Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Why Do We Dwell in the Past?

After something stressful has occurred it would be nice if we could leave it behind and move on with our lives. Sometimes we can. For example, you might narrowly miss getting sideswiped by another car, feel stressed in the moment, and then shake it off and move on with your day.

But often after we’ve encountered a stressful event, say, an argument with a spouse or an important presentation at work, we continue to ruminate (have repetitive, often negative, thoughts). These thoughts are not about active problem-solving; they are repeatedly chewing on and worrying over past events.

Why is it that sometimes we can let go of the things that stress us out and at other times, even after the event has passed and we know can’t change it or our response, we continue to be stuck thinking about it?

It is important to understand what makes us more likely to dwell on the past, considering the numerous negative consequences.

Personality plays a role. Some people are more prone to rumination than others. Nearly everyone dwells in the past at some point, but some people do it more often and are more likely to get stuck in their thoughts.

But are there types of stressful events that make us more likely to ruminate? Recent research indicates that stressful events that have some sort of social component are more likely to stick with us (Emotion, August 2012). So, for example, a public presentation is more likely to leave us dwelling in the past than a private stressful experience.

It makes sense, of course. If we’ve had to perform in some way or another, we are then more likely to worry about others’ negative judgment. Not only are we more likely to worry, we’re also more likely to feel shame.

It can become a vicious cycle. We have a stressful experience in public, we worry that how we acted won’t be accepted by others, we feel ashamed of our actions (justified or not) and then we worry some more. The more shame we feel, the more likely we are to worry.

Shame also appears to be linked to rumination and negative thoughts. Shame occurs when we fail to achieve our goals. Unmet goals tend to leave us focused on the goal. Feelings of shame — for example, shame at not achieving what others have, shame at not being good enough — can cause us to overthink things and become stuck in negative thoughts of past failures.

Rumination and persistent negative thinking are linked to social anxiety, symptoms of depression, elevated blood pressure and increased amounts of cortisol (a hormone associated with stress) in our blood. This type of worry can last three to five days after a stressful event has passed.

Brain Stimulation Relieves Depression With Fewer Side Effects

By Rick Nauert PhDSenior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 29, 2012

Brain Stimulation Relieves Depression without Side Effects

Sleep problems often accompany depression, either as a condition of depression or as a result of medications taken to relieve depression.

A new study discovers that magnetic stimulation of the frontal lobe of the brain can alleviate symptoms of depression, without the more common side effects of insomnia or arousal sometimes seen with antidepressant medications.

“People’s sleep gets better as their depression improves, but the treatment doesn’t itself cause sedation or insomnia,” said Dr. Peter B. Rosenquist at Georgia Health Sciences University.
Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million, or about 6.7 percent of American adults in a given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. It’s the leading cause of disability in ages 15 to 44.

The finding resulted from a second analysis of a previously-published study of 301 patients at 23 sites comparing the anti-depressive effects of the Neuronetics Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy System to placebo treatment in patients resistant to antidepressant medications.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) sessions were given for 40 minutes, five days a week for six weeks. Initial findings, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry in 2007, were the primary evidence in the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of TMS for depression.

The secondary review reaffirmed TMS’s effectiveness in depression but revealed no differences in rates of insomnia or sleepiness among those who got actual and sham (placebo) therapy. Patients in the treatment group were also no more likely to request medication for insomnia or anxiety.

“It’s important for us to understand the full range of the effects of any treatment we give,” said Rosenquist, corresponding author of the new study, which was just published in the journal Psychiatric Research.

The new findings should reduce worries of sleep-related side effects and remind physicians to remain alert to residual insomnia in depressed patients they are treating with TMS, the researchers report.

Insomnia occurs in 50-90 percent of patients with major depressive disorder. However, for some depressed patients a problem is in sleeping too much. Researchers say the good news is that TMS does not contribute to insomnia or oversleeping.

“One of the many bad things about depression is that often patients cannot sleep. We think it’s a significant symptom,” Rosenquist said.

“If patients can’t sleep, it really adds to their distress, and even increases the likelihood of suicide.

We need antidepressant treatments that patients can tolerate so that they will stay with the treatment, which takes weeks to fully achieve. Our study adds to the evidence showing that TMS has remarkably few side effects.”

Clinically, patients often turn to TMS as an option or adjunct to medication to avoid medication side effects.

“Mood disorders are associated with widespread structural and functional changes in the human brain, which can be reversed with successful treatment,” Rosenquist said. “Clinical researchers are working to find the optimal way to restore normal brain function.”

TMS targets the prefrontal cortex of the brain, an area of the brain involved in mood regulation as well as other higher-order functions like planning, evaluating and decision-making.

In this procedure, patients sit in a recliner and receive brief pulses of a MRI strength magnet held against the front of the head. The magnetic energy of TMS causes the brain cells closest to the surface of the brain to increase their activity which in turn influences the activity of the brain as a whole.

Despite the numbers, Rosenquist concedes that it’s not clear what causes depression or exactly how antidepressants and other therapies, such as TMS, work. “It’s an important puzzle and the work continues,” he said.

Source: Georgia Health Sciences University

The Power of Self-Compassion

By Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.
Every day it seems to become more apparent to me how deeply healing a practice of self-compassion is. During the difficult moments in life at times it seems as if we’re wired to have a neural reaction of kicking ourselves while we’re down. The result? We stay down with a greater feeling of unworthiness, more hurt, bigger wounds and a bleeding heart. Life is harder from this place and makes us more prone toward stress, anxiety, depression, and addictive behaviors.

Self-compassion is a 180° shift when we understand that we’re wounded and extend ourselves in some way toward self-care.

Here’s a picture with a quote that speaks to this:

I want to give you a simple self-compassion practice today, but first do the best you can to set any judgments and expectations aside and allow your experience to be your teacher.

Practice right now, nestling your hand into your heart until it finds a comfortable fit.

Take a few deep breaths into your heart area.

Just feel the warm connection for a few breaths and let it be.

As you practice this, you’re priming your mind to be more aware of your heart where compassion lies and therefore your brain is more likely to access it during the difficult moments.

What would the days, weeks and months ahead look like if you added more self-compassion into your life?

