February 13, 2024

By Courtney Wise

Greetings, MindSite News Readers. In today’s Daily, a group of women who first bonded together in college demonstrate the power of friendship to enhance well-being lifelong. New York State auditors find serious flaws in “Kendra’s Law,” legislation intended to impede violence from those with serious mental illness. And doctors fight professional stigma against mental illness in an effort to save fellow physicians’ lives.

Also in this issue: Dance classes can bolster your mental health, kiwi fruit may improve your mood, and more.

50 years of friendship has carried the “Sugar Hill” sisters through life

They’re in their early seventies – but like fine wine, time has done them good. The Sugar Hill sisters, a group of 16 Black women who met while students at the University of Maryland-College Park, formed their bond at a time when just four percent of the student body was Black. (Today, it averages around twelve percent.) The decades-long friendship has guided the group through life’s ups and downs, including weddings, graduations, baby showers, and funerals, and has allowed new relationships among their children and grandchildren – the sugar babies and sweet tarts – to blossom as well. 

Helen Jackson James can’t even text the group chat about a headache without a barrage of support coming in. “They were on top of me, asking: ‘Did you go to the doctor? Did you go to the emergency room?’” said James, who later confirmed to the Washington Post her clean bill of health. “They help me maintain my health and positive mind. We give each other strength, and when there’s something challenging for us, we try to lift that person up.”

That their bond is so strong and supportive comes as no surprise to Marisa Franco, a professor at the University of Maryland and the author of Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends. Female friendships are typically deeper than those of men, and women turn to friends and spouses for general support, Franco said.

The group, which commits to Sugar Hill reunions every December, vacations together too. Most importantly though, nothing comes between the friendship – spouses included. For instance, when Joyce Wynn Dawkins got married almost 40 years ago, another of the ladies’ husbands took her fiancé aside, saying, “Just make sure you want to do this. You’re marrying her, but you’re marrying 15 other sisters as well.’ He was laughing,” Dawkins said, “but he was right.”

Serious flaws found in audit of Kendra’s Law, a program to curb violence linked to mental illness

Kendra’s Law, which compels residents of New York state with severe, uncontrolled mental illness into treatment, is flawed but not irreparably so, the New York Times reports. Their conclusion is based on an audit from the state comptroller on the legislation’s effectiveness. Especially worrisome were delays in connecting patients to psychiatric care, which led to serious harm, including preventable injuries and even death, the report states. “When there are lapses,” said the comptroller, “the consequences can be fatal.”

Besides long delays in connecting patients to care, the audit found that once in treatment, nearly 25 percent of providers failed to properly report patient status or share information with other health providers to coordinate care. In one horrifying instance, none of a patient’s 33 hospitalizations for suicidal ideation over 18 months was ever recorded as required. There was no 34th visit; by then, the patient had died by suicide. 

The program, funded by $29 million from the state, serves roughly 3,800 people and has been shown to reduce incarcerations and emergency room visits. Supporters also say it’s the best way to get people whose mental illness may incite them to violence into proper care. However, the millions set aside for the program aren’t enough, and as in every other part of the nation, psychiatrists and other mental health providers are stretched thin: It could take months or even years to simply vet people for the program, the audit says. State mental health officials told the Times they largely agreed with the report’s findings and are working to improve issues with coordination of care, oversight and resource shortages. 

Findings suggest that care providers also need support in knowing when renewing people for the program is appropriate. In roughly 22 of 37 audited cases in which patients were eligible for continued treatment, health officials failed to renew the treatment order, with disastrous results. 

Physicians still face major professional stigma about mental illness, but those views are changing

From the outside looking in, dermatologist Lisa Lerner had an ideal life. She was a Harvard-educated physician with a thriving practice and loving family. But she secretly suffered from depression, a condition to which she later succumbed via suicide. Only those closest to her in her private life knew depression was a personal struggle. She never sought help for the condition, leaving signs of mental illness off her licensing renewal forms so as not to impede her ability to practice medicine. Her husband, fellow dermatologist Ethan Lerner, told NPR that the questionnaire asks a number of questions on one’s history of mental illness. Though Lisa completed the form as required, she felt “they were an invasion of privacy.” “It was just unbelievably uncomfortable. I mean — a huge stressor. No one worked harder than her,” Ethan said. “No one could do a better job than her, and so why was this relevant at all?”

Though her ending was tragic, Lerner’s struggle with mental illness wasn’t in isolation. A January 2023 survey of doctors by MedScape found that 40 percent of respondents were burned out or depressed, yet refused to seek help for fear of losing their job or license. An effort is now being made to reduce that stigma. In Massachusetts, hospitals and health insurers will no longer ask about a physician’s history of addiction or mental illness when assessing their ability to care for patients. Rather, they will only ask about a doctor’s current state – mental and physical – that might hinder their ability to provide quality care. Licensing boards in almost two dozen other states have made similar changes. 

“If you’re currently able to practice medicine, and you’re taking care of yourself, that’s what we should be interested in — not what you did previously,” said Barbara Spivak, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “That’s a huge step forward. It’s particularly important in today’s world, where we’re seeing so many physicians suffering from various levels of burnout, where the stresses of medicine are really interfering with the joy of medicine, and maybe even the joy of life.”

In other news….

A study published in Sports Medicine suggests that dance classes may enhance mental wellness more than other forms of exercise. Like walking, the exercise is accessible to all ages and many ability levels, Neuroscience News reports. The edge it offers over other forms of exercise is due to its impact on the mind, sociability, and mood. “Learning dance sequences may challenge cognition, partnered or group dance may benefit social interactions, and the artistic aspect may improve psychological well-being,” lead author Alycia Fong Yan wrote. 

Medical cannabis isn’t just for humans: Veterinarians are now using cannabidiol, or CBD, the non intoxicating therapeutic compound found in cannabis, to treat mammals with health challenges, including stress and anxiety, the New York Times reports. It’s also been used to treat a tiger recovering from cancer surgery, an elephant whose pain inhibited it from eating or walking very well, and even a ferret suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. However, vets caution pet owners against trying to treat their animals at home with CBD or marijuana: Proper dosages are critical in the drug’s ability to heal. Too much of CBD or cannabis containing THC can cause mental and physical distress. 

A kiwi a day keeps depression away? It’s not that simple, but I couldn’t help myself. The New York Post and Yahoo News shared word of a study in the British Journal of Nutrition that suggests eating a kiwi every day improved the moods of participants. Some researchers say the results should be attributed to the high vitamin C content of the fruit, rather than the fruit itself.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or experiencing suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and connect in English or Spanish. If you’re a veteran press 1. If you’re deaf or hard of hearing dial 711, then 988. Services are free and available 24/7.