends, helps prevent suicidal behavior in teens that experienced depression or attempted suicide in the past.

Depression during high school and a previous suicide attempt were significant predictors of suicidal thought one or two years later, according to a study led by James Mazza, a University of Washington professor of educational psychology.

Young people who were depressed or had attempted suicide in high school were less likely to have suicidal thoughts if they had strong family support and more open communication. Having a girlfriend or boyfriend also helped.

“Our findings suggest that the protective quality of family support and bonding, or having an intimate partner, are not replaced by peer support and bonding in emerging adulthood,” said Mazza.

Bonding refers to a young adult’s closeness with family or a romantic partner and the ability to talk with them about important issues.

“Peers don’t provide the same type of safety net that comes from a family or by having an intimate partner,” Mazza said. “When it comes to suicidal behavior, young adults may feel that their family or partner may be more accepting and less judgmental than perhaps some of their peers.”

Data came from a larger National Institute of Drug Abuse 15-year study of youth in a Seattle-area school district that looked at risk factors for marijuana and cigarette use, binge drinking, depression and past suicidal behavior.

“Parents shouldn’t give up on their adolescents, because our work indicates they still rely on them in this kind of situation,” Mazza said.

Speaking from both personal experience and through my work’s observation, I couldn’t agree more with Mazza.

Never, ever give up.

I received an email from a young woman who attended one of my lectures with her parents. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her mid-teens, she’s struggled with addictions for nearly as long.

After hearing from her I felt simultaneously sad and encouraged.

I felt sad because she described an abusive romantic relationship in which her illness is used as a point of shame and degradation.

I felt sad because she’s actively using methamphetamine and cocaine, with no inclination to quit.

I felt sad because she no longer sees her doctor or takes the medication that could eventually keep her stable and well.

I felt sad because she sounded isolated and frightened and sad, herself.

But my feelings of encouragement dominated.

I felt encouraged by the fact that she was honest about the mistreatment she received. She was not hiding or denying it. Recognizing something is wrong is the first step toward righting it.

I felt encouraged because she knew she used illicit drugs to manage her illness and to maintain her romantic relationship. She made no excuses and realized her behavior and choices were unhealthy.

I felt encouraged because she admitted that she needs to see a doctor and asked for low-cost options in her area. She was reaching out, searching for help, asking for resources.

I felt encouraged because, stuck in a darkness of her own creation, this sweet soul seeks something better, seeks the light.

She will find it.

She will overcome.

She will get well.

I am encouraged. I have hope.

A report released by an expert panel convened by the National Institute of Mental Health indicates that myriad biological, psychological, and social factors play a role in the high smoking rates among people with psychiatric disorders.

Analysis of data from the National Comorbidity Study (NCS), a nationally representative survey of psychiatric disorders in the United States, indicated that 41% of people with psychiatric disorders smoke, nearly twice the rate (22.5%) seen in the general population. Their life expectancy is reduced by 20 years.

Additionally, although people with psychiatric disorders make up 26.2% of the U. S. population, they consume 44.3 percent of all cigarettes smoked, and this high smoking rate is partly to blame for increased rates of physical illness and mortality amongst the mentally ill.

Despite these high smoking rates and their obvious health hazards, studies of psychiatric patient care showed that fewer than 25% of outpatients received smoking cessation counseling, and only 1%  of inpatients were assessed for smoking; no treatment plans for these patients addressed tobacco use.

The report says that reasons for these low rates of assessment and treatment include the medical communities acceptance of smoking by psychiatric patients as an individual right and as a method of self-medication and symptom relief.

In order to address the disparities and improve psychiatric patient care and prognoses, the panel identified the following areas for continued research:

* Changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a system in the body involved in the response to stress, have been reported in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The HPA axis is also involved in the development of nicotine tolerance. The interplay of the HPA axis with stress and nicotine may help explain the increased smoking in those with PTSD and other anxiety disorders.

