Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Insights into Alzheimer's Caregiving
• "Joys and Stress of Being an Alzheimer's Caregiver" On HealthyPlace TV
• Prescription Assistance: Getting Help Paying for Your Psychiatric Medications

Caregiving

We're focusing on the mental health of caregivers, specifically Alzheimer's caregivers, but much of the information below is really applicable to any kind of caregiver. Whether you care for a loved one or you do it for a living, yes, being a caregiver can be rewarding but it's a very stressful job.

According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, caregiver stress appears to affect women more than men. About 75 percent of caregivers who report feeling very strained emotionally, physically, or financially are women.

Caring for someone with Alzheimer's Disease can be especially challenging because of the behaviors, like aggressiveness, hallucinations and wandering, that are associated with the disease. Most behavior problems experienced by Alzheimer's patients pose serious difficulties for the person trying to provide care.

HealthyPlace Medical Director, Dr. Harry Croft, notes that although most caregivers are in good health, it is not uncommon for caregivers of Alzheimer's patients to have serious mental health and health problems.

Additional Insights into Alzheimer's Caregiving:

• Alzheimer's Caregiver Concerns
• Positives and Negatives of Being An Alzheimer's Caregiver
• Support for Families and Other Caregivers
• Caring For Yourself
• Dealing With Your Health, Money Problems, Conflicting Demands and Where to Get Caregiver Support
• Alzheimer's Caregivers and Dealing With Feelings of Guilt
• Getting and Finding Caregiver Help

"Joys and Stress of Being an Alzheimer's Caregiver" On HealthyPlace TV

Barry Green is a motivational speaker. For many years, he cared for his father who had Alzheimer's Disease. Like many Alzheimer's caregivers, some days were extremely stressful. But  Barry learned a powerful lesson from that and he'll share that with us on Tuesday's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show.

Join us Tuesday, August 18, at 5:30p PT, 7:30 CST, 8:30 EST. The show airs live on our website. Barry Green will be taking your questions during the live show.

• TV Show Blog with this week's show info
• Stress of Being an Alzheimer's Caregiver (Dr. Croft's blog post)

In the second half of the show, you get to ask HealthyPlace.com Medical Director, Dr. Harry Croft, your personal mental health questions.

Still to Come in August on the HealthyPlace TV Show

• My Partner Has Dissociative Identity Disorder
• Suicidality and Psychiatric Medications

If you would like to be a guest on the show or share you personal story in writing or via video, please write us at: producer AT healthyplace.com

Click here for a list of previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Shows.

How To Tell If Caregiving is Putting Too Much Stress on You

Symptoms of Caregiver Stress

• feeling overwhelmed
• sleeping too much or too little
• gaining or losing a lot of weight
• feeling tired most of the time
• loss of interest in activities you used to enjoy
• becoming easily irritated or angry
• feeling constantly worried
• often feeling sad
• frequent headaches, bodily pain, or other physical problems
• abuse of alcohol or drugs, including prescription drugs

Talk to a counselor, psychologist, or other mental health professional right away if your stress leads you to physically or emotionally harm the person you are caring for.

Prescription Assistance: Getting Help Paying for Your Psychiatric Medications

I probably don't have to tell you. Psychiatric medications, (antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-anxiety drugs) are extremely expensive. They can run from hundreds of dollars to a couple of thousand dollars a month.

Rachel writes us:

I've been in a psychiatric hospital for two weeks because I was feeling suicidal. The psychiatrist handed me some prescriptions for antidepressant and antipsychotic medications, but the pharmacist told me my insurance won't pay anything. The meds cost about $1300 for a one-month supply. I drove to the doctor's office to see if he would give me samples, but he ran out. I don't know what to do.

A day after we responded to Rachel's email, she wrote back to inform us she was checking herself into the county hospital. With no medications, she started feeling suicidal again. In a follow-up email, Rachel sounded a lot better. "The hospital's social worker hooked me up with medicaid and now I can get my meds."

As Rachel's story points out, in last-minute situations like this, getting payment assistance for your mental health medications is extremely stressful and difficult to obtain. But if it's not an emergency, there are programs for income qualifying people to help pay for medications.

