FROM MY FILES FRIDAY: Is there such a thing as a “chemical imbalance?” The term has fallen out of favor of late, but you still hear it. In this slightly edited blog that was first published in March 2011, I offered my opinion about this often controversial term.

CHEMICAL IMBALANCES: REAL OR IMAGINED?  

One of the first phrases parents hear when a loved one shows symptoms of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or persistent and major depression is “chemical imbalance.” I remember being shocked when I wrote this term in a Washington Post Op Ed piece and was confronted by someone who told me there is absolutely no scientific evidence that mental illnesses are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain.

So I was happy when I received an advance copy of the book: SHRINK RAP: Three Psychiatrist Explain Their Work   written by psychiatrists: Dinah Miller, Annette Hanson, and Steven Roy Daviss, who write a popular mental health blog. I found their comments about “chemical imbalances” helpful.

“Chemical imbalance is a term with imprecise meaning…Saying that a psychiatric disorder is caused by a chemical imbalance, although an imperfect explanation, sometimes makes psychiatric disorders more palatable to patients and less stigmatizing. The term gives some credence to the practice of treating these disorders with medication. But there is no psychiatric disorder for which we know for certain which chemicals are  “imbalanced” if any.

“We have reasons for believing that psychiatric disorders must certainly be mediated by biological factors. For one thing, psychiatric illnesses run in families, even when family members are separated at birth. Research has shown that genetic links, and even specific genes, may be associated with different disorders. Many studies have shown that the biological features of groups of people with illnesses are different from those same features in groups of people without those illnesses. What we don’t have, yet, is a specific reliable test for a certain genotype or enzyme level, or a brain scan finding that indicates that a specific person has a specific disease.”

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“Everybody Matters”

By Ray and Connie Maternick

We were watching the President’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. As the speech droned on we were getting tired and almost ready to call it a night.  We looked at each other and simultaneously said, almost sighing, he missed a very important opportunity. At that point we were just half listening, and about ready to hit the off button on the TV, when out of the blue, four words caught our attention.

“….Americans with Mental Illness….”

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I am honored to be named a Mental Wellness Warrior by CNN, especially after reading the names of my fellow warriors. It’s nice to be noticed, but everyone who has a mental illness and is quietly going about their lives — are warriors. And everyone who loves someone with a mental illness and is fighting to reform our system is a true warrior too!

Thanks to Wayne Drash for reminding  the public that there are many faces to mental illness.

From CNN    Mental wellness warriors: Fighting for those who need it most

It is with much sadness that I am noting the death of Zac Pogliano, whose mother, Laura, has been a tireless advocate for mental health care and reforms. Mother and son told their stories eloquently to USA TODAY for its wonderful series: Mental Illness: The Cost of Not Caring. In August 2013, Laura wrote a blog post for me entitled: A Police Officer Who Did the Right Thing: Helped My Son When I Couldn’t. According to friends, Zac died during his sleep. No cause has yet been reported.

I have admired Laura for some time and am tremendously sorry for her loss and the loss of her wonderful son as an advocate. Many of their friends have commented about Zac’s death at Treatment Before Tragedy on Facebook.  For those of you who didn’t know Laura or Zac, here is the USA TODAY series about them.

USA TODAY: The Fortunate Mother: Caring for a son with schizophrenia

November 16, 2014

DESPITE HARDSHIPS, A MOTHER KNOWS IT COULD BE WORSE

By Rick Hampson

TOWSON, Md. — She says she’s lucky, even though her son’s mental illness has driven her to bankruptcy, sidetracked her career and left her clinically depressed.

She’s lucky, even though his illness cost her the time to plan her daughter’s wedding and the money to pay for it. Even though her only friends now are ones who accept last-minute cancellations of long-made plans. Even though she can’t recall the last time she went out on a date.

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No one knew why he pulled away

And curled up in a ball in his room where he stayed

What’s wrong, his father and mother said

I’m hearing strange voices inside of my head

Ronald Hunter Jr. froze to death last week in Buffalo, New York.

As reported by Buffalo News reporter Lou Michel, the 21-year-old Hunter was homeless and mentally ill when he died from hypothermia alone and disoriented in two-degree weather with a wind chill that hit 20 degrees below zero. A surveillance video camera on a nearby building captured his final moments in a desolate section of a business park. He had removed his jacket and was trying to take off his shirt.

His father told the newspaper that Hunter first began acting strange shortly after he turned eighteen. “I found him curled up in a ball in the corner of a bedroom, and I said, “What’s wrong, baby?”

“I’m hearing voices telling me to kill myself,” he replied. His parents called crisis services and they diagnosed him with schizophrenia and behavioral disorders. “But because he was eighteen, it was up to him if he wanted help.”

When Chester Ray Maternick read the Buffalo newspaper account of Hunter’s death, he began to weep.

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