Understanding the Angry Child: Strategies for Living with Emotional and Behavioral Health Disorders

Act Now! A Conference Opportunity on June 14, 2013

Understanding the Angry Child: Strategies for Living with Emotional and Behavioral Health Disorders

Parents, caregivers, foster families, kinship families, adoptive families, respite families, advocates, school mentors, teachers, social workers, counselors, case managers, psychologists and others who work with children will gain valuable knowledge and can earn up to 6 hours of continuing education credit for the low price of $50.

Scholarships are also available to parents and caregivers on a first come first serve basis.

 Hope to see you there NEXT FRIDAY, June 14, 2013 at the Quest Center in Columbus, OH. Time is running out, register<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001gBZJO1sd4XLCM3vSwVOqOmupTEJmoi4wJDJvP9s8KgLubX3k7826aE1WgvxM5IBg8XgVrPOWBp9cWDwynOHObF9wRNewkypWCT6a5ehQ53vam8hR6-FWNR0Y66z6KJGcmvKaM82HNDC6n9c0gEbgvEaZ0v-3lB6POZEyM8yV4nNj9C-ahaulv3pCAG7-FvwE6WGDRWSNQz4bwN9Ym7nrvSK_7mQedgHdrpa7B2g82MM=> today!

NAMI Ohio namiohio@namiohio.orgmailto:namiohio@namiohio.org 

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001gBZJO1sd4XKsJ2ld0L43s74YEnEsQobsvqDj4FWpdEtl-9wmOmabxZkmfwNwrQSusc03zyjyX3HKOLI1VBLi45-ldjg2bw8WXdVoYyWuXHHfJv_6MMS6-A==

614-224-2700 or 800-686-2646

Reprinted at http://www.darkestcloset.blogspot.com,

Behind Bars Without Help: The Mental Health Controversy in Michigan

Posted at NAMI blog Thursday, August 25, 2011 Reposted at darkestcloset.bloggerspot.com

By Ron Honberg, NAMI Director of Policy and Legal AffairsThe new head of Michigan's Department of Corrections recently made national news when he expressed concerns about the extent to which his department's resources are used to provide mental health to inmates.
On August 21, it was reported in the Detroit News that Dan Heyns, director of Michigan's Department of Corrections wanted to work with sheriffs, prosecutors and local officials to ensure that fewer people living with mental illnesses come to prison.

"I've got institutions that are just packed with people who are very, very seriously mentally ill", Heyns said. "These aren't stress cases. I can't exactly provide a therapeutic environment."

Jails and prisons are the worst possible environments for people struggling with the symptoms of severe mental illnesses. Prisons are ill-equipped to provide effective psychiatric treatment. Inmates with the most severe mental illnesses are too often isolated in administrative segregation, special housing units, super-max prisons and other forms of solitary confinement. The long term isolation of individuals experiencing delusions, hallucinations or other severe psychiatric symptoms has been characterized as being akin to torture.

Sadly, the problems highlighted by Director Heyns are not unique to Michigan. A recent study revealed that about 17.1 of male inmates and 34.3 percent of female inmates in local jails throughout the country live with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or PTSD. When compared to figures for the general population this is roughly a 470 percent increase in prevalence for both men and women.

So what can be done to achieve Director Heyns vision that fewer individuals living with mental illnesses come to prison to begin with?

Some would respond that we need to take a close look at our nation's treatment laws. Until the 1960s, people living with serious mental illnesses were virtually devoid of civil rights protections and were frequently institutionalized for long periods of time with no due process or right to appeal. Fortunately, these egregious civil rights abuses are a thing of the past.

There are many who believe that the laws have gone too far in the other direction, asserting that requiring proof of immediate or imminent danger to self or others means that certain people will not get help when they need it the most. Not everyone agrees. Many argue equally strenuously that the laws should remain as they are, citing continuing abuses and civil rights violations in hospitals, adult care homes, and other settings as evidence that we need to maintain strict, narrow civil commitment standards.

