RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Canada to Allow Same-Sex Marriage

Quote:

---

Bipolar Disorder and Suicide Prevention
Almost 2 million Americans currently suffer from bipolar disorder. An estimated 3–20 percent of persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder die by suicide.

Approximately 20 percent of all patients with bipolar disorder have their first episode during adolescence but diagnosis is often delayed for years. Delayed recognition that low moods (depression) and highs (mania) are symptoms of a treatable mental disorder can foster related problems, such as substance abuse and suicidal behaviors.

Early recognition and treatment of bipolar disorder may prevent years of needless suffering and death by suicide. Eighty percent to 90 percent of people who have bipolar disorder can be treated effectively with medication and psychotherapy.

The mood stabilizers lithium carbonate, carbamazepine and valproate, are the most commonly prescribed medications to treat bipolar disorder. Lithium carbonate has shown more effectiveness in preventing suicidal behaviors associated with bipolar disorder.

The death rate for untreated bipolar patients is higher than that of most types of heart disease and many types of cancer.


Studies of bipolar patients indicate that 25–50 percent of persons with this illness make at least one suicide attempt.


Studies indicate that most bipolar patients who die by suicide communicate their suicidal state to others, most often through direct and specific statements of suicidal intent.


People suffering from bipolar disorder may die by suicide earlier in the course of this chronic illness than patients with other mental disorders. Recent hospital discharge is a very high-risk time.


Hopelessness, a family history of suicide and previous attempts indicate bipolar patients at highest risk of suicide.


Maintaining treatment for bipolar illness is critical. The suicide rate in the first year off lithium treatment is 20 times that during treatment.


This site gives consumers and families information for locating mental health services anywhere in the country: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/HealthInformation/GettingHelp.cfm

Early and accurate diagnosis of bipolar disorder and aggressive professional treatment are essential in preventing suicide.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, 2001


Depression and Suicide Prevention

An estimated 19 million Americans suffer from depression.

Clinical depression is not a temporary case of the “blues.” People with depression may experience recurrent episodes of depression that can last anywhere from a few hours to a few months.

Depression is present if at least five or more of the following symptoms are present during a two-week period; at least one of the symptoms must be either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities.

Depressed mood
Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities
Change in appetite or weight
Change in sleeping patterns
Speaking and/or moving with unusual speed or slowness
Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities
Decrease in sexual drive
Fatigue or loss of energy
Feelings of worthlessness, self-reproach or guilt
Diminished ability to think or concentrate, slowed thinking or indecisiveness
Thoughts of death, suicide, or wishes to be dead
Additional factors that point to an increased risk for suicide in depressed individuals are:

Anxiety, agitation, or enraged behavior
Isolation
Drug and/or alcohol use or abuse
History of physical or emotional illness
Feelings of hopelessness or desperation
Facts About Depression

Women suffer from depression twice as much as men. This two-to-one ratio exists regardless of racial and ethnic background or economic status.
Depression in people 65 and older increases the risk of stroke and other medical complications.
The economic cost of depressive illnesses is $30 million to $44 billion a year.

More Americans (19 million) suffer from depression than coronary heart disease (7 million), cancer (6 million), and AIDS (200,000).


Even though effective treatments are available, only one in three depressed people gets help.
Depression And Suicide

Although most depressed people are not suicidal, two-thirds of those who die by suicide suffer from a depressive illness.


About 15 percent of the population will suffer from depression at some time during their life. Thirty percent of all depressed inpatients attempt suicide.

Medical Illness and Depression

Researchers believe that after an initial attack of severe depression 70 percent of people are vulnerable to another episode.


The following illnesses are commonly associated with later-life depression: cancer, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.


Research shows that depression and heart disease often accompany each other and that each can lead to the other. While roughly one in six people have an episode of major depression, the number goes to one in two for people with heart disease.


About 25 percent of cancer patients suffer from clinical depression.


Depression in people 65 and older increases the risk of stroke and other medical complications.

Nearly eight out of ten patients with depressive illness will improve through treatment with medicine and psychotherapy. Prevent suicide through early recognition and treatment of depression and other psychiatric illnesses.

Creativity, Depression and Suicide Prevention
For several centuries, stories of famous painters, writers and musicians who were depressed and took their lives made people wonder. Only in the last 25 years has scientific evidence demonstrated that creative people are more vulnerable to depression and suicide, regardless of whether or not they become famous. More research is needed to determine which:

Patients suffering from depressive or manic depressive disorders are most vulnerable to suicide
Treatments will control the disorder without interfering with the artists’ ability to create.
Throughout history artists, writers and musicians have seemed to suffer disproportionately from mood disorders. Only recently has research concluded that a high percentage of artists — both past and contemporary — have, in fact, suffered from affective illness, particularly manic-depressive disorder.

Treatment of major depressive illness in artists has presented unique problems; partly because of a concern that creativity and the disorder are so intertwined that treatment might destroy the artists’ unique talent.

By supporting study of current approaches to treatment, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention hopes to encourage the development of new options for today’s creators, options unfortunately unavailable for yesterday’s greats.

Cases in Particular Arts

The Literary Arts
Recent studies have shown that poets and writers are four times more likely than others to suffer from affective disorders, particularly manic depression. Dickinson, Eliot, and Poe are among the many poets who suffered from an affective illness. Writers such as Balzac, Conrad, Dickens, Emerson, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Ibsen, Melville, and Tolstoy also suffered from the illness. In many cases, the writer's depression led to suicide: John Berryman, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf.
The Visual Arts
Painters, sculptors, and other visual artists have also been afflicted by depressive disorders. Gaugin, Jackson Pollock, Michelangelo, and Georgia O'Keeffe suffered from depression. Van Gogh, Arshile Gorky and Mark Rothko committed suicide. Contemporary designers are plagued by alcohol and drug abuse, which are associated with depression.
The Musical Arts
The death of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain brought the issue of suicide into the spotlight. But the problem was not new to the music world. Classical composers such as Rachmaninoff, Schumann and Tchaikovsky suffered from affective disorders. Irving Berlin, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker and Cole Porter also suffered from depressive illnesses.
The Theatrical Arts
For many performing artists, the link between depression and suicide has been complicated by the effects of drug and alcohol abuse. For actresses like Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland, it remains unclear whether the cause of death was accidental overdose or suicide. Also, the tendency toward depression and suicide often shows up in the children of these performers, suggesting a familial link. [/quoe]