2012 Mental Health New Year's Resolutions

*Many of us have not yet learned to equate "mental health" with other wellness indicators such as physical health (exercise, nutrition, hygiene, et cetera), spiritual health or even financial health yet taking care of our minds can have a powerful impact on every other aspect of healthy living.    We here at Open Arms Center want to encourage each of you to endeavor to make the upcoming new year the beginning of a newer, healthier you.  We hope that, if enough of us just try to make mental health a priority, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities will benefit in 2012 and beyond.  Thus, we invite you to read and take in the following article and please share with others...with Open Arms.  - OAC Blog.

11 Mental Health New Year's Resolutions

By Rheyanne Weaver

New Year’s resolutions tend to focus on weight, general health and finances, but they can also extend to mental health. Experts give their mental health New Year’s resolutions suggestions for you to try this year and every year after.

Chip Coffey, the director of Outpatient Services at St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center, sent nine positive mental health resolutions for the new year through email:

1. “I will treat myself with respect and speak nicely about myself. Try taping a list of 10 positive characteristics about yourself in various places throughout the house and workplace to remind you of these things.”

2. “I resolve to be mentally healthy. In the United States, there is still a stigma about seeing a therapist. However, it is truly one of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves. A therapist gives us an unbiased ear and can also help us to understand why we do the things we do ... think of seeing a therapist as a mental health oil change.”

3. “I will be physically active on a daily basis.” Multiple studies show a link between exercise and improved mental health.

4. “I will act and not react. Many times we feel like everyone is pushing our buttons. When this happens, we are caught up in reaction. It is not that people are actually pushing buttons; it is that we became overly sensitive. If you know you’ll be around someone who says negative things, plan for this and have a list in your head of disarming statements.”

5. “I will learn to relax and enjoy. Many times we become so busy we forget how or even when to take care of ourselves. Take a yoga or meditation class. Find some activity like photography or journaling [that] is relaxing and enjoyable to you. Dedicate time to this daily, if possible, or at a minimum, weekly.”

6. “I will not define myself by a label. We often become our labels, e.g., I am depressed, I am fat, I am anxious. Drop your label; when you so it allows you to take control of the messages you have about yourself. For example, you could say, “I have depression, and today I will make sure to exercise to manage it.’”

7. “I will be mindful. Being mindful is about staying in the moment. I cannot change yesterday; I cannot predict tomorrow, however I do have control over the here and now. So, I will be aware in the moment, and enjoy that moment.”

8. “I will work towards being the person I want to be. There is an old quote about life being a journey to be enjoyed not an obstacle to be overcome. When we see our lives as obstacles we do not enjoy life much. When we see life as a journey and a time to continue to be the person we desire to be, life is much more pleasant and enjoyable.”

9. “I will not be hard on myself if I make resolutions and do not keep them. I may want to try them later in the year. I may realize that it will take more time than I thought to work on issues and I will look at this as a good things and not a bad thing. I do not fail by trying.”

Soroya Bacchus, a psychiatrist in Calif., suggests that women look at setting healthy boundaries as a New Year’s resolution.

“This can be something that women struggle with much more than men, whether it be with their sexual partners, officemates, or children,” Bacchus said. “Boundaries are important as they protect us from being manipulated, controlled, or abused. This enables women to make choices about what they think, feel, or how they behave.”

Tina B. Tessina, a psychotherapist and author of “Money, Sex and Kids: Stop Fighting About the Three Things That Can Ruin Your Marriage,” said in an email that resolutions can center around removing toxic personal habits, like feeling lonely.

“Loneliness may not result from actually being alone, but more from feeling misunderstood or not valued,” Tessina said.

She said to also avoid spending too much time on the computer socializing because that doesn’t help loneliness as much.

*To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink for more.

Mental health risks more likely for domestic violence victims

Rosimar Freitas

, Tampa Domestic Violence & Abuse Examiner

Can someone remain sane in the company of an abusive partner? Humanely speaking, how long does it take until someone crashes down due to physical, sexual and verbal abuse when they insist on staying in the relationship? What future awaits someone with damaged self-esteem and very little or zero self respect? According to MacMillan, from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, mental health among women who had been exposed to at least three different types of violence, the rate of mental disorders or substance abuse rose to 89%. Women are drastically more likely to develop a mental disorder at some point in their lives have been the victim of rape, sexual assault, stalking, or intimate-partner violence, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Soon or later, most victims give indications that their mental healths were affected.    

According to the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, victims have considerable difficulty with disorganized sleep patterns, complaining that they cannot fall asleep, or if they do, they wake up during the night and cannot return to sleep. Those who have been attacked while sleeping in their own bed may awake each night at that time again. It is not uncommon for victims to scream out in their sleep.

