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Families are the bedrock of the lives of many, but some people opt to separate permanently from family members. A recent episode of the NPR program “1A” explored why families sever ties.
For journalist Harriet Brown, author of “Shadow Daughter: A Memoir of Estrangement,” (Da Capo Press, 2018), the decision to end her relationship with her mother came after she blamed Ms. Brown in “a blistering email” for the relapsed anorexia of Ms. Brown’s daughter.
“I was done with her,” Ms. Brown said on the program. “I told her I was done. That was it. And I never talked to her again. I think for both of us it felt final in some way.”
She said a lot of shame and stigma comes from having a bad relationship with a parent. “I really wanted to make it clear that ... sometimes walking away is really the best thing to do.”
Kristina M. Scharp, PhD, who has studied the estrangement phenomenon, said no national data exist on family estrangement. “About 12% of mothers and research would suggest even more fathers would report being estranged from one of their children,” said Dr. Scharp, who is with the University of Washington, Seattle. “It’s fairly common.”
Estrangement might be more common today because times have changed, said Joshua Coleman, PhD, author of “When Parents Hurt: Compassionate Strategies When you and Your Grown Child Don’t get Along” (HarperCollins, 2008). “Today’s adult children don’t view their relationships with their parents the way their folks did with their parents … the principles of obligation, duty, and respect that baby boomers and generations before them had for their elders aren’t necessarily there anymore,” Dr. Coleman said in a previous interview with the Chicago Tribune.
For her part, Ms. Brown said, the relationship with her mother – who is now deceased – might have been healed with respect. she said. “Honestly, it was that basic with my mother.”
Phelps gets mental health advocacy award
In the pool, Michael Phelps was golden, with 28 Olympics medals, 23 of them gold, hanging around his neck by the end of his swimming career. But the release from the water to real life after the 2016 Summer Olympics left no outlet for troubles that had dogged him for years. Drunk driving convictions and a ban from competition during his competitive years had failed to stop his downward spiral of depression. His thoughts turned to suicide.
But his story has a bright ending. With his realization that he had hit rock bottom, and with the help of his wife and therapists, he accepted his depression and learned to live with the reality that his life is, for the most part, pretty good.
His openness about his struggles with depression has been influential. The latest recognition came in early January, when he received the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion from the Ruderman Family Foundation. As reported in the Boston Globe, Mr. Phelps was recognized for his advocacy for people with disabilities and “his own journey with mental health.”
“I do like who I am and I’m comfortable with who I am. I couldn’t say that a few years ago. So I’m in a very good place and just living life one day at a time,” Mr. Phelps remarked in an interview with CNN last year.
Mr. Phelps is now a paid spokesperson for TalkSpace, an online therapy company.
“I’d like to make a difference. I’d like to be able to save a life if I can. You know, for me that’s more important than winning a gold medal. The stuff that I’m doing now is very exciting. It’s hard, it’s challenging but it’s fun for me. That’s what drives me to get out of bed every morning,” he said.
Offenders with mental illness get a break
A law included as part of budget legislation that was signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown of California in June 2018 has offered people with mental health troubles who have been charged with a crime the opportunity for treatment instead of jail time.
As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the law provides judges with the discretion to order offenders into treatment rather than sentencing them. Success in treatment can lead to charges being dropped.
The law has been praised by some mental health advocates but panned by law enforcement officials and prosecutors with a harder view of criminal justice. The opposition stems largely from a December 2018 ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeal that the law could be applied to retroactively address the case of a man imprisoned for 29 years in 2017 for multiple felony charges that included domestic violence and assault.
The law does not extend to those charged with murder, manslaughter, rape, and child sexual abuse. To date, citing mental illness in seeking diversion of sentencing has not proven successful in most cases.
Schools get mental health allocation
The Orleans Parish School Board, which serves all of New Orleans, will allocate $1.3 million to the Center for Resilience, a local mental health day treatment program, beginning this year. The new program will expand mental health help to children in grades 9-12, according to a report in the Times-Picayune.
The funding will enable the center to expand an existing program that helps students with behavioral issues. Such help is not available in the traditional school system. By offsetting part of the price tag for the mental health care, the initiative “[helps to make] this critical service more available for our students most in need,” said Dominique Ellis, a spokesperson for the school board. “Mental health day treatment programs like the Center for Resilience typically cost between the ranges of $80,000-$100,000 per student to operate effectively.”
