Introduction

An alternative approach to mental health care is one that emphasizes the interrelationship between mind, body, and spirit. Although some alternative approaches have a long history, many remain controversial. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health was created in 1992 to help evaluate alternative methods of treatment and to integrate those that are effective into mainstream health care practice. It is crucial, however, to consult with your health care providers about the approaches you are using to achieve mental wellness.

Self-help

Many people with mental illnesses find that self-help groups are an invaluable resource for recovery and for empowerment. Self-help generally refers to groups or meetings that:

• Involve people who have similar needs
• Are facilitated by a consumer, survivor, or other layperson;
• Assist people to deal with a "life-disrupting" event, such as a death, abuse, serious accident, addiction, or diagnosis of a physical, emotional, or mental disability, for oneself or a relative;
• Are operated on an informal, free-of-charge, and nonprofit basis;
• Provide support and education; and
• Are voluntary, anonymous, and confidential.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (May 8, 2008)-Today's mother often juggles full-time employment, household chores and parenting, but a growing number of women are taking on yet another responsibility-caring for an aging loved one. Next week, as Americans observe both Mother's Day and Mental Health Month, Mental Health America encourages mothers to take the Mental Health Connection Challenge by building their social support networks to help cope with the stress of their demanding lives.

Of the 22 million Americans caring for both children and parents or older relatives, nearly two-thirds are women. In a survey of "Sandwich Generation" mothers conducted by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM), only 20 percent said they were "very happy," and almost 1 in 5 said it was directly due to the stress of caring for both parents and children.

While the demands of modern motherhood may seem overwhelming, it's important for these women to protect their own health.  Mental Health America suggests five tips to help them cope:

People today often struggle to keep up with the demands of daily life. In fact, a recent national survey finds that one in three people in America are living with extreme stress.

Stress can come from a heavy workload, daily traffic jams, dealing with a health problem or injury, taking care of someone who's ill, financial worries, relationship troubles, parenting, or major life transitions like moving or starting a family. Whatever the source, perhaps you cannot change the things that cause stress but you can improve how you deal with stress. Social support can help you get through stressful times by providing a sense of belonging, self-worth and security.

Here are some tips to help you create, keep and strengthen vital connections in your life.

May 6, 2008 -- Researchers are becoming increasingly convinced that tiny electric shocks delivered deep into the brain could mean new hope for patients with severe depression and other mental illnesses.

Several small trials are suggesting direct electrical brain stimulation has the ability to relieve deep depression and obsessive compulsive disorder in some patients who get no help from drugs or talk therapy.

While the results are far from perfect, researchers believe that the treatment, known as deep brain stimulation (DBS), could be a help to some patients who otherwise might be at a dead end in their treatment.

"If we can get people out of the pit, we can get them on the road to recovery," says Helen Mayberg, MD, an Emory University neurologist who studies DBS in severely ill patients.

“I’ve grown up on medication,” my patient Julie told me recently. “I don’t have a sense of who I really am without it.”

At 31, she had been on one antidepressant or another nearly continuously since she was 14. There was little question that she had very serious depression and had survived several suicide attempts. In fact, she credited the medication with saving her life.

But now she was raising an equally fundamental question: how the drugs might have affected her psychological development and core identity.