MetaFilter posts tagged with MentalHealth

Living Life to the Full - a free, guided introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

KMH — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:53:16 -0800

A free website that helps you learn to diagnose and work through negative though patterns. Having seen so many posts on AskMeFi about depression, anxiety and related topics, it seemed almost a duty to share this. It's a free website (well, you have to register but it's anonymous and no cash changes hands) that's run by the health service here in the UK. It takes you through a course of small modules which help you to identify unhelpful thoughts and feelings and use simple forms to analyse and develop new ways of thinking using the well-known CBT method. I've often wanted to post this in an answer on AskMeFi, but realised it made more sense to post it once for everyone! CBT is not a magic wand but it can help in addition to other types of therapy. Even though the guy who introduces the modules on this website has a nice, calming voice, probably seeing a real life doctor and counsellor is best!

Psychiatric Tales

Artw — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:17:31 -0800

Schizophrenia, a story from Darryl Cunningham's forthcoming Psychiatric Tales.

It's 200 degrees in Calalini...

infinitywaltz — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:18:11 -0800

Only six years old, January Schofield is severely schizophrenic, actively hallucinating and violent. An LA Times article in June and a follow-up in July describe her parents' attempts to get help for her. Her father also has a blog. Brutal, unflinching, and often angry, he describes his family's difficulties obtaining help from insurance, the lack of state services, family members who are unable or unwilling to understand, the need for mental health parity, and a seldom-discussed issue common to parents of children with mental illness: multiple investigations from the Department of Children and Family Services (including a visit provoked by out of state anti-psychiatry advocates who reported him as an abuser after reading the blog). Some of his most compelling and unsparing writing, however, is directed at himself, his own family history of mental illness, and his own struggles with anger and depression.

Danvers

zarq — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:43:24 -0800

A website has been launched to preserve the history of Danvers State Insane Asylum. The Asylum, which opened in 1878 in Danvers, MA (site of the Salem Witch Trials) and closed in 1992, was featured in the horror movie Session 9, and may have been the inspiration for HP Lovecraft's Arkham Asylum. Its Kirkbride Wings, which once held the institution's living quarters, now house a 400+ unit apartment complex. Unfortunately, Avalon Communities destroyed most of the hospital in order to build their apartments. Danvers is also not the first asylum to be turned into consumer residences. The Danvers gallery includes excellent, evocative images from John Gray, who specializes in photographing "abandoned architectural environments." The "Kirkbride Buildings" link was part of a former FPP. Fascinating stuff. Pennsylvania psychiatrist Thomas Kirkbride literally wrote the book (pdf link) on the construction of massive mental hospitals through the "Moral Treatment". In all, approximately 30 US hospitals were designed according to the Kirkbride Plan. More on Danvers. Previously on MeFi.

Mindsight

mhjb — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:51:55 -0800

Mindsight is a deeply worthwhile exposition of the workings of the mind, an hour-long talk from the Google Personal Growth Series (but don't let that title put you off). [SLYT] "This interactive talk will examine two major questions: What is the mind? and How can we create a healthy mind? We'll examine the interactions among the mind, the brain, and human relationships and explore ways to create a healthy mind, an integrated brain, and mindful, empathic relationships. Here is one surprising finding: the vast majority (about 95%) of mental health practitioners around the globe, and even many scientists and philosophers focusing on the mind, do not have a definition of what the mind is! In this talk, well offer a working definition of the mind and practical implications for how to perceive and strengthen the mind itself—a learnable skill called mindsight. Then well build on this perspective to explore ways that the mind, the brain, and our relationships are influenced by digital information flow and also how they can be moved toward healthy functioning. Presented by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D."

Massive Head Trauma: It's what's for breakfast

otherwordlyglow — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:29:18 -0800

Mental illness and doughnuts do not mix. Psycho Donuts in Campbell, California takes donuts "to the next demented level." Mental health advocates are not enthusiastic. The store itself comes with nurses, a padded cell and "group therapy" area. offerings include the Massive Head Trauma, a jelly donut with red filling oozing from the side and the Bipolar, half nuts and half coconut topping. The shop's owners respond to the controversy.

Cross-cultural psychiatry

homunculus — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:34:35 -0800

West treats East. "To help traumatized Tibetan monks, doctors in Boston turn to cross-cultural medicine." [Via]

Creative mind, troubled soul

jbickers — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:32:42 -0800

"The arts are more dangerous [than other professions] because they require sensitivity to a large extent ... If you go too far you can pay a price -- you can be too sensitive to live in this world." Pondering the link between creativity and depression. Also: famous writers, composers, poets and artists with bipolar disorder.