Irrespective of how you feel about these complex issues, the overall lack of mental health services and supports across the country is beyond dispute. Even during the best of economic times, the availability of good mental health services has been limited in the US, particularly for those who rely on the public mental health system for their care. In 2006 and 2009, before the full impact of the economic crisis, NAMI gave the nation's mental health system a grade of "D" in its Grading the States 2006 and 2009 reports.

Unfortunately, the economic recession has only made these problems worse. In March, 2011, NAMI released a report entitled State Mental Health Cuts: A National Crisis. This report revealed cuts to non-Medicaid state mental health spending of nearly $1.6 billion dollars between 2009 and 2011, with even deeper cuts projected for 2012. These cuts have led to the erosion of vital inpatient and community services for tens of thousands of youth and adults living with the most serious mental illnesses. Hospital beds have been eliminated and in many parts of the country, there are virtually no community services available either.
Not surprisingly, these cuts have added to already considerable burdens faced by law enforcement and correction centers. In Nevada, Judge Jackie Glass, who runs the Clark County (Las Vegas) Mental Health Court implored legislators not to impose further cuts on mental health services. She testified that "you will see … people [who lose mental health services] ending up in prisons, jails, emergency rooms, homeless…"
In Sacramento County, California, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Mendez went further, blocking the county from cutting mental health services as a way to balance the budget. He stated that the county's budget cutting plan would cause "catastrophic harm" and violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The U.S. is clearly at a pivotal moment in its history. Solutions to the budget crisis are not easy. However, one thing is clear: Indiscriminate cuts to mental health budgets will not save money, but cost more in the long run. Cuts of the magnitude that have occurred will continue to perpetuate the national disgrace of incarcerating people for the "crime" of having a serious mental illness. We should pay heed to Director Heyns, Judge Glass, Judge Mendez and others on the front lines responding to people in crisis. A civilized, advanced nation must do better for its most vulnerable citizens.

Book Review: "A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness" by Nassir Ghaemi, M.D.

The Penguin Press (2011), $27.95 (hardcover)

By Bob Carolla, NAMI Director of Media Relations

One of the best books to document and discuss in detail the link between mental illness—specifically depression—and great leadership is Lincoln's Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Shenk. Dr. Ghaemi, the director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts University, now takes the discussion of mental illness and leaders further by including bipolar disorder and expanding the scope to several other historical and contemporary leaders, including Civil War general William Sherman, Winston Churchill and Ted Turner. Also included are Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, whose names are new to "famous people" lists that provide inspiration to many people who live with mental illness.

The book makes the case that four elements are essential to leadership in times of crisis: realism, empathy, creativity and resilience. Living with depression can enhance the first two traits and mania can enrich the third. Both can help instill resiliency. At the same time, some conditions such as psychosis can prove disastrous.

Leadership can be exercised for good or evil— independent from mental illness. In other words, free will and moral values remain part of the equation. The book includes a chilling discussion of Adolf Hitler, who presided as the leader of Germany during World War II and the Holocaust; Ghaemi makes a case that Hitler lived with untreated bipolar disorder which gave him charisma, resilience and political creativity in his rise to power. On the other hand, by the time the war began, he was being treated with barbiturates and amphetamines (including meth) for insomnia and fatigue, a combination that only worsened his mental illness. Essentially, his mind spun out of control—possibly into some form of psychosis. In that respect, impairment of his leadership abilities because of heavy drug use was a stroke of good fortune for civilization. “In his final two years, Hitler probably never experienced a day of normal mood,” Ghaemi writes. “His world was collapsing; his mind already had.”

The book also includes discussion of other leaders such as John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, arguing that “homoclite” leaders who “want to be liked” can be dangerous in times of crisis. “Normal” mental health may actually be a drawback. This section, as well a chapter on stigma and politics, are not the books strongest but they raise issues that are worth thinking about carefully. Would our country ever elect a president who acknowledges living with bipolar disorder—and perhaps even campaigns on it as a qualification suited for the times? In some cases, personal experience with mental illness may be a strength, providing vision and a foundation for brilliant leadership, but the stigma surrounding mental illness still prevents a completely open discussion.

