Mental Health

Almost 1 in 5 adults in the United States lives and suffers from a debilitating mental illness of one kind or another. And while we like to think that this disturbing condition only affects people in remote locations, the truth is, here in Idaho we are certainly not immune. In fact, our state consistently ranks at a desperately high level in terms of suicide rates, with some years reaching up to 50% above the national average.

Emotional wellness and psychological care are major health concerns in Madison County and surrounding areas. Our large student population, which is a boon to the community in terms of economic and cultural impact, also translates into a significant and continuing need for behavioral health support systems. A recent community needs assessment survey concluded that mental health care was the most critical issue for the region, an issue that current resources, while excellent, have not been able to address. adequately.

Indeed, the emergency department at Madison Memorial Hospital receives more than 400 mental health-related visits each year, many from people struggling with suicidal ideation. Of these, more than 150 end up being transported to behavioral health inpatient service centers located in places like Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Boise and even as far as Salt Lake City.

The emergency department is equipped with telepsychic assessment services through HCA Healthcare, and our excellent social services team coordinates patient care with the amazing counselors and therapists who already live in the community. Despite these things, the county and surrounding communities continue to have limited access to licensed psychiatric professionals. It’s about to change.

The beginnings of an idea

Several years ago, the Madison Memorial Hospital administrative team took the initiative, meeting on several occasions with the hospital’s board of directors, to outline the beginnings of a plan for a new behavioral health unit. (BHU), which is said to be locally based, operating in the main hospital building itself. Careful planning ensued, requiring a large amount of analysis, recruiting and architectural design.

The end result of this extensive preparatory work was the announcement of a new 12-bed behavioral health unit at Madison Memorial, which will be built both to meet the growing need for local psychiatric care, as well as to serve as a complement. to the exceptional health services already existing in the community.

Schafer Consulting, the Health-Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI) at the University of Utah, JRW & Associates and a dedicated team from Madison Memorial worked together for over a year in the planning phase of the creation of the new unit, which is slated to open this fall.

The Madison Memorial BHU will be a 12-bed crisis stabilization facility for adults 18 years of age and older. The average patient stay is expected to be approximately 7 days, with the average patient age being approximately 26 years. The state-of-the-art facility will include a dining area, walled outdoor section, large reception desk, multiple staff desks and 12 licensed and certified patient beds. Construction is underway, with a grand opening slated for September or October.

Two new psychiatrists

Dr. Jim McCoy, MD, will be one of two full-time psychiatrists who will join the staff at Madison Memorial, lead the new BHU, and receive and treat patients. He received his medical degree from Texas A&M and completed his four-year residency in the University of Utah Health System. He will work closely with Dr. James Morris, MD, who received his medical degree and completed his subsequent residency at the University of Utah. Dr McCoy and Dr Morris will work together to establish a greater presence in Southeast Idaho for the training of future psychiatric professionals, in collaboration with the University of Utah and Idaho State University to set up a program to facilitate it.

Respond to a community need

The new BHU at Madison Memorial will be a major asset to the community, responding to a long-recognized need. Madison, a 69-bed full-service medical facility, the state’s only county-owned, non-critical access self-contained hospital. It is a leading regional health facility serving five counties in the region. It includes an exceptional administrative staff and healthcare professionals who are dedicated to providing quality care to every patient.

For more information

Madison Memorial Hospital

450 E Main St, Rexburg, ID • 208-359-6900

madisonmemorial.org

For more on the September issue, click here.

Mental health care in rural farming communities is in a state of emergency due to persistent accessibility and availability issues. Rural areas pose significant challenges for rapid access to care due to the great distance between a rural family farm, for example, and a treatment center. In addition, there is a national shortage of clinicians, and it is most acute in rural areas.

However, the horizon is brightening with the resurgence of telemedicine. The rapid and early integration of mental health care into the process of delivering health care through a telepsychiatry platform is an area of ​​innovation that we need to develop. Telepsychiatry has proven to be beneficial for our most underserved populations both in acute situations and in preventive care.

Telemedicine solves the problem of accessibility and availability in these three ways:

First, we know from our experience and research that a person seeking professional mental health care is rarely seen on the same day. Telemedicine has the potential to eradicate wait time because it connects a professional directly with a patient in crisis much faster and more efficiently. This is extremely beneficial for someone who is in pain and simply cannot wait weeks for a date.

