"Marsha Linehan" Photo by David Winter, The New York Times

“So many people have begged me to come forward,” says mental health therapist Marsha M. Linehan of the University of Washington. “I owe it to them.”

With that thought, Dr. Linehan, whose mental illness as young woman merited her the distinction of “one of the most disturbed patients in the hospital”, publically told her story at the Institute of Living.

“I was in hell,” she said. “And I made a vow: when I get out, I’m going to come back and get others out of here.”

Despite rocky stays in the local psychiatric clinic in her youth, Dr. Linehan earned a Ph.D. in psychology in 1971 and immediately began working in a suicide clinic in Buffalo. She chose to focus on people with borderline personality disorder, incidentally the same diagnosis she would have given her younger self. Her approach to treatment would come to be called dialectical behavior therapy, or D.B.T., which includes focusing on day-to-day skills for coping with intense, destructive emotional outbursts. Today, D.B.T. is widely used for difficult mental illnesses, including eating disorders and drug addictions.

Despite the stigma of mental illness, Dr. Linehan chose to share her past in order to give her patients one of the most valuable of motivators: hope.

“I decided to get supersuicidal people, the very worst cases, because I figured these are the most miserable people in the world — they think they’re evil, that they’re bad, bad, bad — and I understood that they weren’t,” she says. “I understood their suffering because I’d been there, in hell, with no idea how to get out.”

Learn more about Dr. Linehan via her profile story on the New York Times.

Pasadena Villa is a mental health treatment facility that offers adult residential and transitional living services to individuals with bipolar syndrome, dual diagnosis, and other challenging mental illnesses. Our mental health programs strongly feature the Social Integration Model, which immerses clients into real life activities within the community. We also offer medication management and traditional and group therapies. Please call 877.845.5235 or contact us online to speak to someone today.

Chief executive and board member of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Keris Myrick knows first-hand what it’s like to live with the challenging mental illness known as schizophrenia; she herself suffers from the condition.

“I feel my brain is damaged; I don’t know any other way to say it,” Ms. Myrick says. “I don’t know if it’s from the illness, the medications, all those side effects or what. I only know that I do need certain things in my life, and for a long time — well, I had to get to know myself first.”

Ms. Myrick is among a group of 20 people diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, among them two doctors and a lawyer, who have been demonstrating to researchers how the disorder can be managed, allowing its sufferers to build full, successful lives.

Living with schizophrenia is no easy matter, even for the most determined. Ms. Myrick uses her high-profile job as a way to battle her bouts of paranoia and depression. But she also relies heavily on a combination of medication, occasional weekend stays at a hotel, and personal support net, including family, an intuitive pet dog and a local psychiatrist.

Ms. Myrick also makes it a point to constantly monitor her mood: “When I’m well,” she said, “I have to continually ask, ‘What does it take to be well?’ I need some very specific things around me. And if get spinny — that’s what I call it when my brain moves too fast — well, I need to have a plan.”

Read more about Ms. Myrick’s inspiring story, including her harrowing past stays in mental hospitals, at the New York Times.

If you or a loved one are dealing with a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, Pasadena Villa can provide the healing environment and tools to help. Our mental health programs strongly feature the Social Integration Model, which immerses clients into real life activities within the community. We also offer medication management and traditional and group therapies. Pasadena Villa ‘s mental health facilities include adult residential treatment centers in Orlando and Tennessee, as well as transitional living. Please call 877.845.5235 or contact us online to speak to someone today.

Pasadena Villa is an adult residential treatment facility that caters to individuals with bipolar syndrome, dual diagnosis, and other challenging mental illnesses. We offer medication management and traditional and group therapies. In keeping with the spirit of our Social Integration Model, we like to draw attention to famous figures who have learned how to cope with, and treat a mental illness.

Actress Patty Duke is a perfect example of why an early mental illness diagnosis and mental health treatment is so important to living a healthy life.  As a young woman, Duke was known in Hollywood for her temper, drinking, and erratic behavior and spending. Her first marriage crumbled, her second lasted 13 days, and her third was tumultuous and damaging to her children.

When she was finally diagnosed as bipolar at the age of 35, Duke’s life began to turn around. She was able to repair her relationships with her children and marry again. Happily, this marriage has lasted more than 25 years.

Today, at 64, Duke is a frequent keynote speaker at mental health and wellness conferences across the country, sharing her story and creating awareness. She recently told BP Magazine, “It’s fixable. People need to know that there is forgiveness for the bad things, and the illness does not own you.”

If you or someone you care for needs residential mental health treatment, please call 877.845.5235 or contact us online to speak to someone today.

