Comments for Blogging With ISPS-US http://isps-us.org/blog Visit us at www.isps-us.org Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:55:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Thanks again NY Times: Findng Purpose After Living with Delusion by You can’t heal when you are calling parts of yourself an “illness” | Recovery from "schizophrenia" and other "psychotic disorders" http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=396#comment-17 You can’t heal when you are calling parts of yourself an “illness” | Recovery from "schizophrenia" and other "psychotic disorders" Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:55:28 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=396#comment-17 [...] recent blog post links to a NY Times article about this sort of approach to delusional thinking.  The article [...] [...] recent blog post links to a NY Times article about this sort of approach to delusional thinking.  The article [...]

]]> Comment on OMG: Talking to “schizophrenics” helps them!! by 2nd & 3rd stories in NY Times about people with schizophrenia doing alright! | Blogging With ISPS-US http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=285#comment-15 2nd & 3rd stories in NY Times about people with schizophrenia doing alright! | Blogging With ISPS-US Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:03:12 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=285#comment-15 [...] off, I realize that I was maybe a little too hard on Benedict Carey  in my previous post (sorry Ben!… not that YOU are reading ME) because the three stories he’s written for [...] [...] off, I realize that I was maybe a little too hard on Benedict Carey  in my previous post (sorry Ben!… not that YOU are reading ME) because the three stories he’s written for [...]

]]> Comment on Marilyn Charles – case presentation by moderator http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=342#comment-14 moderator Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:40:53 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=342#comment-14 I think Marilyn brought up a lot of important aspects of the work: especially respecting the patient's worldview and experience while holding onto one's own authenticity and sense of reality, and translating between the two, an exquisite balance. I think Marilyn brought up a lot of important aspects of the work: especially respecting the patient’s worldview and experience while holding onto one’s own authenticity and sense of reality, and translating between the two, an exquisite balance.

]]> Comment on Beverly Gibbon and James Gorney by moderator http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=340#comment-13 moderator Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:38:09 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=340#comment-13 Thanks for posting this. There were so many choices of talks, and I was sorry to miss this one. Thanks for posting this. There were so many choices of talks, and I was sorry to miss this one.

]]> Comment on Welcome to the Conference by moderator http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=320#comment-12 moderator Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:25:04 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=320#comment-12 Thanks for helping out Ann-Louise! -Jessica Thanks for helping out Ann-Louise! -Jessica

]]> Comment on When Times Tough, They’re Even More Tough for Folks with Psychiatric Illness by moderator http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=87#comment-11 moderator Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:16:19 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=87#comment-11 Hi Morgan, Thank you for painting such a stark picture of the byzantine and punishing way that people are provided "help". It is dizzying just to read about it; living it can only be a trillion times harder. As you allude to, jails have been the largest mental health institutions in this country. There are more people with psychiatric problems incarcerated than there are in psychiatric wards or hospitals. So much for the "deinstitutionalization" of the 1960s. Its just been a transfer of institutions, because there are not enough supports in the community. Community based services have been decimated and health care has been so complicated and change so frequently, that it is virtually impossible to have any continuity of care. Maybe we need an OCCUPY MEDICAID offices movement... --Jessica Arenella Hi Morgan,
Thank you for painting such a stark picture of the byzantine and punishing way that people are provided “help”. It is dizzying just to read about it; living it can only be a trillion times harder. As you allude to, jails have been the largest mental health institutions in this country. There are more people with psychiatric problems incarcerated than there are in psychiatric wards or hospitals. So much for the “deinstitutionalization” of the 1960s. Its just been a transfer of institutions, because there are not enough supports in the community. Community based services have been decimated and health care has been so complicated and change so frequently, that it is virtually impossible to have any continuity of care. Maybe we need an OCCUPY MEDICAID offices movement…
–Jessica Arenella