Second, telemedicine is set up for a psychiatrist and therapist to work together to create a treatment plan for the individual. Research consistently tells us that a combination of psychopharmacology prescribed by a psychiatrist and therapy provided by a therapist offers the best chance of achieving positive results in any type of behavioral illness, including substance abuse.

Third, telemedicine can fill gaps in mental health care delivery that have resulted from hospital closures. One in four rural hospitals is at risk of closing, meaning a loss of 673 facilities in an environment that is already experiencing a serious lack of mental health support. However, with telemedicine, a clinician who lives in Florida can treat someone who lives in Missouri on the same day.

The struggle of the rural community

While the health system has its share of struggles nationwide, the problem is particularly severe in rural areas where there is a shortage of doctors and some hospitals are closing permanently. In addition, many people who live in rural communities do not have health insurance to cover the cost of treatment. Systemic complexities, further complicated by the fact that these populations are considered at risk due to unstable economic factors arising from the agricultural industry on which they heavily depend, mean that the most cost-effective method to improve health outcomes for these communities is to solve for fast and frictionless access to care.

Timely care is difficult due to the distance from the treatment center premises. This paves the way for less than desirable outcomes in an environment where 21.2% of adults in non-urban areas suffer from mental illness and 4.8% of adults considered suicide before Covid-19.

Why farmers are a population at risk

Even though depression and isolation affect everyone, farmers experience additional pressure and stress due to the unique challenges of running a farm. Farmers are heavily dependent on factors beyond their control, such as weather conditions, crop prices and political decisions. They might be doing everything right in terms of operating and managing a farm, but still may not have a successful harvest season.

Add to that a lack of access to mental health care and the stigma attached to the need for mental health care, and we face potential crisis situations. In recent years, farming communities have been struggling financially, leading to higher suicide rates among farmers. In a 2017 study, researchers at the University of Iowa found that farmers and other farm workers had the highest suicide rate among all occupations from 1992 to 2010, on average 3.5 times that of the general population.

Due to the limitations of traditional health care models, agricultural workers are often not met with their mental health care needs in a timely manner. Telepsychiatry has proven to be the platform to provide effective access to people in rural areas and achieve positive health outcomes. As demonstrated in response to Covid-19, telepsychiatry is a viable solution and is becoming a standard of care in all geographic areas.

The challenges surrounding telemedicine

Currently, there are regulatory challenges. Licensing clinicians is time consuming and expensive, and it is segmented to states. A doctor is required to have an DEA number if he is to prescribe medication, which takes weeks to process. Billing accreditation is an additional requirement that presents timely delays. These delays prevent people from accessing timely care, even if there is a properly trained and accredited clinician ready to go.

An additional challenge in providing care is the Ryan Haight Act, created to regulate online prescriptions on the Internet, which requires a practitioner to perform an in-person medical assessment to prescribe a Schedule 2 drug. were relaxed during Covid-19, and we’ve seen how effective telepsychiatry has been during this public health crisis. With regard to telepsychiatry, our assessment of the patient via telemedicine is exactly like in the traditional model, if we were sitting in the same room. Continuing to allow practitioners to prescribe without a face-to-face assessment after Covid will be key to ensuring positive patient outcomes.

Looking forward to good mental health outcomes

Quick and easy to access assessment tools that measure depression and anxiety will go a long way in helping us develop treatment plans for timely care. As treatment occurs, we expect to see and often see improvement in results, and if not, we have the steps to make changes to the plan. When patients can access treatments that work when they need them, we get good results.

I am optimistic about the delivery of mental health care as we are currently seeing a shift in awareness and acceptance of this health crisis. More people are ready to speak out and ask for help, and more people are empathetic and less critical of the factors that negatively contribute to poor mental health. I believe we are collectively moving in the right direction and look forward to the positive changes that will occur in the access and timely delivery of mental health and addiction care.

When the pandemic started over a year ago, the country changed overnight. For teens around the world, there were a lot of unexpected adjustments – schools closed, extracurricular activities were non-existent, and friendships were reduced to Zoom hangouts and TikTok virtual challenges.

