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The Art of Mentally Ill and Eccentric People

In the February, 2010, issue of Clinical Psychiatry News, psychiatrist Roland Atkinson devotes his column Reel Life to five recent films featuring the lives of self taught outsider artists who are mentally ill or eccentric.

]]> The most successful of the films, Seraphine, won seven Cesar awards for 2009. It depicts the pre-World War 1 discovery of the highly delicate and colorful flower paintings by Seraphine, an obscure socially isolated externally morose French cleaning woman. The discoverer was art critic and collector Wilhelm Uhde who nurtured her successful career as an artist. When he was hard hit by the depression he had to withdraw his support, and Seraphine soon became mentally ill and spent the last years of her life in a mental hospital.

Other films he discussed were In a Dream, My Nikifor, and Junebug.

Atkonson writes, "The main lesson for psychiatrists offered by outsider artists is their demonstration of abilities to create rich, often stunningly unique works, a useful counterpoint to our customary fixation on psychopathology and dysfunction."

Related Links:

- Subscription required for full text: "Visions From Outside the Box ," Roland Atkinson, Clinical Psychiatry News, Vol. 38, Issue 2, Page 10, February 2010.
- Seraphine
- In a Dream
- My Nikifor, a review at Culture.PL
- Junebug

APA Psychiatric News Covers Love from Depression

The American Psychiatric Association's Psychiatric News for February 5, 2010, featured the Foundation's Love From Depression outreach campaign. Besides Love from Depression, the article describes other outreach programs the Foundation has done and continues to do, ranging from public service announcements on radio, clinician meetings, and the Outstanding Merit Award.

A Writer's 15 year old daughter becomes manic

In Hurry Down Sunshine, the writer Michael Greenberg takes the reader on a harrowing journey through his 15 year old daughter's encounter with a severe manic mental illness.

]]> Her illness so overwhelms her that her human identity seems to disappear. To her father it is as if her real self has died.

Like so many contemporary families, this is a family marked by divorces and remarriages. The illness brings the family together, and they do their best to support and encourage the ill girl and each other, but it looks like they are helpless in the face of the manic onslaught. Father and other family members have some typical reactions at first: they feel guilty, as if they have caused the illness; and they try to deny the reality of serious illness, even in the face of undeniable psychotic symptoms. Nevertheless, they -- especially father and second wife -- persist in striving for a human relationship with their ill daughter, not giving in to despair, not withdrawing, despite tremendous strain on the marriage. They get good psychiatric treatment, and in the end their persistence has value.

This is an honest and beautifully written book by writer with a sharply observant writer's eye He does not gloss over the pain.

Related Links:

- Hurry Down Sunshine, Michael Greenberg, Random House, Inc.

Collection programs for unused prescription medications seen as increasing.

The AP (1/22) reports on how communities across the US are ramping "efforts to clean out America's medicine cabinets," and at least "20 states now have collection programs for unused medications, and several saw record hauls in 2009."

]]> The AP notes that the programs were "initially motivated by concerns about flushed pharmaceuticals reaching drinking water supplies," but the "programs are also surging for another reason: prescription drug overdoses." Still, advocates "say the 90 or so take-back programs across the country are a good start but not well-funded enough to expand to a mass scale."

Support, care for caregivers of aging parents crucial.

Francine Russo writes in the latest issue of Time (2/1), "We hear a lot about the costs of taking care of our graying population. But, the big story roiling beneath the surface is the psychological crisis among middle-aged siblings who are fuming or fighting over issues involving their aging parents."

]]> A new AARP/MetLife-funded National Alliance for Caregiving survey found that about "43.5 million adults in the US are looking after an older relative or friend. Of these, 43% said they did not feel they had a choice in this role. And although 7 in 10 said another unpaid caregiver had provided help in the past year, only 1 in 10 said the burden was split equally." In light of these findings, Russo points out that "research shows that emotional support for caregivers is critical to their well-being and to family harmony."

Related Links:

- When Elder Care Brings Back Sibling Tensions," Francine Russo, Time, Febuary 1, 2010.

Routine screening for depression during, after pregnancy advocated.

In its "Booster Shots" blog, the Los Angeles Times (1/21, Roan) reported that an opinion paper published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology advocated routine screening for depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period, as they "are peak times for women to experience" the condition. The authors asserted that depression "carries serious repercussions for both mother and baby," raising "the risk of preterm birth and other adverse outcomes" prior to delivery and "cognitive, neurologic and motor skill delays" after the birth.

]]> Related Links:

- Doctors encourage depression screening during and after pregnancy," Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2010.

Insurance industry increased spending on lobbying in 2009.

The Hill (1/25, Bogardus) reports, "America's largest insurance companies spent millions more on lobbying last year as lawmakers debated healthcare reform, lobbying disclosure records show."

]]> In all, "the companies increased lobbying spending by an average of 24 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to an analysis by The Hill of disclosure reports released this week. The list includes insurance giants such as Aetna and Wellpoint, along with the industry's major trade association, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)." Notably, Humana "showed the biggest increase in its lobbying spending among the insurers," with "$3.2 million on lobbying in 2009." Wellpoint spent $4.7 million, while UnitedHealth Group spent $4.5 million, and AHIP "about $8.9 million."

