Nothing To Play With

For those of us who think it is easy to fake being mentally ill take a look at this story found in The New York Times. The picture to the left is of a Pakistani scientist by the name of Aafia Siddiqui. Ms. Siddiqui thought it would be cleaver to fake like she had a mental disorder in order to get out of being charged with conspiring to kill an American solider. The down fall to Aafia's plan were the findings of two different psychiatrist. Both concluded that she faked being mentally ill and neither could find evidence of a mental disorder. This story makes it bad for those who really are suffering from mental disorders and it makes it even harder for someone who has committed a crime to use the defense of mental illness.

Another gripe I have with stories such as Aafia Siddiqui is that it makes a mockery of mental disorders. Mental illness is serious and should never be taking as a joke or used in a way that you think it will exonerate you from a crime. It sickens me.

My Video-The Faces

Mental illness has no face. As you watch my short video please sit back and think about how important mental health is and never take your mental state for granted.

Lisa's Video-The Many Faces

Becasue I want this to reflect my true feelings and be as meaningful as possible, I am still constructing my video. I hope to have it up and running by mid-week (next week). Thanks for your understanding.

We Need A Home

I found an article from the Chicago Mental Health Examiner. I did not know this but “Illinois ranks number one in the number of mentally ill adults under the age of 65 residing in nursing homes” (Sun-Times 3/23/2009 ). With this said, the state is obviously having trouble finding places to “house the mentally ill so they are putting them in nursing homes. Housing these types of individuals with the elderly is causing many issues and deadly incidents.

Once such incident occurred just last June. I heard of this story on the news and what's even more crazy is I live down the street from the nursing home that this brutal attack took place. The story involves a patient who was a living in All Faith Pavilion nursing. Mr. Ivory Jackson, who was 77 was murdered by his mentally ill roommate who was 30 years younger than he. Mr. Jackson was placed in the home due to Alzheimer.

I do not understand what would make a doctor think it would be feasible to put someone suffering from a mental illness in a nursing home. These type of people, depending on the severity of their mental disease, need the type of care that only healthcare professionals can give. Nursing homes are not equipped to handle these cases. The healthcare professionals are trained in caring for the elderly and not for the mentally ill.

I wonder how many people who take their loved ones to a nursing home are told that there are also mentally ill patient there as well. I'm sure not many. But if they did know would this influence their decision to leave the family member there? I feel mixed when it comes to this question. Why, because I know not all mentally ill people are violent. Most only have these violent outburst when they do not have their medicines or something triggers them. I also know facilities especially for the mentally ill are far and few between.

I feel bad for the people who need the mental help because in almost every story I find they are getting the short end of the stick. Many can function on their own with the help of medicine and therapy, but what about those who need a place to live and need constant care? With healthcare being so expensive and access to healthcare limited to those who cannot afford it I guess society does not know what else to do but throw them in a nursing home and hope that they will be cared for.

YouTube - mental illness awareness

YouTube - mental illness awareness

For this post I would like for you to view the video labeled Mental Illness Awareness-Do We Need It?

Yes, we definitely need to have some awareness on this subject. Although my personal video is still a work in progress it will be dedicated to the many faces of mental illness. We all need to become aware just how serious this subject is and the treatment these type of people really need.


They do not need to be put in jail or in nursing homes or left on the streets. They need to have someone who can help them work through the troubles in their lives so that they can live as close to normal as possible. I know what it is like to have someone close to you suffering from this illness and if it takes my whole life I will do my best to make people aware.

Enjoy the video!

New Struggles: Economic Mental Illness

The economic downturn is creating all kinds of issues. People are losing jobs at alarming rates, losing their homes, and are being forced to choose between items that once upon a time were not considered luxuries.

Over the last several days I have become very interested in talking about the working class professional and mental illness. I talked about an article briefly a couple of days ago. As my interest for blogging about what I am calling the “new mentally ill,” my quest for information is also growing. The reason, over the last several weeks and almost months you cannot pick up a paper or turn on the news and not hear about some tragic situation involving some used to be well to do professional harming his family or others.

I found an interesting article from USA TODAY that talks about how mental stress is increasing, as the economy gets worse. What I found most interest about this article is that it talks about a poll that has been conducted almost every day since 2008. The poll that is being done by Gallup-Healthways breaks down how mental stress is taking its toll on various groups. The poll shows that Hispanics are the most mentally stressed.

I just want to know why is it that minorities seem to be the “most” of everything. It amazes me that certain groups of people seem to always think that other certain groups of people seem to have it so damn together. This crisis is colorless and the emotions and the mental stress is colorless as well.

