First new type of Schizophrenia Drug in over 50 years

The CATIE trials, which became quite famous because of their inclusion in the New York Times, indicated that there hasn’t been a totally brand new mechanism of action in the world of medications for schizophrenia since the 1950s when the first antipsychotic Chlorpromazine was introduced. A new drug by Eli Lilly that is in clinical trials may be the first antipsychotic with a novel mechanism of action since chlorpromazine was introduced.
The investigational drug is called LY2140023. And, here is the big news: LY2140023 affects a neurotransmitter called glutamate. It is the first of a brand-new class of drugs called mGlu2/3 receptor agonists.
All antipsychotics used today act on dopamine, a neurotransmitter, a message-carrying chemical in the brain.
Blocking dopamine causes very unpleasant side-effects and many schizophrenia patents often stop taking their medications because of the unpleasant side effects. Weight gain and diabetes can both cause early death, and both side effects are caused by the dopamine-blocking medications.
There is an experimental drug in an early phase of development which attempts to treat schizophrenia using this new mechanism of action. It seemed to work safely in patients, without the dangerous and annoying side-effects of older drugs, U.S. researchers reported on September 2rd, 2007. 39 articles, in English, around the world on this topic, indicate to me this is an important new development.
LY2140023 is an investigational medication now. Lilly tested the new drug in a double blind study against its older drug Zyprexa in 196 patients in Russia and found it was not as efficacious as Zyprexa, but it is nevertheless effective, and the new drug did not cause many of the side-effects of Zypreza, such as weight gain, cholesterol and hormonal changes.
But, what is a double blind study? Double-blind means that the doctors and the patients are kept in the dark whether the patient is taking LY2140023, Zyprexa or a placebo. This way, the results are more scientifically accurate.
Approximately 32 percent of the patients treated with LY2140023 responded to the treatment, as opposed to 41 percent of patients who got Zyprexa, known generically as olanzapine, and just 3 percent of the patients given placebos.
LY2140023 patients had fewer side-effects. Most were mild, including nausea and headache and insomnia or sleepiness,.
To read more about this topic. Go to http://news.google.com and type in the search box: schizophrenia glutamate

Mental Illness is not "sexy" so it gets less funding for research, and why the "Gates Foundation" should do more for mental health issues

Today, I was talking to a worker of mine on the phone, and we had one of those conversations where we were talking about the fact that research for mental illness is really underfunded, "Yeah, compared to other diseases, it's amazing how little funding goes into the search for cures for mental illnesses." We agreed it is primarily because of the lack of "sexiness" of the mental illnesses, also it is due to the stigma attached to mental illnesses.

I read a lot of news online because I like the depth and the variety of viewpoints available. So, about 6 months ago there was a huge story in the world of philanthropy, Warren Buffett, the 2nd richest man in the USA according to the Forbes 500, a man worth many billions of dollars to his name will bequeath his considerable fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I could only think, "Wow! Imagine if even a small percentage of that money goes to searching for cures for mental illness!"

So, I called NARSAD (The National Alliance on Research for Schizophrenia And Depression, and I talked to a few people there letting them know about this big news that they had not heard of yet. The areas of interest of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are the following: Global Development Program, Global Health Program, United States Program. I went to the Gates' Foundation Website, and I couldn't find any mention of any kind of real commitment to mental health.

By 2020 the World Health Organization projects that depression alone will be the #2 cause of disability around the world. Add schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anxiety disorders to the mix.. and you definitely have an amazing fount of suffering that could definitely be treated better with a better understanding of those disorders. I have yet to see that The Gates foundation has donated anything to NARSAD. And, because around the world 1 in 4 people will be facing mental problems of some sort during their lifetimes... It would just make more sense if Mr.Gates would look past the "sexy" disorders.. and give the gift of mental health to billions around the world.

Why am I picking on the Gates Foundation? It is because they are the most well-known philanthropic foundation that is out there right now. If they took a leadership position in the world of mental health.. everyone would benefit.

That's my 2 cents for today.

