Category: Press Releases

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Addressing Mental Health #B4Stage4

Addressing mental health before Stage 4—this year’s theme for May is Mental Health Month—calls attention to the importance addressing mental health symptoms early, identifying potential underlying diseases, and planning an appropriate course of action on a path towards overall health. Mental health conditions should be treated long before they reach the most critical points in the disease process—efore Stage 4.

“When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don’t wait years to treat them,” said Paul E. Keck, Jr., MD, President and CEO of Lindner Center of HOPE. “We start before Stage 4—we begin with prevention. So why don’t we do the same for individuals who are dealing with potentially serious mental illness?

“This Mental Health Month, we are encouraging everyone to learn the signs, ask for help if needed, address symptoms early, and plan an appropriate course of action on a path towards overall health.”

One of the quickest and easiest ways to determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition is to take a mental health screening. Mental Health America has online screening tools for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder at mhascreening.org. MHA’s goal is to get every American screened and aware of their mental health, so they can address it #B4Stage4.

MHA has also developed a series of fact sheets available on its website (www.mentalhealthamerica.net/may) on realizing the critical importance of addressing mental health early, recognizing the risk factors and signs of mental illness and how and where to get help when needed.

May is Mental Health Month was started 66 years ago by  Mental Health America, to raise awareness about mental health conditions and the importance of good mental health for everyone.

“When feelings and emotions get overwhelming, it’s hard to know what to do,” Dr. Keck said. “Sometimes, these early symptoms might not ever become serious. Like a cough, they often go away on their own, and are nothing to fear. But sometimes, they are a sign of something more severe and shouldn’t be ignored. Taking a screening is the first step to protect your mental health, and addressing mental illness before Stage 4.”

Research shows that by ignoring symptoms, we lose ten years in which we could intervene in order to change people’s lives for the better. During most of these years most people still have supports that allow them to succeed—home, family, friends, school, and work. Intervening effectively during early stages of mental illness can save lives and change the trajectories of people living with mental illnesses.

“Prevention, early identification and intervention, and integrated services work,” concluded Dr. Keck. “When you address symptoms before Stage 4, people can often recover quickly, and live full and productive lives.”

For more information on May is Mental Health Month, visit Mental Health America’s website at www.mentalhealthamerica.net/may.

 

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Center’s Fundraising Auxiliary to Feature National Speaker as Call to Action to Fight Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness

Liza Long jpegLiza Long, author of the nationally recognized essay, “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother”, will be the keynote speaker at Showering You With HOPE, luncheon and auction, on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. at Cincinnati Country Club.

Ms. Long is a writer, educator, mental health advocate, and mother of four. One of her children suffers with bipolar disorder. In 2007, she started writing a blog called The Anarchist Soccer Mom, where she first published her December 2012 essay, “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother” which discussed her personal tragedy as it intersected with the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Since her essay published, Ms. Long has become a national speaker and contributor to several publications, and has also written a book, “The Price of Silence: A Mom’s Perspective on Mental Illness.” Read more about Liza Long at lizalong.com.

The title of Ms. Long’s keynote speech for April 21st is “From Talk to Action: Ending Stigma, Finding HOPE.”

Showering You With HOPE is the 7th annual spring luncheon presented by High Hope’s, Lindner Center of HOPE’s fundraising auxiliary. Proceeds from the event will benefit patients at Lindner Center of HOPE. The silent auction will begin at 10:30 a.m. with lunch and program at noon. Ms. Long’s book will be available at the event, where she will be available for signing.

Tickets for the luncheon are $75 per person or $750 for a patron table of 10. Reservations are limited and can be made at https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1688581.

Event co-chairs are Anne Ilyinsky and Marcie Warrington.

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Singer and Actress Mackenzie Phillips to Open Half-Day Workshop with Keynote Address

Lindner Center of HOPE employees raised funds this past fall and winter to be able to offer the community an Education Day on Sunday, May 3, 2015. As education is the key to understanding, the half-day workshop will enhance awareness of mental illness and addiction and ultimately, help reduce stigma surrounding these conditions.

