Bipolar Advantage Inc. will be introducing a new integrated recovery program called the “Advantage Program” on September 6, 2008. “The days of thinking a diagnosis of bipolar disorder means living a diminished life are over,” says company president Tom Wootton.

“With Education, Assessment, Treatment, and Results Worth Striving For, the core principle of the Advantage Program is that mental conditions affect our entire lives, so all aspects need to be addressed in an integrated program. The Advantage Program addresses the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, relationship, and career needs of each participant with an unprecedented coordination of the entire team of professionals.”

The comprehensive, six-month intensive program utilizes a professional team including medical, psychotherapeutic, relationship coaching, spiritual counseling, peer support, Anthony Robbins Coaching™, mind skills, fitness, and nutrition. The non-residential program offers working professionals, students and others the chance to fully participate through a series of workshops and individual sessions.

“Tom is doing something no one else is really doing. He is turning a serious mental illness on its head and suggesting that by accepting rather than fighting the disorder, people with bipolar can identify and access their strengths and lead lives that are not only satisfying but productive beyond their wildest imaginings…” -Maureen Duffy, Ph.D.

As a result of work done with Riverside, Orange, Alameda, and San Bernardino Counties, the Advantage Program was conceived by the collaboration of Tom Wootton, founder of Bipolar Advantage, and Dr. Peter Forster, M.D. of UCSF Medical School.

Tom Wootton, one of the leading consumer advocates for the mentally ill and author of two books, The Bipolar Advantage and The Depression Advantage, will be giving free local talks about this integrated approach to creating an exceptional life. Tom will be giving a series of talks throughout the San Francisco Bay Area during July and August and nationwide in the fall. Be sure to check out the schedule of events to find a location near you. Engaging and insightful, Wootton discusses his own experiences and offers solutions to those with bipolar, their family and friends. Therapists, doctors and counselors are also welcome.

About Bipolar Advantage

Established in 2002, Bipolar Advantage Inc. is a consumer run organization of mental health professionals and others in support of those with mental conditions, their family and friends. Their mission is to help people with mental conditions shift their thinking and behavior so that they can lead extraordinary lives. Combining the insights of professionals with consumers who have mastered their condition, they are at the forefront of a revolution in mental health care. Through better Education, Assessment, Treatment, and most importantly Results Worth Striving For, the Advantage Program sets the new standard of care in mental health.

Bipolar Advantage

The gap between prevalence of dementia in developing and higher-incomecountries may be much smaller than previously estimated, according to astudy released on July 28, 2008 in The Lancet.

Previously, studies have indicated that dementia is less prevalent indeveloping countries than in high income countries, a difference thathas been attributed to a relatively aged population in the latter.However, according to the background information in the article, theseprevious studies lack quality and need a wider evidence base,particularly in studies from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East,eastern Europe and Russia.

In 1998, the 10/66 Dementia Research Group was established as a part ofthe Alzheimer’s Disease International, based in King’s College London,in order to draw attention to the disparity in research of dementia indeveloping and high-income countries. At the time, while 66% ofpatients with dementia were living in low and middle income countries(LMIC), only 10% of research focused on this population.

In 1999, the group developed and validated diagnostic methods of thisdisease in a large-scape pilot study in 25 LMICs. Their diagnosis isbased on a 2-3 hour assessment in the home of the subject, including aclinical interview, cognitive tests, and informant interviews.Balancing these results then leads to a diagnosis. These are generallyless restrictive than the standard Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ofMental Disorders (DSM-I) criteria, which include: memory impairment,which is not an early feature of certain dementia subtypes; and clearevidence of social and occupational impairment, which can be difficultto establish in LMIC settings. As a result, the 10/66 diagnosticcriteria may reveal more subtle cases.

To learn more about dementia in developing populations, Professor JuanLlibre Rodriguez, Medical University of Havana, Cuba, and ProfessorMartin Prince, Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, UK,and colleagues from the 10/66 Dementia Research Group evaluated 14,960subjects in China, India, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico,and Peru aged 65 years and older. Both the 10/66 and DMV-I criteriawere used and the latter was compared to previously published studiesin European countries.

