Hello Friends
  As many of you know, I have been reporting on the problems of placing people with mental illness in prison for quite a while now. Well, things are getting a little better in some places but, in other places it is still getting worse. Much worse. The following link will take you to an article about what is being done in Oklahoma to help solve this problem. It seems that housing the mentally ill in prison is costing roughly 4 times what it would cost to provide treatment for these people. Hmmm. Something that we have been saying all along.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=070108_To_A1_Aidfo18599

                     

May a smile follow you to sleep each night,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
           and be there waiting,,, when you awaken.

Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt

Mental Health And Political Forums Respectively
http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/8212/ShowForum.aspx
http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/9637/ShowForum.aspx

Visit the Billallys Pub network at:
 http://pub-network.ryze.com

The following link is to a program that has been highly recommended to me by people that i know and trust. I have been unable to find anything negative about this company.
http://billyv.veretekk.com/

I would like to express my opinion of the hippa. I think it is wrong and I agree that family involvement is a very effective tool in fighting relapse. I am a mentally ill person and I know the fight my family had at a hospital ER room. I felt I was treated unfairly and I need to know my options on this one.

Hello Karla

 I am sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I have over 100 threads on three forums and sometimes I miss a notification.

  I agree with you completely. The hippa laws are unfair and really complicate the lives of not only those with a mental illness but their families as well.

   About two years ago, I lost my fiancee to the mental health system along with her family. She suffers with bipolar illness and schizophrenia. As long as she was on her medication, she was fine. Once she quit taking her meds, she quickly became in dire need of help. Over a period of three months of trying to get her the help she needed, her condition worsened to the point where she had to be admitted, involuntarily. Even though I was the one who signed the 302 papers, I was not permitted any information about her. After 12 days she was discharged. I found this out from other patients on her ward when I tried to call her. Neither myself nor her family have ever been able to get any more information about her  since. We literally do not know if she is alive or dead.

    Now, here is the way the system works. As you might expect, it comes down to money, like always. When a person is commited, they are most often declared not capable of handling their own affairs. Often times they will qualify for disability based on their illness. This makes it nessesary for them to have a representative payee. Without a signed release by the patient, no one can gain access to information of any kind, including disability settlements and payments. The hospital will assign a representative payee for the patient. Always someone on the staff. This way, all money paid to the patient is claimed by the hospital because the representative payee signs it over  to them. The state hospital that I was a patient at for 9 months would allow the patient $60 per month for personal expenses. The rest of their money went towards paying the hospital bill. Now, if the family of the patient was able to contact the patient an agreement could be made for that family member to be the representative payee. Thus limiting the chances that the hospital would ever be paid for their services.

    Now. Here is the way to avoid all of these problems legally. Karla, I do not know your personal history. I don't know if you have been or will need to seek in patient treatment. Regardless though, while you are feeling well and not in a hospital, choose someone that you trust completely. A family member, a relative or even a friend. Prior to being placed in the hospital, sign a release so that this person can gain access to your information and where abouts. You can assign this information to as many or as few people as you wish. iF Your illness qualifies you for disability payments or if you have any other sources of income. make this person your representative payee. This way, they will have access to your information and they will be responsible for safe guarding your money. When you are feeling better, you may want to discuss with your payee, payment arrangements of some kind for your hospital bills. If you do not plan ahead for this, the hospital will remain in controll of your finances. If this is the case, you will most likely be discharged from the hospital into a half way type housing arrangement and you will not be able to aquire enough money to get back on your feet. If you have a payee, you will most likely have several thousand dollars in your bank account that will help you get established once you are discharged from the hospital.

    Karla. I hope this answers some of your questions. If you have any other concerns, please don't hesitate to ask me. If I don't have an answer for you , I will find it for you. I have resources from all over the country and I will not stop looking untill we find some answers for you.

   Best of luck to you Karla and remember, you are not alone. I am only one of 50,000,000 of your friends in the U.S who has suffered with a mental illness. Things can get better and usually do. You just have to find your way through the system or find someone else who has found their way through and are willing to help.

Hello Bill and Friends,

I saw this thread in another place where I network and I automacally thought of Bill's forums here in Adland.   I was not sure what thread to put this one on, but this looks like a good home for it.  

 

It is so sad to see how many of our younger generation are being put on antidepressents...and how Drs are willing to keep giving. 


