Wakeup Call :: An Unknown Suicide Jumper On Atlanta's I-285 Spaghetti Junction..

The words just won't come after having seen yet another news report of this nature:

• I-285 West Reopens At Spaghetti Junction; Dekalb County, Georgia; Posted 4:47 pm EDT, Updated 5:22 pm EDT, May 19, 2008

Somehow unexplainedly to these Fingertips through the Tears, this, just the very latest this second of similar pieces echoing across our Country, symbolizes all that is wrong in our World..

Traveled over to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), to see what, if anything more, they had to add to WSBTV's short blurb, and things got just that much worse.. There, right below their own story of the Spaghetti Junction overpass suicide jumper, is a teaser for an article on.......

Taking tourist bus tours to view the destroyed Lives of others in the form of their foreclosed homes:

• Bus tour gives people look at foreclosed houses; Kevin Duffy; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Published 05/19/08..

The white shuttle bus came to a stop and Damon Borozny joked to the passengers, "All right, time to scare the neighbors."

Borozny, a product manager for an office supply business, was helping lead a new kind of tour for Atlanta - the home foreclosure tour.

A dozen people paid $49, or $65 per couple, to spend five hours Sunday checking out other people's broken dreams and possibly find a deal.

One unfortunate set of people's Lives are being shattered forever because of endlessly skyrocketing food and fuel prices even as these other wonderful folks are trading humorous barbs over the same while carelessly rummaging where tiny feet of Hope, Love, and Joy once pitter-pattered.. Seeing that article couldn't help but bring back to Mind the similarly minded individuals who graciously provided anxious sightseeing tourists with bus tours immediately following Hurricane Katrina's deaths and devastation in New Orleans, Louisiana..

Our World just keeps sicker by the keystroke.. Predatory lending has now led to predatory sharks very publicly, visually sucking off the blood of permanently wounded homeowners..

For all we know, it was something precisely like this bloodsucking predatory entrepreneurship that was the last straw for the Spaghetti Junction suicide jumper.. Someone somewhere knows the History, the Truth behind what happened today.......

We have GOT to start coming together and support each other for everything we are..

Every Life was someone's Child once..

Every Life had a Chance once to be a productive member of our Society, of our local Communities..

Every Life has Value now in this, our Own one and only, if given a Hand back up towards that Chance..

It begins with Compassion, Human Compassion for another from deep down within our own Souls..

Cyber hugs from Talking Rock........

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In my Mind's Ear, listening to.......

Against all odds
Against the grain
Love finds a way
Some people change.

Thank God for those who make it
Let them be the light.

~Montgomery Gentry..

CBS News Investigation :: "Disabled and Waiting"..

Call it Fate, if you will, in flipping channels one evening a couple of months ago, caught the news feature teaser just getting ready to lead into CBS News Investigation's Disabled and Waiting: Backlog In Disability Benefits System Leaves Thousands Of Vulnerable Americans Stranded story (January 14, 2008)..

And for some reason, I watched..

And (predictably) ended up absolutely in tears before it was over..

Was this part in particular that did it:

A two-month CBS News investigation has found that over the last two years, at least 16,000 people fighting for disability benefits died while awaiting a decision.

Having spent as long as I have with my cyber heels dug deep [1] into some of the best disability (self-)advocacy Internet sites around since my own psychiatric survivor label-garnering experience, I've seen my share of horrible, horrible stories of people with disabilities going through the social security disability payments ordeal and losing everything, everything in Life they have, are, and were while enduring the seemingly ceaseless process..

Up to and including the "s" word.......

Suicide..

The tears shed over Disabled and Waiting come also in part from consciously recognizing every moment I'm still here that there but for the generosity of an ex-boyfriend for the extremist of Life-sustaining staples go I..

Life being what it is, nay, more what the thunderstorms predict it could be in the near offing, I, too, once again entered the Social Security junket just a couple of weeks ago.. While the despair that arises with each attempt is no less than before due to being forced to openly relive everything disastrous that has been the Life these fingertips have seen, this Time very admittedly seems almost pleasant as the wonderful SS lady on the other end of the phone has herself seen Life from this side..

And she knows what it's like walking in these Shoes..

And, more importantly than anything else sometimes, she really does give.......

A rat's patootie about the Human Life within these same worn Shoes..