According to the DSM-IV criteria, the prevalence of dementia variedwidely, as low as 0.3% in rural India and as high as 6.3% in Cuba. Whenadjusted for age and sex, in comparison to European estimates, theDSM-IV prevalence was 80% of this in urban Latin American sites, 50% ofthis in China, and less than 25% of this in India and rural LatinAmerica. The prevalence of dementia according to the 10/66 guidelineswas generally higher and more consistent across the populations, withprevalence as low as 5.6% in rural China and as high as 11.7% in theDominican Republic. OF the 1,345 cases of 10/66 dementia, 847 were notconfirmed by DSM-IV criteria, the authors supported this with evidenceof high levels of associated disability.?

The authors close with warning about the underestimates of dementia inLMIC countries: “Our conclusion is that the DSM-IV dementia criterionmight substantially underestimate the true prevalence of dementia,especially in least developed regions, because of difficulties indefining and ascertaining decline in intellectual function and itsconsequences. We believe that our methods have drawn attention to asubstantial prevalence of dementia that might have been missed.Prevalence differences between developed and developing countries mightnot be as large as previously thought.”

Dr Eric Larson, Group Health Center for Health Studies, Seattle, WA,USA and Dr Kenneth Langa, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA,contributed an accompanying comment in which they support the 10/66criteria in this analysis. “The 10/66 study will provide uniqueopportunities to explore environmental effects on the ageing process inthe brain…we applaud the 10/66 authors’ focus on actual function andespecially functional impairment, which leads to suffering anddependency. We should work towards letting more of the world’s peopleexperience long life as a reward for their many years of life on earth- not as punishment for the triumphs of modern medicine and publichealth.” They say.

This study will be presented at the International Conference onAlzheimer’s Disease (ICAD) the weekend of July 26. These results willbe expanded over the next few years, as the 10/66 group collects moredata from their network of 15 sites in 11 different countries.

Prevalence of dementia in Latin America, India, and China: apopulation-based cross-sectional survey
Juan J Llibre Rodriguez, Cleusa P Ferri, Daisy Acosta, Mariella Guerra,Yueqin Huang, K S Jacob, E S Krishnamoorthy, Aquiles Salas, Ana LuisaSosa, Isaac Acosta, Michael E Dewey, Ciro Gaona, A T Jotheeswaran,Shuran Li, Diana Rodriguez, Guillermina Rodriguez, P Senthil Kumar,Adolfo Valhuerdi, Martin Prince, for the 10/66 Dementia Research Group?
Published Online The Lancet July 28, 2008
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61002-8
Click Here For Journal

The rising tide of dementia worldwide
Published Online The Lancet July 28, 2008
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61003-X
Click Here For Journal

Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
Copyright: Medical News Today

Commenting on the release of the Welfare Reform Green Paper ‘No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility’, Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of mental health charity Mind, said:

“People with mental health problems have the highest want to work rate of any disabled group but they need help and support to be able to do this successfully. The Government’s proposals offering personalised support are a definite step forward but it comes with a catch. By introducing increased conditionally and tougher sanctions people some people may be pressured to return to the workplace before they are ready for fear of being left without any income at all. Facing this stark choice will undoubtedly cause them further distress and there’s a high chance their condition could deteriorate in the long-run.

“Encouraging people to go back to work is only part of the deal. The biggest barrier is the attitude of employers to people who have mental health problems, not the attitude of people with mental distress to employment. The Government needs to take action to ensure that employers fulfill their part, and provide a supportive work environment free from stigma and discrimination.”

Notes:

Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales. We work to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress.