Between Bibliotherapy and Psychoeducation at NYSPI

I have worked as the Patient and Family Librarian at New York State Psychiatric Instute for approximately two and a half years now. Many Psychiatric Institutions have a library. Not so many have as comprehensive a library/patient resource as the PFL (Patient and Family Library)
To understand what we do here at the PFL one needs to understand the concepts of bibliotherapy and psychoeducation and how these concepts are being worked into the offerings of the PFL.

So, what is bibliotherapy? Bibliotherapy is an old concept in library science.. In the US it is documented as at least 100 years old.. The basic concept behind bibliotherapy is that reading is a healing experience. It was applied to both general practice medical care especially after WWII, because the soldiers had a lot of time on their hands whle recuperating, and they felt that the reading was healing and helpful. In psychiatric institutions bibliotherapeutic groups flourished during this time. The books kept the patients busy, and they seemed to be good for their general sense of well being for a variety of reasons. Since then, pretty much a standard definition of bibliotherapy is, According to Merriam-Webster online, "the use of reading materials for help in solving personal problems or for psychiatric therapy."


What is psychoeducation? Psychoeducation is a newer concept than bibliotheraphy, briefly defined Psychoeducation is a form of mental health treatment that includes elements of illness-related education and group psychotherapy. A great deal of research has demonstrated that psychoeducation increases patients' knowledge and coping skills with regard to mental illness and significantly reduces relapse and rehospitalization rates (Lukens & McFarlane, In Press) So, the whole idea behind the psychoeducation and bibliotherapy at the PFL is that the patients will read, educate themselves about their particular problems, and gain insight and will hopefully be able to cope better with what they are struggling with.

What are psychoeducational materials at the Patient and Family Library? Psychoeducational materials in our library include: books, pamphlets, videos, periodicals, and web sites. Our target customer is the psychiatric patient, a caring family member, or someone who cares for someone with a mental illness. It is often the case that the patient is a "first break" who is still orienting themselves to the new realities of a serious mental disorder. The social work interns reach out to the patient units with videos from the library's collection to lead groups that spark insight and understanding in the patients who attend the groups. This insight can help the patient deal with the day-to-day vissitudes of institutional life. And, we hope that making it out of the hospital and successfully re-intergrating into the community is aided by the insight that the patients get through these experiences.

The books that the library carries have been specially chosen by the clinical staff and the librarian for their quality and utility in the patients' personal journey of self-discovery, with regards to their illness. The thing that makes this book collection special is that the books deal with psychiatric issues; however, they have generally been written for laypeople. So, they are comprehensible to someone with an 8th grade level of education. Yes, we have the Physican's Desk Reference and the DSM-IV TR as is fitting for any medical library.. but we also carry inspirational stories of people like the late Mental Health Advocate Ken Steele whose biography "The Day the Voices Stopped" chronicles the strange and facinating world of a man's 30 year journey to wellness.. It takes us from the heartbreaking day he learned he had schizophrenia, to the day that the voices in his head stopped by appropriate medicine, and he could re-integrate into society as a advocate for the mentally ill. Against Depression by Peter Kramer, the author of Listening to Prozac, is the most circulated book in the library bar none. Dr. Kramer's engaging and illustrative writing describing the demons that plague the depressed and a snapshot of the science that is known at this point.. is gripping. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar is the most popular novel in our library which deals with schizophrenia. I'm sure the popular movie which was loosely based on this novel helps its popularity. A Beautiful Mind is a classic story exploring the closeness between genius and insanity. It is a biography of John Nash, the man that would be hit by schizophrenia as a young man and he would also go on to receive a Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work in applied mathematics. An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jameson is our most popular book regarding bipolar disorder. Again the closeness between the genius of a young doctor and her insanity is explored in a very real story. The reason I bring up schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder is because staticically those have been the most read about topics in our library. Also, psychoeducation books in Spanish are agressively collected because of the large hispanic population that the library is situated in. .

However, not everyone who is looking for information has the concentration to read a 100+ page book, so we have short, easily-read, authoritative psychoeducational pamphlets in English and Spanish from The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), NARSAD, and NAMI NYS. We also have a good-sized current periodicals collection which has everything from mental health news, NAMI newsletters, institutional periodicals, and condition-specific periodicals.

