It seems like just a few Saturday Sanities ago I was talking about how warm and sunny it was outside; now, we’re covered in snow. We have been all week. I still don’t have a winter coat (I didn’t have one last year, either – I can be very serious about my procrastination) and Chopper doesn’t understand why we don’t go outside 9,375 times a day anymore.

Anyway…

This week at Mental Health Notes, I talked about a new study about the television viewing habits of unhappy people, commented on two legal situations involving mental health issues (the older Tammy Lewis case, and the newer Elgin Mental Health Center case), shared my thoughts on the Facing Us 2008 Music Contest winners, provided some epilepsy and mental health resources (thanks, Cleveland Clinic!), and turned to the loldogs for some depression humor.

Regarding mental health advocacy and education, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance’s (DBSA) eUpdate for November 2008 is up (lots of good stuff in there!), Beliefnet has announced the 10 nominees for the Most Inspiring Person of the Year 2008 Award and they’re ready for you to cast your vote, Dr. Brent provided a basic rundown of seasonal effective disorder (SAD) over at Care2.com, the Revolution Health Group offers nine ideas for natural ways to treat depression, and Rick Robinson explains Post Election Stress Syndrome (ha).

In the world of mental health news, research, and studies, after a study that included nearly 5,700 American adults researchers believe people in chronic pain are at a higher risk for committing suicide, researchers who studied both American and Japanese teenagers believe violent video games may contribute to increased aggression over time (um, hello?), and some researchers are toying with a new treatment for OCD (one that may have adverse side effects, apparently).

Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel:

• Mark helps us understand how we can turn negatives into positives at A Dozen Steps.
• Mary Emma has a plethora of Alzheimer’s resources for National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month listed over at Alzheimer’s Notes.
• Kristina tells us about ADHD medications not causing genetic damage in children at Autism Vox.
• Susan of Grounded Fitness wants to know how yoga and meditation has changed your life.
• Scott’s talking about Gulf War Syndrome over at Health and Men.

Now, whether you’ve got snow or not, go outside and enjoy the day!

Post from: Blisstree

Saturday Sanity: Is It Too Early To Build Snowmen?

According to the Chicago Tribune, Spain and Tuzon, employees of the Elgin Mental Health Center in Illinois, have each been “charged with a felony count of abuse of a long-term health-care facility resident” after a coroner’s jury ruled former patient Howard Morris’s death was “homicide by negligence.” (Hmm…seems like the felony charge should be, I don’t know, something related to “homicide by negligence” and not “abuse,” but, what do I know?)

Anyway, the story is that Morris was allergic to fish, but he was fed fish on June 20 – even though his fish allergy was noted in his chart and by special color-coded cards on his food tray – and died after going into anaphylactic shock.

Honestly. How careless and incompetent does a person have to be to miss chart notes and color-coded cards on the freaking food tray? I mean, aren’t these kinds of responsibilities listed in the employees’ job descriptions? Isn’t it their job to pay attention to stuff like this?!

People seek treatment – or, in some cases, are placed – in mental health hospitals because neither they nor their loved ones are skilled enough to take care of them given their particular illness. The whole point is for the person to receive proper care. Such incompetence and neglect on the part of someone who is supposed to be trained on how to take care of people makes me sick.

And, it’s nothing new. Which angers me even more.

Anyway, while I’m all for expressing my initial thoughts on the matter, I’m completely against media convictions. Spain and Tuzon have been summoned to appear at Kane County Circuit Court on November 20, so, we’ll see what happens.

Post from: Blisstree

Elgin Mental Health Center Resident Dies: Homicide By Negligence

You know, the one where Tammy Lewis (who lived with the 90-year-old Middlesworth on the advice of six-member religious sect leader Alan Bushey) kept Middlesworth’s corpse on her toilet for something like two months after she died. The idea was that God would bring Middlesworth back to life, so, no need for a burial. Yet, God didn’t bring Middlesworth back to life (actually, I thought he’d kind of fallen out of that practice after Jesus, but then Velma Thomas came along, which probably ticked Bushey off more than we know, but, I digress), and Lewis and Bushey were arrested on “felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child” (Lewis has two kids, 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, who were also living in the house) as well as other felony counts.

Rather than hoping God would bring Middlesworth back to life, authorities believe Lewis and Bushey were actually just trying to keep collecting the elderly lady’s Social Security checks.

Now, really. With the economy in the state it’s in, that ticks me off.

Anyway, Lewis has pleaded “no contest” to a misdemeanor (obstructing an officer), and the felony charges (which also included felony charges for hiding a corpse) will be dropped in two years as long as Lewis a) accepts mental health treatment, and b) testifies against Bushey during a trial in April.

Lewis is “very relieved” her case has been resolved, [her attorney] said. “She has made some really great progress emotionally and even physically. She is looking forward. She is no longer looking backward at how things should have been different. Everybody is geared toward reunifying her with the kids and getting the family back together.”

Well, good. I hope things work out for her. I hope she and her children get all the support they need to make it through this truly bizarre situation without any permanent damage.

I would also really like to know who’s going to pay back that Social Security money. Somebody needs to get on that.

Post from: Blisstree

Felony Charges Will Be Dropped Against Tammy Lewis

Case in point:

Tammy Lewis, mother to a 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, and self-described bishop Alan Bushey are in custody on “felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child.”

According to a Yahoo! News article, Lewis and her two children lived with Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth’s corpse for two months on Bushey’s advice. Bushey claimed Magdeline (who was 90 years old when she died) would come back to life.

Well, Magdeline did not come back to life, and authorities found her body on a toilet at Lewis’s residence late last week. Lewis and Bushey were placed in custody, and the two children were placed in foster care.

Like the Fritzl case, this is…well, it’s not something you hear about every day. Like the FLDS case, religion is heavily involved.

Ken Jensen is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!

Post from: Blisstree

Lewis & Bushey: Incarcerated For Causing Mental Health Harm To Children