As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction creates a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.
Source: The Now Effect: How a Mindful Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life

Mental health – a manager’s toughest talk

Bell Business Markets manager Sophie Watier based in Montreal has been trained to recognize mental illness symptoms and approach employees respectfully. The training, she says, puts employees at ease, too. (Christinne Muschi For the Globe and Mail)

Mental health – a manager’s toughest talk

JUDY GERSTEL

Special to The Globe and Mail

PublishedTuesday, Oct. 30 2012, 1:49 PM EDT
Last updatedTuesday, Oct. 30 2012, 1:49 PM EDT

The manager of a small manufacturing company in a Toronto suburb who oversees about 40 workers has dealt with the following employee issues in the past few years: depression, suicide attempt, alcohol addiction, harassment, arrest, fisticuffs and multiple meltdowns.

(What is a meltdown? As with pornography, you know it when you see it. And it’s a rare and fortunate manager who hasn’t seen an employee melt down.)

Managers will tell you it’s not the work itself that they find stressful. It’s not hiring or firing or scheduling or meeting deadlines or customer demands that make their workday difficult. It’s the people problems that often arise out of mental illness.

And if there’s one conversation managers don’t want to initiate with employees who report to them, it’s a conversation about mental health.

Employees aren’t so eager to talk about it, either.

A Canadian Medical Association study in 2008 indicated that just 23 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they would feel comfortable talking to an employer about their mental illness.

“Managers and employees don’t like to talk about behaviour problems,” acknowledged Carolyn Dewa, health economist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. “It’s really uncomfortable.”

But with one out of five workers experiencing mental illness, and more education and openness about it, managers are increasingly expected to assume an active role on the front line of mental health in the workplace.

It’s no longer a matter of leaving it to the human resources department.

Managers may be asked to be alert to symptoms, initiate the dreaded conversation, guide the employee to assistance programs, keep in touch during a leave-of-absence, and facilitate the employee’s return to work.

Almost one in three managers surveyed recently by Ipsos-Reid reported that they’d been trained to identify and help employees with signs of depression.

Bell Canada, for example, has instituted “mandatory training for all our managers about mental health,” said Mary Deacon, chairwoman of Bell’s mental health initiative. Managers attend three-hour sessions, “face-to-face, in small groups of 15 to 20 people,” facilitated by a mental health professional.

Sophie Watier, manager of client care at Bell Business Markets, was one of the first managers to be trained when the program was launched two years ago.

“It was a clear confirmation that it [awareness of mental health] is part of our job,” said Ms. Watier, who supervises a team of seven managers and 170 employees in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.
“Employees feel safe,” she explained, “because they know we’re all trained and not biased. We are working from facts about mental health and that makes the perfect welcoming approach for employees to raise their hands and talk about these issues.”

Becoming aware of facts and stats about mental health issues was an important part of the training, said Ms. Watier, who is based in Montreal.

Also, she said, “We were taught to recognize symptoms and how to act on that, how to discuss such a sensitive topic with employees. We were given tools on how to approach the conversation, how to do it so we are respectful.”

Added Ms. Deacon, who initiated the Bell program: “This is an area where people don’t know what to do. I don’t believe for one minute that people don’t want to do the right thing, but we Canadians are so polite, so fearful of saying the wrong thing, so we don’t say anything.”

Managers usually know what to do and say when an employee suffers a broken leg or a heart attack. However, when the illness is depression, anxiety, panic attacks or posttraumatic stress syndrome – which together account for 95 per cent of mental illness in the workplace – managers may be at a loss.

But they don’t need to get stressed and anxious about employees’ mental health or lack thereof, said Mary Ann Baynton, a consultant on mental health in the workplace and co-author of Preventing Workplace Meltdown: An Employer’s Guide to Maintaining a Psychologically Safe Workplace.
“Dealing with psychological health and safety in the workplace is similar to dealing with physical health and safety,” she said. “It’s not as much of a burden as people might anticipate. It comes down to the way we treat people.”

However, she emphasized, “It’s not about being nice to employees and expecting nothing of them.”
In fact, treating people as if they’re not able to perform can provoke a poor relationship with co-workers.

“It’s often viewed as special treatment,” Dr. Dewa cautioned. Especially if the employee hasn’t been really productive, it may seem as if the manager is favouring that employee, she said.
It also may mean a small business owner won’t be able to meet goals if an employee isn’t productive and could even jeopardize the business.

a person with mental illness is able to work, he or she should be encouraged to do so.

“The key question to ask is,‘What is it you need to stay productive?’” Ms. Baynton advised. The answer is as “unique as the individual,” she said.

What may be required: clear communication, more structure or more flexibility, enhancing the ability to focus by minimizing distractions including conflict, multitasking and pressure.

“Many of the accommodations are not really costly,” Dr. Dewa said. But it’s imperative that they evolve out of a discussion between the manager and the employee, she said.

“Sometimes employees don’t really know what to ask for.” And so, the discussion may involve some brainstorming.

It may be that the employee is not comfortable leading a meeting that has been part of his or her responsibilities, she suggested.

“Sometimes it’s noise,” she said, for example, “If a person’s desk is near the printer and everybody is always around the printer.”

She added that it may be difficult to make changes without raising questions in the workplace.

“Trying to find that balance, it’s useful for the manager to ask the employee, ‘Would you be comfortable if I did this?’”

“If someone was qualified and capable to do a task before depression or anxiety-related disorders became a problem,” said Ms. Baynton, “in a majority of cases, you can do the task even when you’re not well, with the right kinds of support.”

She noted that she is referring to cases of moderate depression and anxiety disorder and not psychosis.

For all the responsibilities managers may be expected to take on regarding mental health in the workplace, “They should never try to diagnose, treat or counsel,” Ms. Baynton cautioned.

Even expecting a manager to identify if an employee is experiencing mental illness, she said, “is not fair and not their role. It is their job to discuss behaviours in the workplace, and workplace issues and how that may be impacting performance.”

As well, she emphasized, “It’s not the manager’s job to make employees tell them about their personal health. For some people, health issues are personal.”

On the other hand, she said, “You don’t need to shut people down who wish to talk about it – and talk about it and talk about it and talk about it.”

Sometimes, said Ms. Watier, “It’s not clear during these discussions that we’re talking about mental illness. It can go from performance issues to personal issues.”

She attributed that progression to “a safe environment. They know they can trust us because we were trained to deal with this.”

