Yesterday, I posted about the epidemiological crisis being reported regarding an explosion in substance use disorders resulting in increases in untreated SUDs and low rates of problem recognition. (There's been a parallel explosion in recovery prevalence.) All of this was predictable. In fact, we were writing about it here 13 years ago. Despite the foreseeability … Continue reading Substance Use Disorders – The epidemiological mess more than a decade in the making
Category: Mental Health
Hope and Recovery
Pat Deegan reflects on her own experience an shares about the need for hope in recovery: He said, I should retire from life and avoid stress. I have come to call my psychiatrist's pronouncement a "prognosis of doom". He was condemning me to a life of handicaptivity wherein I was expected to take high dose … Continue reading Hope and Recovery
hope is a function of struggle
From On Being, some insight on hope and how people can foster it or inhibit its development: Ms. Brown: You know, one of the most interesting things I've found in doing this work is, you know, something the wholehearted share in common is this real profound sense of hopefulness. And as I got into the literature … Continue reading hope is a function of struggle
The golden age
Keith Humphreys argues we're entering a golden age for mental health care: For most of U.S. history, employers did not provide adequate mental health benefits in the insurance packages they assembled for employees. This wasn’t a controversial policy: most labor unions were quite happy to trade “mental for dental” when they negotiated fringe benefits. But … Continue reading The golden age
Hope, empowerment, capability, connection and purpose
Hopeworks Community recently listed his core beliefs related to his recovery from mental illness: The idea was simple. There are a few core beliefs about recovery that make a difference. To the extent you are able to live them your recovery will be positively impacted. My list of core beliefs was simple: Life can get better. … Continue reading Hope, empowerment, capability, connection and purpose
Am I going to hang onto these symptoms?
Sherwin Nuland's experience with depression led to the observation that some of his beliefs were bound up with his symptoms. [emphasis mine] And they were indeed a symptom of a long-term obsessional neurosis. And if I was going to get out of this depression, I was going to have to give that all up. And … Continue reading Am I going to hang onto these symptoms?
Closing down?
Findings from a study of adverse interpersonal effects from antidepressants were recently published online. The adverse interpersonal effects we reported by more than half of the subjects, though more than half of the subjects were on them for 3 years. The gated, full article described a cluster of reported side-effects that it described as "closing … Continue reading Closing down?
Suicide Prevention and Addiction
From the Dawn Farm Education Series: Suicide Prevention and Addiction from Dawn Farm on Vimeo. More here.
Recovery vs. Treatment
Hopeworks Community's blog speaks from the perspective of a mental health care patient advocate. He draws some important distinctions between recovery and treatment: Is treatment a necessary or a sufficient condition for recovery?? The answer is clearly on both counts no. Mental health professionals have stolen the notion of recovery and defined it as the result of … Continue reading Recovery vs. Treatment
“looking past these behaviors”
This article got me thinking about the bigotry of low expectations and the importance of continuing to assert that every addict should be offered treatment services that provide a path to full recovery, not just symptom or harm reduction. If it's not suicide or drug overdoses doing the killing in psychiatric patients after all, how … Continue reading “looking past these behaviors”
Recovery Review 