A very interesting study was recently published in JAMAPsychiatry stating that brain inflammation in those with obsessive-compulsive disorder is significantly elevated (by more than 30 percent) compared to those without the disorder. [For more of this story, written by Janet Singer, go to https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2017/07/20/brain-inflammation-and-ocd/]
Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series on college athletes struggling with mental health issues. Part two is here . Our earlier two-part series on the mental health crisis on U.S. college campuses is here. Victoria Garrick’s smiling Instagram photos of herself and friends at parties didn’t show what the University of Southern California junior was truly feeling: depression. “When it comes to college athletes, there’s a fear of admitting a weakness because you don’t want to be...
Peering into the open casket, I saw the lifeless body of my childhood friend. Although, some would argue he had been lifeless long before his death. Tommy was a drug addict for many years and had spent much time in-and-out of treatment centers and jails before his life came to a halt due to an unintentional overdose. As I stared at his now peaceful remains, I found myself highly perplexed at how this moment had transpired. Like Tommy, I too am a drug addict. I may have been into it harder...
Half of all pupils expelled from school are suffering from a recognised mental health problem, according to a study. Those who are permanently excluded find themselves at a significant disadvantage, with only one in a hundred going on to attain five good GCSEs, which are often used as a benchmark of academic success. The majority will end up in prison, says the study by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which estimates that of the 86,000-strong prison population, more then 54,000...
Clyde Boyce has been hospitalized 14 times in the past four years. Boyce, 61, survived two strokes and five operations to unblock arteries around his heart, including three procedures in which doctors propped open his blood vessels with stents. He takes 18 pills a day and gets injections every two weeks with a powerful drug to lower cholesterol. Yet the disease that came closest to taking Boyce’s life wasn’t a heart condition. It was depression, which led him to attempt suicide twice in the...
When Mercer Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey, planned to close its doors more than 10 years ago, many in the community were alarmed by the likely impact on health services available to the city’s large, low-income population. Encouraged by Mayor Douglas Palmer and the State Department of Health, two hospitals, a federally-qualified health center, and the city health department came together to consider how best to meet the needs of Trenton residents. At the time, many of these providers...
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may remember I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago about the 7 steps most child abuse survivors must take in order to heal. I received a wonderful response to it from several of you. Thanks! If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, here’s the link: LINK In this blog post, I’d like to discuss the second of these 7 steps: Develop Courage. As you know, we don’t start out on our healing journey feeling courageous. In the beginning, courage is...
When you look inside a classroom, there are some things you cannot see . . .
Pregnancy is often welcomed with joy and hope however, many challenges and distress may still occur during a mother’s pregnancy. Any concerns simple or complex may impact the wellness of the mother, her baby and cause stress on her multiple relationships. Oftentimes, mothers have to face planned or unplanned life changing events.
A groundbreaking new play about trauma, TRIGGER, was most recently featured at part of the training and inspiration provided to community members participating in the 4CA Policymaker Education Day on July 11, 2017 in Sacramento at the state Capitol.
Dr. Altha Stewart is the president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. Photo by Allen Gillespie/UTHSC __________________________________ At a July 18 forum “The State of Mental Health Care: Challenges and Solutions” in Washington, DC, Dr. Altha Stewart, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association, was the first speaker to raise the opioid crisis and quickly identified trauma as a root cause of the epidemic. Stewart assumes the presidency of the APA in May, becoming the...
Jane Goodall is my hero; has been since i was a child. My friend shared a link to her Master Class and I thought of sharing it with the ACEs Connection community. Although she talks about environmental conservation in the trailer for her Master Class, at about one minute in she says "To create change is not by confronting something head on but by telling stories, meeting with people, listening to them and then trying to find a way to reach the heart. If we think locally, get together with...
Nearly 1 in 5 American adults deals with a mental illness or substance abuse problem each year, a U.S. government study says. Oregon has the highest rate, and New Jersey the lowest, according to 2012-2014 data analyzed by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Overall, almost 44 million Americans 18 or older had a diagnosable mental, behavioral or emotional disorder in the past year, researchers said. They reviewed national surveys on drug use and...
For more than a decade I have interviewed more than 1,000 kids in 35 states. What of these kids who were sentenced to long sentences and JLWOP, life sentences without parole? These kids become adults who become geriatric. These are the people I have interviewed for the past year. Miller v. Alabama ruled that even in capital cases, juveniles cannot be given life without parole. Montgomery v. Louisiana made these cases retroactive. In Florida when these people don’t get to go in front of a...
What does it mean to be a "trauma-Informed community"? It's a question we at Peace4Tarpon ask ourselves frequently - and the answer evolves as we discover through this journey who we are and how we are. I am still processing the story I am about to share with you. It's not the feel-good type with a tidy ending but more like a series of snapshots cut into puzzle pieces that don't quite mesh. They look like they should all fit together, but they really don't and maybe they never will. The...