To the government entities who each have their Hands in the Beastie that is the social security disability payment process, you obviously can access the file that is mine.. That lady there helping me..? She should be one of the Standards others strive to achieve..

And she already works right there within your, our system..

Please......

As much as anything else, if you don't proactively do something to help, you play a part in that "s" word as it applies to some part of those 16,000 people CBS reports..

If you don't proactively do something to help create change, you play a part in all of those some 16,000 precious Lives lost as CBS reports..

If you don't proactively do something to help create change, you play a part in some untold number of persons with disabilities right this moment..

Living on the street.......

Literally starving.......

Them, too, right this very, very second contemplating the unthinkable a forever untold number of others have already done before them for the exact same reasons..

This very, very second as you read this.......

Cyber hugs with a special one going out to the very kind and understanding Mrs. * currently helping me work through the SS process..

.......This time..

[1] A little sidebar on the referenced CNN.com blurb.. Thanks to the very first opportunity I had to speak totally by accident with Yvette with PAIMI over at GAO back in 2003, I had in fact introduced myself to CNN.com as "a person with mental illness".. Editorial license being what it is and thus wholly out of our control the precise moment the "Send" button is clicked, WHOOPSIE, I became a person who "[has] a mental illness"..

FDA :: Proposal for new black box warnings about suicidal thinking, behavior..

In light of all that has been occuring across our country of late, not unexpected to start re-seeing this type of press release become more frequent.. From these fingertips, forget that it is addressing "young adults".. If ANYONE of ANY AGE starts feeling strange, weird, out of sorts, and especially unusually or unexpectedly violent, either suicidally or homicidally, PLEASE seek professional feedback immediately..

Always be aware of, listen to, and know what your body is telling you.. BUT, at the same time, don't let paranoia get the best of you.. Work within yourself to find just that balance of knowing what should be occurring and what is indeed an early alarm for times ahead..

For me, it was Serzone.. The most unbelievably violent, literally saw red emotions came over me in a flash absolutely out of nowhere during the most pleasant, enlightening conversation with a friend.. Can still "see", feel that very moment it occurred..

What coninues to byte about it was that I kept telling the professionals and all I got back was, "Serzone doesn't do that to anyone.." End of discussion. Period.

Wasn't so empowered by others at that Time.. Wish I knew then.. :wink:

Soooo.. Should you find yourself wearing those same shoes, or should you find yourself in a place where you are uncomfortable "complaining", as you might feel it to be, find someone you trust to sit with you in your presence and advocate for change in your meds, treatment.. Be it a family member, friend, member of your church or local civic group, you have the right to have someone help you speak up if you need that accommodation..

If you are still not listened to, become 1) a self-advocate and 2) an advocate for others by turning to places like your local or state mental health advocacy agencies, your local CIL (center for independent living, yes, they're for you, too), and/or state advocacy office.. Don't stop until someone has been able to help you receive accountable mental health care..

For your very Life..

Cyber hugs..

FDA PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2007
P07-77
Media Inquiries: 301-827-6242
Press Officer: Sandy Walsh
Sandy.walsh@fda.hhs.gov.. Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

FDA Proposes New Warnings About Suicidal Thinking, Behavior in Young Adults Who Take Antidepressant Medications

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today proposed that makers of all antidepressant medications update the existing black box warning on their products' labeling to include warnings about increased risks of suicidal thinking and behavior, known as suicidality, in young adults ages 18 to 24 during initial treatment (generally the first one to two months).

The proposed labeling changes also include language stating that scientific data did not show this increased risk in adults older than 24, and that adults ages 65 and older taking antidepressants have a decreased risk of suicidality. The proposed warning statements emphasize that depression and certain other serious psychiatric disorders are themselves the most important causes of suicide.

"Today’s actions represent FDA’s commitment to a high level of post-marketing evaluation of drug products," said Steven Galson, M.D., MPH, director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Depression and other psychiatric disorders can have significant consequences if not appropriately treated. Antidepressant medications benefit many patients, but it is important that doctors and patients are aware of the risks."

People currently prescribed antidepressant medications should not stop taking them. Those who have concerns should notify their health care providers.

