Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

New APA Consumer Website

Healthyminds.org is an American Psychiatric Association-sponsored consumer website, meant to provide information to the public about mental health treatment and resources. It was launched today as part of the "Healthy Minds. Healthy Lives campaign taking place during May, the nationally-observed "Mental Health Month."

According to the Medical News Today article which announced the release of the website, Healthyminds.org includes warning signs, treatment options, and prevention measures for a variety of common mental health disorders.

After a review of the website, I would disagree. The actual information about major mental illnesses (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, etc) is sparse. It does have an entire section devoted to "Storm-related disasters", which is interesting, given that (barring a cataclysmic, old-testament type flood over the United States) storm disasters will likely affect a much smaller percentage of Americans than the major Axis-I psychiatric disorders. It does have sections on a few relevant topics to people with major mental illness - psychiatric hospitalization, psychiatrist FAQs, and confidentiality being a few examples. However, the only place that most of the major mental illnesses are specifically mentioned are on the page with the APA "Let's Talk Facts" brochure series, which consumers must purchase after the first five.

This website may offer some helpful information, but at first review, it does not seem to be the most comprehensive or informative website for most people who suffer from mental illness issues.

Visit Healthyminds.org at http://www.healthyminds.org, or visit the main APA website at http://www.psych.org

Source: "New Mental Health Public Information Resource", Medical News Today (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com), May 5 2005