In a facility whose patients saw few visitors arrive with flowers, the statement is especially touching. Colossal features a great article with amazing photos from the exhibit.

The artist explains:

“After four public days of ‘Bloom’, the building was closed for good and we delivered all twenty-eight thousand flowers to shelters, half-way houses, and psychiatric hospitals throughout New England—which is why I didn’t want to work with cut flowers. I wanted these flowers to continue onward, after the installation. ‘Bloom’ was a reflection on the healing symbolism of flowers given to the sick when they are bedridden and confined to hospital settings. As a visiting artist I had observed an astonishing absence of flowers in psychiatric settings. Here, patients receive few, if any, flowers during their stay. ‘Bloom’ was created to address this absence, in the spirit of offering and transition.”

The article also shares some of the guestbook reactions to the exhibit:

“I walked through Bloom with a close friend of mine who has spent a great deal of time inside similar hospitals. He was close to tears and repeatedly said he felt the desire to jump into the flowers for the freedom and the celebration of his own growth and healing. We recognized that Bloom brought beauty and wonder to what has always been an inherently taboo subject matter.”

Anna Schuleit received a MacArthur grant in 2006 for her art. She had worked as an artist-in-residence at a psychiatric hospital, and created an earlier artwork for the closing of another, the Northampton State Hospital, in 2000. In “Habeus Corpus,” Schuleit played Bach’s “Magnificat” through speakers from the windows of the building, to a crowd below.

“Alternately triumphal and meditative, the music captured the moods of optimism and despair that are interwoven in the history of the building and of the movement to provide compassionate treatment to the mentally ill… Anna Schuleit made it possible for the stories of that institution to be told and heard. She taught the stones of Northampton to sing, and I suspect that the music will continue to echo through the land long after it has ended.” – The Massachusetts Psychologist

Another artist who worked with the ghosts of a psychiatric hospital, in art that’s no less powerful but more sombre than Schuleit’s, is David Maisel. With the discovery of 3500 cans containing the unidentified cremated remains of former residents of the Oregon State Hospital, Maisel set out to create a beautiful tribute. Each copper can, uniquely oxidized and corroded, was photographed and documented for the “Library of Dust” project.

“Among my concerns with Library of Dust are the crises of representation that derive from attempts to index or archive the evidence of trauma; the uncanny ability of objects to portray such trauma; and the revelatory possibilities inherent in images of such traumatic disturbances. While there are certainly physical and chemical explanations for the ways these canisters have transformed over time, the canisters also encourage us to consider what happens to our own bodies when we die, and to the souls that occupy them.”

“Library of Dust” also features an excellent web component, with the photos catalogued in an easy to browse database online.

With deinstitutionalization, many psychiatric hospitals and former asylums have been closed but some remain and are scheduled to close. Although their histories may be filled with pain and struggle, hopefully art will memorialize the closures in dignified ways, inspired by brilliant works such as these.

[Creative Commons image above by biggertree.]

Inspiring. Sobering. Entertaining. Touching. Enriching.

This year has been great for brain and behavior videos, with an ever-growing number of lectures and educational videos appearing online, as well as savvy homemade videos in social media. Conversations about mental health are increasingly entering the mainstream, and videos like these spark dialogue, reduce ignorance, assist viewers, and fight stigma. They’re also a great distraction, and a way to relax without feeling guilty about wasting time.

Each of the videos on this list has been chosen as being among the best of its kind made this year, ranging from a contest winner to viral videos to high profile lectures. With so much great work out there, I can’t wait to see more in 2012 (follow Channel N to view what I find).

But first, let’s celebrate 2011 in videos.

1. If You’re Contemplating Suicide, This is for You
With nothing but words and a webcam, a YouTuber launched an incredibly powerful anti-suicide message last summer. Angel Haze is a gifted rapper and this piece is moving, eloquent, and relatable. Her humble homemade social video reaches out to the lonely, the disenfranchaised, and the depressed, in an unforgettable way that doesn’t need expensive video production or tricks. With over 100,000 views this video was viral for a while – let’s reignite that spark. Keep sharing. This is a video that really helps people. Warning: coarse language. (00:04:12)

2. TEDxOrlando – Wendy Suzuki
Energy! This cognitive neuroscience professor embodies lots of zip and pep, sharing her passion for teaching, science, and fitness. Interested in how exercise affects the brain, she became a certified fitness instructor and designed an experiment with her neuroscience students, combining workouts with lectures. The results were positive and her recount in this talk is inspiring and invigorating. Exercise is good for your brain! Just do it! (00:14:04)

3. What’s Goin On
Eighth grader Jonah Mowry made a YouTube video last summer when he was anxious about returning to school. Set to the music of Sia’s “Breathe Me,” he shared his story of years of bullying and self-injury, and fears for the future. A young person who’s recently come out as gay, peers can relate to his story, told in a trendy and moving way. Resilience and determination to survive and resist suicidal thoughts are what makes this message so strong. There’s a happy ending: when Jonah returned to school he made some friends and says he’s doing better, and he also got to bask in the attention of the likes of Lady Gaga and Jane Lynch, two of many celebrities who shared their support and helped make this video viral (over 8.5 million views as of today). (00:04:36)

4. The Full Story – Soften the Fck Up
Men’s mental health is the focus of this video, part of a media campaign out of Australia. From a country known for its exceptional mental health advocacy, this stands above the pack. A simple, direct, and hard-hitting video: ordinary men sharing personal stories of mental health problems and recovery. Tough guys show their vulnerabilities and encourage other men to do the same. Unflinching. F’n awesome! Warning: coarse language. (00:07:23)