Posted at NAMI Advocate. NAMI Bookshelf August 2011. http://www.nami.org/ADVTemplate.cfm?Section=20111&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=126353

Reposted at darkestcloset.blogspot.com

Does cutting mental health care increase the prison population?

By Suzy Khimm

State-supported mental health care, like many social services, has been especially vulnerable in the recent rounds of budget cuts. Over the past two years, some $1.6 billion has been slashed from non-Medicaid state spending on mental health, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But a growing number of law enforcement officials — along with mental health advocates — are voicing concerns that such cutbacks not only hurt mental health beneficiaries but also overburden the country’s prison system.

In Illinois, where mental health spending has dropped 15 percent since 2009, the Cook County sheriff may file a lawsuit against the state for allow the county jail to “essentially become a dumping ground for people with serious mental health programs,” reports a local ABC affiliate, WLS-TV. The details:

Sheriff Tom Dart says it has gotten so bad Cook County Jail is now the largest provider of mental health treatment in the state. … As much as 20 percent of the jail's population has been diagnosed with some type of mental illness. That's 1,300 to 1,400 people receiving psychiatric care while behind bars.

“What ends up happening is, there’s no safety net to catch them, so they end up committing crimes, getting swept up by the police and coming to jail,” said jail psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Howard.

The head of Illinois’ mental health department says that the state is trying to make do with limited resources — but acknowledges that it still can’t afford treatment programs such as community-based care that might be more effective, as WLS-TV points out.

Similarly, the Los Angeles Times has examined a public safety program in Nevada that’s also under threat because of mental health budget cuts. The effort pairs police officers in Reno with mental health counselors to reach out to the mentally ill, whether they’ve committed crime, are a threat to themselves, or could be in the future. “Already starved for services, troubled citizens sometimes tumble into homelessness and alcoholism and tussle violently with police, who are usually ill-equipped to help them,” the story explains.

In Nevada and Illinois, as in states across the country, mental health services will continue to be vulnerable to budget cuts. According to University of Chicago Professor Harold Pollack, states deliver many mental health and behavioral services outside of Medicaid and are thus freed from federal coverage requirements — as well as matching dollars — making these services a more tempting target for legislators committed to fiscal austerity.

Mental health advocates have long banged the drum about the connection between mental health and crime, noting especially strong links between recidivism and mental illness. In a recent report on the phenomenon, “Cost-Shifting to Criminal Justice,” NAMI notes that as much as a quarter of prisoners in the United States suffer from a serious mental illness, citing a 2006 Department of Justice study. The group adds that 50 percent of previously incarcerated individuals with serious mental illnesses end up returning to jail — at times because untreated mental illness has led them to violate parole, citing the Council of State Governments.

Such findings may undercut the economic rationale for cutting mental health benefits if states are simply shifting — or increasing — costs to the prison system in doing so. As I've reported previously, many states are also battling to contain prison costs as well as health services. So budget-conscious legislators may be especially willing to think twice if research continues to support this argument.

Suzy Khimm is a staff reporter in the Washington bureau of Mother Jones.

Posted at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/does-cutting-mental-health-care-increase-the-prison-population/2011/06/02/AGzNdVHH_blog.html reposted at darkestcloset.blogspot.com

Guide for Advocacy Countering Criminalization of Mental Illness

The Urban Justice Center and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of New York State have published a guide for family and friends of people with mental illnesses who go to prison. The guide outlines services available for people with mental illnesses in prison and describes how family members can advocate for the person in prison while getting support for themselves. It also details how to become active in larger advocacy efforts countering the criminalization of mental illness.

The publication can be downloaded at: www.urbanjustice.org/pdf/publications/mhp_08sept10.pdf  Published in "National Association of Peer Specialist Newsletter—Fall 2010" reposted at http://darkestcloset.blogspot.com/