Celebrities Take on Roles as Mental Health Advocates

Actor Jared Padalecki, known for his roles in “Supernatural” and “Gilmore Girls,” has become the latest in a long list of celebrities who are speaking out about mental illness. These famous people are talking about their personal experiences and using their popularity to help raise awareness, fight stigma, and encourage people who are struggling to reach out and get help. Padelecki has talked about his struggles with depression and initiated the #AlwaysKeepFighting campaign to raise awareness and support.



Musician Demi Lovato has been outspoken and public about her experience with bipolar disorder and has become an outspoken advocate for mental health.  She recently joined with several organizations, including the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the Jed Foundation, and others, as part of the  Be Vocal: Speak Up for Mental Health initiative. The campaign encourages individuals to speak up for themselves in asking for help and to learn how to speak out for others in the community.



Actress Glenn Close has been outspoken and active in bringing national attention to the issue of mental illness. After seeing her sister cope with a mental illness and the stigma associated with it, Close founded the nonprofit advocacy organization of Bring Change 2 Mind.  



Actor Joey Pantoliano, has also been active in talking about his personal struggles with depression and substance use. He is raising awareness and fighting stigma through his No Kidding, Me Too! foundation.  Among its many activities, NKM2 promotes messages of empowerments and acceptance through an award-winning documentary of the same name and a series of public service announcements.



Brooke Shields has publicly shared her experience with postpartum depression and written her story of despair and recovery in a memoir, “Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression.” Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia of “Star Wars” fame) has taken her advocacy to the stage with her autobiographical one-woman play “Wishful Drinking,” where she tells her story of bipolar disorder and substance use with openness and humor.


As Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D., president and CEO of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, noted in a recent interview with CNN, "When celebrities speak publicly about their own experiences with depression or other psychiatric conditions, it's very helpful. It opens up a conversation about these issues. If someone you admire is going through the same thing you might be going through, it makes a difference with people, it causes people to seek help."


Borenstein is also host of a PBS series on mental health issues called Healthy Minds.  You can view past episodes on topics such as bipolar disorder, autism, schizophrenia, and more online at WLIW – Healthy Minds.



By Deborah Cohen, senior writer, American Psychiatric Association

Marijuana: Legal Doesn’t Mean Safe

Twenty-three
states and the District of Columbia have laws legalizing some form of marijuana
use, and recreational use of marijuana is legal in four states and D.C.

Does
this growing trend to legalize marijuana mean we don’t need to worry about it?  About
one in 10 people who try marijuana will become addicted to it which means that
they most likely will use it in increasing quantities, develop tolerance (less
effect from it as time goes on), will have withdrawal symptoms if they try to
stop, and will find that the marijuana use is causing them to neglect other
important areas of their life like work, relationships and leisure
activities. 

Even
occasional use of marijuana can have negative effects.  hen someone has marijuana in his/her system,
short term memory is impaired, reflexes are impaired and judgment is
impaired.  These impairments can last 24
hours or longer after the use of the marijuana so it is certainly not safe to
drive after using marijuana. Most people will not be able to perform other
demanding tasks (work-related activities, childcare) at the level they are
accustomed to after using marijuana. 

All the
evidence that we now have indicates that marijuana is possibly permanently damaging
to the developing adolescent brain. All
children should be strongly discouraged from using it at all until they are at
least 21 years of age. If marijuana is
smoked there are also potential physical health risks, such as damage to the
lungs or cardiovascular system.

For more information, see American Psychiatric Association’s  Resource
Document on Marijuana as Medicine.