5. Invisible People: Cameron
One of an ongoing series of short videos featuring people who are homeless telling their own stories in a direct, unedited approach. The brainchild of social media genius Mark Horvath, he’s been on the streets with his camera giving voice to people all over North America, and the powerful messages are shared widely through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, email, etc. Many of the stories involve mental health issues. Here we meet Cameron, a man from Fort McMurray, Alberta (Canada), who talks about a bleak situation of addiction and lack of options in a devastatingly raw and honest video. (00:08:55)

6. It’s all in the timing: A psychologist measures how musicians communicate emotion
A fascinating psychology experiment designed by a rock star with a second career as a cognitive neuroscientist. Dan Levitan wanted to find out how musicians are able to express emotion through music, and with the aid of a specially designed player piano that reproduced their performances with and without expressive elements, was able to determine that it has to do with variations in timing, loudness and softness. In this video he describes the experiment and also discusses the implications for synthesized music. (00:08:18)

7. Love Story
This cute, clever, and creative short won the University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience’s Brains on Film video contest this year, and it’s easy to see why. Using a film noir look and feel, neurotransmitters become people and the hero tells the tale of his irresistible attraction to Molly Morphine. Fun and educational at the same time, a rare combo, this video is a winner in more ways than one. (00:06:29)

8. Creating a Healthier Future through Prevention of Child Maltreatment
A panel of researchers and bureaucrats present findings on public health approaches to prevent child abuse and neglect, in this hour-long grand rounds video from the Center for Disease Control. Sounds like a snoozefest? Far from it. Child abuse (not just broken bones, emotional and verbal abuse also have a serious impact) and neglect are pervasive problems that take an enormous economic toll and ruin lives. Child maltreatment leads to suicide, violence, addiction, depression, PTSD, anxiety, personality disorders, crime, cognitive deficits, physical ailments, homelessness, and much more. So, what to do? Public health approaches ranging from maternity ward education programs to community nurses have proven successful, and this video highlights best practices. On an individual level, parents can access self-help materials like the Positive Parenting Program. If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, please contact your local police or child protective services agency. The consequences are too serious to ignore. (00:59:47)

9. Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman: ‘A great deal of prejudice is built-in’
Behavioural economist Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking Fast and Slow” was published in 2011, and in this video clip he explains the difference between thinking fast and intuitively (System 1), and a more slow and reasoned approach (System 2). Cognitive biases and prejudices are inevitable and part of the snap judgments of System 1, but by using deeper System 2 thinking we can challenge those prejudices and rebuild our stereotypes. Kahneman’s thoughtful theories are bound to prompt System 2 in those who watch this video. (00:04:22)

10. Iain McGilchrist: The Divided Brain
The RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) is a UK organization that promotes social innovation and showcases the best thought leaders. Psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist gave a lecture on the myths and realities of left and right brain hemispheres, and a clip from that talk was then processed by the RSA Animate series, which illustrates audio with deft drawings. It’s educational, but still fun enough to keep attention. (00:11:48)

Do you have a favorite not on the list?
Please let us know in the comments.

Online Suicide Prevention Resources is a small wiki focussed on crisis resources available online without a telephone. There are listings for social media, secure IM chat, and public forums.

It was inspired by the International Suicide Prevention Wiki, created by Post Secret, which features a table of links and directories for telephone crisis hotlines and resources all over the world. The list I created today is solely for non-phone contacts. Included are details of the hours for each service.

Why make such a list? In today’s cell phone family plan homes, calls show up on bills read by parents, and youth might want privacy for a long list of reasons including the parents being the problem. By using the Internet, people can connect one on one to trained counselors, then clear browser histories on shared computers. Youth in BC, one of the best IM chat sites and very aware of the needs of its viewers, offers a “hide page” button on its home page that goes immediately to Google’s search home page. For people who are more comfortable with public details (but still don’t identify in posts) there are discussion forums. There’s also a group on Second Life. Plus, old-fashioned email.

If you write a blog or update twitter and Facebook accounts, there are updated guidelines for you as the media on how to write about suicide to prevent contagion.

Foremost, there are coping skills and reasons for living for those considering suicide. All free and online.

Two hours after I posted the link to Twitter, I had a response from a person who had taken an overdose but contacted someone after seeing the list. Already more than worth my effort. It’s helped save one life, that I know of. If you post the link too who else might it help?

Here’s the quick version:

Online Suicide Prevention
(No telephone needed)

IM Chat
CrisisChat
GLBT National Help Center Online Peer Support Chat
IM Alive
RAINN Online Hotline
Veteran’s Live Chat
Talk to a Live Counselor
Youth in BC

Email
Samaritans
Youth in BC

Vital Information
Coping With Suicidal Thoughts
Reasons to go on Living
Suicide…read this first

One thing illustrated is a need for more resources. Click here to view the longer list, and please leave additions for links to online supports, in the comments. Note that these resources are not a substitute for emergency services in your community; please call an ambulance if you are in imminent risk.

The good (and bad) news about blogging about depression in 2010 is that there’s less of it. Bloggers who were solely devoted to writing personal posts about depression, psychic pain, melancholy and stress in their lives found themselves, for whatever reasons, with less to say on traditional blogs.

But depression hasn’t vanished, and neither has blogging, so where’s it all going? Twitter, drop boxes, text, media, and mobile — watch for blogging to evolve across platforms. And there are professionals sharing tips, artists gathering, and advocates to support each other. Although it may seem a quiet time, under the surface it’s changing.