Source:
Mind
http://www.mind.org.uk

Commenting on the Healthcare Commission’s report ‘The pathway to recovery: A review of NHS acute inpatient mental health services’, Emily Wooster, Policy Officer at mental health charity Mind said:

“While we are encouraged to see that the Healthcare Commission has identified a number of high performing trusts, we are deeply concerned that nearly one in four patients are still being treated by trusts rated as ‘weak’. The best performing trusts were those that provided a therapeutic environment and engaged patients in meaningful activities - these things shouldn’t be the preserve of our best hospitals, but should be absolutely fundamental to mental health care across the board.

“It is also alarming that 50% of patients have no say in what is included in their care plan or the treatment they receive. At a time when the government is demanding increased involvement and greater personalised care, this represents a failing that not only opts patients out of designing the care that is best for them, but leaves them in the dark about what treatment they are receiving, and what to expect when they leave hospital.

“And yet again, we are confronted with more evidence that some mental health wards can be hostile and unsafe. No one should be expected to tolerate being housed in an environment where they feel threatened and at risk, let alone be treated in such an environment at a time of utter vulnerability and need. Action on this issue is long overdue - this shouldn’t be too much to ask.”

Notes:

Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales. We work to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress.

Source:
Mind
http://www.mind.org.uk

Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago has announced that it has received a grant from BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. to support its Adult Phenylketonuria (PKU) Outreach Education Project. The goal of the program is to conduct outreach to PKU patients who are no longer being treated at PKU clinics to encourage them to return for further education about recent developments in the management and treatment of PKU.

“According to our records, approximately 250 PKU patients are not currently being seen in our clinic on a regular basis. This illustrates the magnitude of the problem and suggests that there may be as many patients currently outside the healthcare system as there are receiving care,” said Barbara Burton, M.D., Director, PKU and Metabolic Disease Clinic, Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago. “Untreated PKU can have severe neurological implications, including impaired cognitive function, mood disorders, mental illness and brain damage. Through specific targeting efforts, we hope to reach out to patients who are not receiving care to educate them about new options and advances in the treatment of PKU so that they can learn to manage and possibly avoid the severe neurological implications associated with untreated disease.”

The goal of the project is to connect with each PKU and hyperphe patient not currently receiving care and encourage them to attend educational sessions arranged by Children’s Memorial on the treatment of PKU and maternal PKU. The program will also identify additional outreach strategies that are most effective in reaching adult PKU patients who can benefit from new management guidelines and techniques.

“We are very pleased to provide this grant to Children’s Memorial Hospital in support of this pilot program,” said Steve Aselage, Senior Vice President of Global Commercial Development at BioMarin. “It’s an important campaign and we applaud Dr. Burton and her team for proactively reaching out to these patients to bring them back to the clinic to receive the medical care they deserve.”

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About Children’s Memorial Hospital

Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, is recognized as one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country and is rated number one in Illinois in rankings published in U.S. News & World Report. Its physicians are faculty members at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University.

Source: Julie Pesch
Children’s Memorial Hospital

Barnardo’s submitted its response to the Department for Children, Schools and Families this week as part of the independently commissioned review of CAMHS.

Barnardo’s continues to be encouraged by CAMHS recent initiatives, which have helped to focus Government thinking on promoting emotional wellbeing and positive mental health. There remain areas of concern however and the children’s charity sees the review as a crucial opportunity to call for significant improvements, including:

An increase in acknowledgement and funding for the crucial role the voluntary sector plays in providing early intervention services that boost resilience and coping.

More focus to be placed upon the participation of children and young people in commissioning and developing services. Barnardo’s is calling for all CAMH services to show how they are helping children, young people and families to participate actively in CAMHS design and delivery.

More emphasis to be placed on embedding mental health promotion into the training of all children and young people’s workforce including GPs and those working in nurseries, parenting groups, youth centres and ante-natal services.

A concerted effort to alter diagnostic aspects of CAMHS which continue to be dominated by the medical model. For example, labels and language used in diagnosis and treatment only add to the current stigma attached to mental health difficulties.

