Advocacy Archives - KARTAR DIAMOND

Government Discrimination Against Those With Serious Mental Illness by Kartar Diamond

There are many ways in which people with serious mental illness are discriminated against by the U.S. government. This article exposes just one area, in contrast to those with Developmental Disabilities. The current phrase “Developmental Disability,” or alternatively “intellectual disability,” refers to those with Autism, Downs’ Syndrome and other causes of mental retardation (which is a medical term that has somehow become politically incorrect). Those with Developmental Disability need moderate to significant amounts of long term treatment and services, as well as supportive [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2021-05-03T15:24:09+00:00May 3, 2021|Advocacy, Treatment|0 Comments

What is NIMBYISM? by Kartar Diamond

Simply put, the acronym N.I.M.B.Y. stands for “Not In My Back Yard.” It refers to an attitude or stance taken by many people in that they will protest or campaign to keep anything or anyone deemed objectionable out of their neighborhood or community. The objectionable situation or person can cover a wide variety of demographics, but sometimes the objections people have are understandable and not just a case of prejudice or elitism. In the case of mental illness and homelessness, which are often [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2021-03-18T18:39:20+00:00March 18, 2021|Advocacy, Mental Illness, Treatment|0 Comments

Speaking of Britney Spears and Mental Health by Kartar Diamond

The long-standing conservatorship over Britney Spears has been in the News lately and her ardent fans assume it is an injustice against her civil liberties. The general public does not know all the details of her conservatorship or even her mental health diagnosis. What is most obvious, is that Britney Spears is not a typical conservatee within the mental healthcare system. Whatever happens with her case should not be construed as a blueprint for others who need to be conserved or those disputing [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2021-03-15T00:12:33+00:00March 15, 2021|Advocacy, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

The Schizophrenogenic Mother by Kartar Diamond

What is the “schizo-phreno-genic” mother? This is a term that was used many decades ago to describe the personality disorder, attitude and detrimental actions of the mother who produced a child with schizophrenia. Supposedly, this was a cold, unaffectionate mother, who also micro-managed her child and the result somehow blamed for the severe mental illness in her offspring. This notion about how and why people develop schizophrenia was eventually retired since it was proven not to be true. It caused needless harm within [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2021-03-07T23:00:31+00:00March 7, 2021|Advocacy, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

Sober Living Houses and Mental Illness by Kartar Diamond

Sober Living Houses fulfill a need and help people with drug or alcohol problems become sober. The people who move into a Sober Living house voluntarily are likely to be more successful than those who are court-ordered to live there, but each person has their own unique history with addiction and their own time table and their own resolve to change. Sober Living houses are often located in residential neighborhoods, indistinguishable from surrounding private homes. In order to maintain good standing in the [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2021-02-16T04:27:38+00:00February 16, 2021|Advocacy, Mental Illness, Treatment|0 Comments

When Your Mentally Ill Loved One Lives At Home by Kartar Diamond

In my parents’ era, kids were often out of the house and working at age eighteen or away in college. As the decades have rolled forward, more and more young adults live at home, usually for financial reasons. There is also a phrase, “failure to launch” which is mostly ascribed to young men who have a difficult time gaining independence. With economic downturns, such as in 2008, multi-generational households have become quite common. With the COVID-19/ Economic Lock Down, for sure we will [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-12-18T03:30:42+00:00December 18, 2020|Advocacy, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

Can People With Schizophrenia Lead Normal Lives? by Kartar Diamond

The functional recovery, aptitudes or limitations of people with schizophrenia is complicated. Different parts of the brain are affected under the same diagnosis and some people can maintain superior intellectual and creative capabilities, even when other areas of functionality are lacking. There are many variables which come into play and I learned a lot from reading Dr. E. Fuller Torrey’s book, Surviving Schizophrenia. The operative words in this article are “functional recovery” because there is no cure for the disease, but it can [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-11-13T17:29:53+00:00November 13, 2020|Advocacy, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

We Understand What You Are Going Through by Kartar Diamond

Many caretakers and family members come to a support group feeling isolated, frustrated and embarrassed about their situations with their mentally ill loved one. What you are going through is unique, but we also share some nearly universal circumstances: Most of us took a while to fully comprehend that our MIL (Mentally ill Loved One) has a serious mental illness which transcends ordinary emotions, personality or behavioral dysfunctions. Most of us have endured the fear of not knowing what to do and a [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-09-29T23:51:31+00:00September 29, 2020|Advocacy, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

Why Do the Mentally Ill Stop Taking Their Medication? by Kartar Diamond

The purpose of this article is to highlight the reasons why some individuals stop taking anti-psychotic medication, against the advice of family, friends and doctors. My purpose here is not to rally sympathy for a mass shooter who has stopped taking his medication. My purpose is not to discuss the merits or the risks of taking anti-psychotics to begin with. In fact we have, generally speaking, two large camps when it comes to public opinion. There are those who are strongly opposed to [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-09-22T18:14:06+00:00September 22, 2020|Advocacy, Mental Illness, Policy|0 Comments

Breakdown: A Clinician’s Experience In A Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry

I had a very personal interest in reading Breakdown, by Lynn Nanos, L.I.C.S.W., because I have a family member with schizophrenia. Along with many others, I have felt intensely frustrated with every aspect of the mental health care system, including hospitals and their staff. I needed to find out what she had to report from her own professional experiences as a mobile emergency psychiatric clinician, with the special skills and ability to orchestrate involuntary hospital admissions. The book is well written, heart-wrenching in [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-09-21T03:58:08+00:00September 21, 2020|Advocacy, Book Reviews, Policy|0 Comments