Blogs most likely to be triggering if you’re in a fragile state are marked with a ^(T). So, without further adieu, here are the picks for our favorite places we found depression blogged about in 2010…

1. Una Vita Bella

Amy has been the force behind the #mhsm Mental Health and Social Media hashtag and chat, and a great deal of mental health inspiration and organization. Her blog and Twitter feed about depression and chronic illness are absorbing and friendly. When you see the smile and spirit in her avatar it’s hard to know that she suffers so much pain, as do so many others she represents. In caring for Amy’s health, and all the mental health bloggers on this list, you care for your own too.

2. Dr. Deb: Psychological Perspectives

Dr. Deborah Serani is a practicing psychologist/psychoanalyst blogging about the treatment of trauma and depression. She’s a reliable source of psychological info, news and tips in a style that’s easy to read and share. Always helpful and trustworthy.

3. Storied Mind ^(T)

A beautiful and uniquely classic blog, still publishing frequently. We adored everything about this blog when we gave it an award years back, and still do today. Gorgeous images complement absorbing and stylish writing.

4. My Postpartum Voice

A new voice and a comforting one, Lauren is also known for organizing support chats for peers online (see her blog for info). She’s prolific, sensible, positive, and strong. Well-organized and efficient, I wonder what would happen if Lauren and Katherine combined powers?

5. Postpartum Progress

A sleek, professional blog on postpartum depression. Informative, straight up, and powerful. There’s no stopping Katharine. Advocacy, communications, she does great work. I’ve nearly tied her with a strong newcomer, but it’s not because she’s slipped at all, just the opposite, it’s testament to how strong the newcomer is.

6. Draw That Beast ^(T)

A writer with depression has created a virtual gallery space for depictions of depression by outsider artists. People with lived experience of depression are invited to visualize it and send their images to the blog for posting. The result is a diverse collection, but with much in common. An elegant blog featuring visual art from and for the world.

7. Mayo Clinic Depression Blog

Psychiatrist David Mrazek, M.D. blogs for one of the most prestigious consumer medical names on the market – Mayo Clinic (also branded on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). Latest research news and perspectives and tips on depression. Popular and trusted, with the weight of peer-reviewed science behind it.

8. Depression Marathon ^(T)

Doing too well? Fantastic news. A long-time (2 yrs) blogger worries that as she’s written herself well, is there still purpose? And yes there is, as the archives and awards attest: just having a suicide hotline number on the blog even though Etta’s no longer personally suicidal, might save a life. But her story of marathon racing and determination in the murkiness of depression recovery are inspiring as well.

9. About.com Depression Blog

Nancy Schimelpfening has been About.com’s Guide to depression since 1998, providing research summaries, news, tips, holiday guides, and more. She’s been a consistently integral part of the online mental health community, and her stories are always concise and relevant.

10. Pick the Brain

A popular site for motivational quotes, self-help articles, and other non-scientific inspiration. It’s colorful and well-designed with plenty to look at, so if you feel a little bored, sad and listless (depressed in the popular sense of the word, but not clinically diagnosed) and want to graze around some articles to perk up, this is a good place to start.

2010 Depression Blog Honorable Mentions

Fighting the Darkness: My Secret Battle with Depression ^(T)

A talented personal blogger who’s been fighting depression since age 12. Jamie only manages to write intermittently now. “I can’t even put my feelings into words,” is a typical phrase when someone is suffering from severe depression. We wish her a fast recovery and hope she posts again soon.

Depression Getaway

Headaches from viewing the monitor ultimately kept this blogger from updating, but it was a great blog about depression and creativity and worth checking out the archives.

Thank you Brandi-Ann Uyemura for her valuable help compiling our list!

If you’re new to hashtags and Twitter, learn more in this brief video. Use Twitter Search or other tools to follow hashtags.

Most are to tag relevant tweets at any time, but some are used for weekly events like #mentalhealthmonday, and chats on different topics. Check the schedules and use Tweetchat to join in.

Many tags are focused on a specific mental health issue. However, a key lesson learned from #mhm2010 is that using a popular, short hashtag means info reaches more readers, gets retweeted, and connects more activists than specialized tags. #endstigma has been suggested as a new gathering place, and #mentalhealth is one that’s already commonly used.

Chats are in bold; here’s the full list:

#abuse – abusive behaviours, or substance abuse
#add – attention deficit disorder
#adhd – attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder
#addict #addiction or #addictions – various addictions (substances also have hashtags)
#anxiety – anxiety
#asd or #autism – autism spectrum disorders
#aspie – Asperger’s Syndrome
#attitude – positive attitude
#bipolar – bipolar disorders
#bodyimage – body image
#borderline or #bpd – borderline personality disorder
#bullying – anti-bullying
#chronicpain – chronic pain issues
#coping – coping skills
#cutting – self-injury
#cyberbullying – against online bullying
#depression – clinical depression
#did – dissociative identity disorder
#dv – domestic violence
#eatingdisorder – eating disorders
#empathy – empathy
#endstigma – end mental health stigma campaign
#epatient – e-patient info
#grateful – what are you grateful for?
#hcsm – health care and social media
#hcsmeu – health care and social media Europe (global relevance, high volume)
#hugsnotdrugs – drug abuse prevention
#madpride – Mad Pride
#mentalhealth – mental health, general (high volume)
#mentalillness – mental illness
#mentalhealthhero – profiles of mental health professionals
#mentalhealthmonday – mental health info (Mondays)
#mhcanada – mental health info geo-specific to Canada
#mhcto – Mental Health Camp Toronto 2010, @MHCTO
#mhcuk – Mental Health Camp UK
#mhcyvr10 – Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2010, @MentalHealthC
#mhm2010 – Mental Health Month May 2010
#mhsm – Mental Health and Social Media chat (Tuesdays 9:00 pm EST), @MHSMchat
#mhsmca – mental health & social media Canada chat (schedule TBD)
#mhsmoz – mental health & social media Australia (TBD)
#mhsmuk – mental health & social media UK (TBD)
#miaw2010 – Mental Illness Awareness Week 2010
#neuroscience – brain science
#nokiddingmetoo – Joe Pantoliano’s mental health antistigma campaign No Kidding Me Too, @NKMToo
#ocd – obsessive compulsive disorder
#ojtl – Our Journey Through Life family/friends support chat (Thursdays 9:00 pm CST), @OJTLblog
#peersupport – mental health consumer/survivor peer support
#pixelproject – the Pixel Project on violence against women, @PixelProject
#ppd – post-partum depression
#ppdchat – post-partum depression chat (Mondays 1:00 pm and 8:30 pm EST)
#ptsd – post-traumatic stress disorder
#psychology – psychology
#psychosocial – combination of psychological and social influences
#psychiatry – psychiatry
#selfcare – practicing self-care
#selfhelp – self-help resources
#selfinjury (also #cutting) – self-injury
#spoonie – “But You Don’t Look Sick” spoon theory (high volume)
#stress – stress
#stayalive – surviving and coping
#suicide – suicide (caution: also used in contexts not for suicide prevention; high volume)
#suicideprevention – suicide prevention info
#tbi – traumatic brain injury
#twloha – suicide prevention org To Write Love On Her Arms, @twloha (high volume)
#unsuicide – suicide prevention resources
#vaw – violence against women

