New Jersey Doctors Must Counsel on Postpartum Depression
Tom Cruise isn’t going to like this one.
In April 2006, New Jersey governor Jon Corzine mandated doctors to educate pregnant women and family members about postpartum depression. New mothers will be screened for postpartum depression. The law will become effective this October, making NJ the first state to enact this legislation. You can read the details on the Psychiatric News website. Thanks to Sue for pointing this out.
Many Dimensions of Bipolar Disorder Sufferers
When we think about patients who suffer from bipolar disorder we tend to have a set view of how they should look or act. That’s why having celebrity “spokespersons” can be helpful in reducing social stigma of a condition, and help others understand that there is no one way a patient with a certain condition would appear.
That’s why I found UK’s TV presenter Gail Porter interesting. Telegraph UK titled the article on Gail, ‘I refuse to be called brave’ and describes how Gail became bald and lost her body hair from alopecia.
About half-way down the article, buried in one paragraph, was a mention of Gail’s history of bipolar disorder:
Behind her mega-watt on-screen smile lurked a troubled soul with a long history of mental health problems. She suffers from bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) and has been anorexic. When she was pregnant with her daughter Honey, now three, she was a borderline obsessive-compulsive, rising at 6am to clean her home and check her CDs were in alphabetical order.
The article continues to describe Gail’s experience with Anorexia and Alopecia. When you look at Gail’s “before and after” pictures, from her website galleries and how she now looks, it’s understandable why the focus is on the anorexia and alopecia - these are very visible conditions and make a dramatic visual impact.
Bipolar disorder, depression, and many mental health conditions are hidden from view, and only comes out in a relationship setting. This is why advocates and consumer education about the hidden diseases like mental illnesses are will continue to be very important in our society.
T-Shirts for Mental Disorders?
Humorous? or Humorless? (click to open image in new window)
I came across this from my blogpal Staff Psychologist. He was highlighting the cutting edge that things like this do.
Is this a lighthearted attempt to help people learn to live with a significant illness or does it miss the mark entirely and smack with the whiff of stigma?
The original website is http://www.printmojo.com/Disordertees
I love good humor. But….. I don’t like these.
What do you think? Am I over-reacting?