The uncertainty of when or if school would resume in person, then the reality that for many adolescents a school year would be lost due to the pandemic triggered feelings of anxiety, isolation and depression, according to experts.

“For the extroverted children who were used to going out, the pandemic brought a lot of anxiety and depression due to a decrease in social interactions,” said Dr Chioma Iheagwara, division chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Belmont Behavioral Health System. Hello America. “

On the other hand, “some children who were struggling or bullied at school started to thrive when they were taken out of the school environment,” Iheagwara said. “Now they might be afraid to go back to school because the bullying might resume. The pandemic has been a challenge for all kids, so how to support every teenager really depends on where they started.”

5 tips to help teens get back to school

1. Restore routines and create a sense of normalcy

Creating routines can help minimize anxiety when teens start the school year.

“Normalize life as much as possible within the limits of the fight against the pandemic,” Iheagwara said. “Normal right now might wear a mask. Do activities – enjoy life as much as possible, but that’s normal.

Reestablishing routines with sleep, family meals, and other social activities, while helping teens take personal responsibility to protect themselves and others, may also help, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. .

2. Look for changes from baseline

Parents need to keep an eye out for new eating habits – eating too much or too little – as well as new social habits or heightened sensitivity. All of these could be signs of what mental health experts call “maladaptive” coping strategies, which are short-term attempts to reduce negative symptoms, without treating or resolving those symptoms.

“If you know your child is anxious, you know they are still going to have some level of anxiety and you prepare for it. But your teenager who now looks more anxious, who is now more isolated or irritable – if there is a child change that you know of, something is going on there that needs to be explored, ”Iheagwara said.

3. Make a plan as a family.

With different rules for wearing a mask from school to school, it’s important to know what’s going on in your teen’s school or school system.

Have “real, honest and serious conversations about what’s good for you as a family – you might decide that means wearing masks, regardless of local guidelines.” said Iheagwara. “Talk to your teen about infection control expectations at school, then household policies, including how you want to manage illnesses that arise in the family. “

4. Register.

The pandemic has been a constantly changing and confusing landscape for over a year. It is important to create safe spaces for teens to feel all the emotions associated with this experience. The first day of school can look very different a week or a month later, so it will be important to regularly check in on how a teen is dealing with the transition to in-person learning.

Pediatricians say parents can play an important role in setting the tone in the home. Expressing extreme unhappiness or fear can affect your teenager, but together, identifying self-care activities and productive ways to deal with any stress or anxiety can go a long way. “Keeping a normal routine and keeping the lines of communication open between parents and teens is the most important thing,” Iheagwara said.

5. Get additional support.

Families should contact their pediatrician or mental health care provider, if available.

“School counselors and school behavioral health counselors can also offer additional support or resources – for emergencies, many states have crisis response centers, as an alternative to traditional hospital emergency services,” Iheagwara said. .

There are also apps and resources online for teens that may be of help.

Companies like Limbix, Akili, and Pear Therapeutics offer digital products that offer support for several adolescent mental health issues.

the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry offers several resources, the CDC and AAP also have online resources for teens and families.

Chidimma J. Acholonu, MD MPH is a Pediatric Resident at the University of Chicago. She is a medical contributor for ABC News Medical Unit.

Attorney representing Christine Weston Chandler, the YouTube star also known as Chris Chan Online, says it’s important “not to believe everything they learn on the Internet” about her client and her case.

Chandler was arrested on Sunday August 1 and charged with one count of incest after the Green County Sheriff’s Office received reports of alleged “sex crimes against a family member, who resides in the area of Ruckersville “.

In a statement addressed to News weekChandler’s attorney David L Heilberg said much of the information posted about the case had to be “filtered by skepticism”, especially since his client is “legally disabled with problems mental health “.

“Ms. Chandler’s frequent and sometimes excessive Internet presence is in part the product of mental health issues causing misguided attention-seeking and often provocative engagement with others,” Heilberg said.

“Like almost everything on the Internet, it’s hard to determine what is true. These principles hold true no matter if you are a supporter, a legitimate journalist, or an enemy of the troll.”