The big change, said Ms. Watier, “is that we are really proactive. We’re not just waiting for a mental illness problem to come up. All the time we’re educating, facilitating, encouraging employees to participate in seminars and read articles, so we’re all always aware of mental health and tools for dealing with these issues.”

Another advantage, she said, is that employees can extend “what we’re sharing with them to family and friends.”

As a manager, she said, “I’m so proud to work for a company that cares.”

As someone with a close family member who is living with mental illness, she said, “It is an initiative that is deep in my heart.”

‘Not all mental health issues are disabilities’
Before she went back to school in the 1990s and became a consultant about workplace mental health, Mary Ann Baynton had a brokerage business with eight employees.

“Four had mental health issues,” she recalled, although she didn’t realize that when she hired them. “I just hired the best and brightest people I could find.”

At the time, she said, “I had that ignorant stereotype that people living with mental illness must be crazy.”

One employee was living with bipolar disorder, another with posttraumatic stress disorder, another with depression and another experienced panic attacks.

(The other four employees had issues, too. “We all had issues,” Ms. Baynton cheerfully said.)
“In my ignorance, I asked them what they needed. And they told me.”

After she made accommodations for them, they were so productive and so effective, she explained, that she was able to sell the business, return to school and change careers.

“What they taught me is, first of all, that not all mental health issues are disabilities. Some are just conditions that you live with and manage.”

Secondly, she said, “Even with mental health issues, there are ways to stay productive and contribute 100 per cent.”

What accommodations did Ms. Baynton make that were so effective?

“The person with bipolar disorder said she found the very complex files were overwhelming for her. The person who experienced panic attacks said she was worried about having one in front of a client.
“So they switched tasks and both stayed productive and neither had to take time off.”

Black people experiencing mental ill health continue to be at a higher risk of detention in hospital and are over-represented in forensic services and prison.

The voluntary sector has a role to play in reducing BME mental health detentions

New commissioning arrangements see the voluntary sector playing a greater role in mental health services for ethnic minority groups, but there are barriers to overcome first

Kamaldeep Bhui

Guardian Professional, Wednesday 31 October 2012 08.30 GMT

Recent findings suggest a culture of care where detention for black communities is acceptable and expected. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Black people experiencing mental ill health continue to be at a higher risk of detention in hospital and are over-represented in forensic services and prison.

Despite investment in community services for treating mental illness, detentions for black people almost doubled from 2,731 (10.7 per cent of all those detained) in 2005-06 to 4,624 in 2009-10.

These findings suggest a culture of care where detention for black communities is acceptable and expected. All of which makes the Care Quality Commission's decision to stop collecting data under the Count Me In Census, due to a lack of improvement in outcomes, all the more incredible.

It is also surprising and worrying that the Department of Health has remained silent and not prioritised more research and services to both understand and tackle the problem.

This is why the role of the voluntary sector is so crucial. The sector has made progress in its work with those most at risk of detention by proposing alternative models of care.

These creative solutions have emerged through necessity, are rarely evaluated using randomised trial designs and offer hope and inspiration to service users facing systems of care that they either fear or find unattractive.

Five years ago, I set up the Enhancing Pathways into Care (Epic) project in four NHS trusts (Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham and Easington) to improve the entry into and exit from care by collaborating with the voluntary sector. The project was part of the Department of Health's former delivering race equality programme.

In Sheffield, the project made an impact on voluntary sector and crisis services. This meant that the number of bed days for African-Caribbean patients dropped dramatically from 350 to 31 between 2005 and 2010.

Even if the voluntary sector is not directly involved in caring for inpatients, under the new commissioning arrangements it will play an increasing part in discharge planning, advocacy, after-care and housing.

However, there is a stumbling block. Many staff in the voluntary sector are unfamiliar with the Mental Health Act 2007, and the protections and rights it offers.

This month the Mental Health Providers Forum, an umbrella body of 50 voluntary sector service providers responsible for an £800m spend on care services, launched much needed guidance on the act to deal with this challenge.

The mental health legislation resource for health and social care practitioners sets clear standards on how to use the Act in the promotion of good mental health care. It also provides case studies, including ones that cover race and equality concerns.

I have gone a step further by helping to develop a new MSc in mental health and law at Queen Mary, University London. It will be jointly delivered by the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine and the university's law department, and will be open to applications from January 2013.

There are also a series of workshops and continuing professional development events on homicide and mental illness being run by the Cultural Consultation Service, which will use the mental health legislation resource to promote a better understanding and application of mental health law.

The changes in the commissioning arrangements and the reorganisation of health and social care means that greater attention will be paid to the prevention of mental health problems, mental health promotion and, of course, legislation.

There is an incredible opportunity to improve the quality of personalised care that mental health service users receive through the voluntary sector. Services that are flexible, more closely linked to community agencies and grounded in less institutionalised approaches to mental health care.

In this new climate of provision that is cost effective, more humane and less institutionalised, we are on the brink of a potential revolution in care commissioning and provision, particularly for black communities. That is if the voluntary sector steps up to the challenge.

Kamaldeep Bhui is professor of cultural psychiatry and epidemiology at Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, and director of the cultural consultation service, which are both based at Queen Mary, University of London.

A woman whose husband took his own life after he killed their two daughters has called for changes in the way mental health patients are treated.

Cork widow calls for mental health changes

Updated: 13:50, Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Una Butler says partners of mental health patients must also be included in their treatment

Una Butler from Ballycotton in Co Cork wants mandatory risk assessments to be conducted on the families and children of mental health patients.

She also wants the Mental Health Act to be changed to require medical personnel to involve the partners and families of mental health patients in their treatment.

In November 2010, John Butler killed six-year-old Zoe and two-year-old Ella at their home, before killing himself in his car a short distance away.

Mr Butler had been suffering from depression, for which he had received psychiatric treatment.
The 2001 Mental Health Act governs the treatment of patients with mental illness and the legislation is currently being reviewed.

An expert group appointed to review the Mental Health Act is due to issue its report by March of next year.

Minister of State with responsibility for mental health Kathleen Lynch said she has asked the expert group to examine calls by Ms Butler for changes to the law.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Lynch said she has forwarded all correspondence from Ms Butler to the expert group and to the Mental Health Commission.

The minister said she has met Ms Butler twice and was impressed by her obvious strength and determination that others will not suffer in the way she did.

She said she was not certain that you can put into law how clinicians treat people that come to them, and that it was a difficult area that may have to be dealt with by way of guidelines.

