# data[].attributes.headline
reflection   theres no shame in having mental health

# data[].attributes.subject
reflection   theres no shame in having mental health

# data[].attributes.body
after reading theres no shame in having mental health ,i feel horrible.i feel this way because terrel always get piked on because of how he talk. i learned not to pick on meantal illnes kids. now i want to tell people to stop bulling him!

# data[].attributes.headline
BRENNAN'S REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS 

# data[].attributes.subject
BRENNAN'S REFLECTION ON MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS 

# data[].attributes.body
Mental health is a real serious illness.It can cause anxiety,stress and depression.After reading/watching a video about mental health,I feel bad and unhappy.I feel this way because watching that video I see how people can't afford doctors or treatment to help this illness.I learned that mental health is not an minor thing like some people think it is,it is actually a big issue all over the world.Now I want to help people who can't afford mental health treatment or doctors.

# data[].attributes.headline
 NYHILA SILVA - "THERE'S NO SHAME IN HAVING MENTAL HEALTH "

# data[].attributes.subject
 NYHILA SILVA - "THERE'S NO SHAME IN HAVING MENTAL HEALTH "

# data[].attributes.body
This is my response on ''There's no shame in having Mental Health . After watching '' There's no shame in having mental health '' , I feel upset that people all over the world have mental health . I feel this way because I want everybody not to have mental health . I learned that you could have mental health by having someone really stress you out and by anxiety . Now this makes me want to be more motivated to help others if they have mental health / illness .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A mother who killed herself while suffering from postnatal depression died as a result of a "very serious failure" that allowed her to leave a mental health unit unchaperoned, a coroner has ruled.

Despite having made multiple attempts to kill herself, 32-year-old Polly Ross was allowed to leave the Westlands mental health unit in Hull at about 8.30am on 12 July 2015, telling nurses that she was going to buy cigarettes. She was hit by a train at 11.10am and died instantly.

Speaking at the end of a four-day hearing, coroner Prof Paul Marks said he could not rule that Humber NHS foundation trust had been guilty of clinical neglect, but said the decision to allow her to leave the unit "had a direct causal effect" on her death.

Her mother, Jo Hogg, who was previously employed by the trust as an occupational therapist, thanked the coroner for conducting a "frank and fearless examination" of the circumstances surrounding her daughter's death.

She said the trust had failed her daughter when she had needed their help the most and that care for women with postnatal depression in the region was "appalling". She said that mental health services were "not joined up in a way that pays close regard to the complex needs of patients".

The court heard how Ross, who ran a translation business in Paris before moving back to east Yorkshire in August 2012, had suffered from the extreme form of morning sickness, hyperemesis gravidarum, during both her pregnancies in 2012 and 2014. The condition has received media attention after it was revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge suffered from it during her pregnancies.

The condition caused Ross - who was described as "staggeringly intelligent" - to be hospitalised and put on a drip, which was said to have compounded her mental health issues. The inquest was told that she developed "drug-induced psychosis" after taking cannabis to relieve her symptoms and that when she asked to be admitted to a specialist mother and baby unit in Leeds, she was turned down.

In February 2015, the linguist was sectioned after a breakdown and her children were taken from her care. Over the coming weeks and months she regularly expressed suicidal thoughts and attended A&E on multiple occasions having self harmed or taken an overdose.

In a statement read to the court, Ross's aunt Emma May, who acted as her carer after she was first sectioned, said she was certain that the few times her niece had left her home since February "were times she attempted to take her own life". She said: "I cannot understand how she was allowed to leave the unit to buy her own cigarettes the morning she died."

Giving evidence to the inquest, Dr Robert Kehoe, a Bradford-based consultant psychiatrist, said that while the overall standard of Ross's care had been good, there were two serious failures on the part of Humber NHS foundation trust.

"One: there was a failure to clarify and state a plan for what should occur in the situation of a patient requesting to leave the unit," he said. "Two: the effective decision to end the period of 15-minute observations allowed her to leave the unit at around 8.40am that day."

Ross's observations had been increased from once an hour to once every 15 minutes on 10 July after a ligature was found in her room. She was not sectioned at the time of her death, but Kehoe said there was "no logic" in increasing her observations only to allow her to leave the unit unescorted.

In a statement, Humber NHS foundation trust said: "We would like to offer our sincerest condolences to Polly's mother, aunt, other family members and friends for their tragic loss. The thoughts of everyone associated with the trust continue to be with them at this sad time.

