Bob CollinsA medical examiner in La Crosse County says the number of suicides is up considerably from a year ago. Why? Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Tag: Mental health
Chris Hawkey, a radio talk show host in the Twin Cities, is certainly doing his part to convince people — especially men — to talk about mental illness and depression. Read more →
Jeff Ernst has a mental illness, he acknowledges in an op-ed in today’s Star Tribune, and he writes that we’re all too eager to accept the portrayal of the mentally ill alongside people who’ll kill innocent people.
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A Brainerd hospital is going to test whether it’s possible for a medical facility to treat only the “good” patients and avoid any sort of backlash with the policy. The chances are Essentia Health will succeed at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd because it’s refusing to admit patients with little constituency: the severely mentally ill.
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Sergei Neubauer’s obituary doesn’t say so specifically, but his struggle, like most against depression and mental illness, was brave and courageous. His short life was amazing. And so too, obviously, were the two people in Iowa who agreed to be his parents when he was 11.
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Suicide attempts don’t generate news stories but this time people in the area took cellphone video of the rescue attempt, so it was only natural that the focus on the story is the heroic work of officers who told the woman that people really do love her. Read more →
Some Facebook users reached a new low today — even for Facebook users — when someone thought it was a good idea to post the image of a man in St. Paul who took his own life.
The St. Paul Police Department — and cops see the worst in us every day — was shocked at the callousness toward a man who had lived with mental health issues.
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The latest victim is Austin Reeves, 26, of Hingham, Mass., who told his parents he just needed to be left alone in his room, where he was fretting over a breakup a week ago Saturday. His dog was with him. So was his gun. Read more →
Little has so defined the dysfunction of a state government with a budget surplus and its citizens indifference toward people with a mental health crisis, than Minnesota’s refusal to fund a suicide hotline that’s been operating for nearly 50 years. But the Minnesota Legislature didn’t come up with any money, neither did any area foundations, and the stateline hotline will shut down on Friday. A national hotline will continue to be available, and so will some county-operated hotlines. Read more →
Harvard researchers have confirmed what just about any parent of a child with mental health issues can tell you: Getting help is nearly impossible. Minneapolis was one of five cities in the researchers’ study. Read more →
Royce White, Hopkins native and a former Mr. Basketball in Minnesota who was drafted in the first round of the NBA despite revealing mental health issues, flamed out in his chance at basketball stardom in the pro game. He and Kevin McHale, then the boss of the Houston Rockets, never saw eye to eye and White’s anxiety issues kept him out of games. Read more →
School officials in Minnesota and around the country have warned parents to talk to their kids about the Netflix series, ’13 Reasons Why.’ A Catholic school in Canada has warned its students not to talk about the series at all.
In Michigan, some students have a better idea.
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It’s hard to imagine a more difficult and stressful job than being a security monitor on the University of Minnesota campus, charged with keeping people from jumping off the Washington Avenue bridge. Read more →
While the Minnesota Legislature tackles the thorny issue of portraits of ex-governors, the scandal that is the mental health system continues relatively unabated, as just about anybody who’s tried to get access to it can attest. Read more →
When it comes to mental health, we’ve all become expert at looking the other way. Read more →