While many young adults may not recognize the name Carrie Fisher, they undoubtedly know the beautiful brunette from her role in the original Star Wars trilogy as Princess Leia or as the current spokesperson for Jenny Craig. But there’s much more to Fisher than acting or her best-selling books – Fisher is bipolar, something she readily admits to after initially denying her diagnosis at age 24.

Fisher spent the next four years on a roller coaster ride of drug and alcohol abuse, eventually ending up in alcohol rehabilitation at age 29. She emerged sober, but something was still not right. Ultimately, she was re-diagnosed with bipolar disorder (or in the vernacular of the day, as a manic depressive). It took awhile for her to totally accept her diagnosis and treatment, but finally she saw life was better with proper medication and treatment. She has gone on to detail her “adventures” in several best-selling books and is now an advocate for defeating the stigma associated with mental illness.

In a USA Today interview, Fisher said, “There is treatment and a variety of medications that can alleviate your symptoms if you are manic depressive or depressive,” said Fisher. “You can lead a normal life, whatever that is. I have gotten to the point where I can live a normal life, where my daughter can rely on me for predictable behavior, and that’s very important to me.”

Pasadena Villa is an adult residential treatment facility that caters to individuals with bipolar syndrome, dual diagnosis, and other challenging mental illnesses,. Our mental health programs strongly feature the Social Integration Model, which immerses clients into real life activities within the community. We also offer medication management and traditional and group therapies. Pasadena Villa ‘s mental health facilities include adult residential treatment centers in Orlando and Tennessee, as well as transitional living. Please call 877.845.5235 or contact us online to speak to someone today.

A new study recently published in Nature Genetics  has paved the way to beginning to understand how gene mutations predispose one to schizophrenia.  The international study, led by Guy A. Rouleau, MD*, used modern DNA sequencing technology to examine 20,000 genes from patients who have schizophrenia but whose parents do not. This circumstance, known as “de nova mutations,” is experienced more often in schizophrenics than in “normal” individuals.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects men and women equally and occurs in similar rates in all ethnic groups around the world, according to the National Institute for Mental Health. With the results of this study, researchers can begin to understand how gene mutations predispose one to schizophrenia.

“Most of the genes identified in this study have not been previously linked to schizophrenia, thereby providing new potential therapeutic targets,” said Simon Girard, one of Rouleau’s colleagues who performed the key experiments in the study.

Schizophrenia may be the most misunderstood mental illness in the world. Those who suffer from the condition are often stigmatized and labeled violent despite a lack of evidence to support the claim. Rouleau’s research will lead to expanded research. “Our results not only open the door to a better understanding of schizophrenia,” said Rouleau, “they also give us valuable information about the molecular mechanisms involved in human brain development and function.”

If you are seeking treatment for schizophrenia on behalf of a loved one, Pasadena Villa can help. We provide full medical treatment, psychiatric therapy, medication management, life skills training, and aftercare via our safe, friendly locations in Orlando, Florida and the Tennessee Smoky Mountains. Please call us at 877-845-5235 or contact us online for more information about how we treat schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

*Guy A. Rouleau, MD, is a researcher at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre and director of CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center.

Mental illness doesn’t just appear; it has its roots deep in genetics and the societal influences that surround children and adolescents and carry them into adulthood. A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found nearly two million adolescents experienced a major bout of depression in the past year. Other findings include:

• Nearly 15 percent of high school students have seriously contemplated suicide in the past year
• 4,400 adolescents and young adults (ages 10-24) commit suicide each year
• 9 in 10 of these suicides suffered from treatable mental illness
• 63 percent of these showed clear signs of mental illness in the year before their death
• 149,000 seek emergency care for self-inflicted injuries

Parents and teachers who suspect a young person may be depressed or exhibiting other mental health issues should trust their instincts and seek help or provide referrals. Teens and young adults, who smoke and/or abuse alcohol and illegal or prescription drugs, may be likely candidates as sometimes these behaviors are an indicator of deeper problems. Identifying and treating mental health problems in early life may change the course of a young person’s life.

If you are the caretaker or family member of an adult or young person with a mental illness, Pasadena Villa can help. We offer a full spectrum of residential housing, medication, therapy, life skills training, and other mental health services. Please call us at 877-845-5235 or contact us online.

Relapse is a common and important concern of the patient with bipolar disorder. A relapse is the return of depression or a manic or hypomanic episode after a period of wellness. A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that 73 percent of patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder experienced at least one relapse during a five year period, and, of those who relapsed, two-thirds of those had multiple relapses.

The most important thing for the bipolar patient and his or her family to understand is that it is possible to do all of the right things (medication, therapy, diet, exercise, sleep, etc.) and still relapse. There is no clear understanding of why this happens. Sometimes stressors and difficult life events may lead to a relapse.

