Healthcare Reform Readings from Care for Your Mind

Healthcare Reform: Selected Readings from CFYMEarlier this year, Families for Depression Awareness (FFDA) and the National Council for Behavioral Health held “The American Health Care Act: What’s at Stake for Our Mental Health?,” a webinar that provides an overview of access to mental health care prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and what the ACA accomplished for people with mental health conditions...

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Defining Value in Treatment of Mental Health and Co-Occurring Conditions

Allen Doederlein, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance

Among people who advocate for any health issue, there often exists a dynamic tension between championship of the perfect treatment scenario for each individual with a particular condition and, on the other hand, the desire to meet the most important and frequently occurring needs of as many people as possible within the total population affected by the same condition.

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Tardive Dyskinesia: A Clinician’s Perspective

Christoph U. Correll

Christoph U. Correll, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine
Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Hempstead, NY

Being human is defined by many things. One important definition is the degree of freedom in experiencing and expressing oneself in areas that determine our life. These fundamental aspects include perceiving, feeling, thinking, and behaving. Just as critical are our muscles and motor system, which enable us to respond to and explore the world. Being in control of our fingers, arms, legs, trunk, and especially our facial muscles is crucial. It allows us to effectively communicate with the world and people around us. But what if, in addition to living with a mental health condition, we also had to navigate the world with a lack of motor skills. For many this is reality.

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Tardive Dyskinesia: A Personal Story About Self-Advocacy

Cariena Birchard

I was diagnosed with Bipolar I, Anxiety with Panic Attacks, and Agoraphobia in 1994. I have a long history of medications working for a year or so, then suddenly stop working. Because of this, I have been on a laundry list of medications over the last twenty-three years. I have experienced my fair share of obscure side effects that were so strange in the moment, but are sometimes a means to an end if the result is psychiatric calm. I have been on medications that caused weight gain, insomnia, excessive sleepiness, lactation, nausea, restless legs, and migraines.

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A New Force for Patient Advocacy

Michelle Winokur
Policy Communications Director
Alliance for Patient Access, a member of the Movement Disorders Policy Coalition

Movement disorders affect millions of people, impacting their mobility, self-sufficiency, and day-to-day lives. Everyday activities such as feeding, dressing, or driving become challenging if not impossible. Symptoms also exact a heavy toll on patients’ social and emotional lives, with many battling mental health conditions.

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What’s the State of Your State’s Mental Health and Care?

Theresa Nguyen

Theresa Nguyen, LCSW, Vice President of Policy and Programs
Mental Health America

If you have a mental health problem and you are young – or you live in Nevada, Mississippi, or Alabama – chances are you are going to have, or have already faced, incredible difficulty getting the support you need.

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Research Into Insurance Barriers Yields Broader Result

Natalie Litton
Health Care for All

Sometimes research takes you down a different path than the one you had planned. That’s what happened at Health Care For All (HCFA), a Massachusetts-based advocacy organization that works to ensure health care access, quality, and affordability for all Massachusetts residents. We believe that our findings and recommendations can positively influence mental health care outcomes in Massachusetts and beyond.

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Mothering, Mentoring and Mental Health: A Conversation with Children’s Advocate Kalishia Mitchell

Sasha Tenenbaum

Sasha Tenenbaum, Communication Specialist, Moms Clean Air Force

How do people experience a changing climate – not just physically, but emotionally? The mental health impacts of climate change – stress, anxiety, and depression – weigh heavily on those living with mental health challenges. To learn more, Moms Clean Air Force spoke with advocate, Kalishia Mitchell, a mom of four children aged five to 22, from Newport News, Virginia. We discussed the psychological toll of climate change. Kalishia is the founder of A Brighter Side, LLC – a Virginia-based support group for parents and families...

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