Last week, I received an email from everyminute.org reminding me to send a question to Tom Brokaw for consideration in the presidential Town Hall debate that’s taking place tonight.

Unfortunately, time got away from me and not only did I forget to send a question; I also forgot to pass the information along to y’all.

The good news is that even though the deadline to send questions has passed (it was October 2), we can all still watch the debate tonight on just about every network (hmm…I knew there had to be a reason FOX wasn’t giving me a new episode of Fringe) and listen for answers to others’ mental health questions.

For example, Jace Freeman of everyminute.org sent this important question:

In order to achieve recovery and cure for people with mental illnesses, is it imperative to increase funding for research? Do you believe the expansion of publicly funded research is an important mechanism for revolutionizing the mental health system?

Here’s to hoping it gets answered!

Image: morgueFile

Post from: Blisstree

Presidential Town Hall Debate: Listen For Answers To Mental Health Questions

Every minute, a suicide is attempted in the United States. That’s…reason to take action, people. More than enough reason.

As I perused everyminute.org again today, I noticed they now have a resources and services locator section, as well as an official group at Daily Strength. Check ‘em out!

And, if you haven’t done so yet, add your signature to everyminute.org’s online declaration to shed light on mental illness, treatments, and hope.

For more information about suicide, check out the following related Mental Health Notes posts:

• Could Spectacles Reduce Suicide Risk?
• Do Current Handgun Laws Increase Likelihood Of Suicide?
• Tell Me More About Suicide: Risks, Warning Signs, and Resources
• Suicide Warning Signs: In Light Of Deborah Jeane Palfrey

Post from: Blisstree

“Every Minute, A Suicide Is Attempted In The United States”

I know they’re pretty, but it’s time to get caught up on the goings on in the world of mental health!

This week at Mental Health Notes, it was back to business as usual after my three-day vacation. In addition to helping you update your calendars with mental health awareness weeks for July, I also passed along an article regarding using our brains to promote health. I also started a discussion about handgun laws and how they may be related to suicide statistics, proved to you that hard mental health advocacy work pays off, and introduced you to two interesting Web sites: Get Over It and i am neurotic. Oh, and of course I wished you a Happy Fourth of July and listed five ways to celebrate Independence Day this year.

Read on for updates in the world of mental health news, mental health advocacy, and the rest of the b5media Health & Wellness Channel.

In the world of mental health news, the President and CEO of Mental Health America, David Shern, Ph.D., has given a statement regarding the death of a mental health patient in a psychiatric emergency room and the House of Representatives has passed legislation regarding national standards for juvenile “boot camps.” Studies from UC Irvine suggest women over the age of 90 are more likely than men over the age of 90 to have dementia, and Jeff Huffman, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and lead author of a new study, states that heart attack patients with severe depression are more likely to die from cardiac problems later on than those without depression.

Regarding mental health advocacy, everyminute.org is offering several ways to help spread the word about their campaign, including MySpace and Facebook, and David Eraker would like to spread the word about a new startup, Mindsite (I’ll be talking more about this site later on). Facing Us is holding a music contest sponsored by the DBSA and Dave’s Spark: Start Something (another topic I’ll address more later), and NAMI is urging us to support the Healthy Transition Act of 2008.

Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, Kristina has highlighted some hot summer autism topics at Autism Vox, Angelique is urging folks to celebrate their independence from Ana at Breaking the Mirror, and Ruth explains how nutritional supplementation can save the lives of patients who’ve suffered traumatic brain injuries. Kristen highlights stories about brain activities and workouts at Lively Women and Marijke talks about how child psychologists feel about NBC’s “The Baby Borrowers” reality show at Womb Within, while both Grace at Kids Health Notes and Hope at Weighting Line are hosting giveaways!

That’s all for this week’s Saturday Sanity, and remember: if you have any Saturday Sanity-worthy news for next week, send it my way!

Image: morgueFile

If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over to This Is Why I ROCK! and enter!

Post from: Blisstree

Saturday Sanity: Put The Fireworks Away

Remember a few Saturday Sanities ago when I tipped you all off on www.everyminute.org and its super cool petition-signing tool? Well, Jace Freeman from www.everyminute.org has graciously sent MHN some more detailed information about the Web site, its mission, and how you can get involved.

I’ll let him do the talking:

everyminute.org is a grassroots campaign organizing a lobbying force to advocate before Congress to accelerate mental health research to promote recovery and resilience through individual treatment plans that eliminate the need for trial and error diagnosis. Funded by a grant from the Jene and Curtis Graves Foundation, the website, http://www.everyminute.org, was started by a NAMI member that understands the effect that mental illness has on a family.

So, what is an individualized treatment plan? An individualized treatment plan eliminates trial and error diagnosis by objectively diagnosing disorders by analyzing genes and other physical factors like biomarkers in the blood. A recovery plan is then created identifying the best drugs to treat the individual’ illness itself, no longer just reducing the symptoms the individual is experiencing. When side effects can be worse than the illness, imagine a treatment plan that is specifically put together to be the best possible effective recovery option for each unique person. With the proper funding for mental health research, individualized treatment plans are within 10 years of becoming a viable method of diagnosing and treating mental illness. However, recently research has not being properly funded and a ‘chilling’ effect is now happening where less money means young researchers are abandoning the mental health research.

Where does everyminute.org come in? everyminute.org is giving voice to the millions of Americans that are sick of haphazardly trying medications to find the magic cocktail for their recovery. When a suicide is attempted every minute, the time is now to push for individualized treatment plans that offer stability and hope. According to NIMH, there are over 57 million Americans affected by mental illness personally every year. everyminute.org is the unifying coalition that will organize these individuals and their friends and family into a lobbying force that will change national priority by the sheer weight of collected signatures.

How can you help? All everyminute.org is asking for is a signature. The website has an innovative signature capture tool where advocates can physically sign the online declaration in support of mental health.

Just by word-of-mouth promotion, over 100 people have signed the Online Declaration in under two weeks as many Americans have recognized the need for the campaign.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over and sign the declaration to make your voice heard!

Image source and credit.

Post from: Blisstree

Team Up With everyminute.org And Make Your Voice Heard!