This week at Mental Health Notes, I recommended checking out John La Puma and the book he wrote with Rebecca Powell Marx, Chef MD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine, as well as I Dose, which claims to be “the perfect Binaural Beats experience.” I also introduced you to Frank Calloway and the Cover America Tour, and then asked you what you thought about Barack Obama’s stance on mental health parity and to share good stories about mental health.

In the world of mental health news, UC Irvine researchers may be quickening the pace to finding more effective medications to treat panic disorders now that they’ve found out how to “switch off” the traumatic feelings bad memories can bring about, and Oregon Health & Science University researchers may have a drug that could help people addicted to alcohol quit drinking. An international group of researchers have found that the proteins that modify DNA are more expressed in people who commit suicide and may help identify underlying causes of depression, while another group of researchers supported by the National Institute of Mental Health may have discovered why some mothers develop postpartum depression and others don’t.

Regarding mental health advocacy, Dr. Waqas. A. Awan would like to pass along news of the new Web site MyFamilyHealth.com, which “allows people to connect with their relatives and track family health history.” The DBSA’s 2008 National Conference: The Power of Peers is drawing closer (September 10-14), and you can still take advantage of Advance Rates if you register before August 3.

Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, we’re as busy as ever! Mental Health Notes was featured at Best Health Mag yesterday, and a whole slue of us is in the Health & Wellness Channel are in included in eDrugsearch.com’s “The World’s Top Blogs On Health and Medicine.” Liz at Alzheimer’s Notes shares an informative video about the “creation of Leeza’s Place, an oasis for caregivers and loved ones dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease,” and Angelique at Breaking the Mirror issues a call for advice for a man suffering from postpartum depression and an eating disorder. Susan at Grounded Fitness explains why yoga can help make you happy, and Grace at Kids Health Notes offers a nice round up of blog contests and giveaways, while Karen at Pink Ribbon Review talks about the benefits and downfalls of emotional writing.

Oh, and Kristen at Lively Women has one of the worst. bruises. ever.

If you have something you’d like featured in next week’s Saturday Sanity, shoot me an email with “Saturday Sanity” (or similar) in the subject line and we’ll take it from there!

Image: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Saturday Sanity: Tons Of New Mental Health Research

What? An old guy living in a nursing home? What’s interesting about that? you may be wondering. Well, not much, but when you add in that Calloway is such a talented and impressive artist – even at 112 years old – that his caretakers have been told his works could sell for thousands, the story becomes much more interesting, yes?

Even more interesting is that Calloway’s art reflects a time period long past, rather than modern buildings, vehicles, and other such stuff we have today, and the edges of much of his work are lined with numbers.

In an exhibit titled, “The Marriage of Art, Science and Philosophy,” the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD, will feature 18 of Frank’s murals in October 2008.

A big thanks to Angelique for passing this along to me!

And, for more information about inspiring people with schizophrenia, check out my recent review of Elyn Saks’s memoir The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.

Post from: Blisstree

Neither Mental Illness Nor Age Will Stop Frank Calloway