Managing Bipolar Depression: An Evidence-Based Approach – Free Webcast

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Mar 19, 2013

There’s a lot to know about bipolar and bipolar depression. How do I know? Because I’ve written about bipolar depression so many times it would make your head spin.

And what I try to do is either present the human side of bipolar depression or the evidence-based side. Here are a few of the articles I’ve written on bipolar depression:

Well now I, and you, have the (FREE) chance to get a genuine look into bipolar depression from an evidence-based approach through the words of a leading psychiatrist.

Free Webcast on Managing Bipolar Depression

Here is the information on a FREE webcast by doctors (technically, for doctors) on an evidence-based approach to treating bipolar depression. I believe there will be a lot to learn here.

Trying Bipolar Therapy You Don’t Believe In – Mindfulness Meditation

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Mar 18, 2013

When people ask me about bipolar treatments or bipolar therapy here, I tell them about the research on the therapy or treatment and I tell them this, “different bipolar treatments and bipolar therapies work for different people so try it and see if it helps.”

And I consider this good advice. It’s absolutely true. Different bipolar treatments and bipolar therapies do work for different people – but that doesn’t mean that I, personally, believe in them.

And, to be clear, it’s not so much that I don’t believe in them entirely, it’s more that I don’t believe in them for me.

Enter mindfulness-cognitive therapy or mindfulness meditation.

Judging Those Who Get Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Oct 15, 2012

Saturday, after sharing the story of someone who had been through electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). someone named Michele Montour left me this series of tweets (shortened words lengthened to improve readability):

Nothing will ever convince me that this barbaric, antiquated butchery is proper treatment. We know almost nada about the brain. Scientists admit very little known about our brain – even diagnoses are guessed. But zapping it and not REALLY knowing and irreversible!? I think ECT treats us like animals. Repackaged to remove ITS stigma. Let’s just go to the ice-pick lobotomy again! #disgusted

To this, I, admittedly shortly, responded:

That’s a convenient perspective when you’re not dying.

Well, Michele Montour did not like this response and it led to a bit of a diatribe on her part wherein she, among other things, called me a stupid and ignorant bitch.

I thought, perhaps, this stupid bitch could take a moment to explain her opinion.

What to Do When Someone Refuses to Take Their Medication – Treatment Noncompliance

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 25, 2012

It is an unfortunate truth that many mental illness patients won’t take their medications at one time or another. This is known as treatment noncompliance or treatment nonadherence, if you want to be a bit more politically correct.

And also unfortunate is the fact that when a person with a mental illness refuses to take their medication they almost inexorably get sicker. People with bipolar disorder who won’t take their medication, for example, often become manic and then wind up hurting themselves or someone else and end up in the hospital. And watching this happen, as a loved one, is extremely painful.

So is there anything you can do when a person refuses to take their medication? Is there anything you can do about treatment noncompliance?

Should Mental Illness Funding Be Used on Addiction Treatment?

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 6, 2012

If you read the Breaking Bipolar blog over at HealthyPlace you might have seen a question earlier this week:

Is addiction just like any other mental illness?

People have come down on both sides of this question on HealthyPlace and on Facebook but I think the overarching sentiment is that addiction is not just another mental illness as personal choices lead to its existence. No one causes bipolar disorder or schizophrenia through action but no one puts a drink in an alcoholic’s hand and forces them to imbibe. Moreover, addiction recovery is considerably simpler in that addicts get better by choosing not to use substances while other mental illness treatment involves months of treatment before any turnaround is seen and typically involves lifelong treatment.

But whether you think that addiction (or, more specifically substance abuse and substance dependence) is simply another mental illness or not, there is this question:

Should funds intended to be used on serious mental illness be used for addiction treatment?

New Treatment Approaches for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 6, 2012

I have been known to lament that there’s nothing new under the sun when it comes to depression treatment, and thus, there is little hope for people with true treatment-resistant depression. (And by treatment-resistant depression I mean people who really have tried everything, and there are few in this category.)

But I forget how far we’ve come and how fast. It isn’t fair to say there aren’t new approaches to treatment-resistant depression because there are new approaches being researched and approved every year. Here are a few noted by Current Psychiatry article Innovative approaches to treatment-resistant depression:

Do Objective Diagnostic Criteria Matter in Psychiatry?

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Mar 15, 2012

One of the criticisms antipsychiatry folks like to make of psychiatry is its lack of objective diagnostic criteria. In other words, there’s no blood test that says you have bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

And this is true. While today we do have blood tests for biological markers indicative of mental illness diagnosis, there is no hard and fast test that can diagnose a psychiatric disorder (except Huntington’s, for which we have discovered a gene).

The fact of the matter is no matter what is written in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or what blood we draw or which scans we do nothing diagnoses a person properly except a trained psychiatric professional.

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing objective or meaningful about it.

Is There a Cure for Bipolar Disorder, Mental Illness?

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Nov 2, 2011

In the world of mental illness we talk about “response” and “remission” and not cure for mental illness. The reason is very simple – we don’t know of a cure for mental illness. One may exist, but we don’t know of any such cure for bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and other mental illness.

Disallowing Depression Misconceptions

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Oct 31, 2011

I despise bad reporting and I don’t care if you write for a newspaper with a circulation of 3 people or the New York Times – there is no excuse to report badly on mental illness, there is quality information available everywhere.

Point in case is Depression can be treated through lifestyle changes by Danielle Faipler in West Virginia University’s student paper, The Daily Athenaeum.

Comments on Depression can be treated through lifestyle changes

This article contains some of the most widely-spread mistruths about depression and mental illness and is inexcusable. It doesn’t even pass a sanity check (even by an insane person).

Antidepressants are good for short-term treatment, but they do not facilitate with the long-term changes needed to treat the illness, and they add to the growing prescription drug abuse problem in the U.S.

That is absolutely false and I would enjoy seeing any research that indicates otherwise. As I have shown, depressed people who take antidepressants do better long-term and antidepressants are not addictive. Stating otherwise is ignorant or untruthful.

A side effect of antidepressants is hallucinations, and most of the time, different medication is prescribed to the patient.

If the number of people who experienced hallucinations from taking antidepressants alone were to get together for a party, they could fit in my freaking apartment. Yes, it can happen with some antidepressants, but it’s far from common.