"We would also like to offer an unreserved apology to Polly's family and friends and acknowledge that there were omissions in her care prior to her death on 12 July 2015. The trust acknowledges Prof Marks' conclusion regarding the circumstances surrounding Polly's death and has fully implemented all of the recommended improvements highlighted by our investigations.

"The trust will continue to reflect and learn and seek to continually improve the services we provide to patients."

In October 2015, Marks ruled that Humber NHS foundation trust was guilty of neglect in the case of Sally Mays, 22, who killed herself after being turned away for inpatient mental health care. The same year, a coroner in Bristol raised concerns about mental healthcare for new mothers after 30-year-old Charlotte Bevan jumped off a cliff clutching her baby girl following a "chain of failures" by medical staff.
In the UK the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mother killed herself after 'serious failure' by mental health unit

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A mother who killed herself while suffering from postnatal depression died as a result of a "very serious failure" that allowed her to leave a mental health unit unchaperoned, a coroner has ruled.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Advertisement

From lobotomy to antidepressants to scream therapy, the methods used to treat mental disorders have changed dramatically in the past century. Drug fads, commercialization and many other influences have shaped the way we diagnose and remedy mental illness. These recent releases illuminate the past to better inform our understanding of mental health today.

In the early 1950s the pharmaceutical industry questioned whether there would be a market for antianxiety drugs, Andrea Tone explains in The Age of Anxiety: A History of America's Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers. By 1957, 36 million prescriptions for the first such drug-Miltown-had been filled, making it the first ever blockbuster drug and kicking off the rush for psycho pharmaceutical gold.

In Before Prozac: The Troubled History of Mood Disorders in Psychiatry, Edward Shorter questions whether we are indeed moving forward in making the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness more effective. Shorter quesetions the definition of depression itself and argues that power struggles-not science-have decided the drugs prescribed to treat it.

American Therapy: The Rise of Psychotherapy in the United States, by Jonathan Engel, delineates a broader history of mental health treatments. Beginning with the rise of psychoanalysis, Engel eventually arrives at today's focus on targeted treatment, which he argues has spawned a field fueled by pleasing consumers through unnecessary drugs such as Zoloft (sertraline, an antidepressant) and trendy remedies such as primal scream therapy.

Another popular form of treatment that has undergone intense commercialization is group support therapy, which began with Alcoholics Anonymous. In The Language of the Heart: A Cultural History of the Recovery Movement from Alcoholics Anonymous to Oprah Winfrey, Trysh Travis traces the rise of group therapy, suggesting that it ultimately offers ways to prevail over fundamental culture-based problems.

Compiled by Allison Bond

This article was originally published with the title "Mental Health: A Historical View"

Advertisement

Latest News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From lobotomy to antidepressants to scream therapy, the methods used to treat mental disorders have changed dramatically in the past century. Drug fads, commercialization and many other influences have shaped the way we diagnose and remedy mental illness. These recent releases illuminate the past to better inform our understanding of mental health today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift.

The Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness, is yours absolutely FREE when you sign up to receive Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School

Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health, plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise, pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Puerto Rico was already struggling with an increase in mental illness amid a 10-year recession that brought soaring unemployment, poverty and family separation caused by emigration. Public health officials and caregivers say that Maria has exacerbated the problem.

Many Puerto Ricans are reporting intense feelings of anxiety and depression for the first time in their lives. Some are paranoid that a disaster will strike again. And people who had mental illnesses before the storm, and who have been cut off from therapy and medication, have seen their conditions deteriorate.

"When it starts raining, they have episodes of anxiety because they think their house is going to flood again," said Dr. Carlos del Toro Ortiz, the clinical psychologist who treated Ms. Serrano Ortiz. "They have heart palpitations, sweating, catastrophic thoughts. They think 'I'm going to drown,' 'I'm going to die,' 'I'm going to lose everything.' "

With hurricane nearly two months in the past, the island is still in shock. Its residents are haunted by dozens of deaths caused by the storm, and many more life-threatening near misses. The reminders are inescapable. They lie in piles of rotting debris as tall as homes that still line many streets and in cellphones that are useless for checking on family members.

Returning to a routine is the most important step toward overcoming trauma, according to physicians and public health officials. But for most Puerto Ricans, logistical barriers like scarce water and electricity, as well as closed schools and businesses, make that impossible.

Since Sept. 20, when the storm came ashore at 6:15 a.m., more than 2,000 calls have overwhelmed an emergency hotline for psychiatric crises maintained by the Puerto Rican health department - double the normal number for that period of time, even though most residents still do not have working phones. Puerto Rican officials said that suicides had increased - 32 have been reported since the storm - and many more people than normal have been hospitalized after being deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

At the emergency health clinic in Toa Baja, where Ms. Serrano Ortiz lives, Dr. Toro said that he had been frantically calling for help from colleagues in other cities because the facility was overrun with people in need of mental health care.