However, she pledged to listen to the recommendations of the expert group.

Helplines
HSE and Console 24-hour helpline: 1800-201-890
Aware: 1890-303-302 (Mon-Sun 10am-10pm)

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

5 Simple Ways to Respond to Negative People

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Alan Davidson

The next time a negative person comes your way, be grateful. No matter how mean, dark-spirited, cynical, angry, doom and gloom, or negative they may be, they are here to teach us how to love, honor and respect who we are and what we have to offer the world.

1. What does this person need?
Is there a chance that a positive input is being sought? If the answer is yes, then share something to lift the mood. If the answer is no, keep the interaction brief and walk away.

2. Are they acting as a mirror?
The answer is yes if we are being sucked in. When there is a pull, there is a resonance. Someone or something “out there” shows us where we are resisting the flow of life.
When this is the case, we can breathe in deeply and accept what is.

3. This too will pass.
While we can offer compassion and point to other alternatives, we are not responsible. Suffering is a choice. When we maintain our state, we are part of the solution rather than adding to the illusion. In this way, we create space for an opening of awareness to happen, which is more than enough.

4. Avoidance is O.K.
We can protect and safeguard the sanctity of our internal state by making sure we are with people who nurture us. On other occasions, when we have no alternative as a consequence of work or family obligations, we can remain upbeat and keep turning every negative comment into a positive. Do it for long enough and it works wonders. If the other person cannot get you on his or her negative side, they will eventually give up.

5. Love really is the answer.
Everything always comes down to love. If we love and respect ourselves, we do not give ourselves away so cheaply. We do not come down from our state. We do not concede who we are for the sake of someone’s need to off-load. We can listen with love. We only get dumped on when we allow ourselves to become part of the drama.

Via Julie Hoyle

Wisdom from Lisa Haisha

I tune into and listen to many coaching calls, speaker coaching and spiritual webinars and I usually just let the words flow over me as I get on with my work and whatever I have to do. However, I realised I was missing a lot of the value of the speakers involved in the calls I was half-listening to, so I decided to listen consciously, take notes and share the great quotes and wisdom I gain with you.

The quotes are not always verbatim as I have taken down what was appropriate to my learnings and what I heard through my filters and perceptions, however I feel I always glean some great truth and insights, and I want to share them with you.

I'm starting with Lisa Haisha, who as a guest on the Chris Howard's Professional Speaking Business webinar series.

Who is Lisa Haisha?
Hollywood Counselor and Humanitarian, Lisa is a personal counselor to some of the biggest stars
stars and executives in the entertainment industry.

She is the originator of the unique and powerful counseling approach known as "Soul Blazing" and today she outlined what can be accomplished with Soul Blazing.

Lisa has found that everyone has at least 8 personality "impostors" or character types that can help or hinder your your progress toward your goals. These "impostors" can control your life as they manifest themselves as narcissist, philosopher, clown, or wounded inner child.

Gaining control over and managing these influences will lead you to a more satisfying and successful life.

If you are a struggling speaker having difficulty connecting with your audiences, there is much you can learn from Lisa.

Lisa will help you become more productive. Every Sunday evening she makes a list of what she needs to accomplish the following week and meditates to focus on it. She puts Mind-Body-Spirit
first, with items having to do with spirituality, health and giving back at the top of each list.

So here's my interpretation of the interview, I really want you to get something good from this too...

Keep your integrity with your story, live you, be you, don't be a fake.

Travel and you will see all problems are universal, human beings have the same need for connection across the world.

Come from a place of what you can give. Understand what you need, but ask what can I give? and offer information from your soul.

Decide you want to touch, heal or move forward as ,amy people as possible in the audience.

State your course, stand your ground, know who you are and what you represent.

Master communication first with yourself, then with the world and you can do anything.

You can't build a business if you don't know who you are, or if you irritate others because you're not being authentic or true.

Not everyone is going to like you, you simply have to be you regardless. You're not going to affect everyone, yet you still must be you. You mustn't worry about what others think of you or allow their perceptions to change you or shift you from your path and who you are, or you betray yourself. then you lose self esteem as you feel you're acting from a false place and losing integrity.

Who are you? Get grounded in that. Learn all about you and who you really are. What makes you switch into manipulation, what masks do you use to manipulate others and ask yourself how you can get what you want without deceit, and without hurting or misleading others.

Expect to create success. Expect everything to work out for you.

Don't care about what others think, if you're acting authentically, you'll be working for the good of all and yourself. Want to create magic and miracles.

Focus on everything working out, look around for the mircales, see them , they are there, and be grateful for them showing up in your life. Miracles won't show up unless you're grateful for the life you're living.

Let life work out for you, allow it. It just works.

Be in alignment. Let yourself meet your soul family, other people in the world, and bring something with you so you can leave it behind, creating a memory for the people you've meet and whose life you've touched. Don't just take memeories with you, build a karma bank by leaving good stuff behind.

Be brazen and expect good things and give, give, give. don't just take. When you go out in the world with this attitude, miracles happen, adventures happen and you fill up your soul. And when your soul is filled and enriched, you have so much more to give and people can hear you and your message and they sense your realness and your truth.

Live your life, don't just try to create money.

Happiness comes from knowing yourself and loving yourself. Despair and darkness usually comes from something in childhood, and yet we all have the same issues, 'I'm not good enough' or 'I'm not worthy', everyone suffers from the same issue that is lack of self esteem.

Living a good life is about how you handle it, how you overcome it, that's what makes the difference.

Learn how to rebild your self esteem. We all have an intuitive voice within, sort through all the ego noises until you find that one true voice and listen to that. It's powerful, get in touch with it and with who you really are. Stop betraying yourself and stay on yoru path.

Release the memories and feelings that make you feel bad, you're adult now, it's time to take care of yourself, take responsibility, show up, be persistent and do the work.

Sit in nature, talk to yourself and let the answers come to you.

You have a choice, dig deeper, overcome ego and fear, get over your self esteem issues and choice your truth.

Show up for yourself.