• Free or Low-Cost Prescription Medication Assistance
• List of Prescription Assistance Drug Programs
• Patient Assistance Programs Listed by Psychotropic Medication
• Drug Discount Card Programs
• Beware of Free Medicine Ripoffs
• State and Federal Patient Assistance Programs
• Patient Assistance Program Application Links
• Healthcare Plans

Also, if you are watching a  medication ad on tv or see one in a magazine, usually they mention the contact info for people needing help in paying for their medication. Make sure to jot that down.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index

Gender Reassignment - Changing Your Sex

Changing your sex, your gender, is a very complex, highly difficult situation. There are some people who have always "felt" like they were born the wrong sex (gender identity disorder)  and report that it has led to frustration, confusion and even depression for a large part of their lives.

However, making the transition to another gender isn't easy either. Transitioning carries with it the prospect of losing jobs, friends and family, as well as mockery from strangers who find the gender change visibly jarring, as some transsexuals will attest to.

In a USA Today story on the subject, the paper quotes Denise Leclair, executive director of the International Foundation for Gender Education, a Waltham, Mass.-based transgender advocacy group.

"You become a very visible minority," Leclair says. "The average male-to-female transsexual is taller, has bigger hands and feet, has more facial hair than most women. There are a lot of physical attributes that are hard to hide in a society that doesn't like you."

That's why American sex-change surgeons, adhering to their own code of conduct, won't operate until the patient has had a year of intense psychotherapy while living publicly in the new gender.   And even during or after the transition, there are some transsexuals who regret changing sex and then  go back to their original gender.

"The Psychological Aspects of Changing Your Sex" Blog

Psychological Process of Changing Sex (Dr. Croft's blog post)

Children with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Did you catch the ABC News special report last week on children with extreme OCD? It was very compelling television as they actually let the cameras into the therapy room where you could witness first-hand how difficult life with OCD can be.

One case that stood out in my mind was a teenage girl who stayed away from her entire family because she thought they were contaminated. The girl was sitting on the couch and as her own mother inched her way from a nearby chair to the very end of the couch, the girl recoiled from fear.

After months of exposure and response-prevention therapy (ERP), she was barely, but successfully able to touch her mother's fingertip.

During the segment, a research doctor explained that the part of the brain that gives the "all clear" signal (that everything is okay) doesn't function properly in these children. He said researchers are trying to come up with medications that will correct that problem. In the meantime, extensive ERP therapy for OCD, is effective in helping these children.

More on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Visit the HealthyPlace OCD Center where you'll find extensive information on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. What is OCD plus symptoms, causes and treatment of OCD. And where to get help for OCD.

Took the bus to the light rail. The lightrail down to tempe town lake walked around there. Went to library. Left early becase i thought someone was following me. My minds going a mile a minute. A million memorys all at once. Was sitting at the bus stop waiting for the bus and kept seeing this person down the side walk rocking back and forth it looked like an old friend of mine. so i got up and talked to him. YEAH so finally relized He was a TREE.. Yep my minds not working like it should the last couple of months. Im sleeping less than 4 hrs a nite. Keep having urges to do stupid things like... steping off of the curb into traffic. Opening the door while the car is moving. Banging my head aginst the wall. Whitch i did and then i felt like doing it again. Yep label me insane and put me in the aslyum.

Automatic Negative Thoughts...

When my therapist tells me my son is ok I understand that he means that he will be ok and that I don't need to worrry.  That he will get his treatment and he will be fine.  Which reassures me.

When my mom tells my my son is ok I think that she thinks that I'm exagerating as far as his condition goes and that I shouldn't worry about it.   Which makes me feel invalidated.

When my therapist tells me to spend time with my son doing things like A B or C I think ok... I can do that... I'm already doing a lot... I can do more. I feel empowered.

When my mom tells me "he needs to be given attention" I think she thinks I don't give him attention therefore I feel like I'm doing a bad job of parenting and I end up feeing bad about myself.

This sucks!!

I've decided to get RID of the shirt. It's official. Now, I just have to officially get rid of it.

 http://afsp.donordrive.com/team/mccnjstarsleague