In addition, a marked decrease in appetite is generally noticed by victims. They complain of stomach pains or describe loss of appetite or the food not tasting right. However, according to a victim interviewed at the Spring of Tampa Bay (2009) eating while crying is an expression of how hopeless someone feels while remembering the attack. The appetite can chance to no appetite to an uncontrollable feeling of need for food. The same victim stated something that perhaps a Therapist only would be able to comprehend “I eat to punish myself. Man does not look at me as much when I gain weight and I need the break”. This victim’s statement serve to show that mental physical or verbal abuse can change someone’s way of thinking.

Sometimes it is not a physical reminder, but rather a thought or emotion that triggers or stimulates a fear response. Certain people, places, things, or circumstances can trigger these thoughts. Other times, the thought simply enters the mind of the victims, apparently without anyclear stimulus. According to the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, many victims report that pictures of the event flash through their mind, even when they don’t want them to or when they try not to have the thought. These kinds of experiences—of having a frightening thought “invade” their mind—seem to be virtually uncontrollable at times and can certainly make it difficult to concentrate. This adds to the feeling many victims have of not being in control of their own lives. Furthermore, many people may have nightmares or “night terrors” (in which they wake up crying but cannot recall what they were dreaming about) related to the event. They feel that, even while asleep, they are not safe from frightening thoughts. These kinds of intrusive thoughts, images, and dreams may lead a victims to think they are “going crazy” since they does not seem to be able to control their dreams.

Sadly, woman are “going mad” since long ago, and the short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilmanin 1892 tells the story of a mentally troubled young woman, possibly named Jane.  Everything that we learn or see in the story is filtered through the narrator’s shifting consciousness, and since the narrator goes insane over the course of the story, her perception of reality is often completely at odds with that of the other characters. On the Short Story published first by The New England Magazine, the narrator is in a state of anxiety for much of the story, with flashes of sarcasm, anger, and desperation. She complains that her husband John, who is also her doctor, belittles both her illness and her thoughts and concerns in general. She feels that activity, freedom, and interesting work would help her condition and reveals that she has begun her secret journal in order to “relieve her mind.” In an attempt to do so, the narrator begins describing the house”. However, her thoughts are interrupted by John’s approach, and she is forced to stop writing. By the end, the narrator is hopelessly insane, convinced that there are many creeping women around and that she has come out of the wallpaper—that she herself is the trapped woman. She creeps endlessly around the room, smudging the wallpaper as she goes. When John breaks into the room and sees the horror of the situation, he faints in the doorway, so that the narrator has “to creep over him every time!”

*To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink for more.

Rising Mental Health Issues Compel Colleges to Evaluate Policies

by Chris Pow, al.com 


Colleges across the country are taking a closer look at how they support students with mental health issues as the number of reported psychiatric disorders on campus increases.


The Wall Street Journal reports that schools are seeing more students report psychological problems through their disability offices. 


The schools, required to grant "reasonable accommodations" for students with mental illnesses under the American Disabilities Act, differ widely in their programs and services, according to the report.


The American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment spring 2011 survey of 105,781 students at 129 schools shows 21.6 percent of college students reported being diagnosed or treated by a professional for one or more mental health conditions or addiction within the previous 12 months. In the spring 2009 survey, 19.1 percent of students reported being treated for one or more condition.


Academics, finances and intimate relationships were the top three things listed by students as "traumatic or very difficult to handle," according to the survey.


A wrongful death suit has resulted in a policy change at Virginia Tech after a student killed himself a few weeks after an email to the school's health center from an acquaintance reported the student had discussed suicide.


The Associated Press reports that a settlement agreement between the family of Daniel Kim and Virginia Tech requires the school to notify parents or guardians of "potentially suicidal" students unless officials can cite a reason not to do so.


The spring 2011 National College Health Assessment survey shows 6.4 percent of students reported seriously considering suicide within the year. 1.1 percent of students said they attempted suicide, according to the survey


A study commissioned by the ACHA found that suicide was the second-leading cause of death behind vehicle accidents. Suicides accounted for 6.18 deaths per 100,000 students in the 2009-10 school year, according to data from 157 schools.


*To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink for more.

Man Won’t Allow Mental Illness to Define Him

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

Loren Booda experienced his first psychotic break when he was 19 years old.

Then a sophomore studying physics at an Ivy League university, Booda had struggled with feelings of anxiety and depression for years. He said he’d self-medicated by drinking and smoking marijuana. But then he tried LSD, and all of the demons that had been gnawing at his soul for years burst forth and took over his life.

“The LSD basically brought out all of the symptoms of mental illness that I’d grown accustomed to,” said Booda, now 52 and living in Arlington, Va.

