September 14, 200712:01 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Nikki: A story of recovery

Nikki Marion was raised around bars. Her father took her to bars as a child regularly, so when Marion began to drink and use drugs at a later age it seemed natural. Marion’s life, like so many others addicted to drugs and alcohol, grew worse from there. A series of divorces, increased drug use, and abusive relationships eventually left her at a cross roads. Marion decided to look into a Christ-centered church in Tennessee, Peoples Church, under the direction of Pastor Drew Hayes. Upon meeting with Pastor Hayes, Marion was invited to become involved in a 12-step recovery group, “Celebrate Recovery.”

Marion’s life began to turn around from that point forward. Marion reported that applying the biblical 12-step principles was the most effective aspect in her personal recovery. Through steps of faith and with the help of a community of believers, Marion now owns her own home, obtained her GED and subsequently is in attendance at a local college, and has a job as the assistant to the Pastor of People’s Church.

The interesting thing about Marion’s story is the immense, life-changing opportunities that churches can provide to people struggling with addictions through adopting 12-step support groups like Celebrate Recovery. Celebrate Recovery, and similarly structure 12-step groups, can provide support for those on the road to recovery and resources for those that may need professional care or psychiatric hospitalization. The following is an excerpt from the Times-Gazette that gives the chronology of Marion’s life-changing experience:

Nikki Marion, pastoral assistant to Rev. Drew Hayes at The People’s Church, is a living miracle; an example of God’s power to change a life completely. The difference between Marion today and when she first stepped through the doors of People’s Church is like day and night.

Today, Marion is an invaluable member of the staff at the church, but when she first visited the congregation a number of years ago, she was tormented with addictions, depression, and constant thoughts of suicide.

Born in Long Island, New York, Marion was raised by parents who were no strangers to rough living, both mother and father involved heavily in drugs and alcohol.

“I was a Daddy’s girl and I would spend a lot of time with my dad in the bars when I was little,” Marion said. “I guess I kind of grew up in bars. Drugs and alcohol were always around, and I saw it all when I was growing up.”

By the time Marion hit her teen years she was running the streets and began doing drugs and alcohol herself. She became pregnant when she was 16, and the father wanted nothing to do with the baby, or, as Marion soon found out, babies. She was pregnant with twins.

At 17, she married a man who was getting ready to go into the U.S. Navy. He wasn’t the father of the twins, but he took in the little family as if they were his own. The couple later had a son together. The family found themselves living on Naval bases in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia, but Marion divorced her husband when she was 21.

Click here for the entire article from the Times-Gazette

Click here for information on faith-based recovery

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11:51 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Suicide rates among teenagers and young adults rising

Suicide rates among teenagers and young adults are increasing in the United States. A recent report from the CDC revealed that suicide rates among teenagers and young adults increased by 8% from 2003 to 2004. Interestingly, the increase coincided with a 22% decline in the use of SSRIs after a mandate to adhere warning labels that indicated a “risk of suicidal ideation.” Groups that were identified as having the largest increase in suicide were boys 15 to 19, girls 10 to 14, and girls 15 to 19. There were no discernible differences in suicide rates among differing ethnic groups; researchers suggest that this may be due to limitations of the sample. The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage today that discusses the findings in detail:

ATLANTA, Sept. 6 — Suicide rates among adolescents and young adults in the United States increased by 8% from 2003 to 2004, the largest increase in 15 years, CDC investigators reported today.

“In surveillance-speak this is a dramatic and huge increase,” said Ileana Arias, Ph.D., director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, in a press briefing.

The increase followed a decline in combined suicide rates for 10- to 24-year-olds of 28.5% from 1990 through 2003, reported Keri M. Lubell, Ph.D., and CDC colleagues in the Sept. 7 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

All of the increase in the latest figures can be accounted for by a spike in suicides among three groups: girls 10 to 14, girls 15 to 19, and boys 15 to 19.