Barnardo’s full and detailed response document to the DCSF is available upon request from the Press Office.

Barnardo’s works with approximately 115,000 children, young people and their families in more than 394 specialised projects in local communities across the UK. This includes work with children affected by today’s most urgent issues: poverty, homelessness, disability, bereavement and abuse.

For more information about Barnardo’s visit our website at http://www.barnardos.org.uk.

We believe in the potential in every child and young person, no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. We will support them, stand up for them and bring out the best in each and every child.

Barnardo’s

Meditation sessions are proving a hit for members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists at their Annual Meeting at Imperial College, London - with a growing number claiming they are turning to the spiritual discipline to combat anxiety and burnout.

Meditation workshops, run by the College’s 2,000-strong Spirituality Special Interest Group, are overbooked. “It seems to be an indication of the need for spiritual nourishment, something that College members are not finding easily in the outside world,” says Dr Sarah Eagger, chair of the Spirituality Group.

Dr Eagger, consultant psychiatrist at St Charles Hospital, London, said her daily meditation practice was as important in her everyday work as her medical training. “A strong spiritual practice really comes into its own when you are faced with a very distressed patient, while also coping with the pressures of working in teams under immense stress, and then having to spend hours filling in forms that make you feel that you are not trusted. I am stressed enough as it is. Without meditation practice to keep a still space inside, I would be suffering burn-out.”

Dr Andrew Powell, the founding chair of the Spirituality Group, said: “There is a level of concern within the profession about being trapped in a culture of measurement and box-ticking. The result is that it’s becoming ever more difficult to practice psychiatry, to contain the anxiety and concerns of our patients, to maintain a common humanity and avoid getting caught up in an ‘us and them’ mentality.”

However, many mental health practitioners struggle to understand the relevance of spirituality to their work, the meeting was told. Julia Head, specialist chaplain at the Maudsley Hospital in London, told the conference that spirituality is increasingly recognised as a vital part of good mental health care.

“The National Institute for Mental Health in England is just the latest body to acknowledge the limitations of modern medicine by recommending that practitioners provide spiritual support alongside physical treatments, including medication,” said Dr Head who coordinates ‘recovery’ training programmes for 300 mental health practitioners in the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth.

“Practitioners should be encouraging hope, and fostering a desire for change and the possibility of recovery. Yet this idea of healing, as opposed to clinical treatment, is something that is foreign to many practitioners,” she said. ‘They feel trapped in a culture where measuring clinical activity is the priority. It takes them time to understand that in order to support their patients’ recovery, they need to feel valued themselves and to take time for their own nurture.’

The meeting was also told that the evidence-base for the therapeutic value of meditation for a wide range of health problems was significantly stronger than most pharmaceutical products. A new meta-analysis of 823 randomly controlled trials of meditation, conducted by the US National Institute of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, showed the clinical benefits of meditation across a wide range of physical and emotional disorders.

“Meditation is a way of life rather than quick fix achieved by paying for eight sessions or using gimmicks such as incense, music and light,” Dr Avdesh Sharma, past president of the Indian Psychiatric Association, said. “It doesn’t work immediately. You need to practice it for several weeks before the effects begin to be felt.”

Dr Sharma added: “If meditation was a drug, we’d all want shares in it. It has a beneficial effect on most physical health problems and is very effective for mental health problems significantly reducing levels of depression and anxiety by improving relaxation, oxygenation of the brain, insomnia and energy levels.”

Reference
The Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Imperial College, London, 1 - 4 July 2008

The Royal College of Psychiatrists
www.rcpsych.ac.uk

Adolescent girls who had a serious school failure by the 12th grade - being expelled, suspended or dropping out - were significantly more likely to have suffered a serious bout of depression at the age of 21 than girls who did not have these problems.

New research published this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health showed that girls who had early conduct problems in elementary school also were at increased risk for depression in early adulthood. However, the University of Washington study did not show any link for boys between academic, behavior or social problems and depression at age 21.