He eventually was diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder, an illness that combines psychotic symptoms with mood disturbances.

During that first psychotic break, Booda said, he heard voices that weren’t there and became increasingly paranoid. He also experienced his first brush with the stigma associated with mental illness when the school asked him to leave after doctors first diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic, a diagnosis that others refined later in his life.

“Once I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, people like that supposedly do not study at an Ivy League school or live on campus or participate in the university,” Booda said.

He ended up living a life apart. His parents had enough money that he didn’t have to work, Booda said, so he spent most of his time working volunteer jobs. He got a bachelor’s degree in physics from George Washington University, but he’s never worked in that field.

“A lot of times I think a volunteer job can be ideal, in that people are able to overlook disabilities,” he said.

He volunteered for an energy company, for the Boy Scouts and for Goodwill Industries. “Finally, for 17 years, I worked at a park and worked my way up to the point where I could operate the park and nature area,” Booda said.

Booda said he tried to get paying jobs, but his diagnosis often got in the way. He remembers one boss, who ended up becoming a good friend, treating him as though he wasn’t suitable for the job.

“I worked for him two to six weeks,” Booda said. “I was paid at the end of that period, and he said to me, ‘Loren, you work better when you’re not paid.’ What kind of comment is that? It was hurtful.”

Booda now works as a call-taker at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), where he started as a volunteer in 1995 and began being paid for his work in 2003. He receives treatment for his illness, which includes taking four different medications, he has a girlfriend and steady work and tends to look on the bright side when it comes to his condition.

“My illness has given me an opportunity to work in places I might not otherwise have,” he said. “I’ve been with my girlfriend for about nine years. I have two new cats, and they’re knocking everything over hither and yon.”

“And my work with NAMI — I relish it,” Booda said. “It’s like a sustenance. I am making a difference.”

*To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink for more.

St. Louis plans youth-focused mental health crisis program

Overseers of a sales tax fund that supports programs for St. Louis County children will set aside $2 million next year for an outpatient mental health crisis program unique to the region.

Still in early planning, the program would provide St. Louis County youths with a place to go for immediate help in a crisis associated with depression, substance abuse, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other mental health issues, said Kate Tansey, executive director of the St. Louis County Children's Service Fund.

As it is, those youths — mostly age 19 and under — are landing in emergency rooms, where they are typically turned away after an initial visit.

Yet, said Tansey, most of these youths and their families need immediate counseling before they return home.

The center, which could take youths on an hourly or daily basis, would seek to help stabilize children to prevent suicide, runaways, substance abuse and family violence.

"Right now we just don't have anything to do with kids who definitely need services, but they don't need to be hospitalized," said Tansey, noting the kids aren't a danger to themselves or others but may be in manic states that families can't manage.

The anticipated $2 million project is made possible through a one-fourth-cent sales tax that St. Louis County voters approved in 2008. The tax is generating $35 million a year for programs through the county's Children's Service Fund. But deciding how to divvy up that money continues to evolve.

*To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink.  

Christmas Message from Open Arms Center

The "Christmas Story" has been told and retold countless times over the years.  Many aspects of the story are familiar to many people, even people who do not necessarily consider themselves "Christian."   For instance, the story of the Magi, the Three Wise Men, the Three Kings from "the Orient" is one known to people around the world.

The Three Wise Men, it is told, traveled from far off places to bring gifts of veneration and adoration for the newborn child born under the most humble of circumstances in a little town in a remote corner of what was then the Roman Empire.  It took them almost two weeks, twelve days, in fact (hence "the 12 days of Christmas") to reach the tiny manger in which the person known to history as Jesus was born because there was no room at the inn.

Many, many years have passed since that fateful moment in history yet many, many, many more children are still born under humble circumstances and most if not all need support that does not need to be synonymous with veneration or adoration.  These children and their families need help oft times with just the basic things that many people often take for granted.

Of course, a family in need does not necessarily have to wait 12 days for that help to come.  Even with limited social benefit resources in the Greater Miami community, there are still entities that exist to help people move forward towards healthy, sustainable lives.

Open Arms Center came into being for that very reason:  supporting families to grow in healthy ways.  We here at Open Arms Center want to take some time during this Christmas season to increase awareness of the needs our families, our neighbors, our friends have every day throughout the entire year.  We also want to thank our community partners for the work they do for these families.  Finally, we ask you to personally make a commitment to pay more attention to the needs of our community, the needs of our neighbors, and the obligations we each have to help address those needs ... with open arms.

Season's Greetings ... from Open Arms Center.

Volunteer Opportunities with Open Arms Center!