The development brings New Orleans level with money spent on similar programs in other school boards nationwide. It’s a service that is sorely needed. According to statistics supplied by the Center for Resilience, 60% of New Orleans children suffer from PTSD and are 4.5 times more likely to suffer from hyperactivity, aggression, and social withdrawal than similarly aged children elsewhere in the United States.
Bill addressing opioid crisis a “no-brainer”
Legislation put forward in the current session of the Texas Legislature would require pharmacists to identify all prescription opioids with a red cap and a hard-to-miss warning of the addictive risk of the medications. In addition, pharmacists would have to explain the risk in person to those receiving the medications and get signed acknowledgment of the conversation before dispensing the drugs.
As described in an article in the Austin American-Stateman, nearly 3,000 people in Texas died from drug overdoses in 2017. The deaths tied to opioid overdoses are not certain, but other data from 2015 suggest that one-third is a reasonable estimate.
“Losing a loved one to an opioid overdose is a tragedy that far too many Texas families experience,” said Rep. Shawn Thierry last month, when she introduced the three bills. “These distinctive red caps will serve as a clear notice to Texans that opioids are unlike milder forms of prescription pain relievers and have life-altering risks that must be considered before taking them.”
Warning labels on everything from food to tobacco products, and including them on prescription opioids is a “no-brainer,” Ms. Thierry said. “The more we can educate our residents the less likely they will be to misuse these medications.”
A report issued in November 2018 chronicled the drug crisis in Texas and offered recommendations. Many of the 100 recommendations involved the absence of treatment resources in the state.
Families are the bedrock of the lives of many, but some people opt to separate permanently from family members. A recent episode of the NPR program “1A” explored why families sever ties.
For journalist Harriet Brown, author of “Shadow Daughter: A Memoir of Estrangement,” (Da Capo Press, 2018), the decision to end her relationship with her mother came after she blamed Ms. Brown in “a blistering email” for the relapsed anorexia of Ms. Brown’s daughter.
“I was done with her,” Ms. Brown said on the program. “I told her I was done. That was it. And I never talked to her again. I think for both of us it felt final in some way.”
She said a lot of shame and stigma comes from having a bad relationship with a parent. “I really wanted to make it clear that ... sometimes walking away is really the best thing to do.”
Kristina M. Scharp, PhD, who has studied the estrangement phenomenon, said no national data exist on family estrangement. “About 12% of mothers and research would suggest even more fathers would report being estranged from one of their children,” said Dr. Scharp, who is with the University of Washington, Seattle. “It’s fairly common.”
Estrangement might be more common today because times have changed, said Joshua Coleman, PhD, author of “When Parents Hurt: Compassionate Strategies When you and Your Grown Child Don’t get Along” (HarperCollins, 2008). “Today’s adult children don’t view their relationships with their parents the way their folks did with their parents … the principles of obligation, duty, and respect that baby boomers and generations before them had for their elders aren’t necessarily there anymore,” Dr. Coleman said in a previous interview with the Chicago Tribune.
For her part, Ms. Brown said, the relationship with her mother – who is now deceased – might have been healed with respect. she said. “Honestly, it was that basic with my mother.”
Phelps gets mental health advocacy award
In the pool, Michael Phelps was golden, with 28 Olympics medals, 23 of them gold, hanging around his neck by the end of his swimming career. But the release from the water to real life after the 2016 Summer Olympics left no outlet for troubles that had dogged him for years. Drunk driving convictions and a ban from competition during his competitive years had failed to stop his downward spiral of depression. His thoughts turned to suicide.
But his story has a bright ending. With his realization that he had hit rock bottom, and with the help of his wife and therapists, he accepted his depression and learned to live with the reality that his life is, for the most part, pretty good.
His openness about his struggles with depression has been influential. The latest recognition came in early January, when he received the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion from the Ruderman Family Foundation. As reported in the Boston Globe, Mr. Phelps was recognized for his advocacy for people with disabilities and “his own journey with mental health.”
“I do like who I am and I’m comfortable with who I am. I couldn’t say that a few years ago. So I’m in a very good place and just living life one day at a time,” Mr. Phelps remarked in an interview with CNN last year.
Mr. Phelps is now a paid spokesperson for TalkSpace, an online therapy company.
“I’d like to make a difference. I’d like to be able to save a life if I can. You know, for me that’s more important than winning a gold medal. The stuff that I’m doing now is very exciting. It’s hard, it’s challenging but it’s fun for me. That’s what drives me to get out of bed every morning,” he said.