By Andrew Saxon, MD

Professor and Director, Addiction
Psychiatry Residency Program

University of Washington

Director, Center of
Excellence in Substance Abuse Treatment and Education

VA Puget Sound Health
Care System

Seattle, WA

Helping Your Stressed-out Teen

School
demands, sports commitments, body changes, confusing media messages. How can
you help your kids manage life’s pressures as they hit the teen years –
especially now at the end of the school year when exams and events pile up?
Start by making sure the health basics are in place: good nutrition, solid
sleep habits, and regular exercise. And don’t underestimate your teenager's
need for downtime.By
Mary Brophy Marcus, health writer, APA

These
resources can help:

Nutrition:
The USDA
has a site for teens all about healthy eating
with snack ideas, info on vitamins, weight and nutrition trackers, and more.
There's nutrition advice for vegetarian teens and athletes, too.

Sleep:
Teenagers need 8 - 10 hours a night, according to the National Sleep
Foundation (NSF). However, almost 70% of high
school students aren't logging that much, says the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Inadequate sleep can put them at risk for accidents, mood and
behavior issues, and poor school performance. NSF shares tips like cutting out
caffeinated sodas and setting a regular sleep routine.

Exercise
and Relaxation: Physical activity helps increase
"feel-good" endorphins in the brain, according to the Mayo
Clinic. To relax, The
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
suggests practicing relaxation breathing and building a supportive circle of
friends and family to cut stress, too.

If
your tween or teen is still stressed and struggling, reach out to your child's
doctor or a mental health professional who specializes in adolescents because a
more serious health issue may be going on, such as depression or an anxiety
disorder.

By
Mary Brophy Marcus, health writer, APA

Giving Kids a "Sip" of Alcohol Can Send the Wrong Message About Drinking

That little sip of wine or beer that some parents offer
their kids at a wedding or on New Year’s Eve may muddle messages about alcohol,
according to a new study by researchers at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction
Studies at Brown University. The scientists surveyed middle school students for
three years to learn whether even a taste in early childhood was a predictor of
risky behavior in high school.

The Internet-based study, published in the April 1^st
issue of the Journal
of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, included more than 500 Rhode Island school
students. More than one-third of the kids surveyed reported trying their first
sip of alcohol by the sixth grade, and most said that their first taste took
place at home. Wine and beer were the most commonly tried beverages, usually at
a special occasion, such as a wedding or a holiday, and adults were the primary source of the alcohol. Nearly three-quarters
of the children were offered sips by their own mom or dad.

The study also showed that
kids who sipped alcohol by the sixth grade were five times more likely to down
a full alcoholic beverage by the time they reached 9^th grade—26% of
sippers consumed a full drink versus 5.5% of non-sippers. The earlier sippers
were also four times more likely to get drunk or binge drink by early high
school, and trying alcoholic beverages earlier in life also raised a child’s
risk for trying other substances.

Even when the researchers
controlled for other factors, such as risk-taking behavior, the drinking habits
of parents, and a history of alcoholism in a parent, kids who’d sipped before
sixth grade had higher odds of alcohol use by their freshman year of high
school.

The take-home message:
Offering a child a sip of your beverage may send the wrong message, says study
author Kristina Jackson, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of
Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown School of Public Health.

"Parents should provide
clear, consistent messages about the unacceptability of alcohol consumption for
youth,” Jackson advises. “Younger teens and tweens may be unable to understand
the difference between drinking a sip and drinking one or more drinks.
Certainly there are exceptions, such as religious occasions,
so the most important thing is to make sure that children know when drinking
alcohol is acceptable and when it is not.”

The context of alcohol use is important, says Oscar G. Bukstein, M.D., M.P.H., medical director at DePelchin
Children’s Center and a clinical professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of
Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston, who was not
involved in the research. “Often, by allowing children to sip or try alcohol on
‘special occasions’, the message delivered may be one of ‘this is how we
celebrate’, we drink,” Buckstein says.

He says that sipping may be associated with increased access to
alcohol, too, or more lax parent attitudes and that undermines any anti-drinking
messages kids hear.

April 21^st is the national day to talk with your kids
about alcohol. Visit Mothers
Against Drunk Driving’s (MADD) Power of Parents
page to learn more.

by Mary Brophy Marcus, health writer, APA