A powerful story of a family who desperately want to help their loved one who has schizoaffective‬ disorder depressive type with persecutory delusions ‬, but are unable to because of the strict involuntary commitment laws in Maryland. 

"Because he does not think he is sick, voluntary treatment is not an option. Unless he threatens to harm himself or someone else, or is so sick he cannot keep himself alive, he cannot be deemed dangerous ..."

"Behind the yellow door, a man's mental illness worsens" by Stephanie Mccrummen (Washington Post)

Recently, author Laurel Braitman, shared with TED followers 5 ways in which animals and humans suffer from similar mental illnesses in her article "More Similar Than We Know: When Animals Go Mad".  Through this and her book Animal Madness: How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves (read on to see the synopsis of the novel) Braitman demonstrates how we can better learn about and understand human mental health and illness by exploring the emotional distress of our beloved pets and other animals in the wild.

"Making sense of animal emotional states and behavior, especially when they are doing things that seem abnormal, has always involved a certain amount of projection. The diagnoses that many of these animals receive reflect shifting ideas about human mental health, since people use the concepts, language and diagnostic tools they are comfortable with to puzzle out what may be wrong with the animals around them.

This isn’t to say that the creatures aren’t suffering, but the labels we give to their suffering reflect not only our beliefs about animals’ capacity for emotional expression, but also our own, most popular, ideas about mental illness and recovery. Where, for example, earlier generations saw madness, homesickness and heartbreak in themselves and other animals, veterinarians and physicians now diagnose anxiety, impulse control and obsessive-compulsive disorders in humans, dogs, gorillas, whales and many animals in between" (ideas.TED.com).

Recommended For:
Animal lovers, veterinarians, and anyone interested in human mental health!

For many months now, there has been extensive media coverage on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his struggles with ‪‎drugs‬ and ‪‎alcohol‬. Most of these news reports and videos have led to countless jokes, memes and laughs being had, but few have looked at the issue from a more serious ‪‎mental health‬ perspective.

In the article, "Why Are We Laughing at Rob Ford?", psychotherapist Dr. Howard Samuels offers a different take on Rob Ford and his substance use, one that encourages us to consider ‪addiction‬ as a true medical condition, and pushes us to think about intervening and urging those we know with drug abuse problems to seek ‪help‬, rather than simply making fun of them and ignoring the ‪‎pain‬ and deeper struggles they may be experiencing.

A second article, " Rob Ford's Addiction: Reducing Stigma Or Doing A 'Disservice' To Rehab?" looks at Rob Ford and his drug use with regards to ‪stigma‬, public ‪‎awareness‬ of addictions, and the impact on others with similar mental health concerns. More specifically, when the mayor "likened his first days in ‪rehab‬ to football camp and called the experience "amazing"" many experts in the field of addictions had differing views as to the message Ford was sending out to the public. Some say he has helped to reduce stigma by getting people talking and has encouraged others to seek help themselves, while others believed he was making too light of the situation and misrepresenting what ‪treatment‬ is really all about.

Take some time today to check out these articles, and consider your own views on the topic!

Have you heard of drunkorexia? If not, drunkorexia = an "eating disorder with a co-morbidity with alcoholism" or more commonly it refers to the combination of alcohol misuse (most often binge drinking) and disordered eating behaviours.

Drunkorexia has been gaining more attention recently by the media and researchers alike as it seems to be a growing trend and fad diet, particularly among young people and most especially among young women. In fact, based on recent studies, it's thought that over 15% of college students engage in 'drunkorexic behaviours' whether it be to prevent weight gain, to get drunk more quickly, or for financial reasons.

As one may expect, drunkorexia is not considered a healthy lifestyle or behaviour by healthcare professionals and in fact "drunkorexia could also have dangerous cognitive, behavioural and physical consequences, as well as putting people at risk for developing more serious eating disorders and addiction problems. "Apart from each other, depriving the brain of adequate nutrition and consuming large amounts of alcohol can be dangerous," she [Victoria Osborne, Assistant Professor of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Missouri] said. "Together, they can cause short- and long-term cognitive problems including difficulty concentrating, studying and making decisions."

