Author | Lightnews

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Aug 5

🚨 CALIFORNIA Gov. Newsom slashed funding for peer-run Warm Line by 75%. They provide what hospitals and cops can't: lifesaving peer support from someone who's been there. Tell Newsom our loved ones are NOT expendable:
📞 (916) 445-2841
#MentalHealthMatters #CaliforniaBudget #PeerSupport

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 30

WTF, RFK Jr? www.mediaite.com/media/tv/chr...

‘Right’: Chris Cuomo Nods Along as RFK Jr. Claims Schizophrenia Can Be Cured by ‘Dietary Changes’

NewsNation host Chris Cuomo nodded in agreement with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who claimed that not only is schizophrenia being cured, but that it is being done via di...

www.mediaite.com

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 30

3/3 The real story: Christine's heroic self-advocacy. Her research identified what doctors missed.

I'm sharing my letter as a template docs.google.com/document/d/1.... If you agree, let the @newyorker.com know!

#ResponsibleJournalism #SMI #schizophrenia #psychosis #MentalHealthAdvocacy

docs.google.com

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 30

2/3 • Only 4% of autoimmune encephalitis cases-> "isolated psychosis" • Blood tests: 50% false positive rate • Zero peer voices about what recovery actually means

The article reinforces "sane/insane" binary. Mary's recovery described as "becoming sane" vs her "insane" identity.

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 30

1/3 🧵 Just sent @newyorker.com a scathing letter...

"Mary Had Schizophrenia—Then Suddenly She Didn't," risks
convincing SMI families their loved ones need expensive testing for conditions affecting <5% of cases. This is dangerous health misinformation...

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 28

3/3 Families like mine don't want loved ones disappeared into institutions. Give them housing, healthcare, and dignity.

This order offers fear-mongering and forced treatment that research shows doesn't work.

Do better. Our loved ones deserve better. #LivedExperience #EvidenceBasedCare

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 28

2/3 Here's what they're not telling you:

- Only 25% of unhoused people have serious mental illness
- People with SMI are 14x more likely to be crime victims
- Housing First works - forced treatment doesn't

This is reinstitutionalization by another name

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 28

1/3 As an SMI mom and carer, I've got something to say about the White House homelessness order, which says moving unhoused people to "long-term institutional settings" will "restore public order."

The truth: this isn't about helping people. It's about hiding them. #DisabilityJustice #Homelessness

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 25

Great overview of patient rights and autonomy for people with schizophrenia. Dignity improves outcomes! #Schizophrenia #patientsrights schizophrenia.mental-health-community.com/living/know-...

Living With Schizophrenia: What to Know About Autonomy

We all have fundamental human rights related to our medical care

schizophrenia.mental-health-community.com

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 24

3/3 But 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗜𝗦 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆. The risk of involuntary or coerced surveillance is high. No matter how well-meaning, courts, families, or insurers must not use this or any monitoring tool without informed consent.

#BipolarDisorder #PrecisionMedicine #PatientRights

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 24

2/3 ...which in turn could result in:

✅ 70% 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 in emergency room visits in testing
✅ 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 via smartphone app
✅ 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮 from repeated needle sticks
✅ 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 within narrow therapeutic window

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 24

1/3 Researchers at USC just developed the world's first wearable lithium sensor that monitors medication levels through sweat. For people with bipolar disorder who take lithium, this could mean an end to mandatory blood draws...

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 21

4/4 ...sometimes the answer is "this provider sucks and isn't helping me." That's not resistance - that's excellent self-advocacy. Might be time for a new provider.

It bears repeating...coercion is NEVER the answer.
#MentalHealthSupport

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 21

3/4 What works:

- Timing that respects THEIR energy patterns
- Shared planning tools they actually want to use
- Flexibility without shame
- If they don't want to go, LISTEN to why because...

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 21

2/4 "Missed appointments" usually aren't about resistance...but about appointments being too early, too stressful, too hard to remember, too patronizing, or flat-out unhelpful.

Collaborative care calendars work because they start with partnership, not pressure.

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 21

🧵 1/4 Schizophrenia Tip #17: Collaborative Calendar-Keeping 🤝

Most people with schizophrenia want to maintain their health, but need support systems that respect their experience AND their brains.

#CollaborativeCare #Schizophrenia

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

i'd go so far as to say that we should ALWAYS treat neuroscience as inexact until it isn't...which is a long way away

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

Amen. 💜

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

judging from the booming business for employment attorneys whose highest % repeat clients are those with disabilities...this miserable situation continues.

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

congratulations!

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

i've been hoping authors would expand their use of sensitivity readers to neurodivergence and invisible disability and i'm so glad it's happening 💜

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

every day i'm thanking my higher power I live in CA

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

if i understand this right, dunbar deserves props for the admission/retraction rather than letting his ego drive

Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

i feel like identifying an 'inflammatory environment' might be key in other neuro-condition clusters too, right?

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Sophie Littlefield @sophiebrain.bsky.social · Jul 18

also might be time to dust off 'GIGO' from back in the day

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