“There may be changes in the cellular level that cause cycling but their cause is unknown,” says Joseph R. Calabrese, MD, director of the Mood Disorders Program at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.

If bipolar symptoms worsen or return, the situation should be addressed quickly by the patient and his or her family. Many families develop a “relapse plan” in which there is a list of actions and agreements between the patient and another party about what will happen as a relapse reveals itself and progresses. Effective treatment at an early stage of an episode may help shorten and/or lessen the severity of an episode.

Patients who believe they are relapsing should contact their psychiatrist, therapist, family practice doctor, a trusted family member or friend, or even visit an ER for help as soon as possible.

If you are the caretaker or family member of an adult or young person with bipolar syndrome or another mental illness, please call us at 877-845-5235 or contact us online. We provide full medical treatment, psychiatric therapy, medication management, life skills training, and aftercare via our safe, friendly locations in Orlando, Florida and the Tennessee Smoky Mountains. We believe every person can live a happy, productive and healthy life; every client has the ability to learn, grow and recover.

When a loved one is feeling down and hurting, it’s natural to want to say something to make him or her feel better. Have you had the experience of offering what you thought were loving and supportive words, only to be met with anger or frustration?

A word of caution, if your loved one is actively threatening suicide, don’t try to handle the situation on your own. Call 911, take your loved one to the emergency room, or contact his/her mental health professional.

Pasadena Villa^® provides mental health residential and transitional services for adults with cognitive, emotional, and social disorders. If your loved one has a mental illness, Pasadena Villa can help. Our social integration model enables young adults with mental health disorders to live with a greater sense of independence, become socially responsible citizens, and rebuild relationships with family and friends. Please call us at 877-845-5235 or contact us online.

For patients with a dual diagnosis (mental illness plus addiction), the adult residential mental health program at Pasadena Villa may be ideal. A significant challenge for those fighting addiction while learning to live with and care for their mental illness is the emerging reality of “found time.”

When one’s life is consumed by procuring and enjoying the source of addiction, during recovery the question of what to do with all of that “extra” time, which used to be devoted to feeding the addiction, becomes important. This extra or empty time can be disconcerting and may actually become a trigger for relapse if not managed carefully. Since Pasadena Villa’s programs are structured and supervised, keeping residents busy and occupied from the moment they awaken until they go to bed, residents have significant help and support in learning to fill their “extra” time with healthy, productive activity. Residents also have access to weekly AA meetings for additional support.

For those not struggling with addiction, this may seem an odd problem. However, for those who have paced around their house seeking any distraction to divert their mind from what it wants, there is understanding. The structure provided by Pasadena Villa is vital to the recovery of your dual diagnosis young adult.

If you are the caretaker or family member of an adult or young person with a mental illness, please call us at 877-845-5235 or contact us online. Our Social Integration Model helps individuals with a dual diagnosis by providing an integrated, comprehensive approach to both the emotional disorders and the substance abuse.

A new study recently published in Nature Genetics has paved the way to beginning to understand how gene mutations predispose one to schizophrenia.  The international study, led by Guy A. Rouleau, MD*, used modern DNA sequencing technology to examine 20,000 genes from patients who have schizophrenia but whose parents do not. This circumstance, known as “de nova mutations,” is experienced more often in schizophrenics than in “normal” individuals.

Schizophrenia affects men and women equally and occurs in similar rates in all ethnic groups around the world, according to the National Institute for Mental Health. With the results of this study, researchers can begin to understand how gene mutations predispose one to schizophrenia.

“Most of the genes identified in this study have not been previously linked to schizophrenia, thereby providing new potential therapeutic targets,” said Simon Girard, one of Rouleau’s colleagues who performed the key experiments in the study.

Schizophrenia may be the most misunderstood mental illness in the world. Those who suffer from the condition are often stigmatized and labeled violent despite a lack of evidence to support the claim. Rouleau’s findings will lead to expanded research. “Our results not only open the door to a better understanding of schizophrenia,” said Rouleau, “they also give us valuable information about the molecular mechanisms involved in human brain development and function.”

*Guy A. Rouleau, MD, is a researcher at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre and director of CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center.

What You Should Do if Someone You Love Has Schizophrenia

If someone you care for has schizophrenia and you’re looking for more information, including residential and inpatient treatment options, please contact us.

While there is no cure for schizophrenia, it is a treatable and manageable disease. Pasadena Villa Orlando and Pasadena Villa Smoky Mountain Lodge are adult intensive residential treatment centers for patients with adult schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or other mental illnesses. One of the first programs in the country to base its treatment upon social integration, our mental health facilities offer help through individual and group residential programs with a focus on independent living.

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