SOVA Blog

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About Mental Illness, Disability, and Education

June 5, 2018 in Educate Yourself

IDEAMental illness can make going to school really challenging, no matter where you are in your education. Some readers have asked us about Section 504 and how it can help folks balance school and life, especially when they’re experiencing tough symptoms. Here is some information that might be helpful.

What is Section 504?

It is a civil-rights law that says schools cannot discriminate against people with disabilities—students with disabilities have to have their needs met as adequately as those without disabilities. If you have a disability, Section 504 requires that you must still able to participate in any program or activity at your school. Any school that receives money from the federal government needs to follow this law.

How do I know if I have a disability?

There are a few different ways to define a disability:

  1. A physical or mental health problem that limits a major life activity
  2. Having a problem like that in the past, that you saw a doctor for
  3. Other people thinking you have a problem, whether or not you have it

A major life activity could be something like seeing, walking, hearing, or caring for yourself.

Disabilities can be things like blindness, deafness, diabetes, migraines, learning disabilities, anxiety, depression, or allergies. Any of these things can make life activities hard or impossible—and in this case, can cause you to have a hard time in school.

What do schools have to do because of Section 504?

Schools have to provide free, appropriate public education to any student with a disability.

  • Free: The student does not have to pay out of pocket
  • Appropriate: The education fits students and their needs
  • Public: Public school district, university, or other educational center (like a local library that does classes)
  • Education: Must be provided to every person with a disability

How does Section 504 work?

You will be a part of a Section 504 plan with your school. The school works with you and your supports to decide what is best. You and your supports list the things you need so you can be involved in the activity. The school lists things they will do to help you while you are at school. For example, if you will need extra time to take an exam, the school would sign an agreement that says every teacher/professor would allow you extra time to complete exams.

You have to provide documentation that shows how your disability makes school difficult. The meeting for the 504 plan may include these things:

  • Grades
  • Staff/teachers noticing that you’re having a problem
  • Medical records
  • Testing done outside the school
  • Testing done in the school
  • Attendance records
  • Doctor’s diagnosis

Not all of these are required, but usually schools ask for more than one source of information. Keeping track of your own symptoms and the times that things are harder for you helps people to understand what you’re going through.

Where can I find more information?

disability-sign

 

 

 

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“Wear Orange” to Protest Gun Violence

June 1, 2018 in LINKS

Screen Shot 2018-06-01 at 10.31.03 AMThe “Wear Orange” movement began after 15-year-old Chicago high-school student Hadiya Pendleton was killed by a gunshot, just one week after performing at events for President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. To build solidarity, Hadiya’s friends asked people to raise awareness about gun violence to identify their commitment to end gun violence by wearing orange.

Wear Orange weekend starts today, National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Events will take place across the country all weekend, including rallies and marches planned by people who support sensible gun-control legislation. You can find an event near you here!

Screen Shot 2018-06-01 at 10.31.16 AMPeople are already raising awareness on social media by hash-tagging #WearOrange and #WearOrange2018. The Wear Orange site has a page that will help you create your own hashtag image. And there’s also a gallery of images of people who are attending events.

Stay tuned for our follow-up blog about gun violence with an interview with Jack Rozel, MD, MSL, an emergency psychiatrist who serves as medical director at Resolve Crisis Services in Pittsburgh and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh.

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How To Tell Whether A Website Is Trustworthy

May 31, 2018 in Social Media Guide

Sometimes it can be hard to figure out what information on social media sites comes from reliable and credible sources.  Just because something sounds true does not mean it is. Here are some tips on how to decide whether a site is trustworthy before you share/retweet it on your news feed!

  • Academic journals (for example, Journal of Adolescent Health) that feature respected authors who are well known in their specific fields.
  • Links to websites of established institutions, such as Mayo Clinic, Department of Justice, and universities and their affiliated organizations.
  • Materials published in the last 10 years (when more recent information is available)—anything older than that is probably outdated and less reliable.
  • Byline: Is the article written by a real person? Google the author’s name and sometimes you find out that the author doesn’t really exist.
  • Check the date: Sometimes websites will recycle an old story by pasting a new headline on it, but if you search on the subject, you’ll find that it’s an old story—and unreliable because it’s not recent.
  • Is it real satire? Satire is a type of writing that uses exaggeration and humor to expose people’s vices, and it’s usually clearly labeled as such. But some people don’t get the joke, and they repost satirical articles as credible information.
  • Is the site’s mission clear? You should be able to see a clear idea of who the site’s audience is, an informative and unbiased mission, and signs that the information is regularly updated.
  • Look for websites ending in .edu, .gov or .org (For example, https://www.healthykids.org). Sites that end in .com are more “commercial.”
  • Finally, rely on the fact-checkers. There are some well-known fact-checking sites whose mission is to debunk false information. Two of the most well known are Snopes and FactCheck.

(Source: FactCheck.org.)

How do you decide which online outlets to trust? Do you have any other helpful hints? Please share with us!