Offenders with mental illness get a break
A law included as part of budget legislation that was signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown of California in June 2018 has offered people with mental health troubles who have been charged with a crime the opportunity for treatment instead of jail time.
As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the law provides judges with the discretion to order offenders into treatment rather than sentencing them. Success in treatment can lead to charges being dropped.
The law has been praised by some mental health advocates but panned by law enforcement officials and prosecutors with a harder view of criminal justice. The opposition stems largely from a December 2018 ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeal that the law could be applied to retroactively address the case of a man imprisoned for 29 years in 2017 for multiple felony charges that included domestic violence and assault.
The law does not extend to those charged with murder, manslaughter, rape, and child sexual abuse. To date, citing mental illness in seeking diversion of sentencing has not proven successful in most cases.
Schools get mental health allocation
The Orleans Parish School Board, which serves all of New Orleans, will allocate $1.3 million to the Center for Resilience, a local mental health day treatment program, beginning this year. The new program will expand mental health help to children in grades 9-12, according to a report in the Times-Picayune.
The funding will enable the center to expand an existing program that helps students with behavioral issues. Such help is not available in the traditional school system. By offsetting part of the price tag for the mental health care, the initiative “[helps to make] this critical service more available for our students most in need,” said Dominique Ellis, a spokesperson for the school board. “Mental health day treatment programs like the Center for Resilience typically cost between the ranges of $80,000-$100,000 per student to operate effectively.”
The development brings New Orleans level with money spent on similar programs in other school boards nationwide. It’s a service that is sorely needed. According to statistics supplied by the Center for Resilience, 60% of New Orleans children suffer from PTSD and are 4.5 times more likely to suffer from hyperactivity, aggression, and social withdrawal than similarly aged children elsewhere in the United States.
Bill addressing opioid crisis a “no-brainer”
Legislation put forward in the current session of the Texas Legislature would require pharmacists to identify all prescription opioids with a red cap and a hard-to-miss warning of the addictive risk of the medications. In addition, pharmacists would have to explain the risk in person to those receiving the medications and get signed acknowledgment of the conversation before dispensing the drugs.
As described in an article in the Austin American-Stateman, nearly 3,000 people in Texas died from drug overdoses in 2017. The deaths tied to opioid overdoses are not certain, but other data from 2015 suggest that one-third is a reasonable estimate.
“Losing a loved one to an opioid overdose is a tragedy that far too many Texas families experience,” said Rep. Shawn Thierry last month, when she introduced the three bills. “These distinctive red caps will serve as a clear notice to Texans that opioids are unlike milder forms of prescription pain relievers and have life-altering risks that must be considered before taking them.”
Warning labels on everything from food to tobacco products, and including them on prescription opioids is a “no-brainer,” Ms. Thierry said. “The more we can educate our residents the less likely they will be to misuse these medications.”
A report issued in November 2018 chronicled the drug crisis in Texas and offered recommendations. Many of the 100 recommendations involved the absence of treatment resources in the state.
Families are the bedrock of the lives of many, but some people opt to separate permanently from family members. A recent episode of the NPR program “1A” explored why families sever ties.
For journalist Harriet Brown, author of “Shadow Daughter: A Memoir of Estrangement,” (Da Capo Press, 2018), the decision to end her relationship with her mother came after she blamed Ms. Brown in “a blistering email” for the relapsed anorexia of Ms. Brown’s daughter.
“I was done with her,” Ms. Brown said on the program. “I told her I was done. That was it. And I never talked to her again. I think for both of us it felt final in some way.”
She said a lot of shame and stigma comes from having a bad relationship with a parent. “I really wanted to make it clear that ... sometimes walking away is really the best thing to do.”
Kristina M. Scharp, PhD, who has studied the estrangement phenomenon, said no national data exist on family estrangement. “About 12% of mothers and research would suggest even more fathers would report being estranged from one of their children,” said Dr. Scharp, who is with the University of Washington, Seattle. “It’s fairly common.”
Estrangement might be more common today because times have changed, said Joshua Coleman, PhD, author of “When Parents Hurt: Compassionate Strategies When you and Your Grown Child Don’t get Along” (HarperCollins, 2008). “Today’s adult children don’t view their relationships with their parents the way their folks did with their parents … the principles of obligation, duty, and respect that baby boomers and generations before them had for their elders aren’t necessarily there anymore,” Dr. Coleman said in a previous interview with the Chicago Tribune.