The Education Day will be held at Manor House, 7440 Mason-Montgomery Rd. in Mason from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration and an information fair opens at 11 a.m. with buffet brunch opening at 11:30 a.m. Lindner Center of HOPE President and CEO, Paul E. Keck, Jr., MD, will welcome the community at noon and introduce the keynote speaker, Mackenzie Phillips, actress and singer. Phillips’ presentation will conclude at 1 p.m. with three hours of breakout sessions following. Guests will be able to customize their afternoons with sessions that will most benefit them, as at least four topics will be available for each of three breakout session timeslots. Topics include eating disorders, addiction, mood disorders, anxiety, adolescent mental health, obsessive compulsive disorder and more.

Registration and the full schedule are available at lindnercenterofhope.org/educationday or by contacting Kelly at [email protected] or 513-536-0328.

Event partners include: Assurex Health, Prestige and City of Mason.

MACK HIGH RESMackenzie Phillips is an actress and singer best known for her roles in American Graffiti and as a rebellious teenager on the well-known sitcom One Day at a Time. As a troubled teen star, Phillips struggled with addiction and depression. Now she serves as a Recovery and Treatment Advocate.

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DSC_0022The sixth annual Touchdown for HOPE Super Bowl Sunday event took place on February 1, 2015 at the Great American Ballpark Champions Club. With 423 attendees and $203,000 raised to enhance Bipolar and Mood Disorders Research at Lindner Center of HOPE, The Best Super Bowl Party in Town was a huge success.

Great American Ballpark provided the perfect casual environment, reminiscent of a very large family room, with numerous seating areas and televisions for watching the game, the festivities and the commercials. Guests enjoyed Cincinnati favorite foods including Skyline DSC_0035Chili, Montgomery Inn ribs and Saratoga chips, LaRosa’s pizza, and United Diary Farmers ice cream. As Arizona hosted Super Bowl XLIV, guests  were also treated to a Southwestern menu including, Southwestern Salad, Chicken Empanadas, Pulled Pork Tacos, Steak or Cheese Quesadillas and Churros with dolce de leche, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar

“Mood disorders are the most common form of psychiatric illness and are among the DSC_0048leading causes of disability worldwide,” said Dr. Paul E. Keck, Jr., President & CEO of Lindner Center of HOPE. “The study of these devastating illnesses is extremely complex. In spite of the unprecedented growth in the diagnosis of these illnesses, research continues to be under-funded; while much work is still needed to enhance our understanding of these illnesses, the risk factors and the most effective forms of treatment. We are very grateful for the support of Touchdown for HOPE in order to continue to enhance our efforts.”

A generous list of sponsors made this event possible.

 

 

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Lindner Center of HOPE’s Chief Research Officer, Dr. Susan McElroy, was recently cited in a Forbes article about her work in the investigation of an experimental drug that could be used in the treatment of depression.

Naurex, a private company founded by a Northwestern University professor in Evanston, Ill., is reporting that this experimental drug works to help push patients out of a major depressive state within 24 hours of getting a single intravenous shot.

Click here to read the Forbes article.

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Susan L. McElroy, MD, Chief Research Officer, Lindner Center of HOPE, co-authored study published online by Jama Psychiatry

At some doses, the medication lisdexamfetamine dimesylate, a drug approved to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, was effective compared with placebo in decreasing binge-eating (BE) days in patients with binge-eating disorder (BED), a public health problem associated symptoms of mental illness and obesity and for which there are no approved medications, according to a study published online by JAMA Psychiatry.

BED is characterized by recurrent episodes of excessive food consumption accompanied by a sense of loss of control and psychological distress. Cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as psychotherapy, can reduce BE behavior but implementation of these treatments has not been widespread. Consequently, many patients with BED are undertreated despite having functional impairments and difficulties in their social and personal lives. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved pharmacologic treatments for BED, according to background information in the study.

Susan L. McElroy, MDSusan L. McElroy, M.D., of the Research Institute, Lindner Center of HOPE, Mason, Ohio, and coauthors compared lisdexamfetamine with placebo in adults with moderate to severe BED in a randomized clinical trial from May 2011 through January 2012. The study included 259 and 255 adults with BED in safety and intention-to-treat analyses, respectively. The medication was administered in dosages of 30, 50 or 70 mg/day or placebo.