Losing your job is hard and many are not equipped to deal with life after work. In the near future, we are going to be hearing about a lot more horror stories concerning the jobless and mental illness. Until then check out the full article on USA TODAY.

Crisis Mode-The Economy and The Mind

For days I have been looking for stories that talked about the rich and mental illness. I stumbled upon a very interesting article that I have not heard about in the mainstream.
Evidently, private mental health clinics are starting to see a rise in patients. All of this is due to the fact the stock market has fallen and people are losing their jobs at alarming rates.

This story takes place in Dubai but it seems that more private mental care clinics across the world will start to see numbers climb as more people are becoming depressed and unable to cope with job loss. It is so interesting to see how the other side is coping with mental illness. It is nothing like the poor citizens of our nation or of our world. All I can say is at least these peole have the option of private care to help treat them. I'm sure the private clinics vs. the public ones provide better options and the best medicines money can buy.

I am not going to knock these people becasue any loss can be hard. Especially your job. Your work defines you and without it you feel hopeless and useless. The upside to this article compared to any others I have seen is that they actually give you "survial tips." Hmm...would it not be nice to give survival tips to the millions living with "real" mental illnesses?

Sad To Report....

Tonight after much searching, I found no news worthy stories I wanted to write about tonight. Please check back tomorrow. Thank you for reading and have a good night.

One Last Thought

It is a shame how people take advantage of mental illness and try to use to their advantage. I found a story about a very sick individual who obviously needs some kind of psychiatric help for the heinous crime he committed. And the judge who ruled over this case may need even more help.

Who on this Earth would not hold another human being responsible for taking another human begins life by beheading them and the proceeding to eat them. No, this is not another Jeffrey Dalmer situation. In this episode a man riding a bus in Canada beheaded another man and on this same bus began to eat part of him. How gross...The worst part is he blamed his behavior on being mentally ill.

The saddest part of it all is when he was tried for the crime he was found "not responsible" because he was mentally ill. It is a shame how people try to play this card when a crime is committed. Mental illness is a serious thing and the judge who excused him from this crime should under go some psychological evaluations.!

Friday Night Thoughts

It is the end of long work week for me and I figure I better start putting more into my blog. I want this to blog to purposeful and informative to those who read it. I know it does not seem like my heart is into this blog but it is.

I want to end my week with the following question: Should the mental health system receive stimulus help?

I found a very short story that spoke about this matter. In my opinion the mental health system should receive all the stimulus help it can get. I have mentioned in a previous blog that funds are steadily being cut from this sector. What is cutting funds suppose to do for those who really need help? Many of these folks are going to be forced out on the streets and made to fend for themselves.

If we all looked at the statistics on mental illness I think we would support having money pumped into this area. For example:

*Nearly 10 percent of children have a serious mental disorder
*Mental disorders are the leading cause of disability for people aged 15-44
*Adults with serious mental illness die 25 years younger than other Americans
*People with mental illness who receive treatment are no more likely to be violent than people without mental illness.

I ask again why would we not want this sector to receive funding and keep funding. No one ever knows if he or she will suffer from a mental disorder and will have to take advantage of the services provided by mental health facilities.

Lisa's Gripe

Everyday we pass them on street. Some of them homeless and some of them well dressed professionals and worst some of them children. Mental Illness does not discriminate and can destroy life of the ill and those around them.

I am angry that this topic is so overlooked. It is a serious matter and with the world going in the direction it is going mental illness and mental health needs to be addressed promptly. I am going to bring topics from various sources and give my thoughts and feelings on them. I invite all to join in and express their feelings.

Does Anybody Care????

Mental illness is a very serious and dear topic to me. I have a person very close to me who suffers from a mix of depressesion and schzophrenia. I read an article from www.the-signal.com/news, talking about cuts th mental health services.

It's amazing that we can spend over $40,000.00 a year to house a prisioner but cannot spend the $16,0000.00 a year to treat someone in need of mental health care that would potential benefit our whole society.

Santa Clarity Valley is currently going through some very viable cuts to their Department of Mental health. It's a tough battle for this community because the cuts would be going to fund care for children. But my thoughts are what good is that if the person who is caring for the child is mentally ill?

It's just not fair that this class of people is so over looked. People need to look at the benefits of helping the mentally ill instead of the cost. As I stated earlier it costs well over $40,000.00 a year to house a jail inmate and only a small fraction to help someone who needs mental health care. What the hell is wrong with our society? We'd rather pay for a jailbird, and let us keep in mind this inmate could be mentally ill, than just help pay for the care of a mentally ill person.

I guess when the people creating these legislatures to cut funding become personally affected maybe our society will see change. Until then the struggle continues...