Saturday Sanity: Let’s Catch Up!
June 21, 2008 by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Because Celebrity Health Week was winding down, we didn’t have Saturday Sanity last Saturday.
Let’s see if we can get caught up, shall we?
This week at Mental Health Notes, I spent most of my time trying to get away from the topic of celebrities. I shared with you a study regarding the aroma of coffee and your brain, talked about the governor of Virginia’s decision to take a mentally ill inmate off death row, updated you on Pfizer’s defense of Chantix, discussed a study involving heavy marijuana use and brain size, and discussed another study involving the similarities in the brains of homosexual men and straight women. (I admit, however, that I didn’t get too far away from celebrities: I also announced the upcoming arrivals of Mental, a FOX drama starring Prison Break’s Chris Vance, and Shrink, a movie in which Kevin Spacey portrays a pot-smoking psychiatrist. Geez, what’s with all the weed lately.)
In the world of mental health news, The court-appointed receiver who oversees health care in California’s prisons has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for $7 billion to upgrade the physical and mental health care lacking so much that it has been deemed unconstitutional. French researchers believe smoking affects the memory and reasoning skills of middle-aged smokers. Dr. Mark D. Seery and his group of researchers have concluded that people who experience trauma may not benefit from being urged to talk about it unless they want to. Aetna has agreed to cover eating disorders under the same terms and conditions as biologically based mental illnesses. British researchers have linked low serotonin levels with aggression. And, sadly, the number of suicides in Japan increased in 2007 to 30,777.
Regarding mental health advocacy, Chato B. Stewart of Mental Health Humor has launched 5 Question FRIDAYS, a weekly feature he’ll be doing to help readers get to know each other better, as well as share their experiences in the world of mental health. Tammi Green, a remitted borderline personality disorder consumer, has released her new book Self Help for Managing the Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. Brian Gordon Sinclair, author of Hemingway On Stage, recently performed as a fund raiser for Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault and is open to requests for more fund raisers for promoting awareness of depression and bipolar disorder. The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance has released the 2008 National Conference Agenda.
Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, we tackled our monthly theme day posts on Monday. June’s theme? “School’s Out!” I wrote about the importance of helping your children maintain healthy sleep schedules during the summer months, and thanks to host Gloria Gamat of Cancer Commentary you can also check out what the rest of my fellow bloggers had to say!
That’s all for this week’s Saturday Sanity! If you have any mental health news, announcements, or entertainment to share, send it my way for next week.
First image: morgueFile
Second image: morgueFile
Third image: Newscom
Fourth image: b5media
If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over to the This Is Why I ROCK! and enter!
Regarding the governor of Virginia’s decision to take a mentally ill inmate off death row, unless proven the person is relly mentally ill, I think it’s right to consider them away from death row.
And about the upgrading of the physical and mental health care they asked to the governor, if the proposed budget is reasonable, I think this could be considered.
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pearl
Dual Diagnosis
Dual Diagnosis
@ pearl – I don’t know if the proposed budget is reasonable or not (because I’m obviously not an authority on California’s budget, ha), but I do remember reading that court-appointed receiver hadn’t yet given any suggestions as to where the money should come from. The sad thing is, there never seems to be enough money.
Time for the weekly insanity update, where the insane, the bizarre, the ridiculous, and the completely absurd are highlighted for all to see! This has been a week of rare idiocy (as always!). So, if you want to remain sane, the best thing is to poke some fun at the more egregious absurdities.
@ Remi – Thanks for chiming in. You’re exactly right – I do highlight mental health news for all to see, because education and awareness are strong, solid tools for fighting stigma. Ignoring this news, or sweeping it under the rug, is exactly the kind of way the public handled mental health issues in the past, and it leads to ignorance, fear, and stigma. However, I do hope it doesn’t come across as “poking fun,” because I try to highlight and occasionally comment on these mental health issues, rather than add commentary that increases stigma.