In The News

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.) opens up in a new documentary about the death of his 25-year-old son Tommy, who died by suicide. The segment features Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director of NAMI, discussing general mental health concerns and symptoms in in the wake of the youth mental health crisis. The documentary shines a light on depression and anxiety spiking during the pandemic, particularly for younger adults.

Schizoaffective disorder is a chronic mental health condition. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the hallmarks of schizoaffective disorder include psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia — like hallucinations or delusions, with symptoms of a mood disorder like mania or depression. It’s a rare condition, with a lifetime prevalence of just 0.3%. Finding help for schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder can be overwhelming or intimidating. It can be hard to know where to look and what to trust. Organizations that can help includes Find Your Local National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Give yourself a moment to take in the situation. Notice if the person appears agitated, angry, restless or engaging in risky behavior, advised Dawn Brown, national director of NAMI HelpLine Services. “That person is likely at a point in a mental health crisis where they’re at imminent risk of hurting themselves or someone else,” Brown said. NAMI’s national helpline also connects callers to local support groups, recovery strategies, resource referrals and other information. Call 1-800-950-NAMI (1-800-950-6264) or text “NAMI” to 741-741 to connect with a trained crisis counselor. One of the best tools in your toolkit is empathy, Brown said. If you work on extending empathy to others in your daily life, you’ll be more equipped to do so to a stranger.

States have known 988, scheduled to go live on July 16, was coming and that they would be responsible for making it work. But 988 implementation laws that include fee measures to pay for the expected increase in calls have been passed by only four states - Virginia, Nevada, Washington and Colorado, according to NAMI. Few states have resources such as mobile crisis teams in place to respond to calls for help. Statewide crisis services are available or are being ramped up in Virginia, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Colorado, according to NAMI. "In some places, you're probably in good shape," said Hannah Wesolowski, NAMI chief advocacy officer. "You could call 988 and there are going to be mobile crisis teams and a pretty robust crisis infrastructure. But in other places, good luck."

Almost nine in 10 college students think campuses are facing a mental health crisis, according to a new survey from TimelyMD. The survey of nearly 1,700 college students found that 88% believe there is a mental health crisis on college campuses. “With the Omicron variant, the uncertainty and isolation that we saw at the beginning of the pandemic really is back,” said Barb Solish, director of youth and young adult initiatives at NAMI. “And our students are struggling because of it. So, bottom line, how can we reasonably expect them to be back to ‘normal’ when life is anything but that?” College mental health systems were underfunded, understaffed and underprioritized before the pandemic started, Solish said, and they’re stretched even thinner now given the increased demand for their services. “Schools really need to recognize that it’s time to invest in the total well-being of their students,” Solish said.

Breakups are a fact of life. Whether your connection is friendly, romantic or professional, many relationships run their course including with a therapist. “Therapy is often life-changing,” said Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director of NAMI. “Some patients come riddled with anxieties, depression, and self-doubt and leave with a fresh perspective, new insights and a variety of tools and strategies to better cope with the world around them.” Crawford warns that “therapy is not a one-size-fits-all model,” and that therapists need to adapt to accommodate the patient and their unique needs. Crawford advises that trust is crucial to a successful outcome in therapy. “If you’re ever worried about being totally honest with your therapist, that’s a red flag,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with telling your therapist that something they told you doesn’t sit well or sound right to you. If doing so makes them at all combative, it’s OK to not return,” Crawford said.

In an opinion piece, NAMI Youth Ambassador Alaina Stanisci shares her personal experience and perspective on youth mental health issues. Alaina wrote: Seemingly out of nowhere, when I was 10 years old, I developed severe anorexia nervosa that almost killed me, and my whole world was flipped upside down. So many of my peers have told me that they also felt as if they had to shield their emotions from everybody else and continue going through the motions of life as if nothing was ever wrong. However, whether it's anxiety, depression, anorexia, bipolar disorder or anything else, we have seen that bottling up these emotions will lead to more collateral damage in the end. When somebody breaks their arm, they are treated with empathy and kindness and do not feel that they have to hide their injury. Why does somebody with mental illness not feel that they deserve this same empathy and kindness? I believe that the key to ending the mental health epidemic among teens is to normalize the struggle, educate those around us and be vulnerable about our struggles.”

Resource-strapped call centers anticipate a burst of demand in July when the new 988 national suicide prevention hotline number goes live. But a lack of funds to help meet that demand is delaying efforts to publicize the service. The federal government must invest in public awareness, but the priority is to ensure that when people in need call there are the resources available to help, NAMI chief advocacy officer Hannah Wesolowski said. A nationwide public awareness campaign likely won’t take place until late 2022 or early 2023, Wesolowski said.

Hundreds of thousands of kids have lost a parent or primary caregiver to COVID-19 and need support services, mental health experts say, with communities of color particularly devastated. Psychologists say this loss has caused an uptick in anxiety, depression, trauma- and stress-related disorders in some children. "As we move forward through this pandemic, I don't want people to feel as though, if the pandemic is getting better, then the youth mental health issue will go away," said Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director of NAMI. "The reality is that's not the case, because this crisis preexisted COVID. And it's even more dire in these rural areas because there is hardly any mental health support in place."

In an opinion piece, NAMI CEO Daniel Gillison wrote: The pandemic has hit people hard — especially their mental health. As the CEO of the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, I know that we have to act urgently to avoid traumatic outcomes. Our failure to treat mental health crises leads to people cycling in and out of jails and emergency rooms, homelessness — or worse. The launch in July of 988, a new crisis hotline number, gives us a chance to put services into place that can help, but we have to act now. The NAMI HelpLine has experienced a 185% increase in calls related to suicide and a 251% increase in calls related to mental health crises compared with pre-pandemic times. After 20 months of COVID-19, there's never been a more critical time to invest in a new crisis response system.