Antidepressents Accomplices to  Murder

Exercise one half hour three times a week is 8 times more effective ...
Than anti-depressants.
-- Dr. Ann Blake Tracy Ph.D
- http://www.drugawareness.org
_______

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3609599239524875493
- The Drugging of our Children (Gary Null) - 1 hr 43 min 4 sec - Oct 20, 2005
_______

Anti-depressants are a $200 million a DAY "business"
_______


testimony before the FDA 9/13/2004

" I am Mark Allen Taylor and I am a victim of the SSRI antidepressant era. I took six to thirteen bullets in the heart area in the Columbine High School shooting when Eric Harris on Luvox opened fire that now infamous day.

They almost had to amputate my leg and my arm. My heart missed by only one millimeter. I had three surgeries. Five years later I am still recuperating.

I went through all this to realize that SSRI antidepressants are dangerous for those who take them and for all those who associate with those who take them.

I hope that my testimony today shows you that you need to take action immediately before more innocent people like me, and you, do not get hurt or die horrible deaths as a result.

As Americans we should have the right to feel safe and if you were doing your job we would be safe. Why are we worrying about terrorists in other countries when the pharmaceutical companies have proven to be our biggest terrorists by releasing these drugs on an unsuspecting public?

How are we suppose to feel safe at school, at home, on the street, at church or anywhere else if we cannot trust the FDA to do what we are paying you to do? Where were you when I and all of my classmates got shot at Columbine?

You say that antidepressants are effective. So why did they not help Eric Harris before he shot me?

According to Eric they "helped" him to feel homicidal and suicidal after only six weeks on Zoloft. And then he said that dropping off Luvox cold turkey would help him "fuel the rage" he needed to shoot everyone. But he continued on Luvox and shot us all anyway.

So, why did these so called antidepressants not make him better? I will tell you why. It is because they do not work.

We should consider antidepressants to be accomplices to murder. "

See Mark's book "I Asked, God Answered ... a Columbine Miracle."

- http://www.drugawareness.org/home.html

 

 

Personal note here: LAst October I went for M.H. Treatment with a Psych Dr.  In a 3 week period... I was up to 600+ mgs of different meds.  Doxepin 50 mg, Bupropion(I received 2 bottles of this first bottle was on 9/29/06 and the second was precribed on 10/06/06) and the thrid time he said to take the 75 mg and the 150 mg AT THE SAME TIME. Trazodone 100 mg, and 2 pills of 50 mg of Vistaril 3x a day.  Needless to say, I was not able to function or stay awake. I could do nothing but sleep. I never touched my Trazodones, 1 because I didn't need the extra sleep and 2 because 100 mgs seemed like a lot for a 100 pound person.  I took myself off of all of my meds and stopped seeing that Dr. 

The reason I shared this with you is this.. In My Opinion... Drs hand us these drugs to make the quick buck.  I feel they do not monitor closely enough the side effects and how the person will react to the drug. 

And it is becomming worse here in our schools with kids killing kids and teachers and the drugs they are using (prescribed drugs) are to blame.   IMO Drs would rather give our kids (and adults) prescribed meds instead of Natural Herbs.  Ask your Dr next time you go in for something ask him if he knows any Natural Herbal Pills or drinks you can take instead. 

Have a great week


Love

 

Ally

Hi Ally

   There are definately some problems with some pshchiatric drugs. There are problems with all drugs. In fact, there are more people who die each year from taking perscription drugs than there are from taking street drugs.

    The problem is very complex though. There are some really good drugs that can help people live normal lives. They have to be perscribed by qualified Dr.s who truly understand the importance of follow up treatment. Different drugs affect people in very different ways.

   One of the biggest problems with mental health carte is that it is not properly funded and most people with a mental illness either get poor treatment or no treatment at all. The entire mental health system needs an overhaul.

   Without insurance covering the cost of mental health treatment, many people canot pay for their treatment. This makes it very hard on the treatment facilities. With federal budgets for mental health care so limited, there is not enough money for research. Not enough out patient care and many medications are prescribed based on their cost rather than on their effectiveness.

   There is a lot of work to be done on improving our present system of mental health care. We can start by contacting our political leaders and asking them to support legislation that will force insurance companies to cover mental illness equally to other illnesses. Mental illness, just like any other illness, can be treated successfully if diagnosed early and treated properly.