The mental health recovery movement has roots in earlier movements (like addiction recovery), but became popular after What Recovery Means to Us (Mead & Copeland, 2000) was published. It spread like a viral video through clinical offices around the world, shifting budgets and responsibilities, gaining fans but few vocal critics. Mary Ellen Copeland was recently honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by SAMHSA for her pioneering work.

But what does recovery mean, and has it made a real difference? The President’s New Freedom Commission Report on Mental Health (2003) defined it as “the process in which people are able to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities.” In 2005 SAMHSA described the 10 fundamental components of recovery as “self-direction, individualized and person-centered approaches, empowerment, holistic views, nonlinearity, strengths-based, peer support, respect, responsibility, and hope.”

Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers digs deeper and gets more practical, deconstructing recovery into three areas. “Personal journey” includes symptom management, health and nutrition, and faith. “Social process” needs housing, employment, education, and other social supports. Recovery can also be “critique” of the mental health system: asserting rights, being informed and an active partner in your personal health care.

The recovery model has been criticized for ignoring people with severe mental health issues, and those living in poverty. Professionals using the copyrighted recovery manuals are most helpful to those who can pay for secure housing, therapy, good nutrition, recreation and social activities.

Many people who see a therapist, psychiatrist or counselor now get a “Wellness Recovery Action Plan” with some cheerful clip art and personal notes. But once those notes are made there can be a lack of practical supports to back them up. The consumer has the burden of looking after their own health without all the resources they might need.

This article is refreshing not only because it’s from researchers who receive mental health services, but because it’s peer-led participatory research. It’s local to Toronto, and the Canadian authors identified points of “inclusion, community, critique and resistance” that the people who popularized “recovery” didn’t discuss. With this cross-cultural analysis, the concept of mental health recovery is enriched. Social supports beyond vague ideas like “it’s about creating the life one wants to live” are revealed as cornerstones of health and wellness. They provide hope: vital to any process of recovery.

***

Mental Health “Recovery” Study Working Group. 2009. Mental Health “Recovery”: Users and Refusers, Toronto: Wellesley
Institute. CC 2.5 [PDF]

What Recovery Means to Us: Consumers’ Perspectives, Mead & Copeland, Community Mental Health Journal, 2000

President’s New Freedom Commission Report on Mental Health (2003)

SAMHSA’s National Consensus Statement on Mental Health Recovery (2005) [PDF]

At any given time, hundreds of online psychology experiments are going on. They are a great, cost-efficient method to gather experimental data from the multitudes of people online. These experiments can be fun to try, but also provide researchers with valuable data that future research may be based upon. Here are all-new experiments as well as a couple of classics:

10. Sexual Infidelity. Can you guess who cheats, from listening to their voices? New research, with voices speaking vowels, and some facial images, too. Unfortunately, no results shared.

9. Daily News Memory Test. neuroMod at the University of Amsterdam studies memory, and this short test module is also available in Dutch. Clean and well-designed.

8. The Moral Sense Test. Available in five languages and quite wordy, with complex test scenarios appealing to budding philosophers. How wrong are certain theoretical decisions, and how intentional are actions? You judge.

7. Emotional Experiences is about how people experience emotions, and allows you to compare your results to others. This is qualitative research that requires writing narrative, so a bit more demanding than the average quiz.

6. Signs and Aliens: A Cognitive Study. A simple Flash-based visual perception and cognition experiment. It’s got 200 signs, which takes longer than five minutes but the cute aliens are worth it.

5. Music & Emotion Profiler. How well do 63 adjectives describe your connection to music? Inquietude, joyful activation (dancing), longing, peacefulness, and wonder were among the nine qualities measured. Choose any song, using one you either like or dislike strongly for best results.

4. Two enduring sites from our first list: The Perception Lab at the University of Aberdeen and Face Research both do research using images and videos of faces (including babies) that you judge and change based on your perceptions of emotions, male and female, attractiveness, and other measures while giving context with short personal questionnaires. Here’s a new survey looking to gauge scariness and more, with a fast slick interface.

3. DIY Eyewitness Accuracy Experiment. Create your own online psychology experiment on eyewitness accuracy and demonstrate how fallible memory is, using your own materials. Great idea from The Psych Files.