Because it is in a flood zone, Toa Baja was one of the worst affected areas in Puerto Rico. At least four people died there and water levels peaked at more than 12 feet. The city of 80,000 west of San Juan flooded multiple times, each time that it rained after Maria passed.

In his nearly 20 years of practicing psychology, Dr. Toro said he had never before hospitalized as many people with suicidal or homicidal thoughts in such a short time period. Of about 2,500 people who had been to the clinic since it opened two weeks earlier, more than 90 percent were referred for mental health screenings, Dr. Toro said. He and other practitioners at the clinic had already referred at least 20 people to psychiatric wards elsewhere on the island.

"This is an emergency situation," he said. "It's still affecting us. There are people that we haven't seen."

Health workers are bracing for effects similar to those seen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, where cases of both moderate and severe psychiatric illnesses spiked. In New Orleans, many people experienced insomnia, cognitive impairment and short-term memory loss, which became known colloquially and among researchers as "Katrina Brain."

Prolonged losses of electricity, water communications or infrastructure have been linked to the onset of mental health crises, said Dr. Domingo Marqués, the director of clinical psychology at Albizu University, a prominent graduate school of psychology on the island with clinics in two major cities. All of those elements have been relentlessly present in Puerto Rico.

"And this is all happening at once," he said. "What we have lost is the foundation that holds a society together."

He said that Puerto Ricans would have to adjust their definition of normalcy in order to function: "It's 'I survived. My family didn't die.' That's the new definition of O.K."

This hurricane season has caused mental distress, and strained resources for treating it, throughout the Caribbean, according to reports from the U nited States Virgin Islands, Dominica and Antigua.

The mental health division of the Puerto Rican health department received $3 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate a response to Maria, said Suzanne Roig, the administrator of the Puerto Rican agency.

Its doctors have been knocking on doors in the worst-hit parts of the island and visiting emergency shelters where people who lost their homes have been living.

"We are trying to reach people to tell them that this crisis will pass," she said, "and that they should not make permanent decisions."

The agency also started an initiative to monitor social media, and staged interventions in a handful of homes of people who posted what appeared to be suicide notes.

During high-volume hours, its staff members have been taking on extra shifts and working overtime to respond to the increase in phone calls to the 24-hour emergency crisis hotline.

In addition to struggling with their own emotions, Ms. Roig said that distressed callers had reported children who had not spoken since the storm or cried inconsolably when it rained. And people with serious mental illnesses who had experienced psychotic episodes had been locked inside rooms by family members who did not know what else to do.

"People who have a prescription can't get to a pharmacy," Ms. Roig said. "If they can get to the pharmacy it might not be open. If it's open, they might not have the medicine."

Before the storm, Laura Rodriguez, 39, managed her borderline personality disorder without medication by relying on a strict routine: Early morning CrossFit workouts, long hours at work as an interior designer, going to bed early and never having guests at her home in Río Piedras.

But since Maria hit, her gym had been closed and her therapist had not been working. Neither had she.

"I'm constantly anxious," she said. "I get these urges to be violent and I can't control it."

Memories of the storm were also tormenting her. She had been trapped inside her apartment for two days with her boyfriend, her mother and her mother's cat. They used plastic tarps, towels, bedsheets and pieces of wood to try to plug the windows where rain water was surging through.

Without access to any of the balms that she typically relied on to stabilize her mood, she was worried about resorting to self-harm, an impulse that she had struggled to control since she was 8 years old. "What if it's like three months, four months?" she said. "I cannot do this for so long."

For Ms. Serrano Ortiz, another threat to her mental and physical health loomed.

Before the storm, a scan of her throat had indicated that she may have cancer for the second time. But she has not been able to get any more information about her prognosis because her doctor's offices have been closed.

At the emergency clinic, she told Dr. Toro that she might not have the energy to fight the disease again. When she looked in the mirror, she said, she saw in herself a reflection of her home - something dirty, smelly and tainted.

"I don't feel like myself anymore," she said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
After Hurricane, Signs of a Mental Health Crisis Haunt Puerto Rico

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Puerto Rico was already struggling with an increase in mental illness amid a 10-year recession that brought soaring unemployment, poverty and family separation caused by emigration. Public health officials and caregivers say that Maria has exacerbated the problem. Many Puerto Ricans are reporting intense feelings of anxiety and depression for the first time in their lives.