]]> Comment on When Times Tough, They’re Even More Tough for Folks with Psychiatric Illness by paying_attention http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=87#comment-10 paying_attention Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:00:06 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=87#comment-10 This reminds me of something I've read in a book entitled WIN YOUR CASE by Gerry Spence. Here it is: "We are given choices- we can seek a kinder world, a better place in which to work, a better corporate community, a society that refuses to condone profit over human life, a civilization that puts human life above all else, or we can join the unenlightened who have preceded us at the expense of justice. The final argument will at last define both those who seek justice and those who provide it." I watch the people march on Wall Street. It's a start. Somebody is paying attention. People are geeting squeezed too tightly. It is even more so with the disabled population, specifically the mentally ill population, severely mentally ill population, uneducated minority severely mentally ill population-- I can go on all day. Many are stigmatised as less than human, lower in intellect, dangerous, "bad"-- many diagnosed feel compelled to hide in shame and fear, hoping to not be discovered, or else "refuse" to be ill, not take care of themselves and deteriorate afraid and alone. Insurance here in NY is lessening- psych patients have to jump through hoops to get meds that they need to take, many that are necessary for everyday functioning. It is taking weeks, and people are getting hurt and hospitalized. Professionals won't accept the meager payment that is being paid out, mobile crisis teams and outpatient hospital programs are overwhelmed as their "consumers" fall through the cracks by the truckload. In this economy they cannot find a job, and if they did, it would be difficult to hold on to it. They are sent to the Goodwill, who send them to the Social Security office- who give them all of this complicated nonsense to go through to apply only to be rejected because their is no x-ray, or blood test that can say, "Yep- definitely mentally ill, all right!" And with bad insurance, no doctor and no med regulation, they are sent to the HRA, who sends them for a physical (8hours), two interviews (16 hours), and a job assesment (4 visits of at least 2 hours each), to either be told to go back to the Social Security or else report to their assigned worksite. All of this taking so much time- no work, no MD, no therapy, no meds, no $ which equals no shelter, no food, no stability whatsoever-- One can turn on the television and every other commercial is a lawyer offering services to help navigate the Social Security- what they don't tell you is that sometimes the process can take up to 5 years to remedy and there is still a chance of being denied. And what of those who are elderly? Or do not speak English well? Or are psychotic and cannot compose themselves? Jail. Jail for the people whom the State has victimized. Or death. Or suicide. The pee smelling guy in the library humming to himself. The screaming half dressed filthy woman on the subway. And the ones who sit still and go inside their heads- never to be heard from. The people surrounding them disgusted and irritated by their existence, jeering at them, pretending not to notice. I get the feeling that something terrible is on the horizon, something that really needs a call to action. This reminds me of something I’ve read in a book entitled WIN YOUR CASE by Gerry Spence. Here it is: “We are given choices- we can seek a kinder world, a better place in which to work, a better corporate community, a society that refuses to condone profit over human life, a civilization that puts human life above all else, or we can join the unenlightened who have preceded us at the expense of justice. The final argument will at last define both those who seek justice and those who provide it.”
I watch the people march on Wall Street. It’s a start. Somebody is paying attention. People are geeting squeezed too tightly. It is even more so with the disabled population, specifically the mentally ill population, severely mentally ill population, uneducated minority severely mentally ill population– I can go on all day. Many are stigmatised as less than human, lower in intellect, dangerous, “bad”– many diagnosed feel compelled to hide in shame and fear, hoping to not be discovered, or else “refuse” to be ill, not take care of themselves and deteriorate afraid and alone. Insurance here in NY is lessening- psych patients have to jump through hoops to get meds that they need to take, many that are necessary for everyday functioning. It is taking weeks, and people are getting hurt and hospitalized. Professionals won’t accept the meager payment that is being paid out, mobile crisis teams and outpatient hospital programs are overwhelmed as their “consumers” fall through the cracks by the truckload. In this economy they cannot find a job, and if they did, it would be difficult to hold on to it. They are sent to the Goodwill, who send them to the Social Security office- who give them all of this complicated nonsense to go through to apply only to be rejected because their is no x-ray, or blood test that can say, “Yep- definitely mentally ill, all right!” And with bad insurance, no doctor and no med regulation, they are sent to the HRA, who sends them for a physical (8hours), two interviews (16 hours), and a job assesment (4 visits of at least 2 hours each), to either be told to go back to the Social Security or else report to their assigned worksite. All of this taking so much time- no work, no MD, no therapy, no meds, no $ which equals no shelter, no food, no stability whatsoever– One can turn on the television and every other commercial is a lawyer offering services to help navigate the Social Security- what they don’t tell you is that sometimes the process can take up to 5 years to remedy and there is still a chance of being denied. And what of those who are elderly? Or do not speak English well? Or are psychotic and cannot compose themselves? Jail. Jail for the people whom the State has victimized. Or death. Or suicide. The pee smelling guy in the library humming to himself. The screaming half dressed filthy woman on the subway. And the ones who sit still and go inside their heads- never to be heard from. The people surrounding them disgusted and irritated by their existence, jeering at them, pretending not to notice. I get the feeling that something terrible is on the horizon, something that really needs a call to action.

]]> Comment on Mind-brain-body healing: Yoga for Schizophrenia by moderator http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=141#comment-9 moderator Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:43:48 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=141#comment-9 More research to support the benefits of exercise for improving mental health: Exercise Can Substitute Effectively as Second 'Medication' for People With Depression, Study Suggests ScienceDaily (Aug. 24, 2011) — Exercise can be as effective as a second medication for as many as half of depressed patients whose condition have not been cured by a single antidepressant medication. This is the link to the article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110824091522.htm# More research to support the benefits of exercise for improving mental health:

Exercise Can Substitute Effectively as Second ‘Medication’ for People With Depression, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (Aug. 24, 2011) — Exercise can be as effective as a second medication for as many as half of depressed patients whose condition have not been cured by a single antidepressant medication.

This is the link to the article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110824091522.htm#

]]> Comment on Diagnosis is not destiny: Joe Holt by margaretotto http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=218#comment-8 margaretotto Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:42:19 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=218#comment-8 I too was at the conference sponsored by the Bowen Center on Schizophrenia. I also had the privledge of hearing Michael Kerr, MD interview Joe Holt for the Heartland Conference on Schizophrenia which was sponsored by the KC Center for Family Systems in January 2007. The idea that all illnesses can go into remission does not seem popular but appears factual. Perhaps Bowen theory can lend a hand to some... I too was at the conference sponsored by the Bowen Center on Schizophrenia. I also had the privledge of hearing Michael Kerr, MD interview Joe Holt for the Heartland Conference on Schizophrenia which was sponsored by the KC Center for Family Systems in January 2007. The idea that all illnesses can go into remission does not seem popular but appears factual. Perhaps Bowen theory can lend a hand to some…

]]> Comment on A more inclusive workforce helps companies and people by Diagnosis is not destiny: Joe Holt | Blogging With ISPS-US http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=142#comment-7 Diagnosis is not destiny: Joe Holt | Blogging With ISPS-US Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:35:40 +0000 http://isps-us.org/blog/?p=142#comment-7 [...] of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. In my previous posts, I have written about the need to have a more inclusive workforce, and I am pleased that Mr. Holt’s employers and teachers have been (apparently) open to [...] [...] of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. In my previous posts, I have written about the need to have a more inclusive workforce, and I am pleased that Mr. Holt’s employers and teachers have been (apparently) open to [...]

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