If You Knew Your Child Would Suffer What You’ve Suffered…

What would you tell him or her? I’ve been thinking about a collaborative book project – an inspirational book – written by mothers and fathers who have suffered from depression and bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. We all desperately hope that our children don’t get these genes, but suppose some of them do. What [...]

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NAMI Survey Finds Primary Care Doctors Not Prepared to Talk about Children’s Mental Health

In May 2011 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found that parents perceive their primary care doctors aren’t able to provide the level of care and service when it comes to children’s mental health. A survey of 554 parents and caregivers, released May 11 by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, found that 83% wanted [...]

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I Blog About Mental Health to Save My Own Life

by Jane Chin, Ph.D. As part of American Psychological Association’s effort to help people recognize the importance of good mental health, overcome stigma, and seek out professional mental health services when needed, here is why I have been blogging about mental health since 1998: To Save My Life from the Death Grip of Depression. If [...]

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Teenagers Sleep Deprivation Corresponds with Increased Rates of Depression

This morning on NPR I heard a segment that didn’t surprise me (since I’ve lived through the teenager depression years)! Today’s teenagers are chronically sleep deprived. They should be getting about 9.5 hours of sleep – but they would get on average only 7 hours of sleep per day. The cumulative sleep debt that teenagers [...]

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Beware of Grapefruits and Pomelos in Drug Interactions

Grapefruits and pomelos may cause accumulation of the drugs that have to be cleared (metabolized) through the liver enzyme CYP450 3A4. Many psychotropics and antidepressants used by psychiatrists to treat conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety are metabolized through CYP450 3A4. This means you have to be very careful if you are used to [...]

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Abilify in Bipolar Disorder: Doctors say, “We Need More (Good) Data!”

Medical researchers are asking for better data on aripiprazole (brand name, Abilify) based on the latest PLoS publication, “Aripiprazole in the Maintenance Treatment of Bipolar Disorder: A Critical Review of the Evidence and Its Dissemination into the Scientific Literature”. Basically the title is translated as, “objectively looking at Abilify’s use long term in bipolar disorder.” [...]

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What It Feels Like to Live With Depression (and the Difference from Bipolar Disorder)

I’ll provide some of the “old scripts” that I’ve lived with personally when I suffered from clinical depression in the 1990s. These have included: “If I were to disappear from the world today, no one would notice or even care. So what’s preventing me from turning my car off the side of the ramp.” “I [...]

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“Jane for Windows” – A Window Between Worlds Fundraising

A Window Between Worlds (AWBW) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded to use art as a healing tool to help victims of domestic violence find their “voice” so they can express what words cannot say. I will be using this donation thermometer for the next few months to track my progress in helping AWBW raise [...]

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