“For girls there are broader implications of school failure,” said Carolyn McCarty, a UW research associate professor of pediatrics and lead author of the study. “We already know that it leads to more poverty, higher rates of being on public assistance and lower rates of job stability. And now this study shows it is having mental health implications for girls.”

The study showed that girls who were expelled from school were more than twice as likely to suffer depression - 44 percent compared to 20 percent of girls who were not expelled. Thirty-three percent of the girls who dropped out of school later became depressed compared to 19 percent who were not dropouts. Twenty-eight percent of the girls who were suspended later suffered depression versus 19 percent of girls who weren’t suspended.

Overall, 45 percent of the girls and 68 percent of the boys in the study experienced a major school failure, but McCarty said these rates were not surprising since the participants in the study came from high-crime neighborhoods. However, the depression rate was higher among girls, 22 percent versus 17 percent for the boys.

“This gender paradox shows that while school failure is more atypical for girls it appears to have more severe consequences when it does occur,” said McCarty. “One reason may be that school failure stigmatizes girls more strongly or is harder for them to overcome. We do know that girls with conduct problems, such as school failure, tend to have long-term problems with cascading effects.”

She said the study’s overall gender rates of depression are comparable to previous studies, although the 17 percent rate for boys was somewhat high.

Data for the study was drawn from the UW’s ongoing Seattle Social Development Research Project that was launched in 1985 and has been tracking 808 people since they were in the fifth grade. Students were drawn from 18 Seattle schools in high-crime neighborhoods to study the development of positive and antisocial behaviors. Participants were almost equally divided by gender and identified themselves as white (46 percent), black (24 percent), Asian-American (21 percent), Native American (6 percent) and other groups (3 percent).

McCarty said the study points to the need for communities to create integrated prevention programs to help children deal with academic, social and behavioral problems.

“When adolescents have these kinds of problems and experiences, the response tends to be focused purely on the academic, in part because the school and mental health systems are distinct. We need to look more broadly at functioning and see what is going on with other aspects of their lives including the psychological. We can’t just put a Band-Aid on one thing that seems to be a problem because often there is an underlying bigger issue that has to be addressed,” she said.

“When school failure emerges we should have remedies and be ready to intervene at that point to prevent later depression” said McCarty, who is directing a middle school study that is evaluating early prevention efforts to thwart depression. “Social and emotional skills are vital to adolescents and they may or may not be taught by schools and their parents. We need to have school-based prevention programs available before problems get much bigger and harder to resolve.”

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Co-authors of the study are W. Alex Mason, Richard Kosterman and J. David Hawkins of the UW’s Social Development Research Group; Liliana Lengua, associate professor of psychology; and Elizabeth McCauley, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Funding for the research came from the National Association of Schizophrenia and Affective Disorder, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Source: Joel Schwarz
University of Washington

Millions of people with mental illness are unable to do everyday things like going to the shops, making new friends or applying for jobs, groundbreaking research reveals.

The pioneering survey of more than 3,000 people with mental health problems clearly reveals that this includes people you expect to love you unconditionally, your family, (36%), closely followed by employers (35%), neighbours (31%) and friends (25%).

At the other end of the discriminators’ league table, children (5%), teachers (8%), shopkeepers (10%), and public transport workers (10%) are revealed as the groups who are most accepting of people with mental health problems (for the full league table see notes to editors below).

The findings, which will shape a high-profile ￡18 million mental health anti-stigma campaign, reveal that:

Nearly nine out of 10 people with mental health problems have been affected by stigma and discrimination, with two thirds saying they have stopped doing things because of the stigma they face.Stigma stops people with mental health problems from doing everyday things such as applying for jobs, making new friends, and going out to pubs and shops. It can even prevent people from reporting a crime.

People with mental health problems want the anti-stigma campaign to target schools and the media to change attitudes and reduce prejudice.

Carers of people with mental health problems also stop doing things because of the stigma and discrimination that they face.