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Some Facts About Memorial Day

May 28, 2018 in Be Positive

memorialday01Decorating soldiers’ graves is a very ancient tradition, and the practice of doing it on a specific day has had all kinds of names in different communities. One of the most common was “Decoration Day.”

The name “Memorial Day” is pretty recent! In 1968, Congress passed a law that named the day “Memorial Day” and made it on the last Monday of May, so workers could have a three day weekend. (The act also includes Veterans’ Day, Labor Day, and a couple of other holidays.)

Memorial Day is about remembering and honoring soldiers who died in wars. Almost every family has at least one member who fought in some kind of conflict. Involvement in war raises risk of depression and anxiety both for the person who participates and for others in the family, especially children.

Even if you don’t have a family member who lost their life in a war, Memorial Day reminds us to be grateful that there were so many people who were willing to fight to preserve the good in society. Which means it’s a reason to express gratitude. And the discipline of expressing gratitude is a super healing discipline.

Have a relaxing and peaceful holiday.

Has your family lost members to wars? What are you grateful for this Memorial Day? Tell us in the comments.

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Making Art Online

May 25, 2018 in LINKS

Sometimes it can be nice to distract yourself with something fun you can create!

Weavesilk is a site that allows you to make symmetrical art easily with only a mouse.

Screen Shot 2018-05-25 at 10.46.33 AMHere is a drawing I did just now with the trackpad on my laptop. What do you think it looks like—a cat, or a jellyfish, or a spaceship?

Some tips:

  • Once at the site, click “Draw something”
  • In the upper left hand corner, there is a blue dot. However over it—it should say ‘controls’
  • Click on that—it will show 7 colors, and you can change the color you are working with by clicking on the color you want
  • You can also mix colors, by holding onto color with your mouse and dragging it to another dot of color
  • You can also play with the bar labeled “rotational symmetry,” and turn the ‘mirror across center’ and ‘spiral towards center’ on or off
  • Draw by clicking in the center and moving your mouse
  • Hit space to clear the page, and z to undo

What other sites do you like to use when you need a distraction? Let us know in the comments!

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Stories From A Woman Who Got Mental Health Help Early

May 24, 2018 in Educate Yourself, Social Media Guide

Now age 40, New Orleans native and current Pittsburgh resident K. Rose Quayle was first committed to a mental hospital at the age of 15 for Bipolar II and an eating disorder. She spent her teens trying to control her mental illness through various medications, and by the time she got to her 30s, her illnesses had stopped responding to medications, so she decided to try electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

quayle

K. Rose Quayle sitting on the right during the Q&A.

Last year she released a self-published book called Look Left, Walk Green: A Shocking Tale of Losing the Past and Choosing to Gain the Future, which she says she hopes will serve as a guidebook to various mental health treatments, especially ECT—one of the most feared and stigmatized treatments, and one of the least understood. She spoke about her experiences last night at the National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI) Keystone Pennsylvania event series “Stories that Heal” at City of Asylum in Pittsburgh.

“ECT is being used more, but a lot of people don’t know what to expect afterward,” said Quayle, who had 15 treatments eight years ago. Her book is organized in three sections: what it feels like to have ECT; the mechanics and physiology of the treatment; and the history of ECT and how the media and medical establishment have represented it.

ECT stopped her depression, she said. But she experienced significant side effects, one of the most persistent being memory loss. She didn’t remember who her friends were, and her husband would tell her to say hi to friends they ran into on the street. “I didn’t remember what my own clothes looked like,” she said, “so a couple of times I accused my husband of cheating on me because I saw all these clothes in my bedroom that I didn’t know were mine!”

She said her husband showed great patience with the slow pace of her recovery. She stressed the importance of asking for help. Even after all the years that she had sought treatment for bipolar disorder, when the severe side effects of ECT showed up, she said, “I didn’t want to ask the doctors for help because of the stigma.” So that’s how persistent stigma still is—but she moved through her fear and asked for help anyway, from doctors and from friends.

“True friends will come toward you in situations like this,” she said.

She said her treatment has changed her character. “It has made me more empathetic and willing to reach out to others,” she said.

35169991Follow Rose on Instagram @lookleftwalkgreen and on Twitter @LookLWG.

The next event in the “Stories that Heal” reading series is Lindsey Smith, author of Eat Your Feelings: The Food Mood Girl’s Guide to Transforming Your Emotional Eating. You can reserve your seat here.

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Is Depression Something You Can Control?

May 23, 2018 in Educate Yourself

brainIs depression something you can control?

Or are there actual changes in the brain that cause it that are beyond our control?

Research studies show that when someone is depressed, we can see many changes in the brain.

Of course, the brain is a super complex organ, and science is still only scratching the surface of everything there is to know about it. People who have depression can have different symptoms, different causes, and different factors that contribute to their symptoms.

It’s important to know that even though we don’t understand everything about the causes of depression, we do know something about what treatments can help. And if one treatment doesn’t work for you, there may be another one that will, so don’t give up trying to find help! You and your body and mind are very special and unique—so something that worked or didn’t work for someone else will probably work differently for you.

