Month: February 2019

In previous posts, I have mentioned an organization called AFSP, which stands for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  At the beginning of 2019, they have launched a national campaign called Project 2025, and today I want to talk about what is involved.

A more detailed description of Project 2025 can be found here: https://project2025.afsp.org/  Essentially, the aim of Project 2025 is to reduce the annual suicide rate in the United States by 20% by 2025.  In order to meet this aim, AFSP has identified four critical areas of focus: firearms, the healthcare system, emergency departments, and corrections systems. 

According to AFSP, over half of all suicides are by firearms, so it seems obvious as to why they are focusing on them.  And, while I haven’t read a lot of the details, it does not appear to be about gun control or laws, but rather about educating the firearms community about spotting suicide risks and how they can save lives.  Healthcare systems and emergency departments are related in that both areas can do a better job of screening, asking about, talking about, and dealing with suicide risks.  Finally, suicide is the leading cause of death in jails, so screening and changing attitudes about suicide prevention in corrections systems is important.

Although suicide is not a glamorous or fun topic, I am so glad that the AFSP has created this nationwide project.  In a perfect world, the number of suicides would be 0, but until we reach that day this is a step in the right direction.  I applaud the AFSP for their efforts and look forward to seeing this goal become a reality.

How about you?  Do you support Project 2025?  Does it seem like an attainable goal?  Does it seem like it is not enough, and a bigger goal could be created?  Regardless of how you feel about it, I hope you spread the word about this important project.

With my background in pharmacy, I spend a lot of time thinking about medications.  In my experience, we typically seem more concerned with adding or keeping medications, not taking them away.  Today I want to touch on deprescribing, which involves ways to potentially reduce or remove the number of medications that are being used by an individual.

When I think about it, deprescribing is very important.  How many people end up on a medication and continue to take it for years when they may no longer need it?  Maybe someone takes a medication that gives them certain side effects, and they start taking another medication to treat the side effects.  Is the medication worth the side effects if you have to use another medication to treat them?  Or, if the medication is beneficial, could the dose be lowered to minimize the side effects and maintain a benefit?  Perhaps the medication does not seem to cause any noticeable or bothersome side effects, but it doesn’t seem to provide any benefit either.  Is there any reason to continue a medication if it doesn’t seem to be helping?  These are all questions that reflect the need to consider deprescribing.

Of course, there are potential risks with deprescribing, and it is something that should be considered and undertaken with a health care provider.  Many medications should not be stopped cold turkey, and many would be safer if they are tapered off over time.  And, since every individual has a different medication regimen, deprescribing is going to look different for everybody, and some people may not be candidates for deprescribing at all. 

Overall, I think deprescribing should be considered every time there is a visit with a health care provider.  Like others things in life, less can be more, and it is important to consider what medications are truly needed.  And, by talking about deprescribing, I am not saying that we get rid of all medications.  Many medications can be helpful and have a place in treatment, but in my opinion they are not always the only answer.  Regardless, I encourage everyone to consider having a discussion with their provider about reducing or removing some of the medications that may no longer be needed.

Perhaps you have heard of peer support before, but for me it has been a somewhat vague term.  Today, I want to explore what peer support is and how it works.  There are many websites available that describe peer support, but today’s information is coming from the following webpage: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/what-peer

In general, a peer is someone that we can identify with in some way (such as someone your age or someone who speaks the same language as you).  In mental health, a peer is typically used to refer to someone who shares the experience of living with a mental illness and/or substance use disorder.  Peer support is the process of giving and receiving encouragement and assistance to reach recovery.  Peer supporters can offer emotional support, share knowledge, teach skills, provide assistance, and connect people with resources.  In mental health, peers offer their unique lived experience with their conditions to provide support focused on advocacy, education, and mentoring.

Peers can facilitate education and support groups and work as a bridge linking people to services as they transition from health care facilities or jails into the community.  Peers also can act as role models, mentors, coaches and advocates.  As you can see, there are many ways that peers can help others and many opportunities for peer support in the community.  Peer support is a another possible option for those facing a mental illness, and I hope this is yet another piece that is considered when thinking about treatment and recovery. 

How about you?  What do you think about peer support?  Is it something you have been a part of or tried?  It is something you have considered?  Based on what little I have read, it seems that peer support will continue to grow and help more and more people, and that is exciting news to share.

Today I want to point out another resource that is available for another group of people – college students.  It is called “Starting the Conversation: College and Your Mental Health”, and it can be downloaded for free on NAMI’s website at https://nami.org/collegeguide.  NAMI worked with the JED Foundation to create this guide.  The JED Foundation is a national nonprofit that helps protect the emotional health of teens and young adults.  The JED Foundation also works on suicide prevention in these age groups.

