Mad in America

JULY 19, 2024

D uring my first psychiatric hospitalization in 1998, I was strapped down, placed in 4-point restraints, and administered a painful catheter—apparently because I had peed on the floor during the course of my psychotic episode. Captivity By my count (with an assist from my mother) I’ve had 12 psychiatric hospitalizations in my life.

Hospitality 127

Hospitality Self-awareness Sleep and mental health Bipolar disorder 127

Mad in America

MARCH 30, 2024

But the combined intelligence and cognitive awareness of Matt and his mother’s tenacity for answers undoubtedly gave him a second chance on life. Two weeks later, both the NP and Matt’s counselor called me and said they must drop Matt as a patient, recommending an outpatient hospital detox program and a “higher level of care.”

Sleep and mental health 127

Sleep and mental health Bipolar disorder Trauma and the brain Aging and mental health 127

Mad in America

FEBRUARY 24, 2024

A 2004 study , “Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Risk of Depressive Disorders in Adulthood,” reported that exposure to such traumatic experiences is “associated with increased risk of depressive disorders up to decades after their occurrence”; and that childhood emotional abuse increased risk 2.7 fold for lifetime depressive disorders.

Poverty and mental health 145

Poverty and mental health Childhood trauma Neurotransmitters and mental health Trauma and the brain 145

Mad in America

JANUARY 3, 2024

Five months after Prozac came to market, the NIMH launched a “Depression Awareness, Recognition and Treatment” campaign. The results , which Rush reported in 2004 , were dispiriting. Most depressions are self-limited,” wrote Jonathan Cole, head of the NIMH’s Psychopharmacology Service Center, in 1964.

Neurotransmitters and mental health 145

Neurotransmitters and mental health Hospitality Education Self-awareness 145