“More specifically, state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm City, advocated cuts to so-called soft services, which include mental health and drug-addiction programs, because many of these services address what Negon views as “a lack of willpower, a lack of discipline, a lack of character.” Negron was the chair of appropriations for health and human services in the state Senate.”
This attitude has got to change. We cannot have legislators that do not believe in taking care of our most vulnerable people and do not believe in science.
Mental illness knows no parties. It is a bipartisan disease.
Let’s educate our legislators. Let’s make a difference.
Let’s make June “Educate your legislators on mental illness month.”
Society is Judged By How They Treat the Most Vulnerable.
Brain circuit problem likely sets stage for the ‘voices’ that are symptom of schizophrenia
Scientists have identified problems in a connection between brain structures that may predispose individuals to hearing the ‘voices’ that are a common symptom of schizophrenia. Researchers linked the problem to a gene deletion. This leads to changes in brain chemistry that reduce the flow of information between two brain structures involved in processing auditory information.
Here is a video by ROCHE that is a simple explanation on schizophrenia.
The biology of schizophrenia.
Mental Disorders as Brain Disorders: Thomas Insel at TEDxCaltech
I think its very difficult when your not an alcoholic and you have you have to deal with people who are actively. It’s impossible to be around their behavoir especially when someone doesn’t go to AA and think they can do this themselves or think just not drinking is the answer. It’s even harder when that person is a fellow nurse or doctor or healthcare worker because in that case you have an ethical responsibility to do something. Actually the responsibility goes beyond ethical. In Florida is required.
We, nurses, have an ethical responsibility to report. We have an ethical responsibility to help. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.
Moral courage helps us address ethical issues and take action when doing the right thing is not easy. Moral courage involves the willingness to speak out and do what is right in the face of forces that would lead us to act in some other way.
Your a nurse 24 hours a day.
Take a moment to remember the nurse who said she wasn’t working as a nurse and therefore she wasn’t going to perform cpr.
So I found this article and I really loved it. It deals with one issue. EGO and ego. This is one thing that can drive you crazy while dealing with a patient. client , friend or family member. I hope it will help others understand.
Dr. Harry M. Tiebout, a psychiatrist, was an early pioneer in coupling the principles and philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous with psychiatric knowledge of alcoholism. A strong supporter of A.A. throughout his life, he consistently worked for acceptance of his views concerning alcoholism the medical and psychiatric professions. He served on the Board of Trustees for A.A. from 1957 to 1966, and was chairman of the National Council on Alcoholism in 1950.”
“The first question, what factors in the individual must surrender received passing attention in the article on compliance. There, relative to the difficulty of surrender, I noted that “the presence of an apparently unconquerable ego became evident. It was this ego which had to become humble.” The first part of the present communication will be devoted to an elaboration of the nature of this ego factor.”
“Let us take the same trait of doing everything in a hurry and apply it to the word “immature.” Few will deny that jumping at conclusions, doing things as speedily as possible, give evidence of immaturity. It is youth that drives fast, thinks fast, feels fast, moves fast, acts hastily in most situations. There can be little question that one of the hallmarks of the immature is the proneness to be under inner pressure for accomplishment. Big plans, big schemes, big hopes abound, unfortunately not matched by an ability to produce. But the effect upon the adult of the persisting infantile quality to do everything in less than sufficient time can now be seen in a clearer light. The adult trait is surely a survival from the original psyche of the infant.”
“Inability to Accept Frustration
The last trait carried over from infancy is the inability to accept frustration. In an obvious sense, this inability is another aspect of the king within, since one of the prerogatives of royalty is to proceed without interruption. For the king to wait is an affront to the royal rank, a slap at his majesty. The ramifications of this inability to endure frustration are so widespread, and the significance of much that occurs in the behavior of the alcoholic is so far-reaching, that it seems advisable to discuss this trait under a separate heading.”
There are plenty of incredible articles written by Dr Tiebout and how I wish I just knew one psychiatrist who put the amount of thought and compassion into his work as opposed to being there to write a prescription every fifteen minutes. Drugs have taken over our beloved practice of psychiatry. Sometimes good. Sometimes not so good.
Florida has an awesome impaired practitioner program. Here is the one for nurses. There is also one for doctors and for pharmacists.
Florida is one of the first programs and the program is an alternative to discipline. It’s approach is non punitive. Here is a link to some great videos. It’s actually grounds for disciplinary action not to report. So it even goes beyond ethics to being a part of the Florida Nurse Practice Act.
Dorothea Dix was an educator and social reformer whose devotion to the welfare of the mentally ill led to widespread international reforms.
Synopsis
Born in Hampden, Maine, in 1802, Dorothea Dix was a social reformer whose devotion to the welfare of the mentally ill led to widespread international reforms. After seeing horrific conditions in a Massachusetts prison, she spent the next 40 years lobbying U.S. and Canadian legislators to establish state hospitals for the mentally ill. Her efforts directly affected the building of 32 institutions in the United States.
It was a good idea to let the Mentally ill be separate from those who are in jail. Unfortunately, what happened next is not a pretty story leading up to the emptying of state hospital and now we are back to where she is now where people cannot get good mental health care and many people end up in jail instead of treatment where they belong.
The following is a document written by Dorothea Dix to lay out the requirements for women who would work in the nursing service for the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Circular No. 8., by Dorothea Dix
Washington, D. C., July 14, 1862,
No candidate for service in the Women’s Department for nursing in the Military Hospitals of the United States, will be received below the age of thirty-five years, nor above fifty.
Only women of strong health, not subjects of chronic disease, nor liable to sudden illnesses, need apply. The duties of the station make large and continued demands on strength.
Matronly persons of experience, good conduct, or superior education and serious disposition, will always have preference; habits of neatness, order, sobriety, and industry, are prerequisites.
All applicants must present certificates of qualification and good character from at least two persons of trust, testifying to morality, integrity, seriousness, and capacity for care of the sick.
Obedience to rules of the service, and conformity to special regulations, will be required and enforced.
Compensation, as regulated by act of Congress, forty cents a day and subsistence. Transportation furnished to and from the place of service.
Amount of luggage limited within small compass.
Dress plain, (colors brown, grey, or black,) and while connected with the service without ornaments of any sort.
No applicants accepted for less than three months service; those for longer periods always have preference.
I feel I need to tackle this any maybe someone somewhere will read it and be able to help someone. The only goodness that comes out of a suicide death of a friend or a family is perhaps one can gain a little knowledge and understanding.
As a spiritual counselor and as psych rn sometimes my views run into each other and I have to figure out how to reconcile things. If you do not agree thats fine but even better if this gives you something to think about and one day it will save a life.
1. When someone kills themselves they are not in their right minds. period end of story. and I differentiate this from someone who is at the end of their life and chooses hospice -that is different. When I come across someone who is in this situation a referral to hospice is appropriate. When I come across someone who I feel is depressed and they want to die then all bets are off. Go get assessed and treated then tell me how you feel.
2. If someone you may think is depressed and they have taken all sorts of antidepressants and non of them work its pretty reasonable to think maybe they are not clinically depressed.
3. Depression is chemical pure and simple. I’m not a proponent of drugs but when people need them they need them.
4. People who are bipolar usually don’t want to be treated because they really enjoy the upswing ( and really who wouldn’t) (and we enjoy the upswing too if your honest about it -its a relief from the other behavor) and many people who are very creative will not seek treatment because they feel they will destroy they’re creativity.
cyndi lenz 