You can find out more about drunkorexia by checking out the articles below:

• "'Drunkorexia: When Alcoholism Meets Eating Disorders'" by Sam Thomas (Huffington Post)
• "More Students Skipping Meals To Binge Drink As 'Drunkorexia' Disorder Grows In Popularity" by Lucy Sherriff (Huffington Post)
• "Binge drinking, dieting linked in drunkorexia study" (CBC News)

Put your knowledge and skills to the test with the case of a 44 year old male who presents with disorientation, impaired attention and concentration, paranoid delusions, and auditory and visual hallucinations, all of which began 6 months ago when his sleep began to deteriorate.  He has had a history of depression following his brother's death from an unknown neurologic disease 3 years ago, and has been using marijuana daily for a number of years.

Can you determine the cause of his insomnia and symptoms or come up with a treatment plan?

"Sleepless and Paranoid" by Nick Eilbeck & Marijo Tamburrino (Current Psychiatry)

Deryck Whibley, frontman of the Canadian rock band Sum 41, and former husband of Avril Lavigne, recently went public about his battle with alcohol addiction in an interview with CBC and posts on his own website following a month-long hospitalization due to his alcohol use. You can read more about Whibley's story and his road to recovery at the links below ...

"hey everyone, it’s deryck here. sorry i’ve been so m.i.a. lately, but i’ve been very sick in the hospital for a month and was pretty sick for a few weeks leading up to my trip to the hospital. the reason i got so sick is from all the hard boozing i’ve been doing over the years. it finally caught up to me. i was drinking hard every day. until one night. i was sitting at home, poured myself another drink around mid night and was about to watch a movie when all of a sudden i didn’t feel so good. i then collapsed to the ground unconscious. my fiancé got me rushed to the hospital where they put me into the intensive care unit. i was stuck with needles and i.v.’s all over. i was completely sedated the FIRST WEEK. when i finally woke up the next day i had no idea where i was. my mum and step dad were standing over me. i was so freaked out. my liver and kidney’s collapsed on me. needless to say it scared me straight. i finally realized i can’t drink anymore. if i have one drink the doc’s say i will die. i’m not preaching or anything but just always drink responsibly. i didn’t, and look where that got me" (http://www.deryckwhibley.net/).

"Deryck Whibley: 'I had pretty much just damaged everything'" by Geoff Nixon (CBC)

Have you been following the FIFA World Cup?  If so, here's something worth considering as you cheer on your team and watch these high-intensity soccer matches: the mental health struggles of our sports idols, especially those in soccer or football as it's better known as in some parts of the world.

Below is a must watch documentary called "Football's Suicide Secret" in which former player and chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association Clarke Carlisle not only opens up about his own attempt at suicide and experience with depression following an injury during his career, but also powerfully demonstrates and exposes how mental health struggles are not uncommon within the sport.

"Since the tragic suicide of Gary Speed in 2011, football has had to face up to a stigma in the game - mental illness. But is there still a taboo in the sport? Footballer and chairman of the PFA Clarke Carlisle investigates depression and even suicide in British football and speaks to young players, managers and Gary Speed's family to find out why footballers are suffering in silence" (bbc.co.uk).

As Carlisle explains in an article to increase awareness of mental illness in soccer, "when a player retires, his chances of getting clinical depression go up 40 percent. Other common triggers are injury, being transferred, the inability to separate home and work life. Yet I must also point out that there is often no logical trigger because depression is an indiscriminate illness."

As the article goes on to say, "to the outsider, the world of the footballer is one of adoration and vast riches, but for every leading star there are several more journeymen being barracked from the terraces.”

You can read the article about Clarke Carlisle and his quest to end the taboo of mental health in football here:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1699274-pfa-chairman-clarke-carlisle-in-quest-to-end-taboo-of-mental-health-in-football?utm_campaign=tsiphone&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=teamstream

For a brief synopsis of dermatillomania or skin picking disorder, including what it is, the basic facts about the disorder, the prevalence, the gender distribution, and common therapies utilized to aid in recovery, check out the great infographic below from skinpick.com!