Paul Corry, Rethink’s director of public affairs, says: “Our research clearly shows that stigma and discrimination are ruining people’s lives. People with mental health problems have enough on their plates without facing additional pressure caused by other people’s archaic and bigoted opinions.

“The Moving People anti-stigma campaign will lay firm foundations for ending mental health discrimination in the UK, but long term it is essential that the government ploughs hefty resources into tackling the problem, as has been done in Scotland and New Zealand. As an employer, the government could also lead by example and employ more people with mental health problems within its departments, and encourage other public sector bodies to do the same.”

Janey Antoniou, who has schizophrenia, recalls one example of the stigma she encountered: “I had a neighbour who used to run inside when she saw me because she had once seen me taken to the hospital by the police in my dressing gown. The fact that I’d walked down the road with a briefcase thousands of times seemed irrelevant.”

The “Stigma Shout” survey was carried out by mental health charity Rethink on behalf of Moving People, England’s most ambitious programme to end the discrimination faced by people with mental health problems, and improve the nation’s wellbeing, funded with ￡18m from the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief and evaluated by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, London. Rethink is leading the anti-stigma campaign part of Moving People and intends to reach 30 million people across England in an attempt to challenge attitudes and change behaviour.

The anti-stigma campaign will be launched in January 2009.

Rethink
http://www.rethink.org

Funding of $4.4 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) was announced by Steven Fletcher, MP for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia and Parliamentary Secretary for Health, on behalf of Tony Clement, Minister of Health. This funding will support three research teams investigating how to improve the application of mental health research. The Mental Health Commission of Canada is contributing $250,000 to one of the projects. The announcement was made at St. Boniface General Hospital.

“Thousands of Canadians and their families deal with the negative effects of mental health problems,” said

Mr. Fletcher. “The Government is committed to funding research that will help ensure that these Canadians have access to the best mental healthcare services possible.”

Mr. Fletcher was joined by Dr. Richard Brière, Assistant Director, CIHR’s Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction. “CIHR and the Mental Health Commission of Canada have both identified a pressing need for mental health research in Canada,” said Dr. Brière. “This funding is essential because, ultimately, the results will help health service providers, educators and others meet the multifaceted needs of people who suffer from mental health problems.”

“As a catalyst in the field of mental health, the Commission is pleased to support a research team from Winnipeg, the first in Canada, to look at how young adults who suffer from mental health problems make complex decisions in the absence of critical information and helpful decision-making aids,” said Mr. Michael Howlett, President and CEO, Mental Health Commission of Canada. “This research is particularly important in shaping public knowledge about important mental health problems.”

The three funded research projects underwent a rigorous peer-review process before being approved and exemplify CIHR’s comprehensive, problem-based approach to funding excellence in health research. The principal investigators and their respective projects are being funded for a period of five years:

• John Walker (University of Manitoba) will examine how we can support young adults with anxiety and depression to obtain effective forms of help.

• Melanie Barwick (The Hospital for Sick Children) will develop and evaluate an innovative implementation model to bring evidence based practices into both the children’s mental health and education sectors.
• Alison Niccols (McMaster University) will work with addiction centres’ staff and researchers to ensure women with substance use issues and their children receive the best services/treatments.

With this funding, these research teams will develop strategies and guidelines to address mental health issues, and will strive to change perceptions and attitudes towards mental health conditions.

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The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada’s agency for health research. CIHR’s mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to catalyze its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 11,000 health researchers and trainees across Canada. http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) is a non-profit organization created to focus national attention on mental health issues. It is funded by the federal government but operates at arm’s length from all orders of government. The Commission’s objective is to enhance the health and social outcomes for Canadians living with mental health problems and illnesses. The Commission was announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in response to one of the recommendations in the report by the Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, entitled “Out of the Shadows at Last.” Former Senator Michael Kirby was Chair of the Senate Committee at the time the report was released. http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/

Source: David Coulombe
Canadian Institutes of Health Research