Mental Health: Treatment and Recovery

Mental health is the topic of this week’s Sunday Morning Wake-Up Call on WNRN. Paul Patrick, a founder of On Our Own, and Frank Blankenship of MindFreedom International, both Mental Health Advocacy groups, join host Rick Moore in the studio. They also consider themselves to be psychiatric survivors, having both been forcibly committed to mental health hospitals. The conversation starts off with the $42 million mental health bill Governor Kaine signed into law last month, and moves on to a discussion about prescription drugs, and their long-term effects. Do Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors (used to treat depression) help or harm the patient? What do psychiatric professionals have to say about it?

The guests and callers also talk about the road to recovery for those with mental health issues – what role do drugs and hostipal committment play in the process? What about more extreme treatments, such as shock therapy?

Find out what members of the community think about these questions, and leave your own responses to the show by commenting after you listen!