This will be the end of Millennial Mind in its current version, I’ve decided.

I’m a little more than two months away from finishing my master’s degree and am taking some intense classes this summer, plus looking for a job, so I likely won’t have much time to write (or delete spam).

But, before I go, here’s three great Top 10 lists to summarize some of my favorite topics:

- Mental Floss magazine shares “10 Mind-Boggling Psychiatric Treatments.” Let’s all be glad lobotomy and phrenology have fallen out of favor!
- World of Psychology has the “Top 10 Myths of Mental Illness.”
My favorite is No. 4: “Therapists don’t care about you – they only pretend to care because you pay them.”
- And, author Daniel Radosh, a self-described secular Jew, lists “10 great Christian rock songs,” topped by none other than the late, great Larry Norman.

(Thanks to Christianity Today for alerting me to Radosh and his book! If it’s anything like “The Year of Living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs or “Body Piercing Saved My Life” by Andrew Beaujon, I’m sure I’ll love it.)

Until my next blog, thanks for reading!

But two lectures in particular struck a mental-health nerve. One was by Alan Jacobs, an English professor at Wheaton College near Chicago, who spoke on original sin. You may not think that would be a popular topic in this day and age, but this was Calvin, so he got a good turnout. I learned a lot about the history of the concept and the role it plays not only in theology, but in pop culture (think of those cartoons where you see an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other).

What bothered me, though, was a question from an audience member on whether people use modern psychiatry to cover up the notion of sin. To his credit, Jacobs said he knew a lot of people who had benefited from taking antidepressants. However, they were able to see a purpose in their suffering in that it forced them to turn to God and probably leave some bad behaviors behind.

As I’ve said before, I think it’s crucial that religious people not judge the mentally ill in their midst. Just because people have clinical depression - or any other condition - doesn’t mean that they think they can get away with everything and feel no moral responsibility for their actions. That may be true for some extreme cases, but certainly not everyone.

Thankfully, Kathleen Norris seems to agree. She gave a great lecture on the little-known sin of “acedia,” which can be defined as spiritual sloth, or an indifference to life and humanity. I see this in my own life sometimes, when I wonder why I bother going to work or class or even spending time with my friends. But Norris challenged us to move beyond that dangerous boredom and find purpose in our everyday tasks, namely through prayer. She also made a clear distinction between acedia and depression (and gave numerous shout-outs to her copy editor, which, as a proud copy-desk denizen, I greatly appreciated).

If I ever get some free time in the upcoming months, I will make a point of reading the latest books from Norris, Jacobs and Falsani, and I encourage you to do the same.

I’m looking forward to discussing journalism, hearing wonderful writers and seeing old friends — and maybe making some new ones!

If you hear or see me at the festival and are inspired to check out this site, please let me know by leaving a message here.

And if you miss this year’s festival, by all means, make sure you come in 2010! It’s always a great time.

I’ll continue to post more next quarter, although it may not all be mental-health-related.
So, save some jelly beans for me, and stay tuned!

So says a new Army study. Troops in Afghanistan reported lower morale as fighting there got worse, while troops in Iraq reported better morale. But altogether, people were more likely to show mental strain the longer they were deployed.

This seems pretty logical. The real news may be that the armed services are considering adding more mental-health staff to handle the needs of troops facing longer stints.

Psychologist Janet M. Kamer, a colonel in the Air Force Reserve, wrote to the Chicago Tribune Magazine in response to a feature story on a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder to point out some services the military offers.

She also issues this request:

I would challenge the U.S. mental health community to help serve our wounded warriors. Last year only half the psychology residency positions were filled in the Air Force because of lack of applicants-despite the fact that the Air Force will reimburse tuition loans and will pay beginning captains far more than they would make in the private sector.

Any students or young mental-health workers out there want to take Kamer up on her offer?

A man wearing an FDNY baseball hat told me that he and the others were there to lobby for mental-health parity — that is, laws that would require health-insurance companies to provide the same coverage for mental illnesses that they do for physical illnesses.

One bachelor’s degree, an internship, a first job and half of a master’s degree later, Congress has finally acted.