Heilberg also said online trolls had been in contact with him and tried to get information about Chandler’s case. He said that “legitimate requests from journalists, supporters and harmful trollers will be treated in the same way.”

Chandler is currently being held at the Central Virginia Regional Jail without bond and is due in court on September 16.

In a hearing held to determine whether she would get bail, the 39-year-old reportedly stamped her foot after a request to collect personal effects was denied.

Chandler’s attorney criticized the lack of support for his client in light of her well-documented mental health issues.

“The criminal justice system is a bad vehicle for helping people with mental health issues,” he said. News week.

“There is also a serious shortage of mental health treatment facilities in Virginia.
someone with the help they need is complicated and will take time. “

Heilberg added that the “volume of disinformation” found on the Internet about Chandler and the online affair made it a “poor place to learn the truth.”

“There are few people who have personal knowledge of what happened. Just because you’ve heard or read something doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Somehow an internet celebrity, Chandler is best known for his web comic crossover character Sonichu and has over 50,000 subscribers on YouTube and nearly 60,000 on Twitter.

If found guilty of incest, she faces between one and 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $ 2,500 under Virginia law.

Heilberg urged anyone “with actual personal knowledge of those involved and the facts of what happened” to contact the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

A new mental health treatment program will be launched by the Wyoming Behavioral Institute (WBI) in September, offered by telehealth statewide for teens aged 14 to 17 who need intensive outpatient therapy after a residential treatment or to avoid hospitalization.

Adolescent Mental Health Intensive Outpatient Services are designed to support young people facing a variety of mental and behavioral health issues. Teens struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, impulse control, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, self-harm, and other mental health problems or issues that may be diagnosed participants participate in nine hours of group therapy per week, typically for four to six weeks. They can also undergo individual and family therapy outside of the intensive outpatient group program.

Intensive outpatient mental health therapy supports young people in an outpatient setting so that they can still go to school and participate in work or other activities, while receiving structured support. WBI’s intensive outpatient program will take place three evenings per week, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. methods for developing treatment goals and plans designed to increase participants’ functioning and ability to find joy in life. For more information on the WBI Intensive Outpatient Telehealth Program, call 307-439-2139 or visit https://wbihelp.com/treatment-services/telehealth/.

Telehealth allows people of all ages with symptoms of mental illness to connect remotely with therapists and other mental health professionals by phone, tablet or computer. Using user-friendly, HIPAA-compliant video and communication technology, this service allows clients to see and speak with a therapist as they would in an in-person consultation, all in real time, while respecting social distancing practices. WBI is a Casper psychiatric hospital that provides care to children, adolescents, adults and the elderly in crisis. For more information on inpatient calling, call 800-457-9312 and request admission.

WBI is an active member of the Wyoming Telehealth Network, which works to improve access to telehealth services statewide. For more information visit www.wyomingtelehealth.org.

Stories related to Oil City News:

At the time of writing, the COVID-19 Delta stock is a reminder to the world that the pandemic is not over yet. Millions of Australians stranded Infection rates exceed global vaccination efforts.

In Northern hemisphereDestructive record high temperatures in the form of heating domes have recently caused uncontrollable “firebombs”, but unprecedented flooding has disoriented millions of people. Hundreds of lives have been lost due to heat stress, drownings and fires.

Two catastrophic threats, climate change and pandemics, are:Incredible times“. It’s not surprising Many Australians find it difficult to cope..

During the first wave of the 2020 pandemic, we collected national data from 5,483 adults across Australia on how climate change is affecting them. Mental Health.. In our new treaty, Australians are interested in COVID-19, but have been found to be almost three times more interested in climate change.

Or Australians are very worried about climate change This is not a new discovery. But our research goes further and warns of an impending epidemic of the psyche. health Related disorders such as environmental anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to climatic disasters, and forward-looking hopelessness.

Which Australian is the most worried?

We asked Australians to compare their concerns about climate change, COVID, retirement, health, aging and employment on a four point scale (responses ranging from ‘no problem’ to ‘very problematic’) .

High levels of concern about climate change have been reported among the population, regardless of gender, age or place of residence (urban or rural, disadvantaged or wealthy). Women, Young adult, Rich people and middle-aged people (35-54 years) expressed the highest level of concern about climate change.

