We have provided links here to websites that you may find of interest. Please let us know of other sites you feel would be appropriate to add here. Click on the links to go to the sites and use your browser's back button to return to this page.

The WVSA Arts Connection is a non-profit organization in Washington D.C. that conducts a variety of arts-based outreach programs. WVSA has been identified by the Sawyer family to receive memorial contributions on Joe's behalf in the belief that the programs conducted by WVSA are the types of programs that might have had a positive impact on Joe's life, were they available to him.

Families for Depression Awareness

(The following description is taken from the Families for Depression Awareness website.)

Families that work together are best able to cope with depressive disorders. Our organization, Families for Depression Awareness, helps people in caregiver roles and people with depressive disorders understand the conditions, reduce stigma, and share issues.

On our site, you can:

* Read and email Family Profiles to families you know.

* Learn about depression, medical help, support groups, and books.

* Find out how you can help a depressed person seek treatment or manage treatment.

* Recognize your emotions as a caregiver and family member.

* Become a member of Families for Depression Awareness.

Depression is a treatable medical condition. Join us in helping families learn about depressive disorders, reduce associated stigma, and prevent suicides. Please email our Family Profiles to people you know. Help us spread the word that family and friends are essential in helping depressed people manage their condition.

Life is fleeting. And for the 30,000 Americans who end their lives every year, that's 80 suicides a day, one every 18 minutes, life is also unbearable. Twice as many people in this country die at their own hand every year than are murdered. Twice as many are lost to despair than to HIV/AIDS.

Science already knows who: The addicted. The mentally ill. The distressed. The inconsolable. Now, important new research is helping to answer why. And if researchers at Columbia University are on the right track, the answers could help loved ones and medical professionals better understand how to identify, and help, those most at risk. Science, suicidal tendencies, and what the biology of the brain can tell us about self-destructive behavior.

the connection is a radio program produced by wbur.org that airs daily on National Public Radio. A recent program titled "The Science of Suicide" can be heard by clicking the link below if your computer is equipped with software with which to play audio programs. Researchers at Columbia University are probing the human brain for clues that could help answer the "why?" that haunts the loved ones left behind, while offering hope to those predisposed to self-destruction. - (Thursday, February 06, 2003)

Gauging Risks, Benefits of Prozac in Teens »

A study in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association shows that Prozac in combination with a form of psychotherapy called Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is highly effective for treating depression in teens. But the study also shows a small increase in "harm-related behaviors," including suicide attempts, among teens on Prozac. NPR's David Baron reports.

Clues to Depression Sought in Brain's Wiring »

Major depression afflicts one out of 10 adults, resulting in profound and disturbing changes in all aspects of a person's life. NPR's Michele Trudeau reports that new brain imaging technologies and genetic detective work are rapidly revealing what can cause depression and how best to treat it.

Losing Julie: Teen's Suicide Blamed on Zoloft »This week, the FDA holds hearings on research suggesting antidepressants called SSRIs may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and acts in children and teens. In the first of two reports, NPR's Joanne Silberner profiles the Woodwards, who blame SSRIs for the death of their 17-year-old daughter, Julie.

ANN ARBOR, MI - The brains of people with severe depression have lower levels of several related molecules that are key to the development, organization, growth and repair of the brain than the brains of people without the disease, or those with the bipolar form of depression, a new study finds.