Besides the space, the books, and the videos, the thing that ties together the Patient and Family Library library is its website. On the website there is an raison d'etre as to why the library exists, there is an online public access catalog hosted by librarycom.com, there is both a static (pdf) and a dynamic (php/MySQL) annotated video list of the psychoeducational videos, and there is a listing of some of the best mental health links in New York City. New York City has a wide range of services for the mentally disabled compared to smaller municipalities. To have a one-stop-shopping center for the best services in NYC is a useful resource for patients and their families.

There is always room to grow, and in the future years of the Patient and Family Library of New York State Psychiatric Institute will undoubtedly help people find better understanding of mental illnesses.

Mental Illness and War: A Comparison

Being a person with mental illness that is also a contributing member of society, I wonder sometimes about the parity of treatment of mental illnesses such as mine against other money-driven things such as war.

Bibliometrics

What is that word and how can I use it to make sense of the difference between war and mental illness? Bibliometrics is a word from library science that means "the more that is published on a topic, the more important the topic is in terms of money and energy being used." The term bibliometrics was coined before the invention of the World Wide Web so it encompasses book and periodical publications only. The concept of bibliometrics can be stretched to encompass the Web as well to be able to make some basic observations on how mental illness stacks up to war, for example, in terms of money and effort being used by our society. I'll use my own new term "Webliometrics" for that concept. Let's see how mental illness and war compare.

I go to a very good Web site for news: Google News. I go there almost every day to check out what is happening in the new and emerging treatments for schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. You can get there by going to www.google.com and clicking on "news." Basically it is a news service that updates itself automatically from over 4,500 online news sources around the world. Google News has a nifty feature that tells you in the past 30 days how many stories match your search terms.

On November 1st, 2003, I did a search on "schizophrenia" and got 721 hits. "Not bad," I think to myself. What about depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder? "Mental illness" comes up with 2,530 hits. "Depression" as a psychiatric illness comes up 5,670 times. "Bipolar" comes up 617 times. "Obsessive compulsive disorder" comes up 153 times, and "borderline personality disorder" comes up 34 times. For everything dealing with mental illness that I searched, it came up with 9,725 stories.

Next, I do a search on war which retrieves 75,900 articles. So, compared to war, mental illness is not given anywhere as much energy or power by our society. There is about ten times more published on war; therefore, there is about ten times as much money and energy being used in the war effort.

If the U.S. put the kind of money and effort that is being put into the War on Terror into research for cures to mental illnesses, we would break scientific ground every week! The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has made a statement about schizophrenia recently regarding the powerful genomic technologies we possess. NAMI national's executive director Richard C. Birkel stated that scientists may be able to find a cure for schizophrenia in ten years. That should give a lot of people a lot of hope. (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031023/dcth070_1.html)

If the cure is in sight for schizophrenia, probably this holds true for most of the serious mental disorders. It's my opinion that it's not a matter of "if" we can find cures for serious mental illnesses with this technology. Rather, it's a question of when. The more effort and money that is thrown behind the search for cures, the faster these cures will come about! It's only a matter of time.

Maybe it doesn't make sense for America to throw money at mental problems because it is not worth it economically? Nonsense! Depression alone costs the U.S. economy $31 billion each year! (http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/special/18depression.html)

If it takes ten years to find a cure for depression and the other mental disorders, that's well over $300 billion the U.S. is losing in productivity for these years. So, if the reason we are not more aggressively seeking cures for these mental diseases is not due to economics, then we must ask why. Is it because of stigma? Discrimination? Hatred? My personal belief is that it is the ignorance of mainstream society to the possibilities for cures for these diseases.

These diseases have existed so long that probably many people don't believe that cures may actually exist in the next few years. I'm just saying mental illness research should get more of the pie of money that is out there. I'm sure anybody afflicted with a mental illness or has a family member with a mental illness would have a similar sentiment.