* The possibility that the relationship between depression and smoking is bidirectional: depression increases the risk of smoking, and chronic smoking increases a person’s susceptibility to depression. The same genes may contribute to both. For example, decreased activity of dopamine -a neurotransmitter that is central to the brain’s reward system-is thought to be associated with depression; studies cited by the panel suggest that variants of genes that affect the level of dopamine function can influence the likelihood that someone with depression will smoke.

* As many as 70 to 85 percent of people with schizophrenia use tobacco. According to the panel, psychosocial factors are important in understanding the high rates of smoking people with schizophrenia. Limited education, poverty, unemployment, and peer influence increase smoking risk; the mental health treatment system, in which smoking is not only acceptable but sometimes condoned, is also a contributor.

* Nicotine has effects on some cognitive processes in people with schizophrenia and research has found that variants in the genes for nicotine receptors have been linked to deficits in these processes. The relationships between genes, environment, and smoking in this population are not fully understood.

The panel also identified these issues for future research:

*Improve precision in defining the specific psychiatric disorders of interest in a given study. “Depression,” for example, is used in reference to a number of different conditions. Similarly, clearer definitions of smoking behavior and patterns and progression of use are needed.

* Use longitudinal studies toprovide more complete information on the relative risk, incidence, and course of smoking and various mental disorders.

* Explore the causal links between tobacco use and psychiatric disorders, including possible genetic, neurobiological, psychological, or social factors. The extent to which smoking is used as a form of self-regulation needs to be explored.

* Discover how smoking and other health related factors such as stress, obesity, and limited physical activity contribute to the illness and mortality seen in people with mental disorders.

* Assure adequate sample sizes in smoking cessation trials, and greater emphasis on adapting cessation treatment to various psychiatric populations and in different treatment settings; and research on how tobacco control polices affect psychiatric populations.

With these guidelines in place, psychiatric patients may finally see literal parity on the heels of recent insurance parity; and a mental illness diagnosis will not carry with it a 20-year decrease in life expectancy, as is now the case.

Much to the world’s chagrine, Carrie Fisher is not Princess Leia.

Carrie Fisher is a writer.

And she’s very, very funny.

Both talents are verified in Wishful Drinking.

I loved this memoir not because it exposed any great truths about bipolar disorder or addiction, but because it exposed great truths about learning to live with them.

Honest, open and hilarious, Fisher points the spotlight on her own life and directs us through an amazing production.

Bravo, Ms. Fisher! Bravo!

Or is it something more?

Pediatric bipolar disorder is a genetic, neurobiological illness that can present in childhood or the teen years.

It is often misdiagnosed  as ADHD, or dismissed as defiance, out-of-control behavior, and even a symptom of poor parenting.

But pediatric, or early onset bipolar disorder is very real and requires appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

Here are some of the most common symptoms:

Mania

• Severe mood swings — overly irritable or overly silly, giddy
• Inflated sense of self — seems to feel superior
• Talks too much, too rapidly, and/or changes topics quickly
• Easily distracted
• Decreased need for sleep
• Aggressive behavior
• Destructive
• Hypersexuality

Depression

• Sad
• Irritable
• Loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities
• Moves and/or talks slowly
• Cries often or excessively
• Feels worthless
• Feels unnecessarily guilty
• Talks of death or suicide

Bipolar disorder puts kids at increased risk of school failure, substance abuse, self-harm and suicide.

Bipolar disorder is serious, but it is treatable.

If you suspect your child’s moodiness may be something more, see your doctor immediately.

For more information on Pediatric Bipolar Disorder, visit Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation or Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation.

When my son Michael required inpatient or residential treatment for addictions and bipolar disorder, I carefully discovered the treatment approaches of available facilities.

Early in our years-long journey I learned that some treatment philosophies denied the existence of biologically-based mental illness. Others eschewed drugs of any sort, regardless of who prescribed them and why. And still others functioned under the assumption that every addiction was caused by childhood trauma, not biology or choice.