The House and Senate passed different versions of a bill to “bar insurance plans from charging disparate deductibles and co-payments for mental-health services compared with other medical benefits,” according to The Wall Street Journal (via World of Psychology).

But the legislation still needs to be worked out — and it’s full of loopholes, as World of Psychology points out:

Stuck in both plans is an easy out, however: a good ol’ “Cost Exemption” clause. This clause basically says that mental health parity need not apply to any health plan if the costs of providing mental health parity exceed 2% in the first year, or 1% in any subsequent year. In other words, we like mental health parity as long as it doesn’t cost us anything.

There’s also controversy over whether the bill should cover all conditions listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, including substance abuse. The House version says yes; the Senate version says no.

The House requirement could backfire, one lawmaker said, according to the Associated Press:

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., complained the House bill would mandate coverage for such conditions as jet lag and sexual dysfunction that are listed in the psychiatric association’s manual. “Can you imagine any employer being willing to cover things like that?” said Gingrey, a doctor.

Maybe it’s time for the man in the baseball hat and his friends to pay their representatives another visit.

Now the quarter’s almost over and it’s time to do my final project.

But I need your help!

Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey so I can get some ideas on how to improve things and who exactly is reading my thoughts.

Thanks very much.

Click Here to take survey

But I don’t always have the facts to back them up.

That’s why I’m so happy about a story I came across today: Testosterone may prevent eating disorders.
It helps support what I wrote yesterday about biology being a likely reason why women are so much more prone than men to mental illness.
Researchers at Michigan State University compared girls with twin brothers to those with twin sisters. The girls who had brothers were exposed to testosterone in the womb and were less likely to develop eating disorders.

This could also help explain why men get eating disorders less often than women — although sadly, their numbers seem to be increasing. The study found that boys with a twin sister had a higher incidence of “disordered eating” than boys with a twin brother, presumably due to exposure to estrogen.

However, the story doesn’t mention whether the twin sisters were identical (from the same fertilized egg that split in two) or fraternal (from two different fertilized eggs). Identical twins have virtually the same DNA, while fraternal twins are as genetically different as singleton siblings (that is, non-multiples). It’s impossible for identical twins to be opposite-sex. So maybe genes play a role, too.

Whatever the repercussions of this study, it’s nice to have facts.

According to the federal government’s Office on Women’s Health, many women are in a bad place psychologically:

Women suffer twice as often as men by most forms of depression and anxiety disorders, and nine times as often by eating disorders.

Some of that is biological. For example, men don’t experience the physiological changes that may contribute to postpartum depression, although some new fathers get the blues just like new mothers.

But some of it is likely social and cultural. Poor body image shows up in eating disorders (including some disturbing new ones). Sexual assault, abuse and harassment (in military as well as civilian life) and domestic violence are other huge problems that cause serious emotional pain.

However, women are making strides when it comes to the mental-health field. Female social workers and nurses have provided care for generations, and they’ve been joined by more women going to medical and graduate school and pursuing careers as psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and therapists. According to the American Psychiatric Association,

Data from the National Survey of Psychiatric Practice indicate that the percentage of psychiatrists who are women rose sharply from 14.5% in 1982 to 25.0% in 1996.

(Of course, there are some great women blogging about mental health, too — Therese Borchard at Beyond Blue just had her 1,000th post!)

As more women get proper training and treatment, I hope they will be better off — as will the men and children in their lives.

And of course, I get to share the latest batch of mental-health news with you.
- The always-reliable World of Psychology has an excellent commentary on when to use psychotropic medicines to treat depression. The anti-psychiatry Scientologists seem to get all the media attention, so it’s great to see Dr. Ron Pies give a calm take on why people may need these medicines — and why they may not.
- Public universities in Florida are considering charging more fees so they can hire more mental-health staff and improve the ratio of counselors to students, according to the Orlando Sentinel (via the Chronicle of Higher Education). Obviously, no one likes to pay more for college, but this plan sounds like it could be worthwhile.

And if that Sufjan song made you sad (it always has that effect on me), cheer yourself up by watching my classmate Brenna Ehrlich’s lesson on “how to dust for fingerprints” and my classmate Paul Dailing’s tutorial on “how not to buy stuff.”