The proposed labeling changes apply to the entire category of antidepressants. Results of individual placebo-controlled scientific studies are reasonably consistent in showing a slight increase in suicidality for patients taking antidepressants in early treatment for most of the medications. Available data are not sufficient to exclude any single medication from the increased risk of suicidality.

The proposed labeling update follows similar labeling changes made in 2005 that warned of a suicidality risk in children and adolescents who use antidepressants. At that time, FDA asked manufacturers to add a black box warning to the labeling of all antidepressants to describe this risk and to emphasize the need for appropriate monitoring and close observation, particularly for younger patients taking these medications. In addition, FDA directed manufacturers to develop Medication Guides, FDA-approved user-friendly information for patients, families and caregivers, that could help improve monitoring. Medication Guides are intended to be distributed at the pharmacy with each prescription or refill of a medication.

Also in 2005, FDA began a comprehensive review of 295 individual antidepressant trials that included over 77,000 adult patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders, to examine the risk of suicidality in adults who are prescribed antidepressants.

In December 2006, FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee agreed that labeling changes were needed to inform health care professionals about the increased risk of suicidality in younger adults using antidepressants. Additionally, the committee noted product labeling needed to reflect the apparent beneficial effect of antidepressants in older adults and to remind health care professionals that the disorders themselves are the most important cause of suicidality.

FDA has been developing language to revise product labeling and update the Patient Medication Guides for these products. Manufacturers of antidepressants will now have 30 days to submit their revised product labels and revised Medication Guides to FDA for review.

Products involved in today’s action include:

• Anafranil (clomipramine)
• Asendin (amoxapine)
• Aventyl (nortriptyline)
• Celexa (citalopram hydrobromide)
• Cymbalta (duloxetine)
• Desyrel (trazodone HCl)
• Elavil (amitriptyline)
• Effexor (venlafaxine HCl)
• Emsam (selegiline)
• Etrafon (perphenazine/amitriptyline)
• fluvoxamine maleate
• Lexapro (escitalopram hydrobromide)
• Limbitrol (chlordiazepoxide/amitriptyline)
• Ludiomil (maprotiline)
• Marplan (isocarboxazid)
• Nardil (phenelzine sulfate)
• nefazodone HCl
• Norpramin (desipramine HCl)
• Pamelor (nortriptyline)
• Parnate (tranylcypromine sulfate)
• Paxil (paroxetine HCl)
• Pexeva (paroxetine mesylate)
• Prozac (fluoxetine HCl)
• Remeron (mirtazapine)
• Sarafem (fluoxetine HCl)
• Seroquel (quetiapine)
• Sinequan (doxepin)
• Surmontil (trimipramine)
• Symbyax (olanzapine/fluoxetine)
• Tofranil (imipramine)
• Tofranil-PM (imipramine pamoate)
• Triavil (perphenazine/amitriptyline)
• Vivactil (protriptyline)
• Wellbutrin (bupropion HCl)
• Zoloft (sertraline HCl)
• Zyban (bupropion HCl)

For more information:

• Antidepressant use in children, adolescents, and adults, including the draft labeling and draft Medication Guides
• FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee, including transcripts from the December 2006 meeting

"A Hidden Shame": AJC Investigation into Georgia Mental Health Care Hospitals..

***HIGH Trigger warning on this lead for consumer or psychiatric survivors***

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PLEASE NOTE: The reporters and those who assist them are putting together a very extensive investigation into Georgia's mental health care hospitals.. In several places, they give readers the opportunity to provide feedback, either through online comment forms or a phone number for one on one contact..

Overwhelming amount of information regarding the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's newest investigation(s) into what they state as "at least 115 patients from Georgia's state psychiatric hospitals who have died under suspicious circumstances during the past five years".. The reporters have presented so much information, it would be taking a huge chance on copyright infringement with respect to reposting from this keyboard..

Theoretically, this series of articles all starts here:

A HIDDEN SHAME: About this series
www.ajc.com/news/content/health/stories/2007/01/04/0107meshabout.html.

Links to the related articles so far are provided on the left of the screen.. You'll most likely need an AJC free, somewhat lengthy online subscription to view while the information is up there..

For my friends who wish to have alternative formats available, you will need to inquire of AJC directly.. The reporters offer the following phone number for those wishing to contact them regarding this series of articles in particular:

404-526-2640

Crossposted at: Georgia Disability Advocates' Calendar.