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T he P ortland O bserver • M arch 17,1993
A Mental Health Moment: To Your Good Health
The treatment of depression and
manic depression is psychiatry's num
ber one success story. Both severe
depression and manic depression in
volve dramatic physiological changes,
and evidence points to a hereditary
vulnerability that is triggered by en
vironmental stress Using high-tech
scanners, chemical probes, and ge
netic mapping techniques-the newest
tools of a rapidly developing science-
researchers are starting to fill in the
unknowns.
Mood disorders take many forms,
and researchers in the past hav e been
hard pressed to draw iron-clad dis
tinctions among types, or even to
differentiate reliably between “nor
mal” dips in mood, and the psychic
transformation that constitutes de
pressive illness. Confusing the issue
further, is the colloquial use o f the
word depressed, to describe a range of
unpleasant but inevitable co n se
quences of daily life. One is “de
pressed” after a bad day at the office,
or from the breakup of a love relation
ship.
Clinical depression is at once
more intense and longer lasting than
the brooding funks that seize every
one from time to time. O f patients
hospitalized for depression, 40 to 60%
suffer from the disease in it’s classical
form, once referred to as “melancho
lia”. Submerged in recrimination
and self-doubt, these patients lose
(enclosed a self addressed
Impulsive behavior without regard
nerve cells and the ebb and flow of
stamped envelope for literature)
to consequences
chemicals in the brain. How do we
National
Association for Research
sort out the events that began inter Where to go for help:
on
Schizophrenia
and Depres
nally, in a strip on DN A or a malfunc • See your family doctor to rule out
sion
other illnesses
tioning neuron, trom those who have
60 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 200
their roots in external event: a broken • Medical School Psychiatry Depart
Great Neck NY 11021
ment
love affair, death of a parent, the
Books
•
Community
Mental
Health
Center
inability to find a job. It is with this
Depression and It’s Treatment,
conundrum that scientist who would • Local Mental Health Association
Help for the Nation’s #1 Problem
Resources
and
Information
understand mental illness struggle
by
John H. Greist, M.D and
The warning signs of depression: The National Alliance for the
James
W. Jefferson M.D.
Mentally 111 (NAM1)
• Persistent sad, anxious, or empty
(American
Psychiatric Press,
PO Box NAM1 - Depression
mood
Washington
DC 1984) $7.85
Arlington VA 22216
• Feeling hopeless or worthless
still.
Overcoming
Depression
Depression/Awareness Recognition,
Less common than melancholia • Loss of interest or pleasure in ac
by Dmitri F. Papolos, M.D and
Treatment (DART)
tivities, including sex
is a pattern in which the sy mptoms
Janie Papolos
National Institute of Mental Health
are reversed. Patients eat more than • Sleep disturbance (early morning
(Harper and Row , New York,
Rockville MD 20857
waking or oversleeping)
usual and sleep for long hours, only
1987) $9.95
National
Depressive
and
Manic
reluctantly emerging into wakeful • Recurrent thoughts of death or sui
Control Your Depression
Depressive
Association
cide
ness.
by Peter N. Lewinsohn, et al
53 West Jackson Blvd
•
Decreased appetite, losing weight,
Mania shares this departure from
(Prentiss Hall Press, New York,
Box
USN
or overeating
reality Possessedoflimitlessenergy,
1980) $9.95
Chicago, IL 60604
thoughts racing, manic depressive • Difficulty concentrating, remem
Feeling Good: The New Mood
National
Mental
Health
Association
bering, making decisions
patients in the elated stage of the
Therapy
Information Center
•
Irritability, excessive crying
illness may stay up all night, insist
by David D. Bums, M.D.
1021 Prince Street
they are in touch with creatures from • Physical symptoms such as head
(New American Library, New
Alexandria VA 22314
a ch es, d ig e stiv e d iso rd e rs,
outer space, become uncharacteristi
York, 1980) $4.95
The National Foundation for
nausea, or chronic pain
cally promiscuous, or run up thou
Do
You Have a Depressive Illness?
