Inspiration Through Empathy: Peer Support

A short documentary by a student filmmaker about a peer support group in Kelowna, BC, Canada. A group of mental health consumers meets weekly, views a presentation on a topic of their choice, then breaks into smaller groups to talk about their mental health issues and building wellness. Peer support is different than other support services (not a replacement, it’s complementary to professional services) because it’s a space for people to come together with others who truly understand what it’s like to live with a mental illness, providing empathy, reassurance, and connection that can’t be found any other way.

Remember

A moving story about Alzheimer’s, beautifully illustrated with charcoal drawings, set to a jazz song written and performed by a woman whose mother succumbed to the disease. An entry advocating brain research in the 2012 Neuro Film Festival sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, this video is an early favourite (watch all the entries in this playlist). But there’s still time to enter – submit until January 31.

Come out, Come Out Wherever You Are

A call to shake off shame, come out of the closet and be open about mental health issues in order to fight social stigma. Compelling and well-written narration by Michael Kimber of the Colony of Losers blog, along with slick edited images including examples of famous people known to have psychiatric labels.

Myths of Madness: Media Representations of Mental Illness, Part 6 of 7

A clip from the Q&A after a panel presentation about mental illness in the media, discussing how people can share stories with public speaking to fight stigma. A women with bipolar disorder asks how people like her can contribute, and the reply describes a consumer who told her personal stories that were negative, and how they were resolved, and that sharing what worked for her was powerful. Another person in the audience talks about his experience with a speaker’s bureau and the importance of training and support for that work.

2011 Gloria Neidorf Memorial Lecture on Bipolar Disorder

The controversial link between sensitivities to foods including milk casein, wheat, and gluten, and effects on psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A young investigator presents her ideas in the The Gloria Neidorf Memorial Lecture for 2011 at the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Annual Symposium in New York City. Brief presentation followed by a Q&A with the public.

Greg Murray, The Quality of Life Scale

A collaboration with a psychiatry group at UBC in Vancouver and a Sydney, Australia researcher measuring quality of life in bipolar disorders, separate from its symptoms. Murray describes how they developed a scale, now available for free clinical and individual use (click here), through a series of questionnaires and analyses. They created a useful instrument for the treatment of bipolar disorder that considers important dimensions.

Michalak, E., Murray, G. (2010). Development of the QoL.BD: a disorder-specific scale to assess quality of life in bipolar disorder Bipolar Disorders, 12 (7), 727-740 DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2010.00865.x

Click here to view with English subtitles

Mentally Ill Seek Afghan Shrines, Not Hospitals

With only 80 mental health treatment beds for an entire country of (an estimated) 29 million people (in 2009), desperation and superstition thrive in Afghanistan. An alternative “treatment” program in a religious shrine involves chaining people by the ankle for 40 days, allowing them to eat only bread, water, and black pepper, forbidding bathing, toilets, or changing clothes, wearing necklace amulets, and heavy doses of Islamic prayers. “The philosophy is, God can heal you or make you ill if he wants.” Although Afghan officials, medical personnel, and some consumers condemn the practice, devotees continue to visit the shrines to be chained up (or force their relatives to be chained), hoping for a miraculous cure. This video features the Mia Ali Sahib Shrine near Jalalabad.

What Tsunami Survivors Taught Me About PTSD (post-traumatic stress): Healing on the Warpath

An Indonesian doctor describes post-traumatic stress as the heart of a warrior, and talks about reactions and recovery from different traumatic situations. Stress, fear, depression, rage, and detachment are five core emotions observed in tsunami victims in 2008. He says that post-traumatic stress is an appropriate reaction: “It is normal for people to feel intensely if they have survived a traumatic life event, and it is abnormal if they do not.” He talks about the heart of a warrior and PTSD veterans in war, comparing traumatic reactions from different situations. It’s a call to healing, using rage for the passion needed to rebuild and recover. An interesting perspective on PTSD that provokes thinking about how it fits all types of traumas and how it may be used in recovery.

The Brush, the Pen, and Recovery

A documentary about a group of artists who have schizophrenia working out of Cottage Studio, an art studio program for mental health consumers in Hamilton, ON. People discuss their past and present experiences with schizophrenia, and how creating art improves their lives. Art professionals from a nearby commercial gallery join the studio to mount an exhibit. Finally, the artists reflect on what recovery, and art, means to them. “Painting makes me feel like I don’t have to hide,” says one. Click here or on the image above to view the video.

Andre Picard: Mental Health and the Media

An interview with a health reporter for The Globe & Mail, a national Canadian newspaper. Topics include mental health stigma, sensationalization, marginalized issues, and policy. They also talk about reader feedback, and parallels to journalism about breast cancer.