2. Pew Research Center asks How Millennial are You? and other questions in studies on Internet and technology use, and have compiled a lot of valuable data. Always topical with leading edge results, Pew is as good to follow for their Twitter account as their in-depth research reports.

1. Puntastic! What makes puns funny? You tell them what makes you laugh most and they’ll explain why. Scientifically. “Benefits: At the end of the experiment, we will explain the experiment and our hypothesis. We will describe potential implications of the study both if our hypotheses are supported and if they are disconfirmed.” A “quit playing” option lets you decide how long the test will be, but there’s no need to stop quickly when the jokes are good. Research has never been so fun.

We think these are among the best and most fun, but there are plenty more to try. Three excellent meta lists, DMOZ Online Experiments, Psychological Research on the Net, and Web Experiment are generally kept updated and well-tended.

Found an online psychology experiment not on our list? List your favorite online psychology experiments below in the comments.

Looking for more great experiments?
Check out psychology videos and experiments on Channel N.

1. The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive
Do’s and Don’ts for the Mentally Interesting was a BBC Radio play based on Seaneen’s blog produced last May and just nominated for a Mind Mental Health Media Award. Always a compelling and honest read, it was no fluke or sympathy vote that caused us to place this blog near the top of our list last year – it deserves many accolades. Well done.

2. The Trouble With Spikol
Another great year for Liz Spikol, a stellar writer and enduring fave. Highlights from 2009: Liveblogging Primetime Outsiders, Maia Campbell’s story, Dr. Fred Goodwin, celeb depression confessions, and the streaming kitten cam. A mashup of adorable with hard-hitting, the puppies make the grim stories a bit easier to take in. Check out her cool video series, too.

3. Coming Out Crazy
Sandy Naiman is fierce and fabulous. With a background in print journalism, her blog was new to the net last year and it’s been fun to see her adapt to the medium – and vice-versa. Some of the perennial trolls have been buzzing around her blog, smelling fresh blood, but she deftly slaps them down with precise words soaked in reality and wisdom. Sandy is a dynamo who is an offline mental health advocate and speaker. In Coming Out Crazy, she’s making gorgeous jewelry from her goldmine of experience as a person living with bipolar.

4. Pax Nortana
Joel Sax has built a small new media empire for himself with a blog, Twitter feeds, vlogs and social networking profiles. Outspoken and productive, he’s a great activist (livetweeting the 2009 DBSA conference) and a chatty blogger who writes about more than the labels he’s been given. Joel also manages @Bipolar_Blogs, which aggregates fresh links to posts from many blogs by people who have been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder (add your blog here).

5. All About Bipolar
Amy (@torturedsoul) is a woman from Tennessee who writes thoughtfully about all aspects of experiencing bipolar disorder, but I especially like that she writes humor. Bonus points for a not-too-cluttered layout with useful links and widgets.

6. In a tie: Furious Seasons and Knowledge is Necessity. Apples and oranges, Phil Dawdy and John McManamy have been among the best on the web for years, but 2009 saw them devolve into public feuding so they’re both bumped down the list together. Hopefully next year will bring a renewed focus on what they each do very well, and a truce.

7. Raw Writing for the Real World of Bipolar
Intimate, absorbing and moving, this is a diary-style blog by Cristina Fender that has mushroomed since she began. She’s now welcoming guest posts and building community, and has self-published a book as well. Energetic.

8. Caught in my Bipolar Burble.
She’s been blogging since 2003 and is consistently brilliant. Intimate and raw, very descriptive and at times hard to read. She’s been through a lot and her treatment-resistant disorder is still not responding to treatments, including a recent failed attempt at ECT (which led to the spin-off blog ECT: Electro-Convulsive Terror). Harrowing.

9. Time for your Meds
“Crazy Tracy” is triumphantly healthy, blogging once again and newly returned to work as a nurse. Her recovery is as dramatic as her dark moments have been. It’s great to see her back, a hopeful example to others who suffer severe bipolar episodes.

10. Crazy Black Woman
“My oddball behavior has been a badge of honor for me to wear,” says Dr. Gina, and I honor her for that behavior too. Her blog has aggressive, hypomanic uproar posts that are fun to read, with extra energy devoted to The Ariafya Universe, a mental health and wellness forum for diverse women. Phew! It’s impressive. Lots to read.

Honorable mentions: Victoria Maxwell’s Crazy for Life, Wellness Writer, Gus Greeper, Bipolar Happens, If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going, Bipolar: Crazy Mermaid’s Blog, and Patient Anonymous. Cheers to all!

Enjoy the blogs above, and please leave more links with your comments.

[... C]oroner Ken Holmes said 70 percent of all suicides are witnessed by “tourists, commuters, adults, children and people working on the bridge.” The report also determined that 90 percent of those who committed suicide, were from Northern California with the vast majority from surrounding bay counties.

After many years of debate, a design for a preventative net was approved in 2008. The net is not yet in place. Holmes criticized the Golden Gate Bridge District’s actions, saying they “see little urgency in resolving this ongoing problem.”

MoreMarin.com quoted Mary Currie’s response, which is that the District “are moving quickly as possible towards a suicide barrier.”

Read more

We’re talking about how suicide is tragic, and how to access help. Seven months ago, I started an experiment on Twitter called @unsuicide as a peer support resource for suicide prevention. @unsuicide now has about 900 followers and has been a help for some people having a hard time, and shares info with people who aren’t in crisis too.