Business Tips:
Start building a list
Blog
Write for other peoples blogs
Comment on other peoples blogs with links back to your own and build traffic
Commit real time and effort, show you're serious, that you're here for the long haul and are the real deal
Build a strong platform, know what makes you unique, show up and be real.

inspiration vs ignorance

Drugs never cure disease, they suppress symptoms

Big pharma pulling back from mental health drug research: studies

Big pharma pulling back from mental health drug research:

CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 12:08PM EDT

Pharmaceutical companies are focusing fewer resources on developing drugs to combat mental illness, despite the fact it is a leading health issue and represents a potential massive cash cow, a pair of new studies has found.

Two recent reports published in the journal Science Translational Medicine say drug development for major mental illnesses or psychiatric disorders -- such as schizophrenia, depression or bipolar disorder -- is virtually at a standstill.

"Despite high prevalence and unmet medical need, major pharmaceutical companies are de-emphasising or exiting psychiatry, thus removing significant capacity from efforts to discover new medicines,” states one report, written by Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, and Steven Hyman, of Harvard University.

That's largely due to stringent regulations and approval processes for mental health drugs, the authors note, as well as difficulty with developing medications that can be proven to actually combat mental illness.

"The central problem is clear: Neither vast unmet medical need, nor large and growing markets, nor concerted sales campaigns that attempt to recast 'me-too drugs' as innovative, can illuminate a path across very difficult scientific terrain," wrote Hyman.

Last year, for example, U.K.-based pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca both announced they were cancelling research into new antidepressant drugs.

Dr. Zul Merali, president of the University of Ottawa's Institute of Mental Health Research, said the development shouldn’t come as a surprise.

"The costs have been going up and up and the number of drugs actually being approved for clinical use are not increasing in parallel,” he told CTV’S Canada AM. “So it's a high-risk investment for the pharmaceutical industry."

Merali said it takes an average of 15 years to bring a drug from the initial experimental phase through clinical trials and onto pharmacy shelves, which is a massive commitment of time and finances. And once a product is available to patients, there's no guarantee it will work.

Of the antidepressant medications currently prescribed, one-third of patients respond well, one-third experience mild relief, and the rest feel no relief whatsoever, Merali said.

“We don't really understand how the brain actually works, what goes awry when you have mental illness, and therefore you're not able to target your treatment to that specific circuit in the brain."

In fact, Merali said some of the most exciting developments in mental health drug research have occurred virtually by accident. Ketamine, a drug that was originally developed for use as an anesthetic, was recently found to have a powerful antidepressant effect when used in small doses.

Merali’s team is currently studying that discovery to determine how it can be translated to actual treatment, since future mental-health discoveries may lie more along those lines, he said, as pharmaceutical companies pull back from the massive investment required.

Monday, 29 October 2012

Mental Health & Trauma among Women in Jails

By Andrew Taylor, Public Information Officer, Idaho State University

Published: 10/29/2012

Findings from a national study of women in jail suggest that these women have high rates of serious mental illness, along with co-occurring posttraumatic stress and substance use disorders.

“These findings suggest that many women in jail have multiple disorders and, subsequently, have complex treatment needs,” said the study’s lead investigator, Shannon Lynch, professor and chair of the Idaho State University Department of Psychology, who worked with investigators Dana DeHart of the University of South Carolina College of Social Work, Joanne Belknap of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Bonnie Green of Georgetown University.

Most jails, however, are limited in their capacity to provide mental health treatment.

Between June 2011 and June 2012, 491 women in rural and urban jails in five states – Colorado, Idaho, Washington, D.C., Maryland and South Carolina – participated in structured diagnostic interviews for the study funded by the United States Department of Justice and Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The investigators report that 43 percent of the participants met criteria for a lifetime serious mental illness, with rates including:

major depressive disorder, 28 percent;
bipolar disorder, 15 percent; and
schizophrenia spectrum disorders, 4 percent.

In addition, 82 percent of the women met criteria for a substance use disorder, and just over half, 53 percent, met criteria for lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

These rates of major depression, bipolar, substance use disorders and PTSD are 1.4 to 5 times higher than rates for women in the general population.

Women in jail also demonstrated high rates of co-occurring disorders; for example, one in four women met lifetime criteria for a serious mental illness, posttraumatic stress disorder and a substance use disorder. In addition, about 25 percent of women with disorders reported severe functional impairment in their daily lives.

“Women’s mental health struggles were linked to their pervasive victimization histories--these women suffered many different types of abuse in childhood and into adulthood,” DeHart explained.

“This is important as we know multiple experiences of victimization increases risk of mental health problems,” Lynch said. And jails have a hard time treating those mental health problems.“It’s not what we are resourced to do,” said one correctional officer interviewed for the study.

Corrections administrators and staff uniformly expressed awareness of mental health as a serious problem for female offenders but also noted scant funding for mental health programming in jails, as well as deficient resources for coordinating efforts of correctional staff with mental health services in surrounding communities.

“It is important to recognize that allowing women to go untreated represents a serious risk for recidivism,” said Lynch.

Findings suggest that serious mental illness was associated with more experiences of victimization prior to incarceration, more extensive criminal histories, with more violent offenses, and with earlier onset of offenses such as running away, substance use, and drug related crimes. “Assessment of victimization experiences and mental health, especially recognizing the extent of co-occurring disorders, is critical to inform treatment programming and to interrupt the cycle of reoffending,” Lynch said.

This is one of the first and largest studies to include women in multiple states, including both urban and rural sites.

Click here for the "Women's Pathways to Jail Factsheet"

Released by Idaho State University
October 24, 2012
Contact: Shannon Lynch, Professor and Chair of the ISU Department of Psychology, 208-282-2110 or lyncshan@isu.edu

Treating the whole person includes mental health care

AMA Leader Commentary. By Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD, Posted Oct. 29, 2012.

One of my personal goals as president of the American Medical Association is to work toward better integration of mental health and mental illness into the rest of medical care.

The time is ripe. Health care reform is about making sure that everyone who needs it has access to whatever kind of health care he or she needs — including mental health care. Here are some examples and opportunities:

The Affordable Care Act includes a provision that brings coverage for depression and other mental health disorders into the modern age.
Depression is also a higher priority for Medicare, which now pays physicians for the early detection of this common illness. Medicare payment for mental health treatment, which for decades placed a higher out-of-pocket burden on patients treated for depression than treatment for physical disorders, is now on par with the program’s other areas of coverage. Starting last Jan. 1, the program now also covers preventive screenings for depression and, in a separate policy proposal, alcohol misuse.
The new emphasis on medical teams that deal with all aspects of a person’s care offers an opportunity to include psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in those teams.