For her part, Ms. Brown said, the relationship with her mother – who is now deceased – might have been healed with respect. she said. “Honestly, it was that basic with my mother.”
Phelps gets mental health advocacy award
In the pool, Michael Phelps was golden, with 28 Olympics medals, 23 of them gold, hanging around his neck by the end of his swimming career. But the release from the water to real life after the 2016 Summer Olympics left no outlet for troubles that had dogged him for years. Drunk driving convictions and a ban from competition during his competitive years had failed to stop his downward spiral of depression. His thoughts turned to suicide.
But his story has a bright ending. With his realization that he had hit rock bottom, and with the help of his wife and therapists, he accepted his depression and learned to live with the reality that his life is, for the most part, pretty good.
His openness about his struggles with depression has been influential. The latest recognition came in early January, when he received the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion from the Ruderman Family Foundation. As reported in the Boston Globe, Mr. Phelps was recognized for his advocacy for people with disabilities and “his own journey with mental health.”
“I do like who I am and I’m comfortable with who I am. I couldn’t say that a few years ago. So I’m in a very good place and just living life one day at a time,” Mr. Phelps remarked in an interview with CNN last year.
Mr. Phelps is now a paid spokesperson for TalkSpace, an online therapy company.
“I’d like to make a difference. I’d like to be able to save a life if I can. You know, for me that’s more important than winning a gold medal. The stuff that I’m doing now is very exciting. It’s hard, it’s challenging but it’s fun for me. That’s what drives me to get out of bed every morning,” he said.
Offenders with mental illness get a break
A law included as part of budget legislation that was signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown of California in June 2018 has offered people with mental health troubles who have been charged with a crime the opportunity for treatment instead of jail time.
As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the law provides judges with the discretion to order offenders into treatment rather than sentencing them. Success in treatment can lead to charges being dropped.
The law has been praised by some mental health advocates but panned by law enforcement officials and prosecutors with a harder view of criminal justice. The opposition stems largely from a December 2018 ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeal that the law could be applied to retroactively address the case of a man imprisoned for 29 years in 2017 for multiple felony charges that included domestic violence and assault.
The law does not extend to those charged with murder, manslaughter, rape, and child sexual abuse. To date, citing mental illness in seeking diversion of sentencing has not proven successful in most cases.
Schools get mental health allocation
The Orleans Parish School Board, which serves all of New Orleans, will allocate $1.3 million to the Center for Resilience, a local mental health day treatment program, beginning this year. The new program will expand mental health help to children in grades 9-12, according to a report in the Times-Picayune.
The funding will enable the center to expand an existing program that helps students with behavioral issues. Such help is not available in the traditional school system. By offsetting part of the price tag for the mental health care, the initiative “[helps to make] this critical service more available for our students most in need,” said Dominique Ellis, a spokesperson for the school board. “Mental health day treatment programs like the Center for Resilience typically cost between the ranges of $80,000-$100,000 per student to operate effectively.”
The development brings New Orleans level with money spent on similar programs in other school boards nationwide. It’s a service that is sorely needed. According to statistics supplied by the Center for Resilience, 60% of New Orleans children suffer from PTSD and are 4.5 times more likely to suffer from hyperactivity, aggression, and social withdrawal than similarly aged children elsewhere in the United States.
Bill addressing opioid crisis a “no-brainer”
Legislation put forward in the current session of the Texas Legislature would require pharmacists to identify all prescription opioids with a red cap and a hard-to-miss warning of the addictive risk of the medications. In addition, pharmacists would have to explain the risk in person to those receiving the medications and get signed acknowledgment of the conversation before dispensing the drugs.
As described in an article in the Austin American-Stateman, nearly 3,000 people in Texas died from drug overdoses in 2017. The deaths tied to opioid overdoses are not certain, but other data from 2015 suggest that one-third is a reasonable estimate.
“Losing a loved one to an opioid overdose is a tragedy that far too many Texas families experience,” said Rep. Shawn Thierry last month, when she introduced the three bills. “These distinctive red caps will serve as a clear notice to Texans that opioids are unlike milder forms of prescription pain relievers and have life-altering risks that must be considered before taking them.”
Warning labels on everything from food to tobacco products, and including them on prescription opioids is a “no-brainer,” Ms. Thierry said. “The more we can educate our residents the less likely they will be to misuse these medications.”
A report issued in November 2018 chronicled the drug crisis in Texas and offered recommendations. Many of the 100 recommendations involved the absence of treatment resources in the state.