The latter (35-54 years) may be particularly worried because they are or will be parents and may be worried about the future of their children.

The strong concerns of young Australians (18-34 years old) are not surprising. Because they inherit the greatest existential crisis facing all generations. This age group has expressed their concern through a number of campaigns, including: Friday Force Strike 4 Climate, And some successful approaches..

Of those surveyed in the wealthiest group, 78% reported high levels of anxiety. However, climate change was still very problematic for people outside of this group (42%) compared to concerns related to COVID (27%).

We have also found that many people who have experienced climate-related disasters directly, such as forest fires, floods and extreme heat waves, have reported symptoms consistent with PTSD. This includes repetitive memories of traumatic events, alertness, and easily startling nightmares.

Others have reported severe pre-traumatic and environmental anxiety symptoms. These are repeated nightmares about future trauma, lack of focus, sleeplessness, tears, hopelessness, relationships, and difficulties at work.

Overall, the inevitability of climate threats has been found to limit the ability of Australians to feel more optimistic about the future than anxiety about COVID.

How do people deal with climate concerns?

Our research also provides insight into what people are doing to manage their mental health in the face of the looming threat of climate change.

Many Australians do not seek professional mental health support, such as counselors or psychologists, but rather unique treatments such as the natural environment (67%) and aggressive climate change measures (83%) when doing so. is possible. He said he was prescribing the law himself.

Many recover through personal behavior (such as restricting plastic use), community behavior (such as volunteering), or advocacy to influence and raise awareness. He said he would strengthen his power.

That’s right Our research since the beginning of this year We have shown that environmental volunteers have mental health benefits, such as improving connectivity with the environment and learning about the environment.

Ironically, Australians want to be in the natural environment to ease climate anxieties. Events such as the 2019 and 2020 fires have the potential to renew understanding and awareness of the value of nature in improving the quality of life of Australians. Currently, a lot of research shows that green spaces improve psychological well-being.

Imminent fashion

Our study reveals a serious and growing mental health burden for Australians.

This mental health burden may be exacerbated as global temperatures rise and the frequency and severity of climate-related disasters increase. More and more people will suffer from symptoms such as PTSD and environmental anxiety.

A major concern is that people are not seeking professional mental health care to address concerns about climate change. On the contrary, they find their own solution. The lack of effective climate change policies and actions by the Australian government can also contribute to collective desperation.

As written by Harriet Ingle and Michael Mikulewicz, British neuropsychologist and human geographer. Their 2020 treaty: “For many, the grim reality of weather Change brings a sense of helplessness to improve the situation, leaving them with an unresolved sense of loss, helplessness and frustration. “

This requires a public health response. Climate change Implemented at individual, community and political levels. The government must respond to Health sector calls for an effective climate response, To prevent the coming mental health crisis.

This article will be republished from conversation Licensed under Creative Commons. Read original work..

She was wearing an indigo jumpsuit and sandals. “I have a must-have blazer from Nili Lotan that makes me feel strong,” she said. “I can put it on with a t-shirt and Proenza flat sandals that I stand in straight.

“I’ve learned that clothes can really help you stand out, be a different version of yourself, feel strong.”

Strong enough, apparently, to run a blog, “Positive Prescription,” treat patients, publish in scientific journals and, in her spare time, teach at Weill Cornell, where she is a clinical instructor in psychiatry and an assistant psychiatrist.

“Her great strength is that she can delve into the literature and find something that scientists can understand but also a general reader,” said George Makari, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and historian at Weill Cornell, who has known Dr Boardman for ever. his student years. the. “She’s finding new ways of looking at things,” he said. “There’s always a bit of ‘Wow, I didn’t know that.'”

Now she’s about to add “pop psy” to her referral list. Her book, “Everyday Vitality: Turning Stress into Strength,” released Aug. 10, articulates the tenets of positive psychiatry, her central premise, as she writes, that “we flourish more when we turn away from the mirror and look at the window. “

His arguments are fresh and credible, said Dr Makari. “She synthesizes information very quickly, reads all the scientific journals and puts together the nuggets that come from the data and allow the reader to find something actionable.”

Contact editor Lindsey Hodges at 864-943-5644 or on Twitter @LindseyNHodges.