A good example of this is the DIAMOND Initiative organized by the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement in Minnesota. There, psychiatrists are being paid for consulting with primary care practices on the best way to manage patients with depression, which has resulted in dramatic improvements in patient outcomes.
The traditional fee-for-service system is a barrier to this kind of teamwork, since most specialists are paid for face-to-face visits with patients, but not when they provide advice directly to the primary care physician.
By better integrating mental health and mental illness into the rest of medical care, we will be able to make more needed resources available to treat more people.
The emergence of multispecialty groups that include a focus on mental health should increase the awareness of both the treatment and prevention of mental illness.

Those at great risk

The need for integration is great. For years, we have worked to combat known disparities in mental health care among racial and ethnic minorities and in rural communities.
We also know that mental illness is a real threat for our aging population, especially among people with chronic diseases. Early detection via regular screenings and effective treatment of mental illness associated with chronic diseases is important in achieving better health outcomes for those people.
Further, according to an AMA report on “Demographics and the health status of the U.S. population: Trends worth watching,” nearly a third of Americans reported having some form of mental or emotional problem every month. Young adults, ages 18–24 years, reported the most mental health distress (ama-assn.org/resources/doc/clrpd/demographics-fact-sheet.pdf).
Sadly, mental health needs are also front-page news these days as we see so many members of our military returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq with PTSD, or posttraumatic stress disorder.
I am proud that the AMA has taken steps to support our military community by becoming part of the Joining Forces Initiative, a national coordinated effort for our service members who need our support (ama-assn.org/go/joiningforces).
A key aspect of Joining Forces involves educating physicians and other health professionals to make sure veterans get the care they need — including mental health care.
Although the majority of military personnel return from war without injury, PTSD affects one in five soldiers. A 2008 report by the RAND Corp. estimated that 300,000 service members had developed PTSD or major depression stemming from deployments to Afghanistan or Iraq.
Schools taking part in the Joining Forces program have pledged to ensure that future physicians are taught the clinical challenges of caring for veterans and other service members. Many of these men and women are in their 20s and 30s but will need treatment over their lifetimes.
Through Joining Forces, physician training will be augmented by more research and clinical trials so that we can better understand and treat these conditions.
So far, the initiative has gained support from 130 medical education programs nationwide, which have committed to teach future physicians the skills needed to treat these conditions among veterans.
By highlighting these issues to physicians, encouraging continuing medical education activities and working with Joining Forces initiative partners, the AMA is committed to ensuring that service members and their families get not just our thanks but also the quality care they deserve for as long as they need it.
In November, when Americans traditionally honor our military veterans, and later when we join together for our Thanksgiving holiday, it is only appropriate to bring special attention to the needs of those individuals who have given far more of themselves than is required from those of us whom they serve and protect.
When something is wrong in the brain or the mind, it affects the whole person. As we continue to work to reform our health care system, we cannot overlook the importance of including mental health care in the equation.

Dr. Lazarus is a Denver psychiatrist. Learn more about Dr. Lazarus at the AMA's biography page or contact him by email.

Mental illness 'biggest UK health challenge' - Miliband

29 October 2012 Last updated at 13:10

Mr Miliband says "vast changes" are needed across society to tackle mental illness

The problem of mental illness in the UK is the "biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age", Labour leader Ed Miliband has said.

It "blights the lives of millions", costing UK business £26bn and the NHS an extra £10bn a year, he said.

Mr Miliband wants to give patients the same legal right to mental health therapies as physical healthcare.

Mental illness is "a taboo which must be broken if we are to rebuild Britain," he said.

Mr Miliband was giving his first major speech since the Labour Party conference where he adopted the "one nation" slogan created by 19th Century Tory Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.

He said that just as Disraeli addressed the national challenge of sanitation in the 19th Century, and the foundation of the NHS followed in the 20th Century, the mental health challenge facing the UK must be addressed this century.

"One in four of us will have a mental illness at some point in our lifetime," Mr Miliband said.

Good mental health doesn't start in hospital or the treatment room, it starts in our workplaces, our schools and our communities”

End Quote Ed Miliband Labour Party leader

"There are so many people in Britain today who could be treated but who are intimidated from seeking help. And so many people who need support but... believe that no-one will care.

"For far too long our leading politicians have been far too silent about mental health, part of a taboo running across our society which infects both our culture and our politics.

"It is a taboo which not only blights the lives of millions but also puts severe strain on the funding of our NHS and threatens Britain's ability to pay our way in the world.

"It is a taboo which must be broken if we are to rebuild Britain as one nation."

The Labour leader criticised those in the public eye who "abuse the privilege of their celebrity to insult, demean and belittle others".
Sickness absence
This includes Janet Street-Porter and Jeremy Clarkson, whose "lazy caricatures" reinforce the taboo on the issue, he said.

"Just as we joined the fight against racism, against sexism and against homophobia, so we should join the fight against this form of intolerance."

He announced proposals to improve mental health provision in the NHS, including:

Rewriting the NHS constitution to enshrine patients' legal right to therapies for mental illness
Mental health training for all staff
Better integration of physical and mental healthcare, and social care

Neglecting the problem ends up costing the NHS more, Mr Miliband argued, "in the strains and demands placed on those who carry the burden of care and in the trouble stored up over the years as minor problems become major ones".

Meanwhile, the annual costs to UK business are £15bn in reduced productivity, £8.5bn in sickness absence, and £2.5bn to replace staff who can no longer work.

The Labour leader is setting up a taskforce - led by the chairman of Barts Health NHS Trust, Stephen O'Brien - to draw up a strategic plan for mental health in society.

Mr Miliband said: "Too often governments have been stuck in a mindset that thought that physical health should always take priority - or that the answer to our health crises started and stopped with new government programmes.

"But good mental health doesn't start in hospital or the treatment room, it starts in our workplaces, our schools and our communities.

"So the task falls as much to organisations like the CBI as it does to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In fact, everybody has a part to play. Only a nation acting together can overcome the challenge we face."

Mental health charities welcomed Mr Miliband's speech and his commitment to giving patients a legal right to therapies for mental illness.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: "Mental health is everyone's business. We are now seeing politicians finally realise that it isn't just the responsibility of health services to support people with mental health problems and that they have their own role to play in changing attitudes."