BE days per week decreased in the 50-mg/d and 70 mg/d treatment groups but not in the 30 mg/d treatment group compared with the placebo group, according to the study results. Results also indicate the percentage of patients who achieved four-week BE cessation was lower with the placebo group (21.3 percent) compared with the 50-mg/d (42.2 percent) and 70-mg/d (50 percent) treatment groups.

“In the primary analysis of this study of adults with moderate to severe BED, lisdexamfetamine dimesylate treatment with 50 and 70 mg/d, but not 30 mg/d, demonstrated a significant decrease (compared with placebo) in weekly BE days per week at week 11. Similarly, BE episodes decreased in the 50- and 70-mg/d treatment groups. The one-week BE episode response status was improved in the 50- and 70-mg/d treatment groups, and a greater proportion of participants achieved four-week cessation of BE episodes and global improvement of symptom severity with all lisdexamfetamine dosages. … Confirmation of these findings in ongoing clinical trials may results in improved pharmacologic treatment for moderate to severe BED,”  the study concludes.

(JAMA Psychiatry. Published online January 14, 2015. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.2162.  at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)

Editor’s Note: Authors made conflict of interest disclosures. This study was supported by Shire Development, LLC, including funding to Scientific Communications & Information and Complete Healthcare Communications, Inc., for support in writing and editing the manuscript. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Susan L. McElroy MD, James I. Hudson MD, ScD, James E. Mitchell MD, Denise Wilfley PhD, M. Celeste Ferreira-Cornwell PhD, Joseph Gao PhD, Jiannong Wang PhD, Timothy Whitaker MD, Jeffrey Jonas MD, Maria Gasior MD, PhD

JAMA Psychiatry. 2015;72(3):-. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.2162

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Private offices enable clinicians and patients to work together in a comfortable environment.

Charles Brady, PhD, ABPP, Director OCD and Anxiety Program at Lindner Center of HOPE discussed Diagnosis and Treatment of OCD on a recent One Hour at a Time episode.

To download and listen to the program, click here.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) was once thought to be an untreatable condition.  However, in the past 30 years psychiatric and psychological treatment advances now allow individuals with OCD to manage and overcome their symptoms and live fulfilling and meaningful lives.  Untreated OCD is a potentially disabling condition that strikes children and adults. Estimates of up to three percent of the population will battle OCD at some point in their lives and it affects men and women in equal numbers. It delivers a staggering toll for the individual and society, as individuals with OCD to have much higher than expected rates of under-employment and unemployment.  With treatment , a person suffering OCD can now expect to free themselves from OCD’s grip. Dr. Charles Brady, from Lindner Center of HOPE’s OCD and Anxiety treatment program will discuss the nature of OCD including how it is diagnosed and how current evidence based treatments are able to help individuals reclaim their lives.

 

 

Guest Bio:

Dr. Charles F. Brady directs the Lindner Center of HOPE’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety treatment program. He leads the research and development of the Center’s psychiatric rehabilitation programming. Dr. Brady is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years experience on the staff and faculty of the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Psychiatry. In addition to providing clinical service at UC, he trained and supervised interns, doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, psychiatric residents, psychiatric fellows, and psychiatrists. Dr. Brady earned his Doctorate of Clinical-Community Psychology from University of South Carolina and completed his post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He has completed training in the treatment of OCD and OCD spectrum disorders through the Behavior Therapy Institute. Dr. Brady is Board Certified in Clinical Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.

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Ranking Places Three Lindner Center Doctors at the Top Locally

The Frances and Craig Lindner Center of HOPE is pleased to announce the following doctors were ranked among the best doctors in the nation and among the top specialists in the Tri-State as indicated by The Best Doctors in America 2014 database. 491 specialists from the Tristate were included in the listing published in Cincy Magazine:

Paul Keck image smallPaul E. Keck, Jr., M.D., President-CEO, Lindner Center of HOPE, is a nationally renowned psychiatrist and researcher in Bipolar Disorder and psychopharmacology. He authored over 700 scientific papers in leading journals and was the 7th most cited scientist in the world published in the fields of psychiatry and psychology over the last decade.