Depression probably has a combination of different causes:

  • Gene-environment interactions: Your brain and your genes can change based on what you are exposed to in your environment. Changes in genes based on environmental changes are called “epigenetics,” and they prove that, as we’ve written in a previous blog, our genes are not set in stone. And we can see big differences among people in their emotional/psychological responses to environmental factors. For example, some people’s anxiety skyrockets if they wreck their cars, while other people don’t have that response.
  • Endocrine system, otherwise known as hormones: Some people’s moods fluctuate with changes in their hormone levels. Hormones are neurotransmitters that help different parts of your body communicate with each other. An example of fluctuating hormones is premenstrual syndrome (PMS)—some girls’ moods change with hormonal changes, and others’ don’t.
  • Immune system: Stress and depression can cause your immune system—the part of your body that fights infections—to get weaker. And vice versa: some chronic illnesses can increase depressive feelings.
  • Neuroplasticity: Scientists talk about the brain being “plastic,” meaning the connections between neurons can change over time. In previous eras, we thought the brain’s electrical system was hard-wired. Now we know that its wiring can change based on genetics, environment, hormones, the immune system, and and medical and psychological treatments.

All of this means there are ways to get better!!

References: Medscape;  Nature

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Watch for Symptoms!

May 22, 2018 in Educate Yourself

depressionAre you or any of your friends struggling with symptoms of depression? Are you confused as to why you feel like you’ve fallen down into a big deep pit?

Many teenagers find themselves in very low places and often wonder how they arrived there. The good news is for some more common mental illnesses like depression and anxiety, there are signs and symptoms that we can become aware of and look out for in ourselves and in others we care about.

The key to recovery is developing awareness and becoming knowledgeable enough to be able to point out signs that don’t seem right—this can possibly prevent suffering and/or catch a problem before it gets worse.

Psychiatry.org lists some signs that something might be up.

  • Withdrawal—loss of interest in others
  • Drop in functioning—quitting sports, tanking in school, or difficulty performing familiar tasks
  • Problems thinking—difficulty with concentration, memory, or logical thought and speech
  • Increased sensitivity—to sights, sounds, smells or touch; avoidance of over-stimulating situations
  • Apathy—loss of initiative or desire to get involved
  • Feeling disconnected—a sense of unreality
  • Illogical thinking—unusual or exaggerated beliefs about personal powers to influence events; “magical” thinking typical of childhood in an adult
  • Nervousness—fear or suspiciousness of others
  • Sleep or appetite changes—sleeping or eating way more or less than usual
  • Mood changes—rapid or dramatic shifts in feelings

The good news is that help is out there! Treatment options are countless! There is therapy, medication, crisis hotlines and so much more. If you or a loved one is suffering, don’t wait. It’s better to get the help you need now than to wait until you feel worse.

Reaching out can be scary and daunting. It’s not an easy thing and takes much bravery. You might feel like no one will understand, but there are people who want to help you to make sure you are well taken care of. Talk to your parents or teachers and express how you feel. You’d be surprised!

What symptoms do you recognize from your own experiences? What are the ones that make it hardest to ask for help? What are the ones that feel most embarrassing? How did you get past that embarrassment and try to find help? Tell us in the comments. 

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Make A Sunshine File

May 21, 2018 in Be Positive

sunshine01For many years I have kept a file on my hard drive called “Raves.” This is a folder in which I have saved emails, letters, screenshots, and other files that have spoken positively about me and my work. The file has moved from computer to computer—and I also have hardcopies of notes in a file drawer.

Looking at the file now is like opening a box of sunshine. It helps me understand the good that I’ve tried to do in the world, and it reminds me to be positive about life even when life puts stones in the road.

(There’s a great song called “Stones in the Road,” you can listen below! It talks about how the stones can look like diamonds—depending on how we look at them. And how going home helps us stay balanced—”going home” can mean coming home to ourselves.)

You can keep a Sunshine File, and it can help you switch from focusing on negative aspects of life to focusing on the positive. Your collection could be a file like mine with nice notes from colleagues, strangers, friends and family. It could be a special box of messages or quotations that you collect and look at from time to time. It could be a drawer in your bedroom where you keep comforting and uplifting items like a pillow full of lavender buds, a scented candle, glow-sticks, your favorite tea, or notecards on which you can write sunshiney messages to your friends or family and pass along the light.

On another note, since spring is here, you can also go outside and get some actual sunshine, which is so good not just for our bodies but also for our minds. Sunlight can actually counter depression!

What kinds of positive messages or items have you collected? How does virtual or real sunlight affect your mood and attitude? Let us know in the comments.

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Getting Help: Where to Start

May 18, 2018 in LINKS

singlestepMental health problems don’t only affect adults. Children, teens and young adults can have mental health problems, too. In fact, three out of four people with mental health problems showed signs before they were 24 years old!

A nice place to start when looking to start a conversation about mental health and mental illness is the site “For Young People Looking for Help” at MentalHealth.gov. Check it out!

Did you find the website to be helpful? Do you think you could start a conversation better now that you have this information? What makes a good conversation starter? 

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