For young girls, there was a shift away from suicide by firearms or poisoning toward hanging or suffocation.

The rise in suicide rates coincides with a 22% decline in pediatric prescriptions for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) after the implementation of black box warnings about the risk of suicidality and suicidal ideation, which was reported in the September issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Click here to read the entire article

Click here for more information on depression and suicide

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September 7, 20078:56 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Patients with epilepsy have an increased risk of suicide

The connection between epilepsy and suicide has been validated by many studies. However, many of these studies have left readers with uncertainly about findings due to their power limitations and design. Christensen and colleagues, however, have recently published a nicely powered study that confirms the findings of many of these previous smaller studies.

According to Christensen, patients with epilepsy have three times the risk for suicide than controls. Even more alarming, patients with both epilepsy and affective disorder or schizophrenia have 20 times more risk for suicide than controls. The risk for suicide is even greater during the first 6-months after diagnosis of epilepsy and or mental illness, according to the study. The following is an excerpt of an article from Journal Watch that reviews the study:

Numerous studies have shown an increased rate of suicide among patients with epilepsy, yet the design and power limitations of those studies have led to uncertainty as to the magnitude and nature of this risk. Christensen and colleagues used the Danish Cause of Death Registry and several other databases to determine the relative risk for suicide among people with epilepsy. They examined approximately 21,000 suicide cases and more than 400,000 age- and sex-matched controls in the general population.

The relative risk for suicide was three times higher among people with epilepsy than among controls, and it remained significantly (two times) higher even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors and history of psychiatric disease. Notably, the risk for suicide was greatest during the first 6 months after epilepsy was diagnosed and among those with epilepsy and comorbid psychiatric illness (affective disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, chronic alcohol use, and others). The risk for suicide among those with epilepsy and either affective disorder or schizophrenia was more than 20 times the risk among controls; after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors, the risk among those with epilepsy and schizophrenia was 13 times higher than the risk in controls. Compared with controls, the increase in suicide risk after age 60 was less pronounced in people with epilepsy.

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8:55 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Can supplements treat depression and anxiety?

The use of herbal and dietary supplements is on the rise. According to a recent article from the American Academy of Family Physicians, the use of herbal remedies and dietary supplements jumped from 34% in 1990 to 42% in 1997; this trend undoubtedly is increasing and with some justification. Data supports the idea that some herbal remedies and dietary supplements may be effective in alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety.

While physicians should not encourage the use of certain supplements, negativity towards them could hinder patient disclosure about what herbal remedies and or dietary supplements he or she is taking. Conversely, recognizing the possible validity of using supplements opens up dialog between patient and doctor in which collaboration that minimizes risk can occur. The following is an article from the American Academy of Family Physicians that discusses this issue:

Use of complementary and alternative medicine has increased over the past decade. A variety of studies have suggested that this use is greater in persons with symptoms or diagnoses of anxiety and depression. Data support the effectiveness of some popular herbal remedies and dietary supplements; in some of these products, particularly kava, the potential for benefit seems greater than that for harm with short-term use in patients with mild to moderate anxiety. Inositol has been found to have modest effects in patients with panic disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Physicians should not encourage the use of St. John’s wort, valerian, Sympathyl, or passionflower for the treatment of anxiety based on small or inconsistent effects in small studies. Although the evidence varies depending on the supplement and the anxiety disorder, physicians can collaborate with patients in developing dietary supplement strategies that minimize risks and maximize benefits. (Am Fam Physician 2007;76:549-56. Copyright © 2007 American Academy of Family Physicians.)

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in all of its varieties, such as herbal remedies and dietary supplements, increased from 34 percent of the overall U.S. population in 1990 to 42 percent in 1997.1 Use appears to be twice as great in persons reporting anxiety and depression than in those reporting any other problem, except for back and neck pain.1 Based on results of two large-scale community surveys,2,3 investigators have noted an association between both panic disorder and major depression and the use of complementary and alternative medicine.

Click here to read the entire article

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