Editor's Note: According to the site http://www.costofwar.com, the U.S. spent approximately $87 billion on the war so far. Congress has approved a total of $150 billion according to The New York Times. In contrast, the National Institute of Mental Health got $1.35 Billion for fiscal 2003. That is $150 billion for war vs. $1.35 billion for mental health research.

Why I'm Angry at Uncle Sam Today: Aussies are beating us in the quest for cures

I just saw an exciting article on Yahoo! News regarding the role of thinning grey matter in a specific area of the brain and its relationship to cognitive dysfunction. This brings more understanding of schizophrenia that will eventually lead to a cure. As of right now there are 17 articles concerning schizophrenia research in English world-wide on Google News. This is big news as far as schizophrenia news goes. Usually, up to four articles would be published on a piece of schizophrenia research, which I think would be significant news, let alone 17!

So, who discovered this important piece of information? The scientists at the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH)? The National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression's people? No. This research was not controlled by American researchers. It was done by Aussies (Australians) at Neuroscience Institute of Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders in New South Wales.

I'm thinking, "I've never heard of these people." They aren't the big players I'd think would be able to do this kind of research. So, this groundbreaking research was done by some people from the land down under.

Australia has approximately 20,000 people with schizophrenia. New York City alone has more than three times that amount. And this is not the first time Aussies have done some heavy lifting in the field of schizophrenia research. In 2004 the scientists at Melbourne Mental Health Research Institute found 69 candidate genes that seem to be implicated in the disease. These Aussie scientists are good friends to people with schizophrenia all over the world.

Now, where does that leave the United States in this quest for academic excellence and cures for serious mental disorders? We're way behind where we should be. Well, NIMH has a budget for all mental disorders research of a little more than one billion dollars a year. That sounds like a lot of money to most people. Wow! A billion dollars a year! In reality, it's almost nothing. According to some estimates, each year schizophrenia costs about 20 billion dollars annually. Costs to American society that are associated with depression and other mental disorders makes the 20 billion seem like small change.

I think that many people in government think in terms of only dollars and cents. That being the case, if we cured schizophrenia, this would free up $20 billion a year for the American economy. Think of the good that could be done if we could cure only one disorder tomorrow!

Don't get me wrong, American scientists are good. However, they are hampered in this search for a cure for many mental illnesses by a government that is more intent on making war and our military-industrial complex bigger. America should take a leadership role in the search for cures for mental illness by putting its money where its future is.

Uncle Sam, do not forsake we who are living with mental illness! We are sons and daughters of this land as much as anyone else. We are citizens that deserve more of that pie that is the wealth of America to further our good, and this would be good for the rest of America.

Imagine more people with mental illness entering the workforce. Imagine the jails less crowded by people with mental illness because they have better judgment thanks to the right treatment. It can happen. It will happen. It's just a matter of when. Don't you want to be remembered by those who care about the mentally ill as a benevolent and wise Uncle Sam? Don't let the Aussies get all the credit!

The Sick Me vs. The Well Me

I have had schizophrenic symptoms since 1992, for almost ten years now. In the time after I contracted the disease, I have somehow gotten my undergraduate degree in English and a graduate degree in Library Science. Along the way I've had to learn to reconcile the sick versus well me. One of the biggest helping hands I've received in my life is this tool of knowing somehow when I'm sick and when I'm well. The degrees are cool too.

When I am well, life is easy. I don't have to have patience with disordered thinking, or depression. When I'm sick; however, it is a totally different story. Sometimes living day to day is a chore when you are a mentally ill person. Situations that a "healthy" person would easily deal with become insurmountable. When they happen to me and I am sick, I hope for them to just go away as soon as possible. This approach to life requires more patience than I ever had to muster when I was well.

How did I get my college degrees? Slowly. I paced myself. I went to school half-time for my Masters degree, and had to deal with many sick thoughts. How do I recognize sick thoughts versus well thoughts? That's a good question, because some people don't ever realize they are sick even when it is obvious to everyone around them. Insight, for me, is hard to come about when I am ill because the illness can be more real than reality. Kind of like a bad trip. I've never used hallucinogens, so I'm guessing that is how it must be.

