Few youth with Mental Disorders Get Proper Care

A large percentage of young people who suffer from severe mental disorders are not receiving sufficient care, according to data from a survey of more than 10,000 teens (ages 13-18), funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The researchers tracked how often these teens reported having ever received services to treat their specific mental disorder, as well as what type of help they received and how often they received it. Specifically, only about 36 percent suffering with a lifetime mental disorder received help; only half of these teens who were considerably impaired by their mental disorder received professional mental health care.

Furthermore, 68 percent of the youth who were able to receive professional care visited a provider fewer than six times during their lifetime. Professional help was highest for teens with ADHD (60 percent), and behavior disorders such as conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder (45 percent). For those with mood disorders such as bipolar disorder or depression, 38 percent received services, and 18 percent of teens with an anxiety disorder received help. Fifteen percent of teens with a matter use disorder received care, and 13 percent with an eating disorder received services.

Mental health director in bathroom camera appeal deal

A mental health agency director charged with hiding a video camera in a bathroom will beg guilty to nine misdemeanor charges under an agreement with prosecutors. An attorney for Joseph Newell, executive director of Mid-Shore Mental Health Systems Inc. in Easton, announced the plea deal agreement with prosecutors during a pretrial hearing Friday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and a appeal hearing was scheduled for Feb. 3.Newell, who is charged with hiding a video camera in a unisex bathroom at the agency's offices, was placed on indefinite administrative leave after he was charged in June. Easton police have said the camera restricted a memory card with video of Newell installing the device.

Closure of expert unit forces mental health patients

The closure of a specialist unit at Manchester Royal Infirmary resulted in mental health patients being sent to A&E.Specialist care was previously provided for people experiencing mental health harms at the Psychiatric Emergency Assessment Referral and Liaison (PEARL) service at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester Evening News reported."Following feedback from service users and carers regarding issues of privacy and dignity in PEARL and the increasing lengths of stay of patients, the offered unit was closed," a spokesman said.

“It was replaced with immediate result by an A&E liaison service staffed by our highly qualified, experienced and professional team."Bosses have denied the move was to cut costs. It also revealed there would be no job losses. Manchester Mental Health and Social Care is planning a full review of urgent mental health care in the area. Last month, it was revealed that a quarter of all charities and voluntary groups in Greater Manchester would close due to government cuts in expenditure.

Gucci Mane Suffer From Mental Disorders

Gucci Mane has never presented himself as a well-read emcee with poetic depth. Although the majority of his rhymes are nonsensical and lack critical thinking, most of his fans would've never speculated that he is mentally incompetent. On Jan. 4, 2011, Gucci Mane avoided going to jail after he filed a plea claiming that he is "unable to go forward and/or intelligently participate in the probation revocation hearing." Gucci Mane was finally committed to a mental health treatment center where his condition is being evaluated.

Although it could be a last-minute ploy by Gucci Mane to avoid returning to jail, his willingness to admit that he suffers from mental issues should raise awareness about the troubles that many people in the hip-hop generation deal with alone. While young adults who grow up in more rich homes are likely to receive counseling or medication, there are thousands of youth who suffer from mental health issues that go untreated. Instead, these individuals are likely to deal with their issues by self-medicating with drugs or alcohol, becoming involved in crime, or falling into a deep despair. It's important to know the symptoms of mental health disorders so that the problems can be diagnosed and treated.

Symptoms of Schizoaffective disorder

Schizoaffective disorder is a psychiatric condition. It is a mental disorder that causes a victim to experience and display depressive mood, mood swings, and excessive excitement, which are generally accompanied with distorted perceptions.

The symptoms of this disorder become obvious before the age of fifteen. They are similar to those of psychotic features of bipolar disorder, recurrent depression, and schizophrenia.

The following are the top five symptoms of schizoaffective disorder:

1) Depression symptoms: Schizoaffective disorder symptoms include depression symptoms. These symptoms vary in severity from one person to another. Some of the symptoms are poor hunger, guilt, inability to focus, loss of interest in social activities, lack of energy, restlessness, sleeplessness or excessive sleeping, and suicidal thoughts.

2) Manic symptoms: Signs of schizoaffective disorder include manic symptoms such as puffed up self-esteem, excessive distraction, little or no sleep, excessive or rapid talking, and increased activity in social or sexual areas, and dangerous or reckless behaviors. These symptoms occur in schizoaffective bipolar disorder, which is a subtype of schizoaffective disorder.

3) Schizophrenia symptoms: A major part of schizoaffective symptoms are schizophrenia symptoms. These are disorganized thinking, hallucination, unusual behavior, delusions - thought patterns have no touch with truth, imaginary beliefs, slow movements, lack of expressions in speech or action, low motivation, and disinterest in most life activities.

4) Major depressive disorder symptoms: Constant depression, fatigue, indecisiveness, frequent agitation, recurrent suicidal thoughts or attempts, extreme or almost no sleep, feelings of being worthless, and frequent self-blame.

5) Schizoaffective disorder includes most of the symptoms of schizophrenia coupled with depression symptoms or manic symptoms or major depressive disorder symptoms. When the schizophrenia disorder symptoms are joined with manic disorder symptoms or mixed symptoms, it is diagnosed as schizoaffective bipolar disorder.

Free class helps people manage with mental disorders

Everyone benefits when people learn to live well with brain disorders. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is contribution a free class to anyone with mental illness. The course, Peer-to-Peer, will cover information about PTSD, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, relapse prevention, medication, addiction, communication, relationships, coping skills, stigma, problem solving, recovery, advance information for psychiatric care, and more.

It has been shown that psycho-education is a significant reason in the number of symptom recurrences. The class is 10 weeks long, two hours per week, starting March 3 in Grass Valley, at 6:30 p.m. It will focus on establishing and maintaining wellness. Some participants have said: “I learned more in these (10) weeks than I have in the last 20 years.” “There is a magic that happens when one person recovering from mental illness shares with another.” “Participants are provoked to take the next step in their recovery.”

New kits hoist mental health awareness

A MENTAL health crusade hopes to raise awareness by sponsoring the shirts of three children’s football teams. Time to Change is backing the three under-eight sides in Colden Common, which play in the Mini Soccer League. The campaign hopes to reduce the stigma attached to mental health issues, and has provided the football kits to get its message across. The national campaign, which is backed by the Premier League and Sport Relief, is run on a provincial basis by health chiefs in Dorset.

Gail Taylor from Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust said: “The local Time to Change Dorset group decided to back the three junior teams as an ideal way to target both children and their parents. “The shirts will see 150 boys and girls benefit from the donation and, given that each team plays in a league of at least 12 other teams, 360 other boys and girls will play against them each year. “This means that the ‘Time to Change’ message will be seen by over 2,000 boys and girls and their families over the predictable five year life of the shirts.”