Existing suicide prevention organizations mostly didn’t have Twitter accounts when I started, and as they did appear I noticed a trend. All accomplish great work on the telephone, but few understood the new medium, and there are transition issues. Non-profits, with busy staff who lack new media training, tend to use Twitter as a broadcast medium to dump news snippets and links about the organization without following followers in return or having conversations. Orgs were not interested in collaborating or herding new offsite volunteers, either. Most importantly, suicidal followers are unable to have real-time conversations in times of crisis.

Due to time and life restrictions @unsuicide has never promised live crisis services either (though has provided that at times), but promotes sites that do. There is a desperate need for secure, confidential, online services responsive to all age groups worldwide. People guided off Twitter, away from bullies, and into safe secure places to talk in confidence. One-on-one chat with trained volunteer counsellors is the new choice of non-profits, over telephone hotlines.

As the pioneer, RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) offers a great online chat line. Others include YouthinBC.com and Teenline, oriented to youth, and this year Lifeline launched a Veteran’s Chat service. But we need more. A site that’s 24/7 accessible and responsive worldwide, with volunteers who’ll speak in text and Twitter and l33t. People increasingly dislike talking on the phone and want to access services online.

Suicide intervention skills haven’t changed. People talk, share support and hope and connect to professional help. It’s just the way the talking happens that’s changing.

But chatting one on one with a counsellor is not the same as microblogging. The crisis conversation is private while the other… The Werther Effect (named after a 1774 novel which sparked copycat deaths) is suicide contagion blamed mainly on the media. Though well-researched, science hasn’t quite moved into the 21st century yet with published articles on contagion in social media. But the principle is the same. You are the media, so you have the same responsibility. Don’t tweet about methods, celeb suicides, and avoid simple explanations (hard to do on Twitter!). There are ethics guidelines for professional journalists, but academics have not yet published updates for social media. I’ve heard it’s coming, but meanwhile, the AFSP’s media guidelines can be applied to status updates and blog.

Then there’s content. Unlike mass print journalism, people who blog about their mental health issues commonly publish entries about suicidal thoughts and dark emotions. If ambulances (or hearses) were dispatched for every post about wishing to be dead, the budget for replacing worn tires would be huge. The Jed Foundation says, “Try to remember that the person posting suicidal thoughts or intent is reaching out for help.” I disagree. Some people want to connect with peers or just feel heard, validated, without having police appear. I’ve been reading and evaluating blogs about mental health for over a decade. Most writers don’t attempt suicide and keeping a blog is not a reliable indicator of that risk.

Suicide crisis services are there for people to call, a voluntary decision, while a suicidal microblogger’s posts have been interpreted as an invitation to call 911. This is a major shift and disconnect in thinking. Sometimes what’s urgent is finding boundaries in privacy and oversharing. While Demi Moore was lauded for her role in saving a life, some people who write about their mental health issues contacted @unsuicide worried about being hunted down by zealous lifesavers unfamiliar with their writing style and the ways of the web. Whether to contact authorities or respect privacy is still a matter of judgment and not policy. From my experience and a patchwork of professional advice, I can tell you that 1. people should be taken seriously but 2. police aren’t helpful unless you already have precise contact info. Calling another country to say you read a threat on a web site results in puzzled reactions. I have tried it, and also tried to contact Twitter support, to no avail. Since then I’ve decided that confidentiality is more valuable to people than the idea of being rescued by readers. Still, the Jed Foundation recommends calling police if a blogger is unresponsive to comments.

Snarky remarks are, of course, also unhelpful. Cyberbullying includes taunts about suicide, which can lead to real deaths. This is not an issue (as much) for offline suicide prevention, and nobody jumps into a helpline conversation to make rude remarks. Online, trolls do. How to combat that… but that’s another topic. @unsuicide is just one little project, its goal to provide positive info, peer support and refer to practical resources using a new medium. It may help save a few lives, but it’s not going to save the whole world.

Then again, sometimes a single suicide prevention message has an incredible effect.

In the springtime, participants at MentalHealthCamp on social media and mental health shared messages of support on my phone cam. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and Courtney who’d been following the conference hashtag #mhc09 and emailed a video. After technical problems a wonderful editor, Scott Babcock, has salvaged a PSA that is a tribute to the spirit of the event and a message I hope you’ll embed and share with your peers. We care.

• @docjohng (our fearless leader)
• @aliciasparks (glamorous author, Celebrity Psychings editor, World of Psychology contributor)
• @dr_aletta (therapist/life coach, World of Psychology contributor)
• @summerberetsky (mental health writer, World of Psychology contributor)
• @channelNvideo (me, editor of Channel N, features extra neuro/psych videos and new media talk)
• @unsuicide (me again, a suicide prevention peer resource with positive, practical info and support)
• @psychcentral (feeds posts from all the blogs)

Therese Borchard and everyone else who makes this site so valuable, I hope you’ll get accounts too.

Microblogging service Twitter is maximizing in popularity. Though there are naysayers who don’t understand the medium and dismiss it as shallow and narcissistic (just like early blog critics did), Twitter is used in many vital ways. For every snarkster who writes about her lunch, there’s an account like Brainline sharing serious medical info. Musicians set up impromptu concerts while professors analyze journalism, and people organize flash mobs for celebrity tributes or political protests. There are job postings, science fiction flashforward zines… I could go on, but the point is: there are many, many “tweeps” with useful, revealing and cool accounts. Plenty are about psychology and mental health. It was very difficult to narrow this list to just ten, so I used these criteria:

• NO marketing (including “free” e-books, how-to guides, etc.)
• not just “broadcasting” or re-feeding, follows others and reads their feeds
• interacts with friends and followers, replies to people
• shares more than just factoids, quotes, or pop psych aphorisms
• active but not overactive
• not too off-topic, talks mostly about psychology, psychotherapy and/or mental health
• humour, taste, talent, good writing and personality
• poise, swimsuit competition, and how they’ll bring about world peace

Kidding about that last one, but — here are the psych tweep pageant winners:

10. @mtabraham “Professional Counselor – my goal is to help people be more successful through mindful awareness and self acceptance.” Terri Abraham is a very active tweep sharing positive thoughts and info on mindfulness therapy and spirituality. Chatty and responsive even with thousands of followers.