Review finds risk factors for depression during pregnancy.

HealthDay (1/22, Preidt) reported that a review, in the January issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, of 159 studies conducted between 1980 and 2008 found that stress, a history of depression, a lack of social support, an unintended pregnancy, maternal anxiety, domestic violence, and having public insurance coverage "are among the major factors that contribute to increased risk of depression in pregnant women."

]]> Depression in a pregnant woman "can cause problems for mothers and babies, including pre-term delivery, preeclampsia, sleep disturbances and disrupted mother-infant bonding."

Related Links:

- Stress, Anxiety Can Up Risk of Depression in Pregnancy," Robert Preidt, HealthDay News, January 22, 2010.

Poll reveals many workers fear stigma of seeking treatment for addiction, mental health problems.

Modern Healthcare (1/26, Vesely) reported that in an "online poll of about 1,100 employed adults conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Psychiatric Association," researchers found that "about 40 percent of workers said their employers are supportive or extremely supportive in seeking care for health issues, but many more reported fear of stigma for seeking treatment for addiction and mental health problems."

]]> The poll revealed that "two thirds of workers thought their work status would be negatively affected if they sought treatment for drug addiction," while 73 percent "said they feared loss of work status for seeking treatment for alcoholism."

Related Links:

- Workers fear stigma for seeking mental health treatment: study
," Rebeca Vesely, Modern Healthcare, January 26, 2010.

2010 Outstanding Merit Award Entries Open Now

The annual Outstanding Merit Award is given for a worthy endeavor in Maryland that accomplishes one or more of the following:

* Increases public awareness and understanding of mental illness
* Enhances the quality of care for psychiatric illness
* Reduces the stigma of mental illness

]]> Nominations for this award of $500 are being invited from the entire Maryland community. A short nomination form must be submitted with a cover letter by March 1, 2010, to the Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry, 1101 Saint. Paul Street, Suite 305, Baltimore, MD 21202-6405. The form is available as PDF or Word document.

The 2009 Award was presented to the Gaudenzia Park Heights New Vision of Hope Program in Baltimore for its services to a very difficult population of dual diagnosis patients with substance abuse and mental illness, many of whom have criminal justice involvement.

Holiday Season Radio Ad Available Here

The Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry, Inc. aired a new public service announcement on local Maryland radio stations during the recent holiday season. It focuses all the feelings and temptations which might surface during holidays and suggests how one might get some assistance.

You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website's homepage by selecting "Holiday Depression" or download the MP3 file from our radio ad page.

Researchers document deficiencies in depression treatment.

The New York Times (1/8, Rabin) reported in Vital Signs that, according to a study published Jan. 6 in the Archives of General Psychiatry, "only about half of all Americans with depression receive treatment of any kind," with "only one in five...getting care -- talk therapy, medication or both -- that conforms to American Psychiatric Association guidelines."

]]> In an analysis of results from "nationally representative surveys of 15,762 adults from February 2001 to November 2003," Wayne State University researchers also found that "Mexican-Americans and African-Americans were less likely than other groups to receive treatment of any kind."

Related Links:

- Mental Health: Deficiencies in Treatment of Depression," Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times, January 8, 2010.

Psychotherapy may benefit adolescent girls at risk for obesity.

HealthDay (1/9, Dotinga) reported, "A psychotherapy program may work better than traditional health classes in preventing teenage girls at risk of obesity from becoming excessively fatter," according to a study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

]]> After "randomly assigned 38 girls to attend psychotherapy sessions or standard health-education classes," researchers found that "those who took part in the psychotherapy sessions" over the course of a year "were more likely to stabilize or reduce their body mass index."

Related Links:

- Psychotherapy May Help Teen Girls Avoid Obesity," HealthDay, January 9, 2010.

Healthcare industry said to favor psychotherapies validated by studies.

The Los Angeles Times (1/11, Jaffe) reports, "The healthcare industry favors psychotherapies that have been found effective in randomized controlled studies."

]]> Therefore, CBT is "typically covered while lengthier, more costly treatments, such as psychodynamic therapy, are often truncated or not covered." Some "reports suggest that roughly two-thirds of privately insured Americans are enrolled in plans that limit duration of treatment based on research findings," which critics say is "a ploy to cut down on costs." The Times points out, however, that "the situation might change now that the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act has gone into effect, as of Jan. 1."

Related Links:

- New law offers hope on insurance coverage of therapies," Eric Jaffe, Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2010.

More students may be dealing with anxiety, other mental health issues.

The AP (1/11, Irvine) reports that "five times as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues than youth of the same age who were studied in the Great Depression era," according to a study to be published in the Clinical Psychology Review.

]]> Investigators "analyzed the responses of 77,576 high school or college students who, from 1938 through 2007, took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, or MMPI." The researchers found that, altogether, "an average of five times as many students in 2007 surpassed thresholds in one or more mental health categories, compared with those who did so in 1938."

Related Links:

- More of today's youth have serious mental health issues than previous generations, study finds ," Martha Irvine, Reno Gazette-Journal, January 11, 2010.