How do I learn to trust people when I'm slightly psychotic? I can trust people when I am only slightly psychotic. If I were deep in psychosis, there would be no way I could do this. I juxtapose my present with my past, and then I notice something aberrant about my thoughts. A friend calls them 'signposts.' When I'm being too negative or too positive I notice it, and it is dangerous. If I'm too negative, I'm usually very tired. The quick fix? Go to sleep. Feeling too good means I'll be going down the wrong road soon, so I pop a 5mg pill of Navane and I stop the euphoria. If I'm feeling paranoid and in class, I reach inside, take some medicine that my psychiatrist has graciously prescribed, and say this too will pass, and it always did, eventually. Usually, paranoia would hit me in social situations when I was finishing up my degrees, and also at night. For me, physical fatigue can bring on sick thoughts. Realizing this, and pacing myself through school really paid off.

Another trick I use for dealing with my schizophrenia in school is reality testing through others. If I'm having sensory hallucinations, then I ask people if what I'm experiencing is real. A frequent question I had and still have at night is, "Do you smell smoke?" The trick is to believe the answer you get. It's hard to trust others when you are psychotic, but if you know for an objective fact that sane people can offer insight, it helps.

In conclusion, if you are going for schooling and have a mental illness, my pearl of wisdom would be to pace yourself. You can do it. I'm mentally ill and I did. I'm living proof. I've seen intelligent people with mental illness fail in advanced studies just because they didn't pace themselves. Go half time. If in doubt, take it nice and slow. It might be frustrating at times, but if you want it badly enough you can do it!

Making It Through College With A Mental Illness

Many people who are in treatment for their mental illness are encouraged to pursue higher education. With this in mind, recently, I recounted my struggle with juggling paranoid schizophrenia and actively pursuing a Master's degree in library science. The people at Yahoo! were good enough to publish my personal story of achievement in the face of severe mental illness in their directory of well over one million websites. And I am reaching about four hundred people each month with my story.

I have already received e-mails from people that say that this account of "making it" through college despite having a mental illness gives them hope that they too can succeed at their goal of making it through college. This has been very satisfying for me that I've been a small help to someone going though what I already have gone through.

So, what's in the book; and how do I get to it? Well, if you go to www.yahoo.com and type in the search box "kd3qc" without the quotes a link to my page will be prominently displayed on your screen. And best of all, it's free since I posted it using geocities.com. The book is a montage of stories and practical advice of what to do and what not to do while pursuing a college education. Social activities and academic activities are covered. The book is written with the person who has mental illness in mind; however, family members and mental health professionals also can benefit from reading this book. The book is broken up into six chapters titled: Preparing and financing for an education, Your First Day of Class, Your First Semester, What happens when you are re-hospitalized during school?, The saga continues, and Graduation!

I don't want to give away too many of the big secrets of the book, because then you wouldn't read it! However, here is a taste of the book from the chapter titled The Saga Continues: "After your first semester, the thing is that you need to keep your momentum going and not slack off in classes. The question arises: 'How do I avoid burning myself out?' The answer to that is simple, yet complex. The simple part is that you need to keep choosing subjects that are interesting to you. Selecting subjects you wouldn't mind studying is your best bet to long-term success in your academics. Your worst mistake would be to choose a lot of math courses if you can't stand numbers. No matter how driven you are, that is a sure way of dampening your resolve.

"Usually, college will take a full time student four years to complete. That means for four years of your life you need to be psyched about what you are studying and keeping focused on the end result. For people with a mental illness it could take much longer than the four years. That's ok though. Just getting a college degree is a major milestone in a healthy person's life. How much more sweet is it to the person with the mental disability! It is telling the mental disability, 'You do not own me! I am greater than you are!' It is an affirmation of self that should not be forgotten."

And that is the thought with which I'd like to end. Finishing college for a person with a mental illness is an affirmation of will overcoming this great burden. If you can get through college with a mental illness, it means that the mental illness doesn't own you. You are bigger than your mental handicap!

Do Neuroleptics Hinder Recovery?