Depressive Illness .
The warning signs of mania: In
sands in credit card bills.
by
Donald F. Klein, M.D and
PO Box 2257
Tracing the origins of mood dis creased energy and decreased need
Paul
H. Wender, M.D.
New York NY 10116
orders, illnesses that affect not only for sleep
(New American Library, New
(include
$5
and
a
self
addressed
behavior and physiology but our very • Unrealistic or exaggerated beliefs
York, 1988) $7.95
stamped envelope)
in abilities
sense of ourselves, is a formidable
Is Your Child Depressed?
American
Psychiatric
Association
task. For mind and body are inextri • Inappropriate elation
by Joel Herskewitz, M.D.
1400 K Street SW
cably joined, and everything we imag • Increased talking, moving, and
(Pharos Books, New York, 1988)
Suite 501 Dept USN
sexual activity
ine, dream, experience or fear, is
$14.95
W ashington DC 20005
Racing thoughts
ultimately translated into the firing of
their appetite, suffer an array of body
aches, show little interest in sex, and
awaken in the early morning hours.
They may pace the floor in agitation,
or their speech and movement may be
drastically slowed, almost as if they
had suddenly developed a peculiar
and sudden form of brain damage.
Yet this facade of lethargy is decep
tive. Severe depression may be a state
of hypervigilance and intense arousal
These patients arc so overwhelmed
and overstimulated, that they just sit
Human Rights Group Fights
D r u g g in g O f Black Youth
Spurred by the National Institute
o f M ental H ealth’s plan to drug
100,000 black children it labels as
genetically violence-prone, the Citi
zens Commission on Human Rights
(CCHR), a group formed by the Church
of Scientology in 1969 to investigate
and expose psychiatric violations of
human rights, today announced a new
campaign to stop the psy chiatric drug
ging of Black and minority youth
“Too often, school children are
placed in the hands of psychiatrists
who prescribe drugs like Prozac and
Ritalin to make them docile and easy
to work with,” said Scott Sulak, local
CCHR representative. “They prey on
Black children because they view the
Black community as an easy target.”
The group announced its “Stop
the Psychiatric Drugging of Minority
Youth” campaign, which is designed
to provide help to parents of children
on psychiatric drugs, so as to bring to
justice the psychiatrists and psycholo-
PORTLAND OBSERVER
'The Eyes and Ears of the Community
Office: (503)200-0033
F ax#: (503)200-0015
■■■-
-—
gists responsible for these atrocities.
According to the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), Prozac has
the highest number of adverse drug
reaction reports filed with them of
any drug in history, over 23,000. In
addition, over 1,300 deaths have been
associated with Prozac, nearly 800 of
which were listed as suicides. Some
of the side effects of Ritalin include
aggression, seizures, high blood pres
sure, and mood swings.
C oncerned paren ts can call
CCHR at (503) 228-3279
Living With
Chronic Illness
Sacred Heart General Hospital
presents a program for chronically ill
people and their families. “Living With
Chronic Illness” is a free eight-week
discussion group for information, sup
port and understanding about the ef
fects of long-term illness on the chroni
cally ill, their families and care-giv
ers. The group begins Thursday, April
1, at 7pin in the Oregon Heart Center
conference room at Sacred Heart, 1255
Hilyard St., Eugene Preregistration
is itquiivu.
required. Call
15
VUH 686-7044
vzwxz . v to register
Providence
ElderPlace
Opens
Second Site
Providence ElderPlace, an inno
vative program that provides compre
hensive health services to the frail
elderly, hjas opened a second site.
Providence Elderplace in Mt. Tabor is
located at 6025 East Burnside.
