Mental Health Association of Nebraska

Schizophrenia: 100 years of bad treatment

Imagine for a minute what life might have been like if you'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1911. Shunned by society, you would have been treated with fear and suspicion by many.

With no known cure, you would be subjected to treatment by trial and error, some of which would have gruesome side-effects. Detained by the state, you could expect to be monitored by overworked, underpaid staff and going to church might have been suggested as a way to calm your chaotic mind.

A lot has changed in the 100 years since the term "schizophrenia" was first coined, but perhaps not quite as much as you might think. People living with schizophrenia still experience many of the same problems today.

via www.guardian.co.uk

Elyn R. Saks’s Memoir on Schizophrenia Inspires Others - NYTimes.com

Researchers have long wondered how some people with schizophrenia can manage their symptoms well enough to build full, successful lives. But such people do not exactly line up to enroll in studies.

For one thing, they are almost always secretive about their diagnosis. For another, volunteering for a study would add yet another burden to their stressful lives.

But that is beginning to change, partly because of the unlikely celebrity of a fellow sufferer. In 2007, after years of weighing the possible risks, Elyn R. Saks, a professor of law at the University of Southern California, published a memoir of her struggle with schizophrenia, “The Center Cannot Hold.” It became an overnight sensation in mental health circles and a best seller, and it won Dr. Saks a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation “genius” award.

via www.nytimes.com

People With Mental Health Issues More Likely to Be Uninsured - US News and World Report

THURSDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Americans with frequent bouts of mental distress are more likely to lack health insurance than those with frequent physical distress, a new study says.

Researchers examined national data collected from 1993 through 2009 and found that 22.6 percent of people with frequent mental distress (indicative of mental illness) were uninsured, compared with 17.7 percent of those with frequent physical distress (indicative of chronic disease). About 16.6 percent of people with neither mental or physical distress were uninsured.

via health.usnews.com

Medical News: Cognitive Therapy Gets Nod for PTSD Prevention - in Psychiatry, Anxiety & Stress from MedPage Today

Survivors of traumatic events had a significantly reduced risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder with prolonged exposure therapy or cognitive therapy but not with medication alone, investigators found.

Five months after the traumatic event, patients assigned to prolonged exposure or cognitive therapy had an 80% reduction in the odds for PTSD as compared with patients assigned to a waiting list, as reported online in Archives of General Psychiatry.

via www.medpagetoday.com