Medical News Today Feb 3 2007 New research commissioned by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme is looking into whether the vitamin folate can help in the treatment of depression. One in five people experience depression during their lives and only half of these people respond to antidepressant treatment. Folate, a vitamin found in foods such as green vegetables, helps to produce chemicals that regulate brain functions, including mood, sleep and ... (more...)

Added: Feb 4, 2007 12:21 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

The Press (York) Jan 19 2007 AN EXPERT in mental health at the University of York has called for a radical reform of psychological therapies across the country. Professor David Richards, of the university's Department of Health Sciences, said despite being "both effective and highly valued" by patients, no more than one per cent of people with anxiety or depression receive such therapy. But, in a seminar to the Dr Foster Ethics Committee, he argued traditional treatments were not ... (more...)

Added: Jan 23, 2007 3:12 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Wiltshire Times Jan 15 2007 PATIENTS are being prescribed self-help books by GPs to complement more traditional treatments, thanks to an innovative new scheme in Wiltshire. Designed to help patients cope with common psychological and emotional difficulties such as anxiety, depression and stress, it enables health professionals to prescribe highly recommended self-help books. Books on Prescription is a partnership between Wiltshire County Council and Wiltshire Primary Care Trust. The books have been chosen by doctors, psychologists and counsellors from those ... (more...)

Added: Jan 16, 2007 2:42 pm | 3 Comments |  Email This Post  | Print

Toronto Daily News Dec 7 2006 There's no quick fix for depression. Even if you are under medical care and taking antidepressant medication, improvement takes time. There’s no quick fix for depression. Even if you are under medical care and taking antidepressant medication, improvement takes time. The December issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource offers five self-care strategies that can help you feel better and reduce the risk of recurrence. 1. Keep active. As little as 15 to 30 minutes ... (more...)

Added: Dec 8, 2006 4:23 pm | 1 Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Those who know me know that I'm a big believer in a better quality of life through the power of pet love, for the elderly and persons with disabilities. I'd like to ask you to consider giving to a wonderful program this holiday season, "A Season of Suppers," which will provide pet food along with hot meals via the Meals on Wheels program. A program like this has been on my Wish List for a long ... (more...)

Added: Nov 24, 2006 8:40 pm | 4 Comments |  Email This Post  | Print

Lincoln Today Nov. 1, 2006 Your computer or laptop might not be the first place you'd turn to if you're feeling depressed but thanks to charity, the Mental Health Foundation, help is literally at hand. The Foundation has teamed up with interactive healthcare specialists Ultrasis to offer free access to an online self-help programme for anybody experiencing mild or moderate depression. The programme launches today and uses proven Cognitive Behavioural Therapy practices that will allow users to go at ... (more...)

Added: Nov 12, 2006 1:56 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Pardon me while I break from ECT stuff and scream: WORLD CHAMPIONS ST. LOUIS CARDINALS!!!! I've waited 24 years for this - the last time Cards won the series, I happened to be living in the former Soviet Union and had no TV, no news. My only link to the west was VOICE OF AMERICA and that's where I learned it. Cardinals baseball: I LIVE FOR THIS!!! YADI YADI YADI! (And I'll always love Jim Edmonds...woo hoo!) Congrats to ... (more...)

Added: Oct 27, 2006 10:05 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

www.mentalhealth.org.uk Sept. 26, 2006 From the 1st November to 3rd January, visitors to the Mental Health Foundation's website will be able to get free access to Depression Relief - an online self-help program that uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques. The program is being made available by Ultrasis, the healthcare company that developed Beating the Blues, the only computer based treatment for depression recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) ... (more...)

Added: Sep 26, 2006 9:45 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

The Scotsman Sept 6, 2006 STUART NICOLSON SELF-HELP books are being made available on prescription in an attempt to tackle depression, eating disorders and other mental-health issues. The scheme allows patients to borrow the books anonymously from local libraries for up to six weeks. The initiative has been introduced in Fife and Glasgow, and if successful it is likely to be extended to other health authorities across Scotland. Click to learn more... Depression is the most common condition recorded by family ... (more...)

Added: Sep 6, 2006 9:54 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

August 19 Juli Lawrence ect.org This isn't exactly about electroconvulsive therapy, but it's too moving to fail to acknowledge and praise this site...and the artist. I'm also not quite sure what category to put it in, so I'm going to put it in self help. For some, this site could be cathartic. For others, a warning: it could trigger bad memories. Can there be pure beauty in the midst of despair? I've always thought that much of Kurt Cobain's music ... (more...)

Added: Aug 20, 2006 12:24 am | 3 Comments |  Email This Post  | Print

Dr Simon Whitesman MBChB South African Journal of Natural Medicine August 2006 Over the last 40 years meditation has been increasingly utilised in the context of Western health care to generate relaxation, enhanced awareness of mind-body phenomena and insight into the nature of the mind and its relation to the body. While the use of meditative disciplines is deeply integrated into the culture and psyche of the East, it is only recently that this profound ... (more...)

Added: Aug 1, 2006 7:53 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Tune in every Tuesday at 1 ET (12 Central, 10 am Pacific) for the Mind Freedom Weekly News Hour, hosted by David Oaks. You may email comments and questions throughout the show. Be part of a non-violent revolution in mental health. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.org/ 

Added: Jul 31, 2006 12:09 pm | 1 Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Acupuncture can work, and it's not just wishful thinking U.S. News & World Report Stacey Schultz 12-18-2000 There is nothing New Age about the Lincoln Hospital Recovery Center in New York's South Bronx. Broken glass glitters outside the main entrance, where drug-addicted men and women wait in line for the clinic to open at 7:30 a.m. Inside, the decor is institutional drab. Yet the treatment of choice might seem more at home among the hot tubs of ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:28 pm | 1 Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

'Beautiful'-but Not Rare-Recovery John Nash's Genius Is Extraordinary. Recovering From Schizophrenia Is Anything But. By Sandra G. Boodman Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, February 12, 2002; Page HE01 The end of "A Beautiful Mind," the Oscar-nominated movie based loosely on the life of Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash Jr., depicts the Princeton mathematician's emergence from the stranglehold of paranoid schizophrenia, the most feared and disabling of mental illnesses. Moviegoers who have watched the cinematic metamorphosis of ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:28 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

by Ronald Bassman, Ph.D. Psychologist Ronald Bassman, once diagnosed and treated for schizophrennia, brings new hope to patients and families. Psychology Today Feb 2001 The seclusion room was empty except for a mattress covered in black rubber on the concrete floor. They lowered me onto the mattress and turned me on my side. I fought their grip on my ankles and wrists, but they were too strong and experienced. I quit struggling and stared at the wire-encased ceiling light. ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:28 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print