. Providence ElderPlce is part of
the PACE (Program of All-inclusive
Care for rt
e Elderly), a national consortium
comprised of similar proograms de
signed to prov de commjnity bsed helth
care services to the frail elderly. The
goal of this program is to keep indi
viduals in their ow n homes as long as
possible, by using a preventative ap
proach to care Services available to
p a rtic ip a n ts in c lu d e ; day c a re ,
nutiritonal sen ices, home care, social
work services, physicain services,
hjospitaliaztion, prescripton drugs, lab
tests, xrays, personal care supplies,
nuring services, long term care, assis
tance with housing and rehabilitation
services. Individuals who need enough
help with activities of daily living to
qualify for institutional long term care;
qualigy to become a part o f the
ElderPlace program.
HELPFUL HINTS
* Chew sugarless gum while cooking so you're less likely to sample.
* Let others fetch their own snacks and desserts; avoid the temptation.
* Change your view from "diet" food to "healthy" food you should eat.
♦Slop comparing yourself with rangy, super-thin fashion models; instead,
appreciate your body's curves and your own unique beauty.
Emanuel To
Award Five
Scholarships
Child Care
Trainings
The Child Care Resource Con
nection is sponsoring three FREE
Emanuel Hospital & Health Cen trainings for child care providers:
ter will award five $1,000 college “Child M anagement: Encouraging
scholarships to high school students Positive Behaviors”, Tuesday, March
studying for a career in a health-re 16, from 7:00 to 10.00pm at Lane
lated field The scholarship is avail Education Service District, 1200Hwy
able to students who reside in North/ 99N, “Welcome to the Child Care
Northeast Portland and who have a Profession”, for family childcare pro
high school GPA of 2.75.
viders, Thursday, March 18, from 6:00
The scholarship is renewable and to 9:00pm, at 79980 Delight Valley
may be use for tuition and other col School Rd., Cottage Grove, and “Full
lege fees for up to four years of college
cost of Quality Child Care”, Tuesday,
The students should pursue a career in M arch 30, from 6:30 to 8:30pm at the
an accredited medical program on a Eugene Public Library, 100 W 13th,
full-time basis. The area of study Eugene.
should be healthcare carer that is rep
Prov iders will learn information
resented at Emanuel. Minorities are about encouraging positive behavior
encouraged to apply.
in children, children’s activities, com
Application deadline is April 16, municating with families, and infor
1993. Applications are available in mation about the actual cost o f provid-
Portland high school counseling of ing quality child care. For more Infor
fices.
mation or to register, call the Child
Care Resource Connection at 726-
5954 or 1-800-222-3290.
Tax Programs For Seniors
Oregon offers two tax programs
to help low-income semor citizens:
the Senior Citizen Property Tax De
ferral program and the Elderly Rental
Assistance program. “These programs
are designed to help senior citizens on
a fixed income stay in their homes.’
says Julie Clark, spokesw oman for the
Oregon Department of Rev enue.
Seniorswhoare homeowners and
meet all other requirements may defer
paying property taxes on their resi
dences. The taxes must eventually be
paid, with interest, when the owner
dies, moves, or sells the property. The
deferred taxes are paid by the state.
The amount of taxes paid becomes a
lien on your property.
Applications for the property tax
deferral program should be filed with
county assessors by April 15.
To quality you must:
• Be 62 years old.
• Have a recorded deed to the
property or be purchasing the prop
erty under a recorded sales contract.
• Live on the property (except for
someone required to be absent be
cause ofhealth, inwhichcaseadoctor’s
statement is required)
• Have total household income
less than $19,500 for last year.
You can get more information or
an application from your county as
sessor. There is no charge to file for
this program.
To help low-income senior rent
ers, the Oregon Legislature expanded
the Elderly Rental Assistance (ERA)
program. You must file with tlie O r
egon Department of Revenue to get a
refund check. There is no filing fee.
To qualify, you must
• Be age 58 or older
• Have a total household income
less than $10,000.
• Use at least 20 percent of your
household income to pay tor rent, fuel
and utilities
Call the Oregon Department of
Revenue for more information or an
application for the ERA program.
Phone numbers are:
From Portland: 243-2833
From Salem: 378-4988
From elsewhere in Oregon:“ 1-
800-356-4222
TDD users: 373-1826
The Color Of Health: Part II
BY PROF. MCKINLEY BURT
The first article of this series seems
to have stirred up quite a controversy
among the readers (3/3/93). If we are
a suspicious people--not by nature,
but by long conditioning in a racist
society-then we are certainly entitled.
