Bipolar Disorder

Scientists Make Bipolar Gene Find

4 years ago
in ,

The findings, made as part of the largest study into the genetics of common diseases, also offers hope to and schizophrenia sufferers.

The Cardiff University scientists analyzed DNA from thousands of people, including actor and writer Stephen Fry.

Previously known as depression, bipolar sufferers are at a greatly increased risk of committing suicide.

“This should be a time of great optimism for those individuals and families that have experienced illnesses like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression.” – Professor Craddock

The team, from the university’s School of Medicine, discovered that there are many genes which put an individual at greater risk of bipolar disorder.

Each gene on its own makes a relatively small contribution to the overall risk.

The results are said to shed light on the biological systems behind bipolar disorder, which affects about 100m people worldwide.

(more…)


Vision for Change: A Campaign for Wellness in America

4 years ago
in

IF… parents had to give up custody of their children for them to receive treatment for …If people with heart disease ended up on the streets or in prisons because they couldn’t get help…If businesses lost billions of dollars due to avian flu…If 30,000 people died each year due to airplane accidents…

This nation would demand action.
When it comes to mental disorders, there are no “ifs.” Loss of child custody, homelessness, incarceration, lost productivity, and an epidemic of suicide are realities in communities across the country. Mental is fundamental to overall and research confirms the link between mind and body and demonstrates that mental illnesses are treatable when individuals have access to appropriate services.

We call on Congress to embrace our Vision for Change and make mental health a national priority to ensure for all Americans.

Our Vision for Change:

1. Eliminate in access to mental health care.
2. Invest in research, prevention, recovery and consumer-led strategies that improve the quality of care for individuals with mental illness.
3. Invest in children’s health and emotional development.
4. Promote adoption of research on effective treatments and individualized care into routine clinical practice.
5. Promote a holistic approach to wellness by integrating behavioral and primary health.

Over 3,000 individuals and 200 organizations have already called for action by signing onto Mental Health America’s national petition drive. Please join me in this important effort by adding your name to the petition today!


A Life for Deciding

4 years ago
in ,

A Life for Deciding

In people with chronic
or terminal diseases,
one talks about the
quality of life.

Everything is done
by doctors, ,
friends, the people themselves,
for as high as possible a
quality of life.

Battle lines are drawn
with pain and suffering,
with weakness and exhaustion,
and hundred of other ills
that plauge one’s
quality of life.

But what can be done
with a chronic, possibly terminal
illness, when the enemy constantly
changes, and what beats back pain
one day, another day may destroy one’s
quality of life?

Where does one call truce
in the battle with the mind,
forever tweaking medicines
to improve the
quality of life?

When does one settle
for a shell of a former “you,”
and stop striving to improve the
quality of life?

I raise the white flag
of surrender.
I am so tired…

by Catherine Courry


Triptych: For My Sisters and Brothers

4 years ago
in ,

I. Ascent

In the middle of my head,
a perfect pinwheel,
shining with a million colors,
spins all night.

In the middle of my head,
a surging thesaurus
bounces off the walls like
ten thousand ping-pong balls.

Sleepless,
body twitching,
white-knuckled,
I cling to reality.

I wish I were home.

II. Darkness descending

The sun has set
But it does not bring
Respite.

Now comes the
Dark night of the
Soul.

Fear and trembling,
The sickness
Unto .

Slugs slither through my
Dreams leaving trails of slime.

The sun rises again
But brings no
Light.

Darkness above my head.
Darkness beneath my feet.
Darkness behind me.
Darkness in front of me.
Darkness to the right of me.
Darkness to the left of me.

Everywhere,
I walk in darkness.

In darkness,
It is ended.

III. The butterfly and the roach

I see a spicebush swallowtail butterfly,
A field of black and turquoise
Bordered with white, and underneath,
Large eyes of orange, as she stops
At each flower to taste its nectar,
But never stopping for long.

I see a palmetto bug, what
Southerners call a roach,
Fat-bodied, dark, ugly, as
It flies, insinuating itself
Slowly around the room.

Scrunched underfoot,
It shatters rather than squishes,
Because it is mostly empty.

But then I see as I see
Because I have always
Been bipolar.

by Bud Polk


The Pendulum

4 years ago
in ,

Pendulum,
pendulum,
why do you swing?

You never warn me
when you do your thing:
sometimes a nightmare,
sometimes a dream,

I always laugh
when I want to scream.
Tick. Tock.
I my clock.
I feel the rhthym
and gently rock.

I pretend not to see it
coming this way;

where can I hide
from the pendulum’s sway?

LEIGH S.


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