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, said: "It is extraordinary that despite the scale of the challenge and the fact that mental illness costs the NHS and employers more than any physical condition, people do not have a legal right to therapies for mental health problems."

Rethink Mental Illness praised Mr Miliband for making mental health a priority, particularly improving the training of NHS staff: "As things stand, you can become a doctor having only studied mental health for a few days.

"As a result many health professionals do not have a good enough understanding of mental illness."

Spirituality Central to Traditional Chinese Medicine, Study Finds

FRIDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) --

Spirituality is the key to successful treatment using traditional Chinese medicine, a new study says.

Researchers analyzed the origins and development of traditional Chinese medicine, and concluded that it is profoundly influenced by Chinese philosophy and religion.

They focused on these aspects of traditional Chinese medicine: its history and fundamental beliefs; spirituality in traditional Chinese healing rituals and pharmacy; spirituality in health maintenance theories; and spirituality of master doctors of traditional Chinese medicine.

An underlying premise of this type of medicine is that the mind and body of a person are inseparable, according to the study. A person must have good spirit and pay attention to cultivating that spirit to be in good health.

The researchers noted that traditional Chinese medicine practitioners see people -- not diseases -- and equate curing diseases with curing people.

"Good health and longevity are what we pursue. More and more, people are concerned about ways to prevent disease and strengthen their bodies, which is the emphasis of traditional Chinese medicine. It pays attention to physical pains, and at the same time is also concerned with spiritual suffering," wrote Lin Shi from Beijing Normal University and Chenguang Zhang from Southwest Minzu University, in China.

"Therefore, [traditional Chinese medicine] can teach people to be indifferent towards having or not having, to exist with few desires and feel at ease, to keep the body healthy and the mind quiet, and to achieve harmony between the body and the mind and then to achieve harmony with the world and nature," the researchers concluded.

The study was published online in the October/December issue of the journal Pastoral Psychology, a special issue dedicated to the psychology of religion in China.

More information
The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has more about traditional Chinese medicine.

SOURCE: Pastoral Psychology, news release, Sept. 25, 2012

This is a story from HealthDay, a service of ScoutNews, LLC.

Guest Post: 4 Ways to Train Your Mind To Promote Healing

In living a life with chronic health challenges, it's essential to get good medical care. However, I've found that medicine doesn't have any cures for my three autoimmune diseases, immunodeficiency, severe malabsorption syndrome, and other conditions. Once I finally realized that there were no cures and that no cures were likely to come in my lifetime I began to look around to find what I could do beyond medical care and the usual things such as good diet, exercise, and sleep habits. Despite good health habits, discomfort, disability, fatigue, and malaise were with me more days than not, and I wanted to get beyond them. From work with clients, literature reviews and personal experience, I learned quite a bit and came up with these 4 tips for training your mind to promote healing.

1) Focus On Others

For those of us who need to spend considerably more time than the average person going to medical appointments and engaging in self-care, it's easy to become self-absorbed. One of the things I learned was that the more self-absorbed we are, the worse our health outcomes and that the more engaged we are with others, the better our health outcomes. The opposite of self-absorption, which is curiosity and open-heartedness toward others correlates with better health outcomes. I began to intentionally look for opportunities every day to focus on others with curiosity and compassion, and to connect with everyone I met in an open-hearted way. Immediately, I began to feel better. My symptoms didn't go away; they just didn't bother me as much.

2) Bring Conscious Awareness To Every Activity

What we now know from psychoneuroimmunology research is that beyond the usual good health habits related to diet, exercise, and sleep, the most important thing we can do that improves physiological functioning and health is to actively do everything possible to live a life where we are fully engaged in activities and relationships that are rewarding and meaningful. I began to bring conscious awareness to every activity throughout the day and to focus in on the activities that were most aligned with my personal life values. Where obligation necessitated certain activities, I looked inward and found new meaning in them, and realized that I was choosing virtually all my activities.

3) Practice Mindfulness To Promote Healthy Thinking

From new advances in psychology, we now know that the brain not only determines how we think, but that how we think creates anatomical and physiological changes in the brain. Therefore, it's important to form healthy ways of thinking because the way we think influences our state of health. When we go around thinking we "have to" do things, we reinforce neural circuits that make it more likely we will continue to think that way in the future.

Many of us learned to worry unnecessarily about events over which we have little or no control. Every time we allow ourselves to get caught up in ruminative thinking, we reinforce the neural circuits that make it more likely that we will experience anxious and depressive feelings, and that we’ll have more of them in the future. I've found mindfulness practice to be the best antidote for unhealthy thinking.

Attention is one of the primary determinants of subjective well-being and even physiological functioning. Because every thought has physiological correlates, some form of daily mental training is important for health. We all engage in thinking that triggers feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, or joy. Most of the time, we don’t consciously choose where to put our attention, resulting in unnecessary emotional and physiological stress.

I now set an intention every day to pay attention to the type of thinking I'm unconsciously practicing. When I notice that I'm engaging in negative or judgmental thinking, I give myself permission to step back from those unhealthy ways of thinking. Increasingly, I'm able to see the humor in the way my mind automatically seems to gravitate to ways of thinking that create stress. With mindfulness training, I've learned to disengage from thinking that doesn't feel good, and to intentionally think in healthier ways. This requires vigilant daily practice.

Attentional or mindfulness training has allowed me to selectively put my attention on the activities of the moment, thereby reducing emotional distress. Mindfulness practice can be learned at any Buddhist meditation center or at a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class, both of which are available around the world. As little as eight weeks of mindfulness training creates life-altering changes in the way we think. When daily practice is continued, healthy changes can occur in physiological functioning, subjective well-being, and even in health.

Photo courtesy BigStock

4) Choose To Take Control Of Your Health

The ability to recognize all the times throughout the day that we make choices can improve physiological functioning, subjective well-being, and health. We make choices constantly, but most of them are made without our conscious awareness. Awareness of choice and actually making conscious choices throughout the day allows us to cultivate a true sense of control and mastery. I've taken on a practice that sounds too simple to be profoundly life-altering. Yet, I've found that more than anything else I have done, the following very simple practice has given me a better quality of life. Throughout the day, I simply preface every action with the phrase: I am choosing to… For example, at the moment I am writing this, I am in the middle of drinking four liters of polyethylene glycol in preparation for an esophagogastroduodenoscopy and colonoscopy tomorrow morning. Each time I drink more of the solution, I say to myself, I'm choosing to take care of myself by drinking this. When I scheduled the appointment, I told myself, I'm choosing to make this appointment because I care about my health.

