Mental Health Association of Nebraska

How Not to Raise a Bully

According to Time Magazine's Maia Szalavitz, empathy is the key to all human interaction and morality (How Not to Raise a Bully:  The Early Roots of Empathy, April 17, 2010).  "Without empathy, we would have no cohesive society, no trust and no reason not to murder, cheat, steal or lie."  Scientists believe that human empathy is an innate human trait that first appears in early babyhood and can be seen when "newborns cry when hearing another infant's cry."  However, "like language, the development of this inherent tendency may be affected by early experience," good and bad.  "When parents treat other people with compassion, selflessness and lack of judgment, children copy those behaviors."  To read more . . .

The History of Shock Therapy in Psychiatry

Today, when you mention shock therapy, what usually comes to mind is electroconvulsive shock therapy, or ECT.  However, the idea that you can shock a person back to sanity goes back to the time Hippocrates, who was "the first to note that malaria-induced convulsions in insane patients was able to cure them."  ECT came on the scene in the late 1930's, following on the heels of insulin-induced coma and convulsion, and Metrazol-induced convulsion therapies, all targeting the treatment of schizophrenia.  You can read more on the history of shock therapy be clicking here.

Out of the Past: Artificial Psychoses

Time Magazine reports that a laboratory accident led to the discovery of a substance that allowed  researchers to "turn on and off . . . psychotic episodes which have most of the earmarks of natural mental illness" (December 19, 1955).  This "favorite tool of psychiatric research" was lysergic acid diethyalamide, or LSD-25.  Manhattan psychiatrist Harold Abramson developed a treatment technique where he asked a group of "subjects" to dinner, after which he served "a liqueur glass containing 40 micrograms of LSD," and rather then upsetting his guests, the cocktail helped "them recall and relive experiences and emotions of childhood that previously had been too painful to face."  To read more . . .

NE Office of Consumer Affairs Schedules Town Hall Meetings

The Nebraska Office of Consumer Affairs is hosting a series of video conferences where "you are invited to participate in Peer Support Training at a series of town hall meetings using the Nebraska Telehealth System."  You can access the Telehealth System in Omaha (University of Nebraska Medical Center), Lincoln (BryanLGH West), Kearney (Good Samaritan Hospital), and Scottsbluff (Panhandle Mental Health Center).

There are 3, 2 hour teleconferences scheduled in May, June and July covering topics related to mental health wellness and recovery.  To see the invitation, schedule and topics being covered, Click Here.

The teleconferences are free but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. To download a copy of the registration form, Click Here.  If you have questions, or need copies of the registration form sent to you, please contact Dan Powers at 402-471-7857, or by email at Dan.Powers@nebraska.gov.

Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again

Nope, this isn't an item out of the past.  John Tierney of the NY Times reports that scientists are taking a new look at hallucinogens, in particular the psilocybin found in certain mushrooms, and their "potential for treating mental problems and illuminating the nature of conscience."  With "rigorous protocols and safeguards" in place, initial studies used a double-blind approach pitting the mushroom against other drugs like Ritalin, nicotine and amphetamines.  Researchers believe that the drug has therapeutic benefits for cancer patients and people living with obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.  For patients with terminal illness, "under the influence of hallucinogens, individuals transcend their primary identification with their bodies and experience ego-free states before the time of their physical demise."  First medical marijuana, now magic mushrooms.  Guess what generation is in charge now?   To read more . . .

Out of the Past: Families for Psychotics

From Time Magazine, September 18, 1972, comes a report of an experimental program in Hawaii that placed "small groups of chronic mental patients in family units" where they live together with little outside supervision.  According to Dr. Patrick DeLeon, the idea originally came from a hospital aid who guessed that people with dependent personalities wouldn't "have much motivation to change their behavior as long as they have other people to look after them."  Sounds like a pretty good idea.  Too bad it took 30+ years to catch on.  To read more . . .

Sabotaging Success, but to What End?

Dr. Richard A. Friedman, M.D., tells about a recent consultation where his patient describes various scenarios in which he had been wronged - by ex-girlfriends, in instances at work (NY Times, March 22, 2010).  "What was striking about this intelligent and articulate young man was his view that he was a hapless victim of bad luck, in the guise of unfaithful women and a capricious boss, there was no sense that he might have a hand in his own misfortune."  According to Friedman, "self-defeating behavior is among the most puzzling and hard to change . . . everyone assumes that people hanker after happiness and pleasure.  Have you ever heard of a self-help book ob being miserable?"  To read more . . .

Google and Facebook raise new issues for therapists and their clients

Should doctors check up on their patients via social networking sites like Facebook or internet searches without the patient's expressed consent?

Is it appropriate for a therapist to put personal information about themselves on a blog or web site?

What are the risks of having patients and therapists interact online?

These questions were raised at the American Psychological Association Conference last year and received mixed response.  According to Stephen Behnke, ethics director for the APA, "we are just beginning to understand what ethical issues the internet is raising.  To write rules that allow our field to grow and develop and yet prevent [patient] harm at the same time."  To read more . . .

Stigma: Alive and Well – Even from self identified consumer advocates

From the run for the hills department comes an opinion piece by Carla Jacobs, a board member of the Treatment Advocacy Center, and self described "veteran mental health activist," who believes that "the evidence is overwhelming that when untreated people with severe mental illness are left on their own, tragedies happen," and that "1.5 million individuals with severe mental illness go untreated in the U.S." (LA Times, March 14, 2010).

To illustrate her point, Jacobs writes about sensationalistic stories where deranged mentally ill people "talk to aliens" (from across the border or from outer space?), and shoot and "hack to death" relatives because they didn't take their medications.

The Treatment Advocacy Center, founded by E. Fuller Torrey, advocates for forced treatment. including forced medication.  To read more . . .

For more on the debate over forced treatment, see The debate on forced treatment for those living with mental illness continues.

Out of the past: 1955 definition of mental health

Medicine: What is Mental Health (Time Magazine, September 26, 1955) reports that the factors indicating good mental health were individual character and integrity, intelligence, the ability to set goals and stick to them, and to have good judgment.  "For the most part it is probably a healthy thing to be rather well-behaved."  Sure doesn't sound like our political leaders in Washington does it?  To read more . . .