To RSVP, please call Kathy Frels, RN (361) 576-5553 by 4/21.

See you there.

Do you have any ideas on how to end this discrimination that prevents people from getting much needed help?

This year's class starts on Tuesday 8/31/10. It is held every Tuesday, 6:30pm – 9:00pm, for 12 weeks, at St. Francis Episcopal church on Miori Lane. To register, please call Bruce 395-6611, Jessica 676-9730, or Patsy 578-3935.

You can download their flyer here:

Flyer for Family to Family Program.

This is part 2 of that interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrnT776WU4

This is part 1 of that interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5K3MQW5B5o

NAMI meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of the month at the Parkway Church on 4802 N. John Stockbauer Dr, in Victoria.

Texas is ranked in the lowest places with a grade of D, by the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), a mental health advocacy group, in terms of services for mental health. Earlier this year, Texas officials were announcing more cuts in state psychiatric hospital beds (Houston Chronicle, 2/11/2010 , Cherokeean Herald, 2/17/2010 ) among other decreases in spending. Patients from all over the state, who need psychiatric hospitalization will end up to wherever psychiatric beds are still available.

 Patients with psychiatric illness tend to have higher rates of medical illness with more visits to doctors and hospitalizations. Nationally, 16 percent of the jail population is incarcerated for offenses related to mental illness, mental retardation, or substance abuse. Of these, 60 percent to 75 percent are usually jailed for nonviolent offenses.  The financial cost to the community for caring for these patients is thus shifted among the different agencies.

 Ideally, a comprehensive community mental health program should include enough psychiatric coverage to assess patients as often as necessary to prevent crises from becoming “emergencies,” seeing a counselor/psychotherapist to help with simple life skills that we usually take for granted,  having more crisis services done in the community with quick access to the treating psychiatrist to prevent ER presentations, using more Assertive Community Treatment, facilitate transfer of care from similar programs in other counties, not having to be on a waiting list to be admitted for services (rather than having year-long lists at times), having a jail-diversion program, having respite and group homes for patients who need more assistance with daily functioning, having both a partial hospitalization program and an inpatient hospitalization, having access to affordable psychiatric medications, and even having integrated psychiatric-substance abuse and psychiatric-medical clinics to better serve the needs of patients with co-occurring illnesses…

 So, does our crossroad region “need” an emergency mental health unit? It would be great to have one, but without any significant changes in the way the community funds and cares for its patients with psychiatric illness, it is like the “need” to offer open heart surgery, when we do not provide adequate resources for access to prevent and manage cardiovascular diseases.

This policy change is certainly a step forward in de-stigmatizing the psychiatric/medical illness called depression, but this change also comes with certain restrictions.

Pilots allowed to fly can be treated only with monotherapy (only 1 med) from the following list: Fluoxetine (Prozac), Sertraline (Zoloft), Citalopram (Celexa), or Escitalopram (Lexapro). Once admitted that they take antidepressants, pilots will be grounded while they will be undergoing psychiatric and psychological evaluations, which will take a few months to complete. If they have recently started on one of these medications, they will have to wait for at least 1 year before they can fly.

The FAA claims safety as the reason for the previous ban, from antidepressant side effects such as sedation and seizure, and from the difficulty concentrating that we see with depression.

I understand that safety is very important, especially when one is flying several thousand feet in the air. But according to statistics, about 10% of the population suffers from depression, which account to about 25,000 pilots who have been flying despite an undisclosed diagnosis and treatment of depression. How many airplane incidences have we had due to depression?

Having depression is such a common and treatable illness. It does not have to be something that people need to be secretive about. Recognizing the symptoms, which can include cognitive clouding, and seeking treatment is much healthier than feeling guilty of having symptoms and having to live in secrecy. Actually, being able to talk about depression openly can help attract support and understanding on someone's feelings and behavior.

We do not have a blood test for depression, yet, something "objective" that tells people that a person is no longer depressed. But, I have seen so many patients who delay receiving treatment due to the stigma and being labeled "crazy" for seeing a psychiatrist, and how they wished they had seeked treatment much sooner that they actually did. I have heard from family and friends how patients who seek and get help for their depression now have their "wife, husband,son, daughter, mother, father, etc…back."

We need to stop being afraid of psychiatric illness and encourage people from getting help when needed. Getting appropriate diagnosis and treatment is safer than not seeking help for fear of losing your job.