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The Economics of Recovery – The Day the Patients Ran the Asylum
Joanne was smiling as her fellow students congratulated her for passing her Microsoft Word Certification Test. She had to put in eighteen months of class time at the Center in order to pass. Her goal now was to become certified in PowerPoint and Excel, while she held down her new part-time...
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An Update on the National RAISE Schizophrenia Project – An Interview with John Kane, MD
The last issue of Mental Health News was devoted to the science, research, treatment and understanding of schizophrenia. As a follow-up to this important area of study and understanding, I had the opportunity to speak with John Kane, MD, one of the principal investigators and leaders of the...
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Point of View – Schizophrenia, The Mortality Gap, and Suicide
People with serious mental illness have a much lower life expectancy than the general population; estimates range from 9 to 32 years. Recent recognition of this mortality gap has led to increasing efforts to improve the health of these people by improving their access to health care and by...
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Research Project to Test Approaches to Altering the Course of Schizophrenia
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is launching a large-scale research project to explore whether using early and aggressive treatment, individually targeted and integrating a variety of different therapeutic approaches, will reduce the symptoms and prevent the gradual deterioration of...
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Providing a Second Chance for People with Schizophrenia
Despite advances in psychopharmacology, many individuals with schizophrenia remain too impaired to be discharged from the state hospitals. One response to this problem in New York State was the establishment of a unique partnership among a private hospital, the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Payne...
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Schizophrenia: Current Research and Treatment
Ways of Looking at Schizophrenia “I was of three minds, like a tree in which there are three blackbirds.” Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird It’s an interesting time, to look back and look forward, at the state of psychiatric practice in the treatment of...
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One Agency’s (and the System’s) Pathway to Recovery
Here’s a prescription for how to approach treatment of people with schizophrenia: “mental illness can be alleviated if the person is treated in a considerate manner, if he has the opportunity to talk about his trouble, if his interest is stimulated and if he is kept actively involved in...
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My Return from the Darkness of Schizophrenia – An Interview with Susan Weinreich
Susan Weinreich is an award-winning artist whose work has won acclaim around the world. For close to 40 years she endured a heroic journey through the darkness of schizophrenia. Her story has become an inspiration to many and she has become an advocate for people with mental illness. Mental Health...
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Living with Schizophrenia: A Sister’s Perspective
Aaron* was born in 1950 and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at age 17. Everyone thought that Aaron was a difficult child. He had tantrums and rages from a young age, but he seemed very intelligent although he had trouble succeeding in school. Aaron had seen many psychiatrists and...
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From the Publisher – There are “No Old Topics” When it Comes to Mental Health Education
I was recently asked “Why do you keep revisiting the same old topics over again in Mental Health News?” I did not have a cute or definitive answer at the moment. However, as I sit here writing this column, I am convinced that it is because you can never cover a good topic often enough. Each...