Some anticipated that beyond the “ge
netic evaluation of black children for
criminal tendencies” being promoted,
the scientific community is joining
the educator in establishing a base for
the wholesale dragging of African
Americans. But far beyond using
Ritalin in the classroom
Witness: The “federal” confer
ence on genes and crime that was
recently canceled (temporarily) had
this to say on the conference bro
chures, “.. .the apparent failure of en
vironmental approaches to crime sug
gests that genetic research might lead
to methods for identifying and phar
maceutical treating potential crim i
nals at an early age” . If you have any
doubts as to the target group, read the
following, again from the February
issue of “Scientific American Maga
zine, p 26”.
“David T. Wasserman, a legal
scholar at the univ ersity of Mary land
and organizer of the meeting, insisted
it was intended to critique rather than
promote this view, but critics were not
mollified. Peter Breggin, a Bethesda-
based psychiatrist, linked the Mary-
landconfcrcncctoGoodwin sremarks
and to the violence initiative The
U.S., he proclaimed, was planning a
large-scale program to screen black
children and treat them with drags
44 I •
“U S. government wants to sedate
black youth,” announced a black-in
terest magazine in Washington, D C.
“A committee of the national
institutes of Health had already ap
proved funds for the conference. But
in response to the criticism, NIH di
rector Bcrnadine P. Healy withheld
the funds, and the meeting was in
definitely postponed. But then in
November the National Academy of
Sciences issued a 464 page report,
“Understanding and Preventing Vio
lence,” calling for more research of
the kind that the Mary land confer
ence would have examined, includ
ing searches for biochemical markers
and drag treatments for violent and
antisocial behavior."
Can you be in doubt yet about the
intent and scope of this “health ini
tiative you arc paying for? Several
callers this week have expressed con
cern that Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, the
black Secretary of Health and Human
Scrv ices has not vigorously dcnoimced
this incipient Nazi-Type program
which has risen in his agency . They
also said I was absolutely right in
comparing this situation with the in
famous “Tuskccgcc Syphilis Experi
ments” that also took place in an
institution controlled (?) by a black
administrator(s). Evidently, the medi
cal fraternity is a tightly managed,
self-policed and self-protective way
of life no matter the color of the
phy sicians Again we quote from the
Scientific American Article
“Given the inexorable advance
and acceptance of genetics research.
ft A4 4 » • * ? M t * * * 'f *
the debate is likely to intensify, ac
cording to Diane B. Paul, a political
scientist at the University of Massa
chusetts at Boston. “We are more and
more focused on genetics,” explains
Paul, who is skeptical of research
linking genes to behavioral disor
ders. "W hen (former head of the Hu
man Genome Project) Jam es D.
Watson says, ~We used to think our
fate was in the stars, and now we
know it’s in our genes,’ he’s giving
expression to a social current,”
"O f course, claims of links be
tween heredity and crime have a long
and sordid history. Some Victorian-
cra scientists contended that crimi
nals were more likely to have small,
shifty eyes, eyebrows that met in the
middle and other traits Through the
1930s, many U. S states-with the sanc
tion of the Supreme Court-sterilized
convicts in order to reduce crime
among future generations. More re
cently, some prominent scientists,
notably Richard J. Herrstein, a psy
chologist at Harvard University, have
suggested that blacks may be intrinsi
cally more prone toward criminal be
havior than w hites are.”
That book I cited a few weeks ago
is an absolute must if you arc to fully
understand the origin and depth of
these ferocious attacks upon the intel
ligence and morality of the black
race Now federal funding is being
used by both the educational and
m edical se c to rs O rd e r, “T he
Mismeasurc of Man", by Stephen Jay
Gould, W W Norton, N Y., 1981;
Daltons or Looking Glass book stores.
ft ft « • • • • • * P • • * ft • * *
• • *
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