The guidebook is almost 30 pages long, but it can easily be reviewed if you don’t want to read every word.  Topics covered include talking about mental health with others, managing stress, common signs of a mental health condition, campus resources for mental health, substance use, mental health care on campus, health information and privacy laws, and general mental health resources. 

Like the caregiving resource mentioned in my previous post, I think it is great to have a guide like this available.  I assume a lot of college students would appreciate having help in knowing what they can do if a mental health issue affects them or someone they know.  I also think it is important that we let college students know that it is ok to talk about their mental health and any struggles they may be having.  Everyone needs to know they can get support, and although it might be hard for college students to ask for help, I feel that the more college students hear about it the more they will be willing to get assistance when they need it.

How about you?  What are your thoughts on this guide?  Does it give you some helpful information?  Is it missing important pieces that would be helpful for you to know?  I hope you will take some time to download and review the guide to see if it can be helpful to you or someone you know.

Today I want to point out a resource that is available for caregivers.  It is called the “Circle of Care Guidebook”, and it can be downloaded for free on NAMI’s website at https://www.nami.org/About-NAMI/Publications-Reports/Guides/Circle-of-Care-Guidebook.  NAMI worked with the National Alliance for Caregiving to create this guide.

The guidebook is a little over 50 pages long, but it has many different sections, so you can pick and choose what is important to you if you don’t want to read the entire guide.  It is important to note that the guide is for family, friends, or others who care for an adult with a mental health condition.  Topics covered include finding a compatible provider, communicating with health care workers, making sure you have an accurate diagnosis, discharge planning from a facility, dealing with health insurance, looking into community services that may be available, working with the criminal justice system, planning ahead for the future, confidentiality and involving the family, and self-care. 

Personally, I think it is great to have a guide like this available.  I assume a lot of caregivers would appreciate having help in navigating their roles and responsibilities.  As a lot of us have come to realize, understanding the healthcare system and insurance can be challenging, even if you are not faced with a mental health condition.  And, from what I have seen over the last few years, there is more emphasis being placed on the well-being of caregivers, and I think that is very important.  Everyone needs to be cared for, whether it is by others or by themselves. 

How about you?  What are your thoughts on this guide?  Does it give you some helpful information?  Is it missing important pieces that would be helpful for you to know?  I hope you will take some time to download and review the guide to see if it can be helpful to you or someone you know.

In my last entry I did a brief 2018 year in review.  Now, I want to look ahead to 2019.

Although personally I felt like we did a lot of great things in 2018, I know we still have a lot more work to do.  There is still a lack of education, support, empathy, and advocacy out there, and there is also a lot of discrimination against the mentally ill.  We must keep going until the day that discrimination is completely gone.  We need to continue educating others and working with policy makers to make impactful changes in our society, and we need to continue to use the current momentum we already have for advocating for mental health change.

Next, my hope is that 2019 brings more effective and safe treatment options.  Last year I mentioned treatments such as TMS, ketamine, psychedelics, and EMDR, and it would be great to see more research on these and many other options.  As I have said before, I am very excited about all of the work that is being done to try to understand mental illness and start looking at ways that we can better treat it.  Even more exciting is the work being done to determine how we might be able to prevent these illnesses from occurring in the first place.  Wouldn’t it be amazing to get to a place where we know what to do (or not do) to prevent a mental illness from happening?  My wish is that 2019 will be a year that takes us closer to that reality.

Overall, I think 2019 will hold some interesting and promising new information when it comes to mental health.  Assuming all goes as I plan, I want to continue to explore those topics on my blog.  I hope that you will continue to join with me.

How about you?  What are you looking forward to in 2019?

As I write this entry, it is the last day of the year.  I thought I would use this entry to reflect on 2018, both in a personal sense and as it relates to the topic of depression and mental health.

Personally, I feel like I have worked hard to advocate for mental health and encourage more education and support for those affected by mental illness (which is pretty much everyone in some way).  In my local area we have passed legislation that will bring improvements to mental health, and I think we are seeing more and more conversations around how we can better care for everyone’s mental health, regardless if an illness is present.  There is also a growing interest in mental health education, whether for health care workers, family, friends, schools, and children, among many others.  We continue to see momentum, and I think in my corner of the world we can be proud of our accomplishments.

On a larger scale, I think there is a lot of momentum around mental health as well.  Topics like depression and suicide and others have become part of a larger conversation and are covered in the media on a far reaching scale.  Of course I have a bias, but I feel like you would have to be hidden in a cave to have not heard about mental health at some point in 2018.  This is so important, because the more we talk about it, the more people will understand mental illness and health.  Ultimately, I think this reduces the fear that people have about it, and that can lead to more compassion and support.  2018 has brought me some hope, and I want it to continue into the next year.

How about you?  How has 2018 been for you?  Did you experience any hope around mental health?  What did you learn?