I recommend making an earnest and repeated effort to consider the limitless choices with which you are presented during every waking moment. Living by conscious choice is extremely empowering and makes us masters of our destiny.

You don’t ever have to do anything. Instead, choose to do everything.

Larry Berkelhammer, PhD, is a researcher and psychophysiologist who uses his blog, LarryBerkelhammer.com, to show how learning to live with conscious intention can maximize health and well-being.

Sunday, 28 October 2012

Alcohol, drug abuse cost Alaska's economy $1.2 B in 2010

Posted: October 28, 2012 - 12:00am

JUNEAU EMPIRE

Alcohol and drug abuse took a heavy toll on Alaska’s economy in 2010, according to a new report from McDowell Group, funded by the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Alaska Mental Health Board, and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority.

The total estimated costs for 2010 attributable to alcohol and drug abuse was $1.2 billion.
Costs by category include $673.2 million in productivity losses, $50.5 million in traffic crash costs, $217.7 million in criminal justice and protective services, $237.3 million in health care, and $13.2 million in public assistance and social services.

“This report puts the devastating impact of substance abuse on our state into concrete terms,” said Kate Burkhart, executive director of the Alaska Mental Health Board and Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. “It will inform public policy and help us measure the effectiveness of state and community prevention, treatment, and recovery programs.”

An estimated 21,000 Alaskans age 12 and older are dependent upon alcohol, according to the 2011 Alaska Scorecard.

Of the estimated 16,951 Alaskan adults experiencing serious substance use disorders (abuse of drugs and alcohol), 42.8 percent are low-income.

The State of Alaska spent over $35 million in 2010 to provide substance abuse treatment and recovery services to low-income Alaskans. An additional $11 million supported community substance abuse prevention programs in 2010.

In 2012, $9 million in one-time capital funds was approved for substance abuse treatment and prevention services over the next three years.

“This report puts in sharp relief the contrast between the costs of alcohol and substance abuse and the resources available to mitigate their disastrous effects,” said Jeff Jessee, chief executive officer for the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. “If we do not make appropriate resources available for those who want help when they ask for it, then we are taking recovery off the table.”

McDowell Group did this 2012 update of 2009 data using new data when available as well as statistical estimation techniques. The report explores the economic impact of substance abuse on businesses and employers, public safety, and social services from all populations, not just low-income populations.

The report does not attempt to quantify the substantial intangible emotional costs to Alaskan families and communities caused by substance abuse.

This report is dedicated to the memory of Eric McDowell, founder of the McDowell Group and longtime advocate and counselor for people experiencing addictions. McDowell passed away on Aug. 13 this summer.

To read the report in its entirety, visit http://www.hss.state.ak.us/abada/. The Alaska Scorecard is available online at www.hss.state.ak.us/dph.healthplanning.scorecard/.

Mental disorders can trigger drug abuse

By SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN
sulaiman@trentonian.com
Posted: 10/27/12 09:18 pm

Cheryl Davis (left) and Karalee Pieluc, who help run the Catholic Charities Diocese of Trenton’s Partners in Recovery program on Southard Street in Trenton, say mental illness can trigger drug or alcohol abuse. Partners in Recovery provides comprehensive mental health services to adults diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, including those with a co-occurring substance abuse disorder.

TRENTON — President Barack Obama at the beginning of this month issued a presidential proclamation establishing October 2012 as National Substance Abuse Prevention Month. Mental disorders such as schizophrenia, which can trigger bizarre behavior and hallucinations, in many instances lead to substance abuse.

“One of the ways folks deal with their (mental illness) symptoms is to use drugs or alcohol,” said Karalee Pieluc, executive director of a local Catholic Charities program that assists people with a dual diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder and drug addiction.

“It’s a very subtle illness, the way it sets in with a person,” Pieluc said of drug addiction. “Our job is to help them understand what is going on and understand it’s a treatable illness. We want them to be able to go out there and get jobs.”

Pieluc is program director of Partners in Recovery at 10 Southard Street, a Catholic Charities Diocese of Trenton operation that provides comprehensive mental health services to adults diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, including those with a co-occurring substance abuse disorder.

“Close to 200 people walk through these doors,” Pieluc said of the daily traffic at the program, which operates Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. “We’re busy.”

Partners in Recovery is a voluntary program with a mission to provide quality care that empowers members to achieve the highest possible level of independence. Its philosophy is based on a recovery model that emphasizes group therapy and non-confrontational support.

“Confrontation is the old-school treatment,” said Cheryl Davis, a staff member who helps Pieluc manage the program. “We try not to force people. We try to meet people where they are. They are still adults, and we don’t want to strip that from them. This is their life.”

People who participate in the recovery program have access to cardio exercise equipment and are encouraged to express themselves through artwork. Much of that artwork hangs in the halls of the 10-year-old building at the corner of Southard and Ewing streets.

“Finding happiness is the key to recovery,” Pieluc said.

Partners in Recovery serves people of all races and religious backgrounds. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of the population is between the ages of 50 and 75, and the next largest group is people between the ages of 30 and 50, according to Pieluc, who said about 10 percent of the population are people in their 20s.

“I think the younger population gets scared (of mental illness symptoms) and they mask it by abusing drugs,” Davis said, “This is a safe place for them.”

Gov. Chris Christie, who in March said “drug addiction is a disease that can and must be treated,” in July went on to sign landmark legislation that will phase in a program over the next five years to provide mandatory drug treatment to nonviolent offenders.

“We will no longer simply warehouse individuals in prison who are not a threat to society while the underlying cause of their criminality goes unaddressed,” Christie said. “And we won’t wait for them to come to the conclusion that they need treatment on their own. With this legislation we are building on our record of reducing recidivism, reclaiming lives by breaking the vicious cycle of crime and addiction, and doing so in a way that is less costly and more effective in getting results.”

“I applaud him,” Pieluc said of Christie. She said imprisoning non-violent, drug-addicted offenders has the effect of “growing the number of people who can’t get jobs.”

Pieluc said about 20 percent of the participants in Partners in Recovery are working, going to school or actively seeking employment. “Very many want to be valued members of the community. They may not be looking for a paycheck, but they want to be valued.”