I subscribed to a newsgroup alt.support.schizophrenia, and one of the serious topics of discussion was "Do anti-psychotic drugs hinder our recovery from schizophrenia?" There was an article published in USA Today, March 4, 2002 titled "Mind drugs may hinder recovery" by Robert Whitaker that was part of the discussion. In the article Mr. Whitaker noted that in developing countries people with schizophrenia don't have access to medication; however, they got better! Also, he went on to say that John Forbes Nash of recent fame from A Beautiful Mind stopped taking neuroleptic medication in 1970, and he had been getting better ever since.

Adding to this recent flurry of thinking about how neuroleptic medications are bad for people diagnosed with schizophrenia, I found an article at boston.com titled "Group stirs debate over schizophrenia" by Ellen Barry, March 3, 2002. Basically the article showed a group of people who were told that they would probably be on anti-psychotic medications for the rest of their lives to treat their psychosis; however, they went into complete remission, medicine-free. These lucky people that went into complete remission work for a group called the National Empowerment Center. The article stated: "At their Lawrence nonprofit, the National Empowerment Center, they have been spreading a controversial gospel, telling mentally ill people and their families that the psychiatric establishment is lying to them about their condition."

So, what do I think about all these antipsychiatry viewpoints? I remember a statistic from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) website about schizophrenia: approximately 1/3 get better, 1/3 remain the same, and 1/3 get worse ten years after their first psychotic break. Also, I believe from personal experience that the earlier you catch the schizophrenia with medication, the lower the dose you need to take, in general. What do I think of Robert Whitaker postulating that "Mind drugs may hinder recovery?" One, I think it is a dangerous case to be made. Two, I think it is a misleading argument. Because you don't see people sick with schizophrenia in developing countries, doesn't mean that they get better. I'd like him to check his facts a little more closely so he could cite statistics about the rate of remission of schizophrenia in developing countries, and I'm sure that it would look very much like our country's statistics except it would look more like: 1/3 got better, 1/3 are still chained to things so they won't hurt themselves, and 1/3 died (at least).

What do I think about the National Empowerment Center's message that the psychiatric establishment is lying about the necessity of treatment? I think it is ridiculous and dangerous. There is a large movement on the Internet that tries to tell people that psychiatrists are lying to their patients, and it's best to think for yourselves whether or not you need medication. There are six groups I found on the Internet that espouse that position. Two are named the Antipsychiatry Coalition, and the Lunatics Liberation Front. Doctors have known for a long time that mental illnesses can go into remission all by themselves, but only for the lucky few. Mental health consumers who go along with the antipsychiatry movement will probably learn for themselves the hard way that their doctors are really there to help. I talked to my therapist about this topic in session, and he said that he couldn't believe anyone who was educated in the field would take these antipsychiatry topics seriously. I hope as few mental health consumers as possible take antipsychiatry seriously.

The New York Times and Insanity

I recently searched The New York Times' archives back to 1851 because I wanted to find any patterns in our society's attitudes about mental illness. I discovered that melancholia was the initial term used for depression in the English language. Melancholia was first used in The Times on April 29, 1868. Interestingly, the word depression appeared in The Times for the first time 17 years earlier on October 18, 1851, describing the state of mind of an accused man in a murder trial. This was the first mention of a mental illness ever in The NY Times. The murder trial has amazingly strong ties to discussions going on today about the link between mental illness and crime.

We as a society have been fascinated and horrified with mental illness and the possibility of crime since at least 1851. The stigma associated with mental illness is very old. This stigma has been ingrained into our society, and so it is no wonder it still exists. The phenomenon of people with mental illness leaving institutions and getting back into society is only a few decades old. Stigma associated with mental illness is still here, but as treatments get better and people get more educated and enlightened, there will be less of it.

The second article ever printed in The Times about "mental illness" was in 1869. It concerned a book about the famous author and man of letters, Lord Byron. Lord Byron probably suffered from bipolar disorder. The biography was written by the Countess Guiccoli, who was a companion and admirer of Lord Byron. Byron was as much a luminary then as the mathematical legend John Nash is in our times. We still recognize greatness in some with mental illness. Undoubtedly, Byron is an example of the saying, "There is a fine line between genius and insanity."

