The Future of Our Community

I just wanted to let you all know that we are in the midst of a complete site redesign! Usability will be greatly improved, and the many new features we plan on adding will provide a more enjoyable experience. Thanks for all of your support, and we will add any new updates on the redesign as they come up.

Our Trip to Indy (by Mike)

I thought I'd share a bit about our Indy trip for the Reintegration Awards shindig that took place on October 15th and 16th. Liz and I arrived at the airport in Indianapolis, IN at about 3:30 pm (from New Mexico and Colorado respectively) and were caught a little off-guard by a couple of drivers holding signs intended for folks flying in for the festivities. We had never experienced the sign thing before! In any event, we sat around for a few minutes before we hopped on a charter bus and headed for the Westin Hotel in downtown Indy.

6pm rolled around, and we both went down to one of the conference rooms for a social event to kick things off. This was basically a time for the sponsors to welcome us and to talk a little about how things would play out on Friday. It was also a great time to start meeting award winners for other categories, as well as past winners. The things that some of these people are doing or have done is absolutely amazing and not a little intimidating. I don't think I have ever been in a single room with more people who have had a greater impact on the mental health community.

Well, Friday came too quickly (2 hour time change) but there were some informative workshops scheduled for the morning, and of course, more opportunities to learn about what other people are doing in the area. After lunch, a discussion panel of the 1st place treatment team awardees was held. Liz from TrueAcceptance.com did an outstanding job discussing our site and shedding light on relationships as a basic human need. Her passion was overflowing and was downright contagious! At least for me...(no bias, of course). The other winners/panelists included George Handran of the Sydney Baer Foundation, Ananda Pandurangi, M.D., Pathways to Recovery, Growing Grounds Vocational Advancement Program, and Places for People. Amazing...

Friday night was the actual awards ceremony. We were bussed over to the Columbia Club for dinner and the award. Each treatment team and consumer winner was given a nifty looking award (we will get pics up later) and had an opportunity to have a little say. It was quite nice, and I had a smile from ear to ear while I listened to so many outstanding individuals receive the honors. Overall, we had a great time, met great people, and were able to spread the word more about TrueAcceptance.com. That pretty much sums it up I guess.

Thanks for reading our infrequent posts and supporting our site! Oh, stay tuned, because we are planning to roll out a far better social experience with our site!

Economic Downturn Taking Toll On Americans' Mental Health

Really? Kind of like the study that came out a year or 2 ago that showed that smoking ages the skin. (click on the title to read the story) But in all seriousness, this is the kind of story that can bring mental health issues into the mainstream. Everybody gets it when you start talking about people suffering from depression and anxiety due to current financial circumstances. Talking openly about depression and other mental health issues is a fairly new occurrence. What has changed to make this happen? The President's New Freedom Commission ? The ubiquitous drug advertisements? The Irag/Afghanistan wars and all the newly diagnosed soldiers with PTSD? Probably a bunch of different factors. Can you name some other possible contributors? What needs to happen for society to feel comfortable discussing "the other" mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, etc...? We have a ways to go, but I think we are moving in the right direction.

Relationships good for mental health

Hey..just read an article that said that enduring first partnerships were associated with good mental health...also the article went on to say that co-habitating was better for men's mental health while marriage was more beneficial for women's mental health...so the bottom line is, no matter how you go about it....relationships improve your mental health..so go for it and open yourself up to new people...trueacceptance.com is just a click away!!!

Grey's Anatomy Episode

What is up with media? I was sitting in front of the tube tonight watching Grey's Anatomy, and one of the skits has a guy with paranoid schizophrenia who is having a severe psychotic episode. That part is fine...it happens. The problem is that you won't see this same show putting the spotlight on people with mental illness who have aspired to greatness or who lead ordinary daily lives. I get that this is what drama television is about, and this is the kind of stuff that generates ratings. It just bugs the heck out of me that it will certainly sway the thinking of the countless "normals" who watched the episode tonight.

Mental illness and smoking!

Just read a great article about the connection between mental illness and smoking. It stated that people with depression and anxiety are the heaviest smokers in the country. It discussed the fear that doctors are afraid of asking mentally ill peeps to stop smoking because they think it will cause major meltdowns...turns out that the hypothesis is false! No connection between quitting smoking and decompensating...now breathe a sigh of relief...with clean lungs! Check out the article and see the stats for yourself. Talk to your doc about quitting today!

Evolution of Mental Illness

I took a couple of classes on Evolutionary Psychology back in college and have wondered over the years how it applies to mental illness. Perhaps I should make a feeble attempt at defining Ev. Psych. first! My understanding is that evolutionary psychology is the study of why people think and behave the way they do based on natural selection. I know that some folks get a bit frazzled at the mention of evolutionary psychology for various reasons. Some tend to think that these researches are providing an excuse for people to do bad things to other people, such as rape or murder. As with anything, I would suggest that folks read the literature and make your own conclusions about the science and not base viewpoints on the interpretations of others who may have or may haven't actually read the research.

OK, back to the evolution of mental illness. Why on earth would mental illness have ever evolved? Are there any advantages? Increased creativity? Just look at the last post for some pretty creative peeps who battled mental illness! Fight or flight responses gone haywire? Anxiety has benefits, does it not? If I'm hunting and come across a BIG Meat Eating animal, what do we do? If we stand there, we probably get eaten. If adrenaline kicks in and we head for the hills, there is a chance we don't get eaten. Can you think of any benefits that anxiety has today? Just think about deadlines we all have and how anxiety can produce a little motivation. So, these are some pretty normal responses, right? Why does anxiety sometimes overtake our ability to function? I don't know the answer here, but perhaps it has something to do with our society? Have our brains been able to keep up with the evolution of our culture? Is it normal to have so many deadlines, live far away from our families, poor social supports, etc...? If you would like to read a little more on this, take a look at Depression in an evolutionary context by Lewis Wolpert.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed thinking about something a little different. It can be kind of fun to analyze ourselves through an ev. psych. perspective...