Ibn Rushid Psychiatric Hospital

homunculus — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:32:45 -0800

Decline of an Iraqi Hospital: War Takes Toll on Baghdad Psychiatric Hospital. [Via Mind Hacks]

Ricky Williams on 'Oprah'

hydatius — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:11:39 -0800

Talking back to Prozac. Review article in The New York Review of Books, covering some issues concerning the diagnosis and treatment of depression.

Where there is no doctor

Avenger — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:34:33 -0800

"Where there is no doctor", a "village health-care handbook", was originally published by Mexican health activists in 1973 as a response to a critical lack of medical care among Mexico's poor. Now available for free download, the book covers such topics as "Family Planning" [pdf], Healing without Medicines [pdf], Common Medicines, their uses and doses [pdf], the right and wrong uses of modern medicines [pdf], and (in the midwives edition) DIY abortion [pdf]. Other topics include: Where Women have no doctor, violence against women, mental health for women, Female genital cutting, Where There Is No Dentist, HIV health and your community and more. Special thanks to MetaFilter's own mr. bill for introducing me to this resource and providing a the downloads in convenient single-pdf format.

Ethics, mental health, reviewed

ClaudiaCenter — Sat, 05 May 2007 02:01:04 -0800

Pentagon survey on troops in Iraq. Coverage from US News, AP.

"Do you hear voices?" "Doesn't everyone?"

srs — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 08:33:19 -0800

INTERVOICE (International Network for Training, Education and Research into Hearing Voices) "offers information, publications, research, and good practice on hearing voices and other key issues." Voice hearing is surprisingly common, even normal. Many people find it a pleasurable and positive experience. Find everything from stencil graffiti to a recent New York Times magazine article on the work of the Hearing Voices Movement. (w i k i s)

"So I try to laugh about it / Cover it all up with lies"

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:46:18 -0800

Men get depression too. An excellent article about the hurdles men face in coming to terms with having the Black Dog. (Click "Print this" at the bottom for an easier to read one-page version; bonus links inside.)

The Art of Psychiatry

Gyan — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 11:48:48 -0800

Dictionary of Disorder - shaping the DSM

Miracles You’ll See In The Next Fifty Years

MetaMonkey — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 23:24:03 -0800

Miracles You’ll See In The Next Fifty Years (Feb, 1950)
Some more up-to-date predictions: science, invention, space travel, colonisation, immortality, water shortage, flooding, nanotech, techno-apocalypse, extinction, mental health, smart machines, robots, mind uploading, AI, Asia, economics, demographics, goverance, cities. What is your prediction?

Is Medicalization Aversion Disorder a real disease?

Gyan — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 19:54:35 -0800

Psychiatry by Prescription - Do psychotropic drugs blur the boundaries between illness and health?

Hemispherectomy

Gyan — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 09:15:05 -0800

Living with half a brain - hemispherectomy, probably the most radical procedure in neurosurgery

Bangkok to Britain in a tricycle

soiled cowboy — Tue, 16 May 2006 20:05:17 -0800

Two girls, three wheels, 10,000 miles: an epic overland adventure from Bangkok to Brighton. Two women are about to embark on a very long and very uncomfortable voyage: driving a "tuk tuk" from Thailand to Britain to raise £50,000 for the mental health charity Mind.

Ask Your VA Doctor About Sucrosa

digaman — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 10:41:22 -0800

Are you a Gulf War veteran still suffering from mysterious symptoms or post-combat trauma? The Veteran's Administration has just the prescription for you: "Obecalp," otherwise known as placebo. (p.s. -- They'd better start working on an Extra-Strength version for Iraq War vets.)

You Feel What You Eat

Gyan — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:38:08 -0800

Feeding Minds - the impact of food on mental health

Medication Alert

lilboo — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 07:02:01 -0800

This is not good news. U.S. health officials have issued a warning about possible birth defects in infants born to women who take the antidepressant Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy.

$2.6M for 440 people. That's some expensive sunshine.

Specklet — Fri, 21 Jan 2005 12:08:19 -0800

As a sufferer of Seasonal Affective Disorder, I was interested to discover this village's proposed solution. Were they inspired by Gustav Graves, d'you think?

I'm at a loss on this one...

mcgraw — Tue, 16 Mar 2004 09:39:40 -0800

Is this shite? Another [Estrogen] risk factor appears to be something that researchers call overthinking, a tendency to dwell on petty slights, to mentally replay testy encounters and to wallow in sad feelings. Studies show that this type of negative thinking is far more common in women than in men, and that it can be a harbinger of clinical depression. NYTimes article (registration req'd) about depression called "New Clues to Women Veiled in Black".

bipolar?

konolia — Sun, 07 Mar 2004 14:07:29 -0800

Are You Bipolar? Mild bipolar disorder may be to this decade what depression was to the nineties, thanks to a new drug and an expanding definition. But when do ordinary peaks and valleys become pathological?