In The Times, I read about attempts by scientists and doctors since 1907 to relieve the suffering of people with mental illness. In 1907, a surgeon discovered a treatment that supposedly relieved the disease of dementia praecox or schizophrenia. The New York Times writer hailed it as a "cure" for schizophrenia. The idea of operating on the brain started around 1890, but this article in 1907 is a record of an intermediate phase in the treatment for schizophrenia. This type of psychosurgery developed into lobotomies. So, looking back at what we now deem to be barbarous treatment of the mentally ill, we see this pronouncement of a "cure" for schizophrenia as hype.

It seems some of the words we use to describe mental illness have changed. The treatments we have today are generally more humane, but some things regarding mental illness haven't changed much since The Times started printing. Concerning mental illness and crime, stigma seems to be as much a part of our society today as it was more than 150 years ago. However, as opposed to 1851, many people today dare to inform society of their battles with mental illness. Indeed, New York City Voices would not exist if there weren't people who dared to express themselves. With their courage, they have lessened stigma a bit. Finally, insanity and genius seem to be linked to an extent.

To summarize, some things have not changed much, but some things have changed for the better. Let's hope we can keep the positive momentum going.

Un Avance en la Investigación de la Esquizofrenia y la Depresión

¡Buenas noticias para esta semana! En la edición del 6 de enero de la revista Science se informó que los científicos del Instituto Rockefeller, bajo la dirección del Premio Nobel Paul Greengard, han dado un paso adelante en el descubrimiento de una cura para la depresión. El Instituto Rockefeller está descubriendo el mecanismo básico de la enfermedad mental que ha atormentado al hombre desde el principio de los tiempos.

La historia mas reciente es que los medicamentos actuales para la depresión actúan sobre el neurotrasmisor llamado serotonina para mitigar los síntomas, algunas veces, devastadores. Parece que existe una causa aún más básica de la depresión, que la serotonina. Se trata de la proteína p11, que según parece, regula la manera como el cerebro usa la serotonina. Los medicamentos que regulan la proteína p11 podrían no ser una cura para la depresión, pero podrían acercarse mucho más a la raíz biológica del desorden.

Como si su investigación sobre las causas de la depresión no fuera suficiente, el Doctor Greengard me asombró hace dos años con su artículo del 21 de noviembre publicado en Science y titulado Diversos actos psicotomiméticos a través de una trayectoria señalada común (Diverse psychotomimetics act through a common signaling pathway). Este trabajo versa sobre el DARPP-32 y sus relaciones con la esquizofrenia y otros desórdenes sicóticos. Para simplificar bastante las cosas, la proteína p11 es a la depresión lo que el DARPP-32 es a la psicosis.

La buena noticia es que el Doctor Greengard y su equipo fundaron una compañía llamada Terapias Intracelulares (Intracellular Therapies) cuyo sitio web es http://www.intracellulartherapies.com. Esta compañía está trabajando actualmente en los tratamientos nuevos para la psicosis. No está claro aún si esta misma compañía trabajará en los tratamientos para la depresión utilizando la proteína p11 de alguna forma, o si ese esfuerzo se organizará de una manera diferente.

Esperemos que el Instituto Nacional de la Salud (National Institute of Health) provea algún tipo de ayuda económica a las Terapias Intracelulares, con el fin de progresar rápidamente en su investigación. Podría suceder.

De acuerdo a las Noticias de Google, se han publicado 184 artículos alrededor del mundo, escritos en inglés, sobre este avance para comprender la depresión. Cuando el artículo de DARPP-32 se divulgó no había más de 20 artículos publicados alrededor del mundo sobre el tema. Este informe desigual muestra cuán encubiertas se encuentran la psicosis y la esquizofrenia en comparación con la depresión.

La depresión tiene menos estigmas, que la esquizofrenia, lo cual significa que se gastan menos dólares para encontrar una cura para la esquizofrenia. Como alguien que sufre de esquizofrenia, me siento muy frustrado por esto. Doy gracias a Dios por el Doctor Greengard y la Universidad Rockefeller. Han hecho tanto con tan poco.