9. @loveisthecure5 “Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Movement Leader.” I love Love is The Cure because it’s a movement that’s completely peer-driven without being disorganized. Volunteer-based with a sleek professional sheen, there’s no crankery or misinformation. It’s positive, directly supportive, promotes awareness while fighting stigma, and offers cool volunteer opportunities through building a network. LITC rocks!

8. @deborahserani “Psychologist, Professor and Author.” Dr. Deb has maintained a blog for years and has transitioned to Twitter very nicely. She shares cool links on a wide variety of psychology-related subjects.

7. @therapyonline “A wide lens is cast at the Online Therapy Institute ranging from email and chat to videoconferencing and Second Life.” DeeAnna Merz Nagel maintains this popular account with a focus that’s business-to-business for professionals who offer online therapy. She manages to share lots of intriguing info while straddling a thin line between professional organization and marketer – without falling into the dark side.

6. @shiftstigma “Shift believes that people with a history of mental health problems should have the same chances and opportunities as everyone else.” For anyone concerned about stigma – which is anyone involved with mental health – this awesome UK charity keeps an active Twitter account with lots of thought-provoking info and a friendly, accessible tone. Unlike so many organizations on Twitter that are disappointingly aloof broadcasters, they reply to followers and initiate conversations too.

5. @iopsychology “I/O Psychologist who studies motivation, apathy, gossip, and metacognition.” Industrial-Organizational Psychology grad student/TA at Michigan State University. Gordon B. Schmidt writes about research and shares the work of other tweeps and bloggers in the field, but also takes the time to compliment a friend’s puppy.

4. @drdavidballard “Head of Corporate Relations and Business Strategy at the American Psychological Association. Business, psychology, technology, health and productivity.” Dr. Ballard is Tweeting on behalf of a organization so you won’t find personal opinions on things that aren’t professionally relevant, but he is thought provoking, interactive, shares great news links and he writes, well, like a pro.

3. @drkathleenyoung “Licensed Clinical Psychologist Treating Trauma in Chicago.” Her practice (and Twitter & blog focus) is on PTSD, domestic violence, sexual assault, trauma in general which you might think would make for a bleak feed but she’s very upbeat, encouraging, active and interactive. Shares useful info and talks to lots of tweeps whether professional or civilian.

2. @kidtherapist “Children’s Therapist and Author of Kids Awareness Series Books.” Kara T. Tamanini’s feed is an awesome mix of personality, community, well-aggregated professional quality info, and friendly interaction. I adore her account, and I’ll bet the kids that she treats adore her too. Enthusiastic and on point.

1. @drkkolmes “Clinical psychologist in private practice specializing in anxiety, depression, relationships, sexuality and the intersection of technology and mental health.” Very in tune with the net culture zeitgeist, Keely Kolmes has spoken about online mental health at SXSW and MentalHealthCamp. She challenges paradigms and explores boundaries in questions like: Should you “friend” your therapist? Read her blog? Should a therapist Google a client? A 21st century psychologist who’d top any new media mental health list, she unquestionably deserves the crown from us.

Should the winners not be able to fulfil their tweeting duties, here are the runners-up:

@countersuicide Shares crisis resources, suicide prevention info and news. Unlike the professional suicide prevention orgs on Twitter, this heroic volunteer directly interacts with people in crisis online. Crucial and literally lifesaving.
@apahelpcenter From the American Psychological Association, not very interactive but oodles of valuable info.
@marielhemingway My fave mentally healthy celebrity on Twitter, she offers lots of love, positivity and tips for healthy living.

Did I miss someone who you think is a winner? Please share your picks in the comments.

On the other hand, being with a partner during an untreated manic episode can be bad for your mental health and in some cases physical safety as well. Although it is a myth that mentally ill people are more violent, as shown in epidemiological studies, it is also true that there are risk factors that increase the probability of violence. Among them are untreated illness accompanied by substance abuse, and a history of violence. With domestic violence there are patterns involved and habits stick. So if you’re already with a partner who’s assaulted you, well, as one commenter, Melissa, movingly describes:

If I try to approach to console him he sees it as confrontation and lashes out like an angry monster. He compares himself to a wild bear actually. His eyes bulge out showing no mercy and his hands go around my throat and he can barely stop himself from chocking me. And all I have done to bring this on was try to console him, try to nurture him so he may not go into a deep depression because when he does he goes into very self destructive behaviour.

When he is in a BP rage his eyes look like in the movie The Shining, like the eyes of a psychopath, they are filled with pure hate. Yet he says, even in that state, that he knows that I love him, as he shoves me away with all his strengths and demands that he be left alone. I have waited sometimes without moving, wondering will he attack me again, will he kill me this time? And what brought on this response from him? He seemed in a down mood when he came home and I asked him how was his day and I had missed him, he came home late. He turned away instead of answering me, I mentioned that that response hurt me, what was he thinking would he please tell me. And this horrid sound came out of his mouth, an alien growl so loud that made the tenants (2 guys in their late twenties who ride motorcycles) upstairs flee out of the house within seconds after hearing it ….

Ah, that is like to be with a BP partner who will not go for treatment.