There are many ways that individuals interested in giving back to the community can help Open Arms Center fulfill its mission to help families.  Here are just some of the many ways good people can volunteer at OAC:

• grant research and/or writing
• fund-raising
• community liaisons
• planning

and so much more!

If you are interested in volunteering for Open Arms Center, please visit our home page for more information.

Christmas Toys Given to Community Children at TACOLCY

Yesterday afternoon, our good friends at The Advisory Committee of Liberty City Youth (better known in town as TACOLCY) had a gift giveaway for area children. Presents for children of all ages were placed lovingly on tables at the Miami landmark by staff and volunteers.   Activity books, dolls, games, cars, puzzles, and more were wrapped up and labeled according to  age(s).   Families were very grateful for the chance to add a little bit more to their children's holiday experience and TACOLCY enjoyed helping.   Open Arms Center, for its part, was honored to help out also with toy distribution and looks forward to helping out again next year.


For more information about TACOLCY, please visit their website (www.tacolcy.org) or give them a call.


Season's Greetings everyone!

Homeless Deaths Remembered in Annual Ceremony

Memorial service pays tribute to those who died homeless

by Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel

Marcia Lazzati lived in the woods near Sanford before losing her battle to a cancer discovered too late. Seventy-year-old Luis Ramirez died alone in his car in a Walmart parking lot, where he had spent the final six months of his life. Barbara Duvall and George Lee were struck and killed just trying to cross the street.

And Jennifer Owens, who looked to be only 30 years old, was found dead in her tent in the woods last New Year's Day, probably from untreated diabetes.

On Tuesday, their names were among the three dozen read at a memorial service for homeless individuals who died this year in Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties. Two of them were known only by first names — "Tim from Osceola" and "John aka Hobo" — and the personal details of many of the rest were vague.

"In many cases, sadly, this is the only remembrance of their lives that they will have," said Cathy Jackson, executive director of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, which has coordinated the annual memorial at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando since 2006.

Each year near the first day of winter, some 125 cities across the nation pay tribute to the thousands of homeless people who died during the preceding 12 months, many of them ultimately buried anonymously. In downtown Orlando, the service drew about 75 mourners, most of them workers and volunteers for the social-service agencies that try to help the homeless.

"The longest night of the year is symbolic to us," Jackson said. "It represents the long nights the unsheltered homeless individuals have been sleeping in cars, under bridges and in doorways because they have no homes."

*To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink.

Experts Advocate for Increased Efforts for Mental Health

Health experts call for advocacy efforts on mental health

Islamabad—Health experts have stressed the need to step up advocacy efforts on mental health by launching anti-stigma activities and campaigns for affected people.

Addressing a seminar held here on mental health, they said that the barriers to effective care included the lack of resources, lack of trained providers, and the social stigma associated with mental disorders including depression.

They said that the depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. They said these problems can become chronic or recurrent and lead to substantial impairments in an individual’s ability to take care of his or her everyday responsibilities, adding, at its worst, depression can lead to suicide, a tragic fatality associated with the loss of several lives every year.

According to them, depression is the leading cause of disability and the leading contributor to the global burden of disease which occurs in persons of all genders and ages.


^To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink.

Sleep Disorders Common Yet Undetected for Police

Sleep Disorders Common in Police, But Often Go Undetected

Findings Raise Issues of Public Safety

by Megan Brooks (www.medscape.com)

December 20, 2011 — Sleep disorders are common in police officers in the United States and Canada. They often go undetected, and therefore untreated, and this may have implications for individuals' personal physical and mental health as well as implications for public safety, new research suggests.

Of 4957 police officers, 2003 (40.4%) screened positive for at least 1 sleep disorder; most had not been diagnosed previously. The average age of the police officers was 38.5 years, and they had been on the job for an average of 12.7 years.

Sleep problems in police officers were associated with "adverse health, safety, and performance outcomes," Shantha M. Rajaratnam, PhD, of the Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues found.

The study is published in the December 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

*Read the rest of this article by visiting this urlink.

Welcome!

It is a great pleasure and a profound honor to welcome you to the Open Arms Center blog.   This platform is an extension of our homepage and, of course, the work that we do in our community.   Our blog aims to be an online source of news and commentary that we hope adds information and inspiration to the Greater Miami area.   We invite you to visit us often for articles, news, guest commentary, upcoming events and more that relate to mental health, well-being, gerontology, children, education, policy, helpful resources, and more.

Please be sure to sign up to receive email alerts by entering your email address in our upper right hand column for up-to-date postings here on the Open Arms Center blog and, of course, we would love to have you invite your friends to visit us here, too.

We hope that our blog, like our agency and our homepage, will make a positive difference as we work hard to help our community ... with Open Arms.