Data shows diabetes-psych drug link

By the Associated Press

New data from the Vermont Department of Mental Health appear to square with studies elsewhere linking several drugs used to treat mental illnesses to a higher risk for diabetes.

The Department of Mental Health looked at adult Medicaid recipients who were getting drugs known as atypical antipsychotic medications in 2005 and found them 60 percent more likely than those

Man Won't Let His Mental Illness Define Him

By HealthDay 

Loren Booda experienced his first psychotic break when he was 19 years old.

Then a sophomore studying physics at an Ivy League university, Booda had struggled with feelings of anxiety and depression for years. He said he'd self-medicated by drinking and smoking marijuana. But then he tried LSD, and all of the demons that had been gnawing at his soul for years burst forth and took

Finding Purpose After Living With Delusion

By New York Times News Service

ATHENS, Ohio — She was gone for good, and no amount of meditation could resolve the grief, even out here in the deep quiet of the woods.

Milt Greek pushed to his feet. It was Mother's Day 2006, not long after his mother's funeral, and he headed back home knowing that he needed help. A change in the medication for his schizophrenia, for sure. A change in focus, too

Managing schizophrenia

By New York Times News Service

The feeling of danger was so close and overwhelming that there was no time to find its source, no choice but to get out of the apartment, fast.

Keris Myrick headed for her car, checked the time — just past midnight, last March — and texted her therapist.

"You're going to the Langham? The hotel?" the doctor responded. "No — you need to be in the hospital. I need

My brother has schizophrenia -- The details

I posted a brief blog entry a week and a half ago saying that my brother had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, and I promised to give details. I'm finally doing that... This is mostly taken from my mother's point of view from what she's told me since I don't see my brother often.

My brother is 24 (almost 25) years old, and for most of his life he's battled with depression. A few years ago, we

FDA approves first generic versions of Zyprexa

By the Associated Press

Federal health officials on Monday approved the first generic versions of the blockbuster drug Zyprexa, an expensive treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar mood disorder.

Zyprexa posted sales of $5.7 billion last year for drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co Inc., according to prescription tracking company IMS Health.

The new low-cost versions of the drug will be marketed by

My brother has schizophrenia

After months of mood issues and a week of really erratic behavior, my younger brother was officially diagnosed with schizophrenia this morning.

More details to come later ...

If anyone has advice on helping someone with the illness, I'd appreciate hearing any advice I can get. This is something I've never really dealt with before, so I want to know what I can do to support him in the best way I

Patients Taking Antipsychotics Urged to Get Routine Physicals

By HealthDay 

Patients who take antipsychotic medications aren't being adequately monitored for dangerous health complications, researchers have found.

Known as "metabolic complications," these conditions are common among patients taking antipsychotic drugs. For example, up to 60 percent have lipid (blood fat) abnormalities such as high cholesterol, 40 percent have high blood pressure and 30

Love finds a way

By The Salina Journal, Kan.

James Sager is on 19 different drugs, including four anti-depressants and one anti-psychotic medication.
His wife, Donajean, takes four anti-psychotic drugs and two anti-depressants.

James has suffered from major depression all his life and has attempted suicide twice. Donajean is a schizophrenic who constantly hears voices in her head. She also has experienced

Reading "The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness"

I recently stumbled across a brand new version of Lori Schiller and Amanda Bennett's book "The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness." The book is a memoir about Schiller's struggle with mental illness. The book is very interesting because some chapters are written by Schiller, some by family members, some by former roommates, some by doctors/therapists. Some chapters include 

Learning to Cope With a Mind’s Taunting Voices

By New York Times

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. — The job was gone, the gun was loaded, and a voice was saying, "You're a waste, give up now, do it now."

It was a command, not a suggestion, and what mattered at that moment — a winter evening in 2000 — was not where the voice was coming from, but how assured it was, how persuasive.

Losing his first decent job ever seemed like too much for Joe Holt to live

City Living Stresses the Brain

By LiveScience.com

City living can be tough on the brain — it's been linked to anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. By testing the brains of students raised or living in cities, researchers in Germany have located the brain areas linked to this stress reaction.

Previous studies have shown that city living during childhood is associated with a two- to three-fold greater chance of getting

Risperdal and generic recalled

By Reuters

Johnson & Johnson said on Friday it has recalled 16,000 bottles of its Risperdal schizophrenia treatment and another 24,000 bottles of a generic formulation of the medicine due to consumer reports of odors in the products.

The company -- which has been beset over the past two years with recalls of consumer medicines, prescription drugs and medical devices -- said the latest two

Study Ranks Mental Health as Young People's Top Health Problem

By HealthDay

Mental health problems are the leading cause of disability among children, teens and young adults worldwide, according to a new study.

Researchers who analyzed global data collected in 2004 found that neuropsychiatric disorders -- including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and alcohol use -- accounted for 45 percent of the disease burden among those 10 to 24 years old.

Schizophrenic Simulation: Computer Acts Out Disease

By livescience.com

A computer that claims responsibility for a terrorist bombing might typically be cause for alarm, but one particular computer's delusional tale delighted researchers at the University of Texas at Austin. The computer's neural network had successfully mimicked the strange stories of schizophrenic patients by having an abnormally high learning rate.

That case of virtual

May is BPD / mental health month

Today is May 1st, which means it's the first day of Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month and Mental Health Month. It's also Better Sleep Month. The first week of May is Mental Health Counseling Week. Wednesday will be National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day. May 4th is Childhood Depression Awareness Day, and May 22-28 is Schizophrenia Awareness Week.

When did May become the month

Schizophrenic Brain Cells Created in Lab

By LiveScience

Skin cells taken from four individuals with schizophrenia have been turned into brain cells, or neurons, and grown in lab dishes, the first time a complex mental disorder has been examined using living brain cells.

The lab-grown neurons showed fewer connections between each other than was found in healthy brain cells, the researchers said.

The research not only will assist