How I survived him so far is that I have a safe home to flee to, as long as I can get out.

I replied and mentioned the Hot Peach Pages:

…the illness does not excuse the violence and your safety is more important than your partner’s treatment (although it might also require that he or she gets treatment for both your sakes).

The Hot Peach Pages link to domestic violence shelters, hotlines, counselling services and more, worldwide. It’s an excellent resource and I recommend you find out what’s in your community before you might need it in an emergency. They can also advise on how to approach your partner to talk about getting help for you together, if that’s appropriate.

I am glad you have a safe place to go. Please stay safe. You matter.

And to all the bipolars who’ve ever been violent to an intimate partner now reading – it’s not okay. Get help before regretting a bad episode and losing a relationship, and even going to prison.

To read her reply, visit the original post and scroll down.

Being bipolar doesn’t mean, by default, being violent. But this is one more reason to get help if you’re not getting it now.

During the recent Association for Psychological Science (APS) convention, Ekman and the show’s head writer Samuel Baum were interviewed in a popular session, and other scientists detailed their research based on his FACS system in separate talks. (It can be used clinically to gauge pain, addiction, and more.)

Lie To Me does detail real empirical science, which I think makes the show more fun to watch. You can learn fascinating things about the universal microexpressions, and gestures called “illustrators” (used when animatedly telling the truth) and “manipulators” (nervous movements associated with lying). But I found it even more interesting that some of the show’s techniques are falsehoods. Ekman admitted the show takes a bit of license, using gestures that are not part of FACS and not signals of lying. For example, scratching an itchy nose is supposed to indicate guilt, but he admits that is not so. I wonder how many people might now suspect their partners are having affairs when all they have are allergies? But he does insist that the show’s writers fact check the real science through him and he has a script veto clause in his contract, so no major flaws get past.

Since it is TV and the medium demands it, he says that the character loosely based on him (Cal Lightman, portrayed superbly by Tim Roth) “solves crimes more quickly and with more certainty than I’ve ever done.” But he still feels the show sends a positive message since Cal is the “best kind of interrogator,” a smart and confident character rather than a swaggering gunslinger. Lightman and his glamorous associates are careful when dealing with their cases, stories that have many twists and hidden turns to navigate.

Which leaves me to wonder, as Ekman himself does: What is the consequence of emotional resonance when you can’t control its source? “Emotions never tell us their trigger,” said one of his acolytes in a different APS talk about FACS, but when you’re watching a well-written, well-acted and slickly produced TV show you can be sure some of those feelings will result from what you’re seeing. The dramatic subjects include terrorist attacks, a building collapse, rapes and murders – disturbing subjects. To detect deception Ekman points out that noticing the absence of emotion in a suspect is as important as an emotion displayed. Is that true of a television viewer as well? What might be the effect of the sprinkles of junk science, what he calls the “CSI effect” after the forensic crime drama that’s often pure fiction but audiences believe are professional techniques? Where might the misleading lead?

As for the real research, he points out that once you’ve learned to spot microexpressions you can’t unlearn it, you’ll always see the signs, and learning to manage that in your personal life is essential. Sometimes, as the show’s stories also demonstrate, it’s better not to let on that you notice something to respect privacy. A lie can be kinder than the truth.

The one day program includes a discussion on therapist/client social media boundaries, talks on anonymous blogging, mommy blogging with a mental disorder, blogging as therapy, blogging for students, ADHD, yoga and depression with a blog, and my own presentation on crowdsourcing peer mental health info with social video PSA contests and suicide prevention on Twitter. Featured speakers include Keely Kolmes, Lorraine Murphy, Darren Barefoot, Pete Quily, and many more.

Peer resources and crowdsourcing with peers is hot. From a comment left by Robert Johnson at the MentalHealthCamp blog:

“The reality is that client groups truly are exerting agency and taking matters into their own hands. In the past, traditional therapy allowed for very little contact among client populations. Group therapy may have presented the only opportunity for client interactions, and even those situations were often restricted in theme and content and closely monitored by professionals. It has been my sense that the primary breakthrough the web has provided is an opportunity for peers to come together not only for mutual support, but to compare notes and opinions in ways and settings that were never open to them in the past.

“While the profession may see these developments as potentially undermining their previous hold on the therapeutic milieu, peer-generated mental health support on the web is widespread and unlikely to moderate any time soon. Those looking for support often spend considerably more time in such groups, and often discuss issues more openly than they currently do with their own therapists.

“The dynamics of such groups are complex, and the breadth of value that such groups provide is, despite their years of existence, still wide open to investigation.”

That’s something I’m investigating in my talk and others will touch on as part of theirs. Follow me live, early April 25 @unsuicide.

Psychotherapist Isabella Mori (of the blog moritherapy) is the event’s co-organizer along with social media expert Raul Pacheco-Vega.

“Social media can be therapeutic.” Mori said. “Sometimes an individual’s need for support feels overwhelming. Individuals get a feeling of relief when they can read someone else describe a struggle that they are privately experiencing. This validation is priceless, and is one piece of professional therapy that patients find so helpful.”

We are asking questions such as

• How can blogging help decrease the stigma of mental health?
• How does someone with a mental illness navigate the waters of anonymity in the transparent world of social media?
• How is the journaling that happens in blogging similar to or different from journaling for healing?
• How can social media participants with mental health issues help each other?

Register here to attend IRL. Admission to MentalHealthCamp, which includes a lunch provided by the BC Mental Health Foundation, is by donation with no one turned away for lack of funds. Follow the official Twitter feed @MentalHealthC and for more information, or to volunteer for the event, email mentalhealthcamp@gmail.com.