Michael A. Keys, MDMichael A. Keys, M.D., Dr. Keys is a regionally known and respected expert in Geriatric Psychiatry with more than 25 years of experience. He currently serves as Director of Senior Adult Psychiatry at the Lindner Center of HOPE. He is also a member of several national and international psychiatric associations and editorial boards.

Susan L. McElroy, MDSusan L. McElroy, M.D., A nationally recognized researcher and educator, Dr. McElroy is internationally known for her research in bipolar disorder, eating disorders, obesity, impulse control disorders and pharmacology. As Chief Research Officer for the Lindner Center of HOPE, she currently oversees multiple ongoing studies in bipolar disorder, major depression, binge eating disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

This is the fifth consecutive year these doctors were included in this database. All three physicians hold faculty appointments with the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and are part of UC Physicians.

Lindner Center of HOPE provides excellent, patient-centered, scientifically-advanced care for individuals suffering with mental illness. A state-of-the-science, mental health center and charter member of the National Network of Depression Centers, the Center provides psychiatric hospitalization and partial hospitalization for individuals age 12-years-old and older, outpatient services for all ages, diagnostic and short-term residential services for adults and adolescents, intensive outpatient program for substance abuse and co-occurring disorders for adults and research. The Center is enhanced by its partnership with UC Health as its clinicians are ranked among the best providers locally, nationally and internationally. Together Lindner Center of HOPE and UC Health offer a true system of mental health care in the Greater Cincinnati area and across the country. The Center is also affiliated with the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine.

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REELABILITIES LOGO with hashtag

Festival Runs February 27th – March 7th, 2015

ReelAbilities is the largest national film festival dedicated to celebrating the lives, stories and art of people with disabilities.

Lindner Center of HOPE is proud to be a part of the 2015 ReelAbilities Film Festival organized by Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled (LADD) which runs February 27th through March 7th 2015 in Greater Cincinnati. For the first year, ReelAbilities is including films touching on the subject of mental illness in the festival. For more information about the film festival, click here.

Lindner Center of HOPE is the Host Agency for HERE ONE DAY, a documentary that chronicles filmmaker Kathy Leichter’s move back into her childhood home after her mother’s suicide. The film will be shown at Kenwood Theater on Monday, March 2, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.

Leichter discovered a hidden box of audiotapes. Sixteen years passed before she had the courage to delve into this trove, unearthing details that her mother had kept secret for so long. HERE ONE DAY is a visually arresting, emotionally candid film about a woman coping with mental illness, her relationships with her family, and the ripple effects of her suicide on those she loved. Click here to view trailer.

Following the film, Lindner Center of HOPE will host a brief panel discussion with question and answers with the audience. Jessica Noll, WCPO, will emcee the discussion.

Panel members will include:

Kathy Leichter, HERE ONE DAY filmmaker

John M. Hawkins, MD, Lindner Center of HOPE, Chief of Psychiatry, Deputy Chief Research Officer, Director TMS Services, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry

Charles F. Brady, PhD, ABPP, Lindner Center of HOPE, Staff Psychologist, OCD/CBT Psychotherapist, Professor the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Psychiatry

Angela Ostholthoff, CPRP, CPS, Training Coordinator for The Recovery Center of Hamilton County

Shirley Benoit, Patient/Advocate

Here One Day imageHERE ONE DAY

Kathy Leichter / USA / English / 2012 /

76 min. / Documentary / Open Captions

Monday

March 2nd, 2015 – 7:30pm

at the Kenwood Theater

Benefiting the Lindner Center of HOPE,  Buy Tickets Here.

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Elizabeth Wassenaar, MS, MDDuring a recent episode of One Hour At A Time, Lindner Center of HOPE staff psychiatrist, Elizabeth Wassenaar, MS, MD, offered insight into the adolescent brain. The episode focused on the following:

Adolescence is a time of enormous change and growth. The conversation offered a closer look at the unique developmental tasks of adolescence and an exploration of what is known so far about the way the adolescent brain changes. When all goes well, children leave adolescence as adults. However, when mental illness creates a barrier, development can go off course. The conversation also discussed the ways that teens experience mental illness and substance use disorders that are distinct to this time in one’s life. Finally, the show explored various diagnostic interventions that can help with accurate diagnosis and the appropriate choice of treatment intervention to restore hope.

To listen to the show, click here.