The Importance Of Medication Compliance

I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when I was first hospitalized late in 1992. At the age of 19 I was put on a low dose of the anti-psychotic Navane -- 10mg. I couldn't stand being on the medicine because of the stigma of having to be dependent on anti-psychotics, so my psychiatrist and I worked together to taper me down to 1mg of Navane a day and then finally 0mg of Navane a day. Not surprisingly, after I got off the Navane I started to become psychotic. I thought I was a new incarnation of the Buddha because in part I was taking a Buddhism class and in part because I felt a "third eye" of electricity in the center of my forehead. Needless to say, three days later I was an inpatient in a psych ER near my University because I thought that the Feds were after me, and soon after I was on 40mg of Navane and zombified.

I have never been able to get back to those low doses of medication. To dream of getting on those low doses of medication is all I can do these days. What not to do is get off the medication totally after you have a breakdown, because if you do chances are you will have a relapse. Every relapse I've had has brought me down a peg in level of functioning. For example, after my first relapse I was able to read all day, but after my second relapse it was no longer possible to do that. Before and after my first relapse, I was a social person. After my second relapse I lost my social skills and was not able to carry on a conversation as I used to.

These days all I can do is wait and wait for better medications. I keep my eyes and ears peeled for news about new anti-psychotic medicines and wait for the "magic" one that will work wonders for me. Had I just stayed on a low dose of my old Navane, I would never have had to play this waiting game. My advice to those who have just had a psychotic break: STAY ON YOUR MEDS. Keep seeing your psychiatrist. Two out of three people will need to anyway, and do you really want to take the chance of deteriorating? This is not to say you can't lower your meds, but if you stay on a low dose of medication it is a lot safer than if you don't take any meds at all.

Even with staying on meds, the monthly relapse rates are estimated to be 3.5 percent per month. That rate of relapse rises to 11.0 percent per month for patients who have discontinued their medication. In plain English this means patients are three times more likely to relapse if they don't take their meds.

Good luck, stay well. Remember, mental health is the most important gift for a person with mental illness.

Saint Dymphna: Patron Saint of the Mentall Ill

Saint Dymphna in popular legend is the daughter of a pagan Celtic chieftain named Damon. Dymphna was Christian. It is thought she died around 650 A.D. She ran from home with her confessor, St. Gerebernus and two companions after the death of her mother so she could escape the incestuous interest of her father.

There are two scenarios to explain why Dymphna's father had this incestuous interest for his daughter. Both scenarios show the king went insane after the death of his wife. The first scenario was that after searching through the whole kingdom for a woman as good and beautiful as his late wife, he realized that this daughter was the only one who could take his late wife's place. The second scenario was that he tried to marry his daughter because he thought it was the best thing to do for political stability in his lands.

Saint Gerebernus, Dymphna, and their two companions fled to Antwerp, and built an oratory at Gheel, near Amsterdam, where they lived as hermits. Dymphna's father found them in a number of months, and his men put the priest and two companions to death, whereas Dymphna was beheaded by her own father because she refused to return with him to his lands. When the bodies of Dymphna and Gerebernus were discovered at Gheel in the 13th century, cures for epileptics, the insane, and the possessed were reported many in number. Saint Dymphna is the patron saint of epileptics and those suffering from mental illness. Her relics are reported to cure insanity and epilepsy. When the old church of Saint Dymphna in Gheel was destroyed by fire in 1489 it was replaced by a new church, which was consecrated in 1532.

Under Dymphna's patronage, the inhabitants of Gheel have been known for the care they have given to those with mental illness. By the close of the 13th century, an infirmary was built. Today the town possesses a first class sanitarium, one of the largest and most efficient colonies for the mentally ill in the world. Gheel was one of the first to start a program where the insane inhabitants lead normal and useful lives in the homes of farmers or local residents. The strength of Dymphna's cult is evidenced by this compassionate work of the people of Gheel for the mentally ill at a time when they were universally neglected or treated with hostility.

Saint Dymphna's feast day is May 15.