The Mental Health "Stigma"

Two news items of interest were sent to me over the past few days, both, it would seem, are aligned with one another.

First off, let's take a look out the worn out phrase that lots of mental health specialists and even celebrities seem to trawl out every 5 minutes or so.

The mental health stigma

This from the Mental Health Commission in Australia, I plucked the first one that appeared in a Google search, all mental health foundations say pretty much the same.

Three out of four people with a mental illness report that they have experienced stigma. Stigma is a mark of disgrace that sets a person apart. When a person is labelled by their illness they are seen as part of a stereotyped group. Negative attitudes create prejudice which leads to negative actions and discrimination.

There's not a day goes by when we hear the calls of organizations or celebrities calling for an end to mental health stigma. Canadian writer and actress, Mary Walsh, is one such celebrity.

Walsh is a spokesperson for Bell Let's Talk, an organization that has, according to their website, "Committed over $100 million to support a wide range of mental health organizations, large and small, from coast to coast to coast."

Bell Media is Canada’s premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media. Bell Media owns 30 local television stations led by CTV, Canada’s number 1 television network.

Today, Today, Bell will donate 5¢ more to mental health initiatives for every:

• Text message sent
• Mobile & long distance call made
• Tweet using #BellLetsTalk
• Share of the Facebook image

That's a very generous offer given that the figure could run into the millions of dollars.

I'm in agreement with them to a certain extent. Yes, we should talk about mental health but the subject matter shouldn't be what more can they do to help depressed people, it should be what harm are they doing to depressed people.

BellLetsTalk, however, seem to back up their stigma claims with some "facts", of which there are many. Here's a few...

In Canada, only 1 out of 5 children who need mental health services receives them. - CMHA

Mood and anxiety disorders impact an estimated 22% of the Canadian population. - CMHA

Suicide accounts for 24% of all deaths among 15-24 year-olds and 16% among 25-44 year-olds. - CMHA

CMHA stands for the Canadian Mental Health Association, their homepage shows one of their principle sponsors to be Lundbeck, manufacturers and marketers of such drugs as Celexa (citalopram) and Lexapro (escitalopram) - which leads me nicely to the second news item that was sent to me this week.

Yesterday the New York Times (NYT) ran a feature regarding an apparent influential government-appointed health panel who have called for women be screened for depression during pregnancy and after giving birth.

Their claims, according to the NYT, "comes in the wake of new evidence that maternal mental illness is more common than previously thought; that many cases of what has been called postpartum depression actually start during pregnancy; and that left untreated, these mood disorders can be detrimental to the well-being of children."

The panel gave its recommendation, which was published in the journal JAMA, a “B” rating, which means depression screening must be covered under the Affordable Care Act.

In the NYT feature a woman/mother is quoted, seemingly to support the call for "maternal mental illness."

Melissa Mead, 30, of The Dalles, Ore, tells the NYT that shortly after her son Brady’s birth, she experienced postpartum depression, anxiety and O.C.D. In her own words she "cried continually, barely slept, rarely left home and was scared to death that my baby was going to suffocate."

Hello!

Isn't this a normal response to giving birth, isn't this just a motherly instinct?

The NYT goes on to say that...

After a year, she saw a psychiatrist for talk therapy. When her second son, Emmett, was born, and she had more symptoms, including fearing that she would stab herself with a kitchen knife, Ms. Mead tried several medications until one worked. She now volunteers for Postpartum Support International.

Several medications until one worked? Are we led to believe that some of them didn't work? Shock, horror, you mean some antidepressants don't work?

Mead is now a volunteer for Postpartum Support International (PSI), an organization whose purpose it is to increase awareness among public and professional communities about the emotional changes that women experience during pregnancy and postpartum.

In 2015 the PSI and Tree of Hope Foundation held their Annual Conference. The conference theme was "Planting seeds of hope: overcoming stigma, increasing options and embracing innovative treatments."

Ah, there's that word - "treatments."

Because the NYT featured a woman's story to support the calls for more screening for women with "maternal mental illness", I thought I'd throw in a story about the kind of treatments used to treat mothers during pregnancy.

Lundbeck's Celexa (citalopram) is one such treatment.

Back in 2013 Scottish mom, Cheryl Buchanan, wrote a guest post for this blog. It was with regard to the birth defects caused to her unborn child. Cheryl aborted her child at 23 weeks after being told that the fetus had severe abnormalities which meant she was incompatible with life.

Cheryl has been at loggerheads with Lundbeck regarding the death of her baby girl.

Scans had detected a series of anomalies in her unborn child, namely...

• Diaphragmatic hernia or eventration
• Long bone immobility
• Cystic hygroma 
• Unilateral cleft hand
• Microgynathia

Cheryl had been taking Lundbeck's citalopram prior and during her pregnancy.

Lundbeck carried out an assessment of Cheryl's claims and forwarded their findings to the MHRA.

Lundbeck, as far as I am aware, also use the World Health Organisation "causality categories".

Here's what they found.

• (Foetal death in utero) - drug related - possible
• (Pulmonary hypoplasia) - drug related - possible
• (Diaphragmatic hernia) - drug related - possible
• (Hand deformity) - drug related - possible
• (Skin laxity) - drug related - possible
• (Skin swelling) - drug related - possible
• (Drug exposure in utero) - drug related - possible

The actual documents can be viewed here.

Now, I'm sure many people get the cold shoulder treatment when diagnosed (labelled) with a mental illness - but is there really a stigma attached to it?

I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that there is more of a stigma attached to people like Cheryl Buchanan speaking out against the use of antidepressants during pregnancy - people like Cheryl are deemed irresponsible for taking the stance that she has - normally by healthcare professionals and those who wish to believe that antidepressants are safe during pregnancy.

You want facts?

During the citalopram animal reproduction studies it was shown that citalopram has been shown to have adverse effects on embryo/fetal and postnatal development, including teratogenic effects resulting in in decreased embryo/fetal growth and survival and an increased incidence of fetal abnormalities (including cardiovascular and skeletal defects) (Source FDA)

Meantime, more calls for screening women for mental health illnesses is being touted in the widely read New York Times. If you think the pharmaceutical companies, including Lundbeck, aren't behind this latest push then think again.

Both stories call for more help with the stigma associated with mental illness, of course they do - Big Pharma have something to sell and they want you in their corner helping them push their drugs on unsuspecting mothers.

Bob Fiddaman