Finding treatment centers that respected the concept of dual-diagnosis and treated the whole person proved challenging.

Finally a well-respected scientific entity, The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, released a new report, Comorbidity: Addiction and Other Mental Illnesses that verifies what I know to be true and that will hopefully revolutionize the treatment model for dual diagnosis.

Documenting phenomena that doctors, families and some treatment programs have known for decades, the report summarizes the science underlying the complex relationship between substance abuse and other mental disorders, a phenomenon often referred to as dual diagnosis.

“We do not know enough yet to predict precisely whether one disorder will lead to the other(s) or how to prevent comorbidity,” said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. “We do know, however, that the high rate of comorbidity means that we need a comprehensive approach to intervention that identifies, evaluates, and treats each disorder concurrently.”

The report describes factors leading to comorbidity or dual diagnosis, including biology and genetics, issues of gender vulnerabilities, brain function abnormalities and similarities, and the influence of developmental factors.

The report also addresses diagnosis and treatment. Several examples of behavioral therapies tested in patients with comorbid conditions — as well as potential medications — are outlined, as are the challenges of treating these conditions concurrently.

What’s more challenging: Being a Teen or Raising a Teen?

The teenage years are a time of transition for both parent and child as each struggles with boundaries of dependence, responsibility and independence. We learn what is ours and what is not. But lets face it, parents have the advantage of years of wisdom and experience, while teens are just getting started.

Teens can be overwhelmed by waves of normal emotional and physical changes as they navigate a sea of pressures to fit in, do well in school, participate in activities like sports or part-time jobs and prepare for the future.

How can adults best help teens?

Giving unconditional love is most important. Kids develop a sense of self based largely on how the adults in their life treat them. A warm, loving relationship will ease the challenges of the teenage years.

It’s also important to communicate your values and set expectations and limits. Insist on and always model honesty, respect and self-control. Treat everybody the way you want to be treated, especially your kids. If you cannot do this, get the help you need and develop these skills so that you can impart them to your kids.

Its easy for adults to get caught up in the need to teach and then get in the habit of criticizing and correcting. Although teens need guidance, they respond better to positive reinforcement. Praise appropriate behavior to give kids a sense of accomplishment and to reinforce desired values.

Here are guidelines to prepare for a child’s teenage years, developed by The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP):

-Provide a safe and loving home environment

-Create an atmosphere of honesty, trust and respect

-Allow age-appropriate independence and assertiveness

-Develop a relationship that encourages your teen to talk to you when he or she is upset

-Teach responsibility for your teen’s belongings and yours

-Teach basic responsibility for household chores

-Teach the importance of accepting limits

What is normal, what is not?

Teenagers experiment with values, ideas, hairstyles and clothing in order to find their own preferences and define themselves. This is normal. Don’t panic! But inappropriate or destructive behavior is usually a sign of a problem.

Teens are at risk for a number of self-destructive or dangerous behaviors including drug or alcohol use,  inappropriate or unprotected sexual relationships, self-injury and verbal aggression or physical violence toward others. In addition, biologically-based illnesses like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and mental illnesses often emerge in the teen years. If you suspect these issues, learn all that you can and seek professional help.

The following may be warning signs that a teen needs professional help:

-Agitated or restless behavior

-Weight loss or gain

-A drop in grades

-Trouble concentrating

-Ongoing feelings of sadness

-Not caring about people and things

-Lack of motivation

-Fatigue, loss of energy and lack of interest in activities

-Low self-esteem

-Trouble falling asleep

-Run-ins with the law

What to do if there is a problem?

Maintain open communication. If you suspect a problem, ask your teen about what is bothering him or her. Don’t ignore a problem in the hopes that it will go away. It’s easier to cope with problems when they’re small. This also gives you the opportunity to work through problems together. Seek professional help. Talking to your family doctor or school counselor are good first steps.

You can also check out these online resources:

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

American Psychiatric Association

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